keljonma's Front Porch - Settling in and adjusting

Quail_Antwerp

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keljonma said:
QA - I have some more egg shipping boxes for you, some maxwell house coffee blue jugs and some cook books. I hope the weather clears up and warms up soon so we can get down to your place.
I am hoping it clears up and warms up soon, too.

Thanks for collecting up more of those boxes for me! :) The coffee jugs make great feed scoops! :thumbsup
 

keljonma

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Bee, I'm sure you'll love the Bright Lights Swiss Chard - colorful and very yummy! Especially when picked young. We use it much like spinach. I use the stalks in soup recipes like celery; makes for a very colorful soup! :D

We planted it very close to the tomato plants. The tomato plants (not caged) shaded the chard all summer long, so we had it all summer. When it got out of hand and grew very large, we chopped it up and fed it to The Ladies. Of course, they would rather just eat it out of the garden themselves! :lol:
 

keljonma

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QA, I sent Betty an email asking her if she will have black and/or blue cochin chicklettes in March/April time frame. As soon as I here back, I'll let you know.

I think with TR's night shift work, he won't be getting any egg shipping boxes for a while. :(
 

keljonma

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16 last night and -20 with the wind chill! Seems like a "normal" NE Ohio winter at last! :lol:

We have about 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground, but there is still lots of ice as well. We are supposed to get another 2 to 4 inches of snow this week-end, as of last night's weather report.

The sun is shining today, so it looks beautiful outside with the snow glittering like an old fashioned Christmas card! But MAN IS IT COLD!!!

TR doesn't have to work week-ends while he is working the modified night shift! So this will be his second week-end off in a row! That hasn't happened since he started this job last March. I am beside myself with silliness!

I didn't make the garlic herb soup the other day. So yesterday I made a large pot of kitchen sink soup. This week's version of Kitchen Sink Soup:

About 1 cup each (rough chopped) carrots, celery, onions and 4 cloves sliced garlic sauteed in about 1/4 cup of heated olive oil with some kosher salt added to it.

Add 4 cubed russet potatoes, stir, cover and let them all cook a bit. Stir occasionally.

Add 1 can of cut up beets (drained), 1 can black beans (drained & rinsed), 1 can tomatoes with juice, 1/4 cup frozen corn kernels, 1/4 cup frozen okra rings, 1 cup of chopped lettuce and a large handful of broken up spaghetti noodles with 1 1/2 gallons of water.

Add kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, about 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp ground sage, 1/2 T of parsley and a generous dash of Montreal Steak seasoning.


I made bread at the same time, so we had fresh bread with the hot soup! Perfect weather for it. YUM!




Stay warm!
 

Henrietta23

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keljonma said:
Bee, I'm sure you'll love the Bright Lights Swiss Chard - colorful and very yummy! Especially when picked young. We use it much like spinach. I use the stalks in soup recipes like celery; makes for a very colorful soup! :D

We planted it very close to the tomato plants. The tomato plants (not caged) shaded the chard all summer long, so we had it all summer. When it got out of hand and grew very large, we chopped it up and fed it to The Ladies. Of course, they would rather just eat it out of the garden themselves! :lol:
I love Bright Lights! I've had quite good luck growing it when nothing else did well.
 

keljonma

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That is so true, H23! Our shoots are already 1/2 inch tall and doing well. I put them in the sun room during the day and they are getting lots of sunlight. We are looking forward to something besides store bought greens!
 

keljonma

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Happy February! Our dd will be 36 this week!! How time flies! ;)

Working on the report for the church board of trustees for the new range. I think I found a great deal, but the final decision is up to the board.

One of the board members decided to go out on his own and negotiated with a local appliance store to get 2 new 36 inch stoves like you would have at home, instead of the 60 inch commercial range we currently have at church. Carole (the kitchen manager) told me that the board chairman told her about this "deal". She advised him that the two "house" stoves would not meet our needs. I am hoping he takes her advice. I was given his report to add to my information and these 2 stoves cost more than we have money to spend!

