A ghost of a sauce

I think maybe I'm going to try Sundays as a regular blogging day.  Of course, we'll see how long that lasts, LOL!
Today I'm cooking with fire at home.  Ghostly fire!  Naga Jolokia or Ghost Chili fire,  that is.  This spring, my friend Roger gave me a seedling pepper plant.  A ghost chili.  I'll admit, I'm a little frightened by it.  These are the second hottest peppers in the world, topped only by the Trinidad Scorpion (also to be found growing in Roger's garden!), so they are nothing to take lightly.
Today, I'm canning tomato sauce.  We do like it spicy here so a few weeks ago, I made some enchilada sauce and tossed in a small ghost chili.  Yowza!  So, today, I'm making ghost sauce for other purposes. In with about 8 quarts of sauce I've got onion and two and a half peppers.  I've got one hungarian wax 'Volcano', one Bulgarian Carrot and half of a ghost chili.  Whew!  Spicy!!! but incredibly tasty.  All these peppers have the bonus of not only being incredibly hot but also flavorful.  And 2.5 peppers is plenty.  This sauce will go well over pasta in the cold winter months.
I've got a few things crossed off my list so far on my vacation and a few still to go.  I still need to get in and weed and prep the greenhouse for planting.  Of course, this has to be the hottest weather we've had all summer so working in the greenhouse will have to be done early- probably tomorrow morning after I get the boys off to school. I also want to make some reusable bags.  I saw these at the farmer's market and want to make some myself:  The woman dubbed "the cookie lady" long, long ago by Justine was also selling tote bags made from feed sacks.  I've got quite a stack of chicken feed sacks- those lovely, sturdy, rip-stop affairs- and I thought they may make fun holiday gifts for family members.  I brought in a couple of sacks so maybe tonight after dinner?  Maybe.  We'll see.

Anyway...  I'll leave you with a few photos of my walkabout yesterday afternoon.

 The bees are loving the touch-me-nots. And it is a good year for these flowers.  They seem to have taken over along the creek for a stretch.

 The groundnuts are blooming.  This is the first year I've noticed the blooms.  I've spotted the vines and we noticed the little tubers washing out of the stream bank after a flood this spring.  Nice to know that we have another wild edible around.

 Not wild.  But I do love my scarlet runner beans.

 One of the squash that came up volunteer by the chicken run.  There are three large acorn squash on the vine.  Awesome!

And the cherry roma tomatoes are doing well.  In fact... I think I need to go pick them.

A new beginning?

Wow.  I have been really bad at this, haven't I?  I was gently reminded by my sister that I haven't posted in a while.  My bad.  Time just seems to get away from me these days.  But, now that school is back in session and things will be settling down into routine again, I'll really, really try to be better.

To catch up, I'll share a few photos.  We've been having quite the social life here this summer- much different from our norm.  We've hosted several gatherings of friends in recent weeks as well as all the usual 'stuff' that happens.

 I've been canning.  Raspberry jam and red currant jelly are here.  I've also done tomatoes, sauce and enchilada sauce.  And...  I invested in 7 dozen Tattler reusable lids!  Justine and I went to Kalona to pick up a few things at Stringtown (the Amish bulk food store) and they had Tattlers for $7.56/dozen.  Having recently purchased regular lids (for $2.39/dozen!!!) I got a dozen to see how I liked them.  LOVED THEM!  So I made another run down and picked up another 6 dozen boxes.  That price is cheaper than I can get them online and no shipping!

 The hens have been providing us with lovely eggs.  Now three of the new four ladies are laying.  Only Tabitha hasn't started yet.  But she is looking all nicely red in the comb and wattles now so hopefully soon.   Above is an egg and cheese Frittata.  With local cheese from Kalona, everything was from within 30 miles- mostly from our backyard.  Mmm...

 One of the social gatherings.  We hosted a meteor watching party during the Perseid meteor shower.  While we waited for it to get late enough, the youth sat around and did dramatic readings:  Classical Shakespeare done as a valley girl and a play written by one of Justine's friends- you know, the usual stuff.  We also hosted a series of Dungeons and Dragon adventures this summer with V as the DM.  Epic adventures were had!

 V has finished his office in the basement.  Since this photo was taken the room has been painted and trim installed.  The first finished room in the basement! Woot! Next, we move on to Justine's room since she is off at college again- they left yesterday :(      All drywall is up, we just need to do the finish sanding and paint.  But, we've been waiting for Justine to leave so we can take everything out of her room and then play musical belongings as we move from room to room while we work.

