Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[Lazy Gardener]

Even though I only work per-diem, which USUALLY amounts to 1 day/week... I find even THAT cramps my style. I will continue doing so as long as the hours are available, and my body holds up to the task, cause the extra $$ is a blessing. But, truth be told, I'd much rather be home playing in the yard!

 

[baymule]

I don't have time for a job...….

The sheep are out in the yard and Miranda just bolted for the sheep barn. Wonder what's up with her? At least they are leaving the bird feeder alone.

 

[baymule]

I went to investigate and about half the sheep were hanging out in the cool of the barn. LOL

 

[Britesea]

Been working hard to get the place fit for guests. My daughter and her family should arrive on the 12th- just a bit over a week to go. The house is almost all done, although every time I look around I see something else... like the untidy pile of STUFF on top of the bathroom cabinet. That should take less than half an hour to take care of today. We need to fill the water tanks on the travel trailer (aka guest quarters) and make sure everything works in there. Plus I need to find a better place to store the sun oven when I'm not using it other than the trailer's shower stall. There is still a lot that could be done to the outdoors. I'll keep chipping away at it, but I'm not going to sweat it- it looks pretty good now.

The strawberries are pretty much done, but the raspberries are doing pretty well. This is the first year that we're getting a decent harvest from them; increasing the water schedule seems to be helping. Of course, it also helps the weeds, but so it goes.

We pulled out the fava beans; I don't know what went wrong, but lots of the pods were either empty or only had one bean in them. Very disappointing harvest.
The cicherias gave us a lot, but the *&%$# ground squirrels got to them; a lot of the pods had been chewed into and emptied. Also, they would have done better on a short trellis. Next year, I'll put up the trellis and also an A-frame of chicken wire, like I did with the strawberries.
I only had room to grow 6 cabbages. Two of them are making 1 1/2 gallons of sauerkraut, 1 was freeze-dried for future soups. The other 3 were used for various dinners- Egg Roll In a Bowl, and Cabbage and Sausage.
The broccoli is pretty much done-- I can't find enough little heads to even feed one person at a time now, so they will be coming out this weekend.
Lettuce is done, of course; and what remains of the celery is bolting now. Time to cut a bunch more Basil to make pesto for the freezer. The Swiss Chard is still going strong, but I noticed a couple of blossom spikes on some...
I've pulled most of the beets, but the rest could come out at any time now.
So that leaves me with a bed full of rampantly growing Delicata squash, another of Green Beans, Bell Peppers, Tuscan Kale (which even the aphids can't bring to heel) and Collards. Two beds of tomatoes (that's 7 plants) that give us a double handful of beautiful red globes every day. 2 Tommy Apple melon plants with over a dozen 2-fist sized ovoids, 1 Yellow Squash (that's enough, thank you). and about 2/3 of a bed of Serrano chilies, which I'm not sure about--- compared to the bells, and previously grown chilies like Jalapenos and Hungarians, these look kind of spindly. They are just coming into bloom too, which seems kind of late.

So, I have 4 empty beds, and 2 others that could be emptied (beets and broccoli), and about 2/3 of another bed (or the full bed if the chard is bolting). I didn't get my act together so I don't have any transplants of brassicas ready; and it's a little late to start another batch of green beans. I can, however, still plant beets and carrots! Radishes, too, in a couple more weeks. I bought a bunch more beet seeds. Considering how much we love them (even though they are NOT keto friendly)... I figured I can cook and freeze dry them. They will be great for winter borscht (we had summer borscht earlier this week, Yum!) or simply as crunchy snacks. I have a good supply of pickled beets so I probably won't do more of those. At least one bed will go to carrots though. Also, I just read that Queen Anne's Lace greens (and I would assume her more pedestrian domestic relative) are good for gout, which DH is prone to; so I will be drying the greens as well.

I also have some seeds for a chinese "fruit radish." It's apparently so sweet they use it as a "fruit" during the winter months, when fresh fruit is scarce and expensive. The reviews mentioned that it bolts quickly in warm weather, and one person said it wasn't sweet at all but more of a spicy taste like horseradish (maybe because the weather was too warm?) but I want to see how it does in my unheated greenhouse this winter.

