One of the "homeless" cats that hang around here showed up about a month ago all skinny and looking poorly. Mushroom leaves food for her cat Groucho and Miss Kitty and for the neighborhood cats out so it has been dining here regularly. It's an interesting looking cat and is part Abyssinian and has a bob tail. It has the skinny face and the high back legs of the Abyssinian breed. And it is such a sweet little cat. " It" just happens to be a "she" cat who we have started calling Bobby. (because of her tail) We found out yesterday one of the reason she has been looking so poorly (other than being homeless) is because she has kittens! Three of them in fact! They just appeared yesterday. I love kittens! There are two yellow tabby looking ones and one tortoise marked one. All three of them have bobbed tails too! They are still pretty skittish so I haven't been able to get very close to them yet, but I'm working on it. Pictures will be coming just as soon as I can snap one. Those little suckers (get it... suckers.. hehe) are freaking FAST!
The little garden is still looking good. I hate to report that the blooms that were on the cucumbers were males. What a fake out! It's ok though because the plants are growing great. The spaghetti squash is starting to vine and climb up the cage but there aren't any blooms yet. We just might have spaghetti squash yet this year. The yellow squash, on the other hand, is starting to bloom like crazy and there are tiny little babies all over it!
The "magic" beans are doing great. They are climbing like crazy! The little tomato and pepper plants are coming along but as I said before, I doubt if they are going to do much before it gets too cool. That's ok though, we knew the odds when we started them so if they produce it will be like a bonus and there is always hope!
The basil is doing great but it doesn't look like any of the other herbs have really taken off. I don't know if its the seed or just my inability to grow herbs. I think it might be the seeds though because I used the same ones this spring and out of the four (of each) all of the basil came up, one sage plant came up, and 2 of the cilantro sprouted. The germination rate pretty much sucks for both of them. Nothing is coming up this time except for the basil. It is getting big. I just love the look of the plant. They are sooo pretty. Since it is doing so well I thought I would try my hand at making pesto. Does anyone care to share the how-to's for making pesto? I've never tried it before but I figure as wonderfully as it is growing I might just give it a shot. I know, I know, I could google it but I would rather try learning how-to from folks who have actually done it before! First hand knowledge is so much better than google any day of the week.
HerbalPagan asked me the other day if I would share the soap recipe I used for my first batch of soap. I really like it because it lathers up nice and rinses clean. Oh, and did I mention how great it makes your skin feel? I'm not going to do a tutorial about soap-making just yet though because after all, it was just my first batch! So here's the recipe I used.
Canolive II Soap
36 ounces canola oil (or you may substitute sweet almond, corn, peanut oil, or any blend of those oils if you'd like)
36 ounces olive oil
16 ounces coconut oil
24 ounces cold water
12 ounces lye crystals
Temperatures: 90-100 degrees
This soap has a very nice texture after 24 hours (cutting stage). I used the stick blender, so don't know how it will be with hand stirring. If you are not comfortable with the low water content, you could bump it up to 28 or 32 ounces, but I like the firmer bars that don't take as long to harden up.
I found this recipe over at Miller Homemade Soaps . It's a great site and there are several other recipes there that I want to try as well. I do feel like I need to put out a warning here. This soap contains lye. You run a risk of seriously hurting yourself if you aren't careful. So if you decide to do this at home kiddies be sure to take ALL the proper precautions including wearing protective gear.
I've been thinking about what someone was saying about canning meat and have decided it is high time I got off my rear and tried it. No time like the present right? And I have incentive as chicken quarters are on sale. Anyway, I want to pick some up see how it goes. That and today is the last day of the sale for the ice cream I've been wanting too so I need to get over there and either 1) pick up some or 2) grab a rain-check for it.