 V celebrated another birthday.  Justine did a wonderful job with the lettering on his cake.  The Reading Lines logo completed in frosting.

 And of course, there was the obligatory slicing of watermelon with a katana.  Doesn't everyone do that?  This was one of two melons we picked up at the farmer's market. Justine starts it off

 And V slices off a bit to eat.  We did have something on the ground to catch them as they fell.  It's a messy way to slice it but well worth it just for the fun factor.

I had the day off yesterday.  This was my project. Our trusty dining room chairs had these old, fake-leather seats that recently started disintegrating (I'm sure the cats didn't help that at all!).  So I spent the day recovering them with a lovely, sturdy fabric.  Looks much better, I think.
I'm taking a few days off while V takes Justine back to college and I'm enjoying my alone time again. Of course, I've got the boys with me this weekend but I've still got plenty planned.

I really need to figure out a good blogging schedule so I can keep up to date here.
Sorry again for the long delay.  I really haven't fallen off the face of the earth... much.

So... I lied

I have obviously NOT been posting more regularly like I promised last post.  Yeah... I lied.

But, in my defense, things have been really hopping around here.  In the past week I have processed 17.5 dozen ears of sweet corn, weeded the garden, done bulk shopping at Stringtown (an Amish store near here), traveled to my parents to help around the house with things they can't manage anymore (K13 and I washed all the windows), attended a 50th anniversary party, helped hang ceilings in the basement, worked my paying job (while short staffed and supervising a student as well) and have done all the usual household 'stuff'.

The tomatoes are just starting to ripen and I made my first batch of salsa yesterday.  Mmm!  The peppers and tomatillos have been ready for a while but we finally had tomatoes. And I'm a bit frightened of one of my peppers.  Our friend Roger gifted us with a Ghost Chili (Naga) plant this spring.  It has been growing in the garden and now one of the peppers is beginning to ripen.  Considering that these are reported to be the heat of police grade pepper spray, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it.  I have heard that you need more protective gear than just rubber gloves to process them.  Hmmm....

And one of the new ladies has started to lay!  This afternoon there was a lovely, little, brown, pullet-sized egg in with the others.  My bet is on Bettie Page but Ishtar would be the second guess.  Beatrice and Tabitha still look not ready yet.  Bettie was always much bigger than the other chicks so I'm thinking she was a few days older and as a black sex link, she is likely to mature faster than the others.  And they are just over 4 months old now.

That's about it.  Justine has only a few weeks left at home before she heads back to school. This week she is off in the evenings as she is helping as a stage hand in a community production of Rent that one of her friends is acting in.

So, things are still moving here.  I'll try to keep up.  You know, sometimes I really, really just want a day to do nothing.

A new level of decadence

We achieved a new level of breakfast decadence today:  Chocolate chip/Raspberry waffles.  Absolutely heavenly!  They taste like they are bad for you but really aren't.  Good thing we have a gallon and a half of raspberries in the freezer because I see this as a popular item this winter.
It has been a bumper crop year for berries here.  In addition to the berries in the freezer, I made a batch of jam and we ate many, many raspberries.  I think yesterday was the last picking I'll get until next year.  There just aren't enough out there to bother picking again.  But the blackberries are just starting to ripen.  Mmmmmm......
We also picked a gallon of red currants last week and made a big batch of jelly.  This is the first year we've had enough to actually do anything with and the jelly is wonderful, the perfect balance of sweet/tart.

I baked bread yesterday morning.  Yeah, baking bread when it's 90 isn't the smartest thing to do, but I was the person responsible for bread for church today so it needed to happen.  But, let me tell you, fresh baked bread with homemade jam is DA BOMB!

V has been putting up ceilings in the basement so things are finishing up in construction... not that I think we'll ever actually be finished but it's getting closer.

In other garden-y stuff, I pulled the last of the onions this morning.  This has been the best year for onions I think I've ever had with lots of lovely, large onions, now happily drying on racks.  We've been eating a few peppers and the tomatoes are getting big but aren't ripe yet.  I can't wait for the first tomato.  I've got tomatillos planted this year as well so I'm seeing some salsa coming up.

