Free Garlic Seeds... again!

My garlic is harvested and dried and now I have a lot of garlic seeds to give away.  Originally, I received the seeds from an internet friend that lives in Finland.

If you would like some, leave a comment with your email address.  I will NOT publish your email address.  Then I can email you my mailing address.  When you get that, mail me a self-addressed stamped envelope with TWO first class stamps on it, and I will send you some seeds! If you live outside of the USA, I am not sure what to do about postage.  It would cost a lot more I believe.

Then, when you get them, plant them and in two years you will have your own lovely garlic to eat.  After that, you can plant the cloves and have garlic every year.

It is a wonderful variety.  I still have some, just sitting in a basket in my kitchen from last year and it is still perfectly good.

Enjoy!

The chickens are molting... so what can I do?

Like I've mentioned before, sometimes I just like to play.  Lately, the chickens have been molting and dropping lots of feathers.  I like feathers, so I picked up some of the nicer ones and even found a crow feather the other day.  I thought maybe I could make a "Dream Catcher."  I worked very hard yesterday, in the barn and garden, so I'm a bit weary today and have been just kind of taking it easy, so today was the perfect day.  The frame of the Dream Catcher is from a mulberry tree sapling that I had to remove.  I peeled off the bark (and fed it to the goat) and bent it into a frame.  The cording is some of my handspun Jacob's sheep wool.  I like it.  What do you think?

This morning in the kitchen...

I get up in the morning at 6 a.m. every day.  The days are getting shorter now... so it's dark then.  Here are two pictures I took in my kitchen this morning.  :)

I love early mornings...

Salsa 2015 !!!

Almost exactly 2 years ago, I posted my recipe for "Millenial Salsa" that I have been making since the year 2000.  Today, I came up with a new recipe after looking at the recipes from 2 friends and adding my own experience.  This is just called ~

SALSA 2015

Here is how I did it.  You will need a 2 gallon stainless soup pot.

The following ingredients are minced in a food processor.

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 whole bulb of garlic, peeled of course
20 smallish Jalapeno peppers, stem ends removed
4 cups minced yellow onions

Put all of that in the pot and then add ~

8 teaspoons sea salt
3 Tablespoons chili powder
3 teaspoons ground cumin
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
3/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups lemon juice (I used bottled)

Next, you will chop fresh tomatoes, coarsely, in the food processor.  I only used "grape" tomatoes, because that's what I had. Roma tomatoes would be an excellent choice.  It took about 1/3 of a bushel.  Put them in the pot until it is nearly full.

Carefully bring it to a simmer, stirring often.  Add ~

4 small cans of tomato paste and stir well.  Heat through.

I processed all of this in pint jars for 40 minutes in my steam canner.  (A water-bath needs the same time.)

I got 15 pints.  Here are some of them:

It's very good.  Of course, you can play with the recipe according to what you have on hand, but do add the vinegar and lemon juice at least.

Enjoy!

Windfall Apples... the rest of the story

I worked through all of those apples and ended up with two apple pies, that I will freeze to bake later, and 7 pints of nice organic unsweetened apple sauce. The goat and the chickens got all the scraps and were very happy.  :)

Do you see that old jar lifter in the second picture?  I've been using that since 1976!

Windfall Apples...

About 18 years ago, I planted two apple trees.  The poor things have been almost totally neglected.  I think I've only pruned them maybe 3 times?  And I have NEVER sprayed them.  So, the apples are visited by many interesting (?) creatures and sustain a lot of damage.  Nevertheless, I can pick up the ones that are "sound" and cut out the bad parts and use the rest for whatever I like.  Today, I picked up a big apron-full and plan to make them into applesauce.

Years ago, before someone got the bright idea of growing our food with poisons, I suppose all the apples were like this.  Maybe they had fewer pests back then, or maybe not.  In any case, I am sure you could crush these, just as they are and make some wonderful apple cider, worms and all.

I once read a book by a lady who had moved to a South Sea Island with her husband.  This was many years ago.  Conditions were fairly primitive.  There was no "packaging" of food.  She wrote, "I soon learned that all that crawls is not garbage."

Every year I toy with the idea of spraying the trees.  Maybe they would be healthier, but I don't think I would.  I am so grateful for these apples!  They are sweet and crisp... and safe.