It's almost winter here!

 

It's snowing a little this morning.  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Here in the United States of America, on the 4th Thursday of November each year we celebrate "Thanksgiving Day."  It is a time when families and friends gather together and share a special feast and thank God for our blessings. The last time our whole family was together for Thanksgiving was in 1991.  Then our children started growing up and leaving home.  Today, partially because of the worldwide pandemic, my husband and I celebrated Thanksgiving with each other.  We had a lovely time.  

In May of this year, we began eating a "whole foods plant based" diet.  Essentially, that is a vegan diet, but with important conditions.  We eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds and legumes.  We don't use any added oils or fats.  We don't eat any meat, poultry or fish and we use no dairy or eggs. We avoid most processed foods.  I do buy whole grain pasta and certain condiments, but nothing with added fats. I make my own oat milk and it is very economical.  It's not something we really drink, but we use it on porridge and in cooking.

We started this after watching this movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1LUj3kxB9M&list=PLvFgN9QYT1HtoYPfyIEn8aiuLL3KjCM8o

My husband has heart disease, and his cholesterol level has always been very high.  Mine was high, also, but not like his.  Since changing what we eat, our cholesterol levels are normal. I know it will take time for the full benefits to happen to us, but very quickly we noticed improvement.  Here is a list of what I've noticed for myself.  

1. Within two days I had a lot more energy.  I could go out and work in the garden for hours.... work hard and never become tired.  Sometimes I got tired of being hot and would come inside for a while, but I was not fatigued. Keep in mind that I am nearly 72 years old.

2.  I was able to stop taking the things I was using for hot flashes and my hot flashes are not nearly as bad as they were.

3. My varicose veins have improved and the spider veins on my legs are nearly gone.

4. Last year I was diagnosed with "macular puckering" which caused some blurring of my vision.  That is entirely gone.  I can thread a needle now with no trouble.

5. I rarely feel hungry and there are no cravings at all.  I do not miss the foods I quit eating. I remember that after two weeks, my husband said,"I don't crave chocolate anymore."  I was astounded!  He has always craved chocolate.

6. I can eat all I want and my weight stays normal.

7. I work out with weights some in our garage.  I used to do 3 sets of 5 reps squatting with 90 pounds.  Now I just go ahead and do 20 reps in one set.  It became that much easier. I've also begun a little jogging.  My husband and I walk 3 miles nearly every morning together and now I can do some jogging.  I hope I can increase that.  I have not done any running in decades.

8. My hair and nails are growing faster.

9.  I got to buy some new cookbooks!  

Here is a picture of me and our little Thanksgiving meal that we had today.  I was very proud of myself.  It was all delicious.  It's been quite a "learning curve" to get into this, but if you have health issues, or want to do all you can to avoid (or cure) heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and many cancers, you can eat very simply and be perfectly healthy this way.  In fact, you could live on sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli and be fine for a long time.  I recommend this book as a wonderful place to begin:  https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=the+starch+solution+by+dr+mcdougall+paperback&crid=136SVW9HL1NAL&sprefix=the+startch+solutio%2Caps%2C568&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_19

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's like having a tomato vine in my kitchen!

As the weather has gotten colder this fall, I've been bringing our green tomatoes from the garden into the house.  When frost threatened, I brought them all in.  This project has been wildly successful!  We set up a little card table and covered it with newspaper, then placed the tomatoes on there, slightly spaced apart and as they ripen, I use them in cooking or for fresh eating. Very few have gone bad.  I love how it looks.  I am sure I'll still have some at Thanksgiving.

I know that some people wrap each tomato in newspaper and lay them in boxes, but at least for me this is much better.  I don't have to keep unwrapping and checking them for ripeness.  It does take up some space in our small house, but it's worth it!

Here are the ones I "harvested" today.  I used them in spaghetti sauce. 

Garden report 2020

 This season, we weighed all of the fresh vegetables that we harvested in our garden.  I've never done that before, but I'm so glad I did!  The total came to 1,027 pounds of produce!  And that doesn't include the 57 pounds of luffa gourds!  Here are a few pictures from this year.  We had plenty to eat, still have plenty to eat and I was able to can and freeze many things to carry us over until next spring.

It's been an amazing year and I'm so grateful!

A rescued quilt top...

 About an hour away from here, during the warm months of the year is a huge flea market.  They are open on Wednesdays and there is always TONS of fresh produce for sale.  Two of our daughters and two granddaughters and I went there a couple of weeks ago.  I spied a little threadbare quilt top and I asked the seller how much she wanted for it.  I think she said $2.  So, I got it.  It was obviously lovingly made, all by hand,  by a person who did not have any extra money, out of odds and ends of fabrics. It deserved to be honored and rescued.  Tonight I backed it with some heavyweight unbleached muslin and repaired it with my sewing machine.  I think it's sweet.  It will make a very nice decorating item, or even a tablecloth. I hope the person who made it would be pleased.

I'm "Famous!" :)

 Just wanted to share this with you Gentle Readers.  "David the Good" from YouTube and The Survival gardener featured our garden on his blog. I feel so honored! 

1000 pounds of food!

Sweet potatoes 2020 !!!

