Pickled Beets and A Funny Story

Two years ago, at an autumn home school Back to School party, a friend of mine brought some home canned pickled beets.  Man, were they ever tasty.  So, the next spring, we planted a whole row of beets...which failed.  Yeah....they didn't come up...  well, maybe a couple of them did.... but they only poked their little heads through the soil... nothing else.  It was a complete failure.   Our soil is very rocky and red clay....perhaps they just needed more water and wiggle room.
This spring, we decided to try again.  We only planted a few in some raised garden boxes.  Failure number two.  I think we planted those too late.  Beets are a cold weather crop...you've got to plant them early in the spring or late summer.  
A couple of weeks ago, a family friend asked me if I wanted a basket of beets...be still my beating heart.  I was so excited! 
So, I call up my canning master friend and got her recipe...  easy as pie.  You wash the beets, put them in a big pot and boil them till tender.  You then take them out, pull the skins off ...which will make your hands (especially your nails) a beautiful shade of magenta if you don't use gloves....I know this from experience...  :)
After sliding the skins off, you cut them into chunks, put them into a big pot, cover with 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water and add sugar.  She said she thought they used 2-3 cups of sugar per gallon.  You have to taste as you go...see how you like it..  :D  Bring that mixture to a boil and ladle into your jars that are hot.  Wipe the rims, put your hot lid on, screw on the top!  Voila!  Pickled beets.  You don't even process these.  Crazy easy, huh?  And let me tell you...they are soooo good.  Another cool thing...you can use the leftover brine to make pickled eggs. {This was actually my introduction to pickled eggs.}  You just put a few hard boiled, shelled eggs into a jar and pour the brine over them...let it sit about a week and you have pickled eggs!  Another idea that can't be "beet" ~ ahem, sorry....veggie humor.... the water that you boil your beets in till tender...well, I was thinking that would make an eye-catching tie-dyed shirt... too bad I didn't have any white t-shirts that day....

Okay...funny story... well, funny in an embarrassing way....
Those first beets I ate at the home school party??  Well, I only got a few bites.  My sense of propriety kept me from going to the table and taking the entire jar back to my seat...which is what I *really* wanted to do.  So, I mentioned to the bringer of the beets later how good they were and how much I just loved them.  Sweet person that she is, she brought me a quart jar to our next meeting.

Soooo, after the meeting, I go home with MY OWN JAR OF PICKLED BEETS....propriety be gone!!!  Unable to stop myself, I ate a half a quart of pickled beets ....yeah, they were that good. 
Next morning I wake up and go about my day.  It was then that I began to notice something.  Hmmmm...how shall I put this delicately?  Well, I thought I was getting a urinary tract infection...  it was really weird tho...no fever, no pain....just {I can't believe I'm telling you this} pink in the potty.  Oh dear...I've now lost all sense of propriety...   Anyway, I was very concerned.  I had previously had a UTI... not pretty.  I woke up one night burning up with a fever..  I hated to wake up my husband since he has to get up early to go to work, so I decided I'd go get some fever reducing medicine myself...  I felt a bit woozy while standing at the sink taking the medicine and had to hold on to the counter for a few minutes before I could walk back to the bedroom.  I got all the way to the little hall right before the bedroom door, before I started passing out..  So, as I'm sliding down the wall, I managed to weakly call for my husband...  thankfully, he wasn't sleeping as soundly as he did all those months when the babies cried at night ... hmmm...but that's another story... LOL
Anyway, he caught me before I hit the floor and well...  anyway, back to my previous story...
So, I was concerned.  Magenta hands and nails are kinda cool...peeing magenta is not.  {Blush}  I drank lots of water and prayed that I wasn't getting a UTI.  However, by nightfall, things had "cleared" up, so to speak...  :)  I was ecstatic!!  I had succeeded in flushing out the UTI!!  YES!
The next evening, I found myself alone again with the remaining 1/2 quart of pickled beets.  Mmmmm...sooo tasty...I slowly savored every last one.
The next day I woke up and OMGOSH!!  Magenta ~ and not on my hands and nails.  I was so darn perplexed.  I mean, you can't have a UTI one day...it go away for a day..and then just come back, can you?!?!?  And no fever!! How crazy is that???  Fear was starting to set in...I could even imagine that I felt some pain...and maybe I had a bit of a fever, too...  heck, I should probably already be on meds. 
And then ..epiphany!  Magenta.  Where had I seen magenta?  Ah, yes...the beets..and on my hands and nails...and then in the ...well, you know...  bathroom.  (Actually, my husband *might* have made this connection first....but only because I was really sick with a UTI...wait, I didn't actually have a UTI...well, I thought I did).. Oh man, I didn't have a UTI.  Which was good news.  Bad news was the amusement this gave my canning buddy...  :D  So, just so you know, in the future, when you can your beets and savor every bite...  when you wake up seeing magenta, you're okay...  :D