Oh , and Small Farm Girl? In answer to your question left in the comments yesterday, the answer is a big resounding NO. And Hell hasn't frozen over yet either!! LOL
~~Hey... I'm Just Sayin...~~
For some reason I have been in "Ice Cream" mode now for the last couple of weeks. Serious cravings! It just so happens that the local grocery has been having a sale on their ice cream for the past two weeks. Last week it was advertised as 4 for 5 bucks so I picked some up. Not a bad deal. Between the two of us we wiped it all out in just a few days. Well this ad-week they had it on sale for $1.25 a carton. Yeah, I know. It's the same price! Grocery stores are tricky like that. So I ran down to the store to pick up a carton or two and danged if they weren't out. I'm not talking about just out of my favorite flavor either. I'm talking about OUT of ALL of it.Every single carton. Well, I still had an ice cream withdrawal in progress and so grabbed another brand to ease the pain. (gotta feed the need right?) The good thing that came out of all this is that I was smart enough to ask for a rain check! I'll stop by again today and see if they have anymore in but in all honesty I hope they don't! I want another rain check! This way I have an additional 30 days to use the sale price. Oh, here's a tip you may or may not know. If you are redeeming a raincheck say in a week or two and they are out of said product, you can get ANOTHER raincheck ! So even if you loose you win! LOL
I had a dream last night. One of those dreams you wish would go on for just awhile longer. The kind that you try, once awake, to get back to if even for just a few more minutes. I dreamed about my mother. Actually she was my step-mother but I never could tell the difference. We were in some house I had never been in before. My dad was out somewhere and so it was just the two of us laughing and talking and drinking ice tea. It seemed like we sat for a couple of hours just comfortably chatting. And then I woke up. That was it. The whole dream. Nothing earth shattering, no cryptic messages, just a sense of peace and of love. Tomorrow also marks two years since my best friend passed away. I think Mom just wanted me to know that everything is alright and that she will always be close by watching over me. Silly? Some might say yes but I firmly believe that our loved ones are always with us. And that love, once given, can never truly disappear.
~~Hey...I'm Just Sayin...~~
I need to get to the big city sometime soon to pick up some coconut oil so I can make another batch of soap. I used two different molds for the last batch. For one of them I used those little mini loaf pans that makes 8 loaves. Those came out great! The recipe I used is wonderful. The soap lathers well and feels great on the skin with lots of moisturizing goodness. It also rinses off easily and leaves no sticky residue. (Oh my, I sound like a soap commercial!) For the other batch I used a large tupperware container. I obviously didn't set the container on an even surface because it came out a bit lopsided! So me in all my great "wisdom" decided I would try rebatching that container. My rebatching efforts came out horribly. I should have just left well enough alone as the soap was fine before, even if it was a little "funny" looking. I think I used too much liquid when trying to remelt it and it isn't setting up the way it should. It's really soft now. I don't know if it will actually set again or not but I am going to leave it a couple of more days and see what happens. In any case, I will chalk that up to the learning curve. I have my eyes open for something to use for molds. Since you can use all manner of things I am sure I will stumble across something that will work.
I've been working on a list of things that need to be replenished in our food storage. Pretty basic stuff actually. Reads just like a regular shopping list. Flour, milk, eggs, sugar etc... I'm not sure how long it will take me to replenish what we have used over the past several months. I hope it doesn't take long to get things back in order. One good thing about using our storage over these months is that I have been able to see the "holes" in it and am happy to say that there haven't been many. The one that stands out more than most is meats. I still haven't worked much on storing meats other than the cans of tuna, chicken and turkey. I suppose I should think about canning and drying some. I've been saying that for awhile now and still haven't done much in that direction.
~~Hey...I'm Just Sayin...~~
I got a big surprise a couple of days ago, and it wasn't the good kind either. Apparently my email account was hacked. I received a couple of emails from friends who had questions about an email from my address. It had nothing at all in the subject line and when it was opened it was spam from some viagra company. One friend was kind enough to inform me that the site in the email was no longer a "live" site. Thank goodness for that. Then another problem pops up. I can't access my email account. Someone had jacked my password apparently. After spending the last couple of days running every program I can think of to try and find the culprit I still can't find anything infected on my computer. Every single scan I have run comes up with no problems. I have run several different scans with several different programs and they all come up with zip! I have changed the password and created a "saftey seal" for the account. We'll see how things go.
It just burns my butt that this happened. Especially to my friends who received the mail. I had one person tell me they would no longer read my emails if there were no subject line in it. The thing is... I NEVER send emails with no subject line so I hope everything will work out and that I have solved the problem. I guess only time will tell. I do apologize to all those who received that email. I feel terrible about it.
Today I'm trying my hand at making fig jam. It's the first time I've tried it so we will have to just wait and see how it comes out. With any luck at all it will turn out as well as the figs Mushroom and I put up a couple or so weeks ago. I was going to try fig preserves but they had been in the ice box for awhile so I ended up crushing them and trying jam instead. I have them slow cooking right now so I should have some pictures tomorrow of the finished product!
On another note, we picked up some pork ribs at the store the other day. ( While I was freaking out over the cost of sugar!) They had a good sale on them so you know we just HAD to! It is so nice to be BBQ'ing again. (Where I come from if you are smoking, grilling, etc.. it's called barbecuing even though technically there is no sauce!) We went through a spell during the spring where the only thing we had to fire up was the little travel pit in the first picture. I thought it was just a tad ironic that our "host" didn't do any outdoor cooking but that's another story. Anyway... Now don't get me wrong, I love that little pit. It is great for just the two of us most of the time. The problem is that it isn't big enough to cook a brisket or ribs or even a whole chicken. Thank goodness that Mushroom and Bud have a nice size one that fits the bill perfectly.
