Thursday, July 30, 2009
Someone explain this to me: homelessness is on the rise, shelters are at capacity and food banks are low on food. How is that when I have green beans and other vegetables coming out my ears that these same shelters and food banks tell me "We don't take perishables" or make the drop off times so obscure that there is no way I could donate food. If someone can understand this, fill me in because I certainly don't.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Not So Lazy After All
After I posted the last blog the sun came out and I felt that I should at least go look at the garden. I found I had more cucumbers ready and those, with the ones I picked last weekend gave me enough for a batch of pickles. Two years ago I planted cucumbers and made pickles until I wanted to scream (and I don't even like pickles) and I still have 16 quarts each of bread and butter and sweet pickles. I also make dill and for whatever reason people love my dill pickles and I never have enough to give out- I'm not fishing for a compliment, I really don't know why people like them so much considering I use a pre-mixed pouch and just add vinegar and water. Anyone can do it. So today I made a batch of dill pickles. Now I can say I was a little productive this weekend.
A Very Lazy Weekend
The weather was very cool this weekend (upper 60's) and the cooler it gets, the less motivation I seem to have. But don't worry, I kept myself entertained- I went and saw 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' (quite good, much better than HP5) and I caught up on my new favorite television show, 'True Blood'. I daresay I enjoy it as much as (if not a little more) than 'Twilight'.
I know that's blasphemous, but it's true.
That was really all I accomplished. I didn't mow, I didn't work in the garden, I didn't do laundry, I didn't do a lot of anything...and I enjoyed myself immensely.
I know that's blasphemous, but it's true.
That was really all I accomplished. I didn't mow, I didn't work in the garden, I didn't do laundry, I didn't do a lot of anything...and I enjoyed myself immensely.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
First Harvest!
Our garden has finally started producing! I was getting a little burned out, weeding for house every week and nothing to show for it. Today I got a bucket of green beans, beets (not enough to pickle, so I'm not sure what I will do with them( and a few cucumbers. I should be able to make dill pickles in the next couple of weeks. Here's our first harvest (somewhat artfully displayed):
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
When is Jam Not Jam?
When it turns into a sauce. That's what happened last night in my second attempt at cherry jam. Last year I discovered that I had a cherry tree (after I made Art try one of the cherries to make sure they were edible) and I tried to make some cherry jam. It never thickened and so I just used it as a cherry sauce- quite tasty on vanilla ice cream. So this year I added twice the amount of pectin and while it's a little thicker than last years' batch, it's still more of a thick sauce than a jam. I'm not sure if it's because I used powdered pectin as opposed to liquid. Oh well, it will still be good on ice cream and cake!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Pictures from the Cabin
Here are some pictures of our trip up North:
The main fireplace in the cabin
The bunk house
The cabin
Monday, July 6, 2009
Cabin Fever
We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend in Bemidji, MN! Art and I hadn't been up there in a few years and we were ready for a nice vacation.
About a hundred years ago or so my great-grandfather built a log cabin on the island for his gun club. After they disbanded he, my great-grandmother and their kids (my grandfather and his two sisters) still used it and built a few other small buildings; the bunk-house, which has two single beds (made from birch logs) and Three Bears which is a smaller, one room cabin. The old ice house is still there but, unfortunately, is beginning to fall in on itself and there is also an outhouse- only Art, my uncle John and my grandfather use the outhouse. It's a two seater, but why I'm not really sure. The island itself is about six acres but 60% of it is poison ivy. There are northern pines, birch, and cedar trees that, in the spring and summer, makes everything so green and dense. They didn't get electricity or running water until the sixties or seventies; before that there was the lake for bathing, the outhouse for doing your business, a wood stove in the kitchen for cooking and oil lamps for light. My mom, her siblings, and cousins would go up every summer when they were growing up. While most of the Twin Cities heads that direction on the weekends, when you have your own island you don't have to worry about congestion or tourists.
Art and I arrived Thursday afternoon (it's about a 10 hour drive). My parents had been up there for about a week already and my aunt, uncle, two cousins and their kids and dogs came up on Friday. We had a wonderful time tubing, wake boarding, BBQing and just relaxing. We love it because it's so quiet and you can sit on the front porch, watch the sunset and listen to the loons- we haven't relaxed this much in forever, it seems. We did take 2 1/2 hours one morning to do some work: there are paths all over the island and over the last year some trees had fallen, blocking the paths. Art, my mom, and I went around the paths cutting up the