TR is a board member... and at least he knows what the kitchen needs because he has helped volunteer for the food ministries in the past. So I am depending on him to keep this project focused on our true needs. :D


We are at 8 this morning. Sunny and cold. Forecast calls for 30 this week! :woot

I'm planning on planting more Bright Lights and maybe some beans this week maybe.... I will see if I can get them growing in a container in the house. I've grown beans in containers before, just not this early in the year. We are a long way from end of frost here in NE Ohio and I am really ready for spring.

Have fun and stay warm!
 

keljonma

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We are still in zone 5a here in our new location... just about 5 miles north of where we were at the farm.

Already I have seedlings (Swiss chard, burgandy green beans & nastursiums) started in cardboard egg cartons and small pots. The Swiss chard is 1/2 inch tall now and TR and I are already drooling over recipes... :lol: I want to start some tomatoes now..... :/ The burgandy green beans are a new one for us. They grow into purple beans that turn green when cooked.

Usually we don't get to work the ground until May - Memorial Day. Last year we had snow the first week of May.... I am hoping this year is not a repeat!

We had 8 yesterday and are at 30 today with snow in tonight's forecast.

Chicken and biscuits is on the menu for Christian Cafe today. The chicken was cooked and deboned yesterday. TR and I aren't helping this week... the second time this year we have missed helping out. TR's modified night shift is throwing everything off. Today I slept in until 8:30!!!! What a lazy butt! :lol:

This week we are buying baseboard for the bedroom upstairs, as most of it was broken or missing when we moved in. The baseboard won't be installed until we clean and paint the wood floor. We haven't really decided on colors, but I was thinking of making something like a painted floor cloth. We'll see. And we are still patching the big hole in the one wall.... so we have one wall yet to finish. I think we will paper it, as I think paint will make the patch really obvious. :rolleyes:
 

Quail_Antwerp

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So, did you get that basement fixed up for The Ladies yet? :gig
 

keljonma

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The landlord thinks we should use the small alcove attached to the house by the back porch for a hen house. The south and west walls are part of the house. If we were to use this area, we would have to enclose the north and east walls and put in windows and doors. The Ladies would have no sun light in the hen house and the door would be on the north wall. :( There is an electrical outlet in the alcove, but it is not working - I think due to water damage, but that is just a guess on my part. Not an ideal set up for The Ladies....

No, QA, I haven't fixed up the basement yet. :D I was looking around down there and realized that the basement is a dangerous mess. Anytime the landlord's family did any work around the place, the items that should have been sold as scrap metal or wood were put in there. Plus they replaced the boiler and furnace and the old ones appear to be in the basement as well!

I found the old storage room where the landlord's great-grandmother, grandmother and mother stored their canned goods (the family built the house in 1880). The canned goods are still in there and I am not sure how old they are, but they look like a bunch of science projects! :sick

So, I guess it will just have to be the first floor bedroom for a hen house for The Ladies, I'm afraid!! ;) :lol: (I am only half kidding here...)

We're at 29 today and we have gotten about 2 or 3 inches of snow since last night. The snow is wet and slushy and still coming down. TR and I were talking about taking a ride south this coming week-end, but the forecast calls for snow all week long, so he is not feeling positive about taking a drive this week-end. :/

DS's, E, sent TR a pair of homemade slippers. They are a perfect fit, and he is very happy with his new present. He has been like Charlie Brown looking in the mailbox daily - "Hello in there!"..... :lol:

We are hoping to get to Texas to visit the kids and grands this spring. :fl

My sister, C, gave us her old small radio/cd/dvd player at Christmas. TR bought a cleaner disc because the discs weren't loading properly. That didn't solve the problem, so we had to take it to get professionally cleaned. Because TR bought the cleaner disc at the local Radio Shack ($15), they did not charge us for taking the thing apart, cleaning it and putting it back together. It took a week to get the job done because they had to order a special screwdriver! We are thankful that they did not charge us anything for the job. And TR used the cleaning disc on the CD player and 6-disc changer in the Saturn, so our music is sounding great again! :D


Well, I guess I should get something done here before the library computer kicks me off......



edited for typos
 
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