I walked out the door yesterday evening and was knocked over by the smell of woodsmoke and pork ribs. What a glorious smell! I have seriously missed that aroma these past few months. Not to be outdone, Mushroom made some awesome onion rolls. The aroma wafting around the place had to have had the neighbors drooling. I know I sure was!
We feasted on smoked pork ribs,
cheesy potato pancakes,
baked beans,(sorry I didn't get a picture of the beans)
re-hydrated peas & carrots.
And those mouthwatering onion rolls dripping with real butter.
I ate till I was as full a a tick. Absolutely spectacular meal!
I wonder what the rich folks had for dinner last night!!
~~Hey...I'm Just Sayin...~~
I apologize for not posting yesterday. I wasn't feeling all that great and honestly didn't even have the energy to TRY and find a video or some such thing for your entertainment. It seems like I have just been so tired lately. And it's not like I've been really doing much either. I guess I needed some rest because I slept almost all day and then went to bed early too. Thank goodness I'm feeling a whole lot better now. I hate feeling yucky!! But then, don't we all.
I've been reading all the gloom and doom about our economy and all the injustices being done to our country by our own government. It seems that things just keep getting worse and worse. I won't go off on a rant today because I'm actually in a good mood due to the weather being so nice. I'm not ignoring things, I am just going to spare you the disgust that I am feeling towards the whole mess. Just a couple of the things going on right now....
Here's one of the things I've run across just in the last few days. Another here and another and another. You get the idea... This is just a very small sampling of things going on around us. I didn't even have to search for any of these, which is a sad statement about the world we are living in now.
Let me just say this. Folks, things are going to hell in a handbasket. Pay attention, stay on guard, and prepare today as if you will not have the chance to do it tomorrow. I know I've said it over and over. It's better to have it than to wish you did!
Here's an example of why working on your food storage today is better than waiting until "when I can afford it". What you buy today will surely be cheaper than it will later on. I was in the grocery store this week to pick up a few things. I'm trying to replenish some things that I have used over the last few months. Due to our circumstances, we have been using our stores for the last several months without the benefit of being able to restock. Anyway....
Will someone tell me when the heck sugar took a MAJOR price hike? They wanted $3.88 for a 5lb bag of sugar. The last time I bought any it was right about $2.29 for the same 5 lbs. I was shocked. Needless to say I bought a bag and put it on my list of things to stock back up on. Right now I am down to one 5 gallon bucket + that 5 lbs. All the talk about wheat prices and Russia stopping their exports of all goods should be another sign that things are bound to get worse in the near future. So far the flour prices in this neck of the woods hasn't seen an increase but I am sure it is only a matter of time. Therefore that is another thing I have on my re-supply list. I'm down to only 2 buckets right now. I like to have at least three times that much in my stores since baking bread definitely takes its fair share of flour. Since I don't have a grain mill (yet) I haven't got to the point where I store whole wheat yet. It is definitely on my list of things I want to do.
I have seriously GOT to get out and take some more pictures. I lost so many when I had the big crash last year. It just about broke my heart as there were many of our dear friend who passed away a couple of years ago. Things that just can't be replaced. It taught me a good but costly lesson about backing up my computer. In case you didn't know, 99% of the pictures here on this blog are those I took myself. One good thing about posting them here is that Blogger uses Picassa (sp) and any pictures I have posted here are stored on their site. I've been seriously slacking here lately though. I guess I need to get out more!
~~Hey... I'm Just Sayin...~~
One of the "homeless" cats that hang around here showed up about a month ago all skinny and looking poorly. Mushroom leaves food for her cat Groucho and Miss Kitty and for the neighborhood cats out so it has been dining here regularly. It's an interesting looking cat and is part Abyssinian and has a bob tail. It has the skinny face and the high back legs of the Abyssinian breed. And it is such a sweet little cat. " It" just happens to be a "she" cat who we have started calling Bobby. (because of her tail) We found out yesterday one of the reason she has been looking so poorly (other than being homeless) is because she has kittens! Three of them in fact! They just appeared yesterday. I love kittens! There are two yellow tabby looking ones and one tortoise marked one. All three of them have bobbed tails too! They are still pretty skittish so I haven't been able to get very close to them yet, but I'm working on it. Pictures will be coming just as soon as I can snap one. Those little suckers (get it... suckers.. hehe) are freaking FAST!