Warning: Transparent Posting Alert

I did eventually find some solitude...  although it wasn't on a mountain top, at dusk, with the breeze kissing my face...  it was hiding out in the barn, during a thunderstorm, watching the wind blow the tops of the pines...  either one works for me...  so long as there is solitude.  :)

As I sat, alone, musing over the intricacies of life, I was struck with the thought of how different a person I am from just this time last year.  Some of the changes I see as positive....some I am still contemplating ...

***  I am definitely not as uptight.  I don't hang on to as many fears and worries.

***  I have way less patience for "religion"...  of course, this is not to imply that I am "impatient" with it..  but rather have a lack of concern in general.  By "religion", I mean the motions, the rituals, the organization, the big band, the "right" way to do it.....

***  I am still idealistic and love "happy"...but I realize that underneath all the pretty colors lies a cold, hard steel.  I just figure you might as well brace yourself for the difficult stuff, but all the while savoring the kaleidoscope of colors.

***  I see people differently.  I am much more ready to overlook faults and differences.  As this applies to looking at my own person has been interesting.  Overlooking faults in others is more simple...it is their journey...their road.  But, my journey must be more closely observed, for it is...MY journey.  I find it hard to be content with my faults...but yet, I have finally come to the point where I find trying to be all things to all people is just absurd.  I'm still learning how to balance those two...  accepting personal faults while still striving to be what you want to be....  Allowing yourself to be human, but not losing your drive.  That is difficult for me.  I tend to want things to be one or the other.   Instead, it's a balancing act.

***  I don't know if I've always been this way regarding the next change or not...seems like I remember inclinations toward it...  My heart swells with the beauty I see in people - yet, I feel at any given moment, even a true friend would betray me if push came to shove.  It's weird... I am, therefore, both overjoyed and saddened by the beauty I see in others.  ...  Maybe as I've come to discover the light and dark in myself, it makes me more intensely aware of its existence in others.....  The existence of that beautiful, shining goodness that coexists with the baser, still, darkness...  Perhaps that is it...

***  I have come to view myself as human.  I know ...  that sounds ridiculous...but it has taken me 33 years to realize that, dare I say it????....  I deserve a few breaks, too.  I don't always have to be the one everybody counts on.  I'm human.  I make mistakes like everyone else and that doesn't mean I'm not acceptable....no...it means I'm human.

***  I have become both more content, and more discontent.  I am content to no longer argue anything theologically.  I just no longer feel I have answers that will hold water.   Besides, for every theological discussion, there is so much speculation.  I've grown tired of it.  I no longer feel the need to defend every little thing I was taught.  Heck, I don't even believe some of the things I was taught anymore.  And yet, I am more content that that some things are true and need no defense....and the things that are of the upmost importance... well, they stand strong without any input from me.
I am content with my daily life...  most days.  I like farm stuff and raising my children.  I like homeschooling....wouldn't have it any other way.  I like being married.
I have become discontent with mediocre emotion.  I like love out loud.  I appreciate emotion in full color....it calls to me....it is the rainbow of life.  This is not to say that I expect responsibility and levelheadedness to cease to exist.  - but just to live and love vibrantly...to let your heart expand and splash its contents joyously.

Sometimes...

I wish I could be high on a mountain at dusk...  looking out over the vast sea of treetops...  knees drawn to my chest...turning to let the light breeze kiss my face...and just let the silence speak to me.  Actually, I don't just wish it...I need it.  I'm the kind of person who has to have some quiet time of reflection.  I no longer function well if, on occasion, I don't steal away and allow my soul to breathe.  I am in need of that at the moment....  some time... to breathe....quietly...  soak in some peace...  get a little balm to soothe my heart...

(picture taken from the internet...)

Look What I Found in the Squash Patch

Guess what little beauty I found all hidden in the midst of the squash leaves...

Yep....it's one of mine...  my favorite kind of treasure...  :)

Just to See....

You know how I told you those potatoes started sprouting in the compost bin??