 

Here I am with about 2/3 of our sweet potatoes for this year.  My husband and I dug them up today.  It always needs to be done before a frost and I don't want to wait until the last minute.  The other 1/3 is purple sweet potatoes.  I am so grateful for all of this good food!  We brought in about 118 pounds.

"Bloody Butcher Dent Corn"

This is a picture of me standing in front of our "Boody Butcher Dent Corn."  It is an heirloom variety and I plan to use it to make cornmeal.  We measured it at 12 feet tall!  I bought the seed from www.rareseeds.com

Tiny Tip - if cutting onions makes you cry.....

If you are cutting up fresh onions, and the volatile oils that escape make your eyes burn and water, grab a fresh cucumber and munch on it while you are doing that.  I promise it will help - a lot!

Garden, July 5, 2020

Garden, June 28, 2020

Update on Garden 2020

Garden 2020

This year, we have cut the size of our garden to about a third of what it has been for a number of years.  Since it's just me and my husband here, we simply don't need to work that hard anymore!  I love the new size.  He does plan to make another simple greenhouse for me so I can harvest greens through the winter and soon I will start building the soil in that area.  Many things are already coming up...  we had a late freeze and I had to replant tomatoes and peppers, but everything is happy now.  Here is a picture of how it looked this morning.  :)

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bagels !

Whole wheat sourdough bagels  4/29/2020

Ingredients:

½ cup bubbly sourdough starter

1 medium potato

1 Tablespoon honey

2 eggs (save back one of the yolks)

3 Tablespoons oil (I used avocado)

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups whole wheat flour

For the glaze:

The reserved egg yolk

1 teaspoon cold water

Poppy or sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

1.      Slice the potato thickly and boil it in 2 ½ cups water until tender.  Drain, reserving the water and you can eat the potato.  It doesn’t go in the bagels. Let the water cool until warm.

2.      Combine the starter, honey, eggs (reserving one yolk), oil, salt and flour.  Stir, and add enough of the potato water to make a nice kneadable dough.

3.      Knead, on a surface dusted with all-purpose flour for 8 – 10 minutes.

4.      Wash and oil bowl. Put in the dough and turn it over so the top is oiled.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap.

5.      Let the bowl sit on the counter overnight (or all day).

6.      In the morning, on a floured surface, dump out the dough.  Knead a little bit, and then break off equal pieces.  I ended up with 12.  Form them into balls and let them rest for 10 minutes on floured surface.

7.      Form into bagels by flattening a bit and then poke a hole in the middle and stretch out.

8.      Place them on a greased or Silpat covered cookie pan and allow to rise until they are nice and puffy… maybe half an hour? 

9.      In the meantime, bring a large pan of water, maybe 3 quarts to a boil and add ½ teaspoon baking soda. 

10.  A few at a time (don’t crowd them) gently place the bagels in the boiling water and boil for 2 minutes, flip over and boil for 2 more minutes. Remove with slotted spoon.

11.  Make the glaze and brush their tops and sprinkle with the seeds, if you wish.

12.  You can put 6 of the 12 per baking sheet.  Bake in a preheated 425 F oven on two racks for 13 minutes.  Switch the pans to the other rack and bake for 13 more minutes. Should be lightly brown

13.  Cool them on wire racks. 

14.  Eat.  We love them toasted with cream cheese or butter.

Remember the Hugelkultur?

I posted about this 2 years ago, here.  I've used the Hugelkultur bed for two seasons now, This will be my third.  I think it is finally losing height.  I was amazed at how slow that process has been.  This year, I decided to put a strawberry patch on it.  All around it is lots of mulchy things from last year and I've got all the plants nicely tucked in with mulch.  These are ever bearing strawberries.  I hope it will work!

 

Tiny Tip.... how to not waste perfectly good cake...

3 days ago, I made this really yummy and healthy "Purple Sweet Potato Cake."  

With only my husband and I here to eat it, it was going to last for 4 days. I kept it, covered, in the refrigerator. On the third day (yesterday) it was tasting a little stale, so I knew it would be disappointing today, and yet, it was made with very special ingredients, so I didn't want to waste any!

Here is what I did.  I put my portion in a bowl and heated it up in our microwave oven.  Then, I poured a little milk over it and ate it with a spoon.  It was very nice.  I wanted to share this tip with you.  I imagine it would work for other cakes and maybe muffins also. I bet it would have been even better with some cream.

And here is the recipe!  This cake was delicious, not overly sweet and very moist.  :)

Purple Sweet Potato Cake

Sift together:

2 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together the following:

1 cup cooked mashed purple sweet potato
1/2 cup honey

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup sour cream

1/3 cup oil (I used avocado but canola would be good too)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Add the dry to the wet and mix just until everything is moist.  Don't overdo it.

Butter and flour 2 round cake pans.

Divide the batter between the pans and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Check it then with a toothpick.  It might need more time (mine didn't)

Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.  Cool completely.

"Frosting"

4 ounces softened cream cheese

4 ounces softened butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

"Some" honey until it is as sweet as you would like.

Beat well and put some between the layers and then all over the cake.  It wasn't very thick.  I also put some chopped walnuts on top of the cake, covered it all with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

I hope you will try this.  I have not done so, but I bet it would be good with orange sweet potatoes, too, and maybe use pumpkin pie spice in it.

Enjoy!