And it's about time to start the chicories and endives and other winter-hardy veggies that I will be growing in the greenhouse for winter salads

 

[Britesea]

I pulled out one of the half gallon jars of sauerkraut and tested it-- delicious! We had some with dinner last night (hamburger steaks) and I've put the rest of it in the freeze-dryer so I don't have to stress about it getting weird since it won't fit in the fridge. Tonight, in the spirit of eating down the freezer, we had ribs that DH did on the grill, along with a greek salad using our fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, and Cotija cheese instead of feta because that's what we had.

Daughter will be here in a week now. The house is done, I will just need to do the normal weekly dust-vacuum-mop the day before they come. The yard could use some more work, but I'm not going to worry about it; we will keep chipping away at it, but it is what it is. I've been trying to come up with menus that will be acceptable for all. I wanted to do mostly cold meals or stuff that's cooked outdoors, because it's hot; but DD doesn't like vinegar, mayo, sour cream or yogurt... all the stuff that tends to go into cold meals. I think Gazpacho will be good, and at least meal of Mixed Grill... but I need 2 more meals...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

but I need 2 more meals...

Somehow I think you'll come up with the perfect idea! I've been enjoying your recipe ideas for years, lol!

 

[Mini Horses]

I'm sure you WILL find the perfect match.

Of course, grill veggies while cooking meats...only a little oil & seasoning. Extras are nice on plate cold/room temp with meat on side or sandwich.

I suggest a salad with avocado, fruit, onion, lime juice, cilantro, etc. chopped large, nice side. Chop small as a salsa. Pasta salads using oils & tomato as the moisture, cold meats, cheese, eggs on top to round out, provide proteins, interest.

Just a huge veggie salad! Tacos. Mac & cheese. Spaghetti. All "make ahead" & fast heat to eat.

Heck, with your menus on hand, you will kill it!!

 

[Britesea]

Daughter and family are here! I'm online for just a few minutes while they wake Samwise (yes, just like in Lord of the Rings) and get him fed and changed.
We had the Gazpacho last night and it was delicious-- even the baby loved it! I went to the Farmers Market before they came, and found they had the first peaches of the season in... with a long line to get them, of course. That's what we had for dessert- just fresh peaches. Tonight is grilled NY steaks, green beans from the garden, and Wild Salad (purslane, goosefoot, mallow, pigweed) with a vinaigrette. Fresh berries and cream with shortbread (not shortcake, I haven't found a low carb version I like yet) for dessert.

I got a load of beets freeze-dried, I just boiled then peeled and sliced them and ran them through. They taste delicious and crispy- a nice crunchy/sweet snack. I also freeze dried a bunch of spaghetti sauce that I found in the fridge- it was still good, but I didn't think we'd be able to use it all before it turned polychromatic. Now I have a quart jar of powdered sauce that just needs to be reconstituted with hot water to provide a quick meal. The best part is if I only need a few tablespoons of sauce for a mini pizza I don't have to open a whole jar again (I think that's what happened before, only someone didn't see the jar that was already open in the fridge, and I ended up with THREE open jars)

Everything is going great, but the dominant Tom Turkey has decided to turn aggressive. He and I had a dominance session yesterday morning after he pecked me HARD in the leg when my back was turned. It took several rounds of me grabbing his head and bearing him to the ground to get him to finally acknowledge that I'm bigger and badder than he is. I wonder if he'll make it to October or if we'll be butchering him early. I was hoping to get him up to 50# or so for maximum meat, but not if he continues to be such a jerk. Right now I have both Toms locked in the closed yard instead of letting them free range with the chickens and Trudy (the hen turkey); I can't allow them to be out and possibly hurt Samwise.
He is so cute! He's 18 months old now, and a lot more personality than when we went to visit last year at this time. I hope we'll be able to arrange visits at least annually now- maybe if we trade off who visits who it won't be so hard. Our problem is finding someone to take care of the animals if we all go. Last year DS opted to stay home, so that wasn't a problem, but I don't want to get in the habit of us taking trips and he never leaves the house.

Ok, see y'all later!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Enjoy your time with your daughter!

 

[baymule]

Have fun and enjoy your family!