Well, here's another one sending out sturdy green stems ...

I left the pineapple top lying beside it...just to see, of course.... 

So far, no pineapple tree.... :D

Homesteading from the Ground Up

When my husband first bought this land...before we met....it was five acres of wooded wild. :)   He had a driveway cut down through the trees, and had about a half to three-fourths of an acre cleared off to put a home.  Two creeks wind their way across the property.  A culvert was put in to enable the driveway to cross the first creek.

I'm telling you this to tell you that we did not buy a ready made farm.  There was no pasture, no barn, no orchard, no fencing, no outbuildings....nothing.  When we got married, we started with a single wide and that was it.

Four years after we got married, Darren built a shed.  A small one ...out of odds and ends.  A short time later, he had gone to get a part for a lawnmower, and came home with two chickens.  I'm not sure exactly when we planted our first tiny garden, but I figure it was around this time.  And thus....began the making of our little homesteading venture.

Thirteen years after our marriage, we have moved out of the single wide (we have remained on the same land)  and we've been blessed with four beautiful children.

We now have around twenty chickens, two rabbits, five goats....and three kittens.  We have planted six apple trees, one pear tree, four blueberry bushes, one blackberry bush (in addition to the numerous wild blackberry bushes that grow with no help from us), and  two grapevines. 

Two medium sized gardens have been planted...  these have involved a lot of work.  When the land was cleared, the little bit of topsoil that was there, was scrapped off.  Our soil is very rocky and very much red clay. ...not very conducive to gardening.  Over the years, we've tossed rocks ...added compost (from our compost bins) ...added manure.....added leaves....added fertilizer...and added a lot of sweat, tears, and muttered oaths.  On a "normal" piece of land with good soil, we would not have had to expend near this much energy just getting things to grow.

In the beginning, the little shed was in the backyard, adjacent to the chicken coop.  There was also a clothesline...which I love having, by the way.  Love the smell of fresh, line dried sheets and clothing. However, the shed was moved farther back into the woods, and the clothesline was taken down ... to make room for the barn that was just completed.  We have yet to put up another clothesline...  we are running out of cleared land...  :)

The shed that was once a shed, we are planning to turn into a shelter for the goats.  At the moment, they sleep under a truck bed camper cover....I know, I know...that is lacking in true "homesteading" fashion, but you gotta do what you gotta do.  That's the thing about starting a farm from the ground up...  there are so many things to be done...you change your mind...you learn...you grow.... you move things around...  you decide there's a better way to do it...  you "wish" you would've put something in a different place but you just have to go with it sometimes.  It is a constant educational process and a constant progression of thought and decision.  And if we want more land cleared, it's a lot of work.  Seems like there's always so much work to do right now.  I imagine at some point in the future, when all the shelters have been made, and all the land cleared that we want cleared, and all the fencing put up that needs be... *then* it will shift over into maintenance and an occasional addition as we see fit or desire.  But until that point, I reckon it's just going to be work.

Currently, we are thinking about where we could conceivably put another garden spot....where the soil is good...  course you know the soil is better on the land that hasn't been cleared.... the land with all the trees...  yeah...we're going to chew on that one for a bit.......  :)

It's Bean Picking Time Again....

We had planned to pick our first harvest of green beans on Saturday.  We have two rows of bush beans, and two rows of 1/2 runners.  Every year when we plant, without fail, I say, "Let's plant some bush beans.  I really like to pick bush beans and they put on so well."  Every year.  And every year, after I've picked till the small of my back is screaming and my hamstrings are so tight they could play banjo in a bluegrass group, I say, "Let's do all 1/2 runners next year."....   Don't ask me why....I can't answer.  Perhaps I am a glutton for punishment??

Anyway, so Saturday morning, Darren had to work.  Hmmmm....funny how that worked out that way...  Okay, okay, I'm just kidding...  I know he *really* had to.  :)   So, I waited till about 10 am to start picking...because I am not a morning person...I like to piddle around in the morning... drink some cappuccino with creamer.... play on the computer... but once I get started, I'm good to go, make no mistake. 