I know I've been pretty lax on posting here. I'll try to keep up more often but things have been busy.

Herbs and the Apocalypse

Or...  Why more than strength and speed are needed for survival.

You all know that we did the zombie run this weekend.  It was awesomely fun.  I started on the zombie fit quest a while ago after watching a marathon of The Walking Dead.  I had the realization that I had all this awesome knowledge and great skills but may not be fit enough to survive long enough for it to be useful if I truly had to run for my life.  So, I began the quest to lose some weight and get back into shape.  I've been plagued by illness and injury but have persevered.  I've still got a way to go to be truly zombie fit but this weekend showed me that I can hold my own and do have things to offer.

The weather was a great equalizer in the early waves of the race on Saturday.  Rain made the trails muddy and treacherous so that even those who were young and fit couldn't go fast.  That meant that those who were young and fit were rubbing shoulders with those of us who were slower and possibly less young.  And sometimes... it worked to their advantage.

In trying to keep her balance on a muddy slope, a young woman (one of those young/fit people) inadvertently grabbed onto a nettle which were growing in abundance along the trail.  Her hand on fire, I offered assistance, telling her I could find a plant to help relieve the pain.  She declined and smeared her hand with mud from the trail, saying she would be fine.

Fast forward a quarter mile and a crawl through the stream later... she approaches complaining that her hand was still burning.  The mud hadn't helped and she had scrubbed it with sand in the stream which made it worse.  A few feet down the trail, I spied Jewelweed (also known as Touch-me-Nots), picked a bit and gave it to her, telling her to break open the stem and smear the juice on her hand.  She had a quite skeptical look on her face but tried it- I think at that point she was desperate. Her skeptical look turned to one of amazement, relief and joy as she realized that it actually worked.

Ha!  See... the old and slow do have their uses when running from zombies!

Zombies!!! (photo heavy)

I'm sorry to inform you that both Justine and I have been infected with the zombie virus.  We did not survive the race with any flags intact.  But we had a fabulous time and hope to do it again next year!  We made a weekend of it with Justine and I, I16 and Justine's boyfriend JC.   The guys were our cheerleaders and photographers.
A few photos of the adventure:

 We start out, clean and with flags intact.  Ready to go!

 The first hill is a killer!  The race was run on a motocross track and it had rained fairly heavily in the morning so everything was muddy.  The biggest problem was at the top of the hill where the track is bowl shaped and slippery.  I would not have made it except for the kindness of strangers pulling me up.  There was a wonderful sense of camaraderie among the participants as there is safety in numbers.

 Justine and I are sizing up a zombie zone, trying to decide the best route to take.

 Made it through this one safely!

 One of the easy obstacles:  Crawling through mud under barbed wire.

 More kindness of strangers.  He helped me, then I helped Justine and she helped the person behind her, etc.

 Up the final hill...

and down the final hill.  No graceful running at this race.  It was much more "trying to not fall".

 We start up the waterslide...

 and head down!

 Splash Down!  Into the pool of fake blood (now much more muddy than bloody)

 Through the final wave of zombies.

 On to the finish line.  Yes, it is electrified, in case you were wondering.  This was the second electrified obstacle.  And there were walls to climb over, barricades to crawl under (through both mud and a running, ice cold stream with pebbles under your knees!)

 Finished!!  Even though we were 'infected' we still got our medals.

 Don't let the smiling zombie fool you... she will eat your brains at a moment's notice!

Now I'll have to train harder so maybe next year I can survive!!!

Foraging!

I've been foraging recently. I took V out with me yesterday afternoon to go berry picking.  I discovered that much of the west fenceline is filled with raspberries that are just now starting to ripen.  It's amazing how much is coming up now that the property hasn't been overgrazed.  We picked a few cups between yesterday and today.  I also discovered several gooseberry bushes that, while supposedly wild, are absolutely loaded with respectable sized berries, many the size of my little finger tip.  So, I picked only about a cup of those so far.  The best bush is actually over the fence on our neighbor's property but I don't think he would notice or care if we picked them.  I also discovered some wild blackberries. Although they are still hard and green I'll keep my eye on them!
All of this foraging plus picking the first of the red currants and rhubarb from a friend has led to cobbler heaven.   I still use the same recipe I used as a child.  This was the very first thing I ever made totally by myself as a child.  And it's still as wonderful now as it was then.

Time to find some ice cream to go with it....