Having had my cappuccino, I made my way outside, energized, and ready to pick.  I decided to start with the bush beans....do those while I was fresh and save the 1/2 runners for when I knew my back would be hurting.  As I began picking beans on the first row (which are 50 some feet long), I was in high spirits.  Isaac was "helping" me.  The questions flew out of his mouth like the bees buzzing by my head..... "Mom, what are you doing?"  "Mom, where is a bean?"  "Mom, where's my bucket?"  "Mom, what can I do?"  and from the opposite end of the row, "Mom!  I can't get to you!"  "Mom!  Will you get me?"  Finally, he got lost somewhere on the other side of the 1/2 runners tangled up in an okra plant that was enveloped in a pumpkin vine....  he decided to just stand still, cry, and wait to be rescued from the clutches of the garden plants. After this, he decided to go in the house and I got down to business.  If you've never picked beans before, especially the bush variety, you cannot totally appreciate the way the small of my back was starting to scream and burn in protest by the end of the row...seriously.  The plants were practically lying on the ground, so in order to pick them, you are pretty much standing on your head.   It was starting to really heat up outside too... not that I mind heat...no sirree...  as a matter of fact, I purposely waited a bit to start because I figured if you have to work in the garden and sweat anyway, shouldn't you get that added benefit of a tan??  :)


I was in such high spirits in the beginning of that first row...  I was answering Isaac's questions, laughing...  you know...just enjoying life in general and my time in the garden.  After about 75 ft... (meaning I was in the middle of the second row for those of you who struggle with math as I do...), my good mood evaporated with the rising sun...   Trouble was, my hamstrings were all knotty....and my back was hurting...  :D ....  so, Jacob comes outside asking for lunch... HELLO?!?!?!  Can't anyone see that mom is out in the garden working??  LOL.....   I managed to finish the second row of bush beans ...  I may have sat down and picked a time or two.... maybe....I'm not admitting anything for certain.  I say "picked"....let me fill you in on a little something about Tenderette bush beans, okay??  Those dang beans hold on to the plant for dear life.  I am not kidding.  Other beans ...like the 1/2 runners...you pick...you just gently pluck and it comes off in your hand.  Not the Tenderettes.  You grasp, you pluck...and then you pull...and then sometimes the plant comes up ...Well, maybe I did that one or two times on purpose...Oops!  Guess I won't be able to pick any more beans from *that* plant....  :D

Anyway, I picked about 12 gallons of beans from those first two rows and decided to come in and fix the kids lunch.  Here's a picture of the first 12 gallons:

 Darren came home and we went outside and proceeded to pick beans from the two remaining rows of green beans...the Mountaineer 1/2 runners... which are soooo much easier to pick.  :)  We got a total of 8 gallons from those...which you can see here:

 
Wow!  Guess what we spent the rest of the weekend doing?  You guessed it!  We sat around and drank sweet tea and watched movies.....Yeah, okay...really, we snapped, strung, and canned 49 quarts of green beans.  28 of those were regular and 21 were dilly beans.

Laughter **

I love the way kids laugh with abandon...seriously love it!!  I hope she always finds this much joy in life...  <3

Mini "Darthin" Vader

My little 2 year old Isaac in the cape I made for Jacob....he is pretending to be Darth Vader...only he stomps around and says in a ferocious voice, "Dar-thin' Vader, Dar-thin' Vader"....  :D

Food From the Compost Pile

Ok...I might as well go ahead and admit something to you....  I probably never would have made it as a die hard mountain woman.  No....wait...it makes me cringe to say that.  I could if I really wanted to.  I mean, you can do anything you put your mind to, right??  Providing you really have the desire ...  course maybe talent plays into that as well.  But if you don't have talent, you could always learn skill...  For crying out loud...let me get back to the post at hand...  (which reminds me of something funny I read recently:  "I suffer from ADOS, which is, Attention Deficit Ohhhhh! Shiny!!  - chuckle...  ahem.... back on topic)  Anyway, the reason I said I probably would have never made it as a die hard mountain woman is because I have these notions about food.  If it looks even slightly weird, off color, close to expiring, off flavor, nearing overly ripe, etc...I cannot eat it. Take for instance, bananas.  When they start getting slightly brown and soft, I can no longer stomach them.  My husband declares that this is when they are in their prime...and most flavorful...well, that's fine, honey, you go ahead and eat them.
Or say lunchmeat....I really don't like to smell meat anyway... so, if it's even questionable, I make my husband sniff it.  Sometimes I'm convinced it smells strange even when it isn't nearing the "best by" date.  I've thrown food out before just because there is a question as to its being prudent to consume.  Okay...that embarrasses me a tad....to think that I've made ya'll think I waste food.  Usually, if I must throw something out, I do it while my husband is at work...so I don't have to answer any questions about it.  :)  And usually, I don't throw it in the compost pile...I wrap it up in numerous Wal-Mart bags so he won't notice what it is when he takes off the trash.  LOL...  you know...like salsa jars that have dried salsa around the top and it just looks old...  and who knows if that stuff in there is going bad???
So, back to the topic....we have a compost pile.  We put all the vegetable cuttings, tea grounds, animal wastes, etc in there and then use it on the garden.  Well, there were some potatoes in there.  If I was a die hard mountain woman, I probably would have used them, okay???  So, just shoot me now for wasting food when there are people all over the world who would give their eye teeth for some flimsy, wrinkled old potatoes.  At any rate, I was going to the compost bin one day, to throw away what I am sure was legitimate scraps :D when I noticed some potatoes sprouting....in the compost bin!  I immediately began stewing over this....I mean, I had *always* wanted to grow potatoes.  We did grow sweet potatoes one year ..but they aren't hiding underground like white potatoes.  I remembered from my youth, my dad digging potatoes.  Seemed like I remembered it being like a treasure hunt!!  And Ohhhhh!  Shiny!!!  do I love treasure hunts...  :D
Now I knew somewhere in the back of my mind, that you are supposed to cut off the eyes, and just plant those; but, I figured hey....there are three big growing potatoes that look to be thriving....why not just shovel the entire thing up...leave the compost stuck to the bottom...and transplant it in the garden???  And then stand back and see what it does??  So, I proceeded to take three plants and snug them in the lower part of the garden so they'd be in no one's way.  I wasn't sure they'd live, but I was so excited to give it a try.

This is a picture of the just transplanted potatoes...from compost pile to garden...

I kept watching the new little plants...encouraging them on and they continued to grow....

I was definitely impressed with their progress...  After we noticed that these plants were actually growing, we went back to the compost pile and found a few more potatoes that were growing...  we ended up planting 12 more plants...and just so you know...all of those weren't whole potatoes, ok??  I didn't throw out an entire bag...  Anyway....  LOL....

I walked out to the garden one day and noticed, to my immense pleasure, that my sweet little potato plant had flowers!!!!!  I had heard that when the flowers die, you can go looking for some potatoes...I've never in my life wanted a flower to wilt so bad....  :D
Finally, the day came....okay, so not all the flowers had died, but I was impatient!!!  I couldn't wait to dig up my first potato....  I got my camera ready...of course :)  and headed off to the garden.  I began digging...gently moving the dirt aside, and wonder of wonders...be still my beating heart...I saw my very own home grown potato..... 

How cool is that????  Look at them just growing right there underground!!!  It amazes me....  :)

So, it wasn't baked potato size....I'm not sure it would even qualify as tater tot size...but I was proud of the four potatoes we harvested.  I sliced off a *thin* slice of each one and we all reveled in the fascination of our treasure.  :)  Here's a pic of our first potatoes:

 LOL!!!  Aren't they adorable???

Ok...a week or so later, I went back out and tried again...this time with more luck!!  I actually had enough to make a pot full of boiled potatoes for our supper!!!

Look at those babies!!!  We're getting serious now!  :)
So, if you think about it...there's a moral to this story.  In the beginning, it might have *appeared* that I was being wasteful, but look how many potatoes we will be able to harvest eventually from 15 plants!!!  I actually did us a favor throwing out those old wrinkled potatoes....LOL  :D

Good Intentions

Have you ever been faced with the idea that maybe some of your best intentions turned out to be your greatest failures??  It's a nasty notion, to be sure.  You begin whatever it is ....you're smiling.....you've got the world in your pocket....  there is only sunshine.  You are under the assumption that (whatever it is) is getting the best you have to offer.  And then.... you happen to glance up from your busyness for a second and to your utter dismay, it has all gone awry.  Have you ever had that happen to you??!?!  How can good intentions result in failure??  And how can it be prevented??  Is the answer more concentrated focus on the task at hand?  Actually, I don't have the answers....I'm going to have to mull it over some more....... 

Some moments in life make my breath catch ....like seeing the gentle curve in the back of my baby's neck...watching the breeze play in his wispy curls.....  the angelic roundness of his little cheek....the soft flutter of his lashes ...  this brings me such a deep joy and truly makes my heart swell with happiness...

Ever wish you could just sit outside in the rain and let it wash your cares away??  Yeah .....me too.

Ah....the fragrance of a peony.....

Love everything going on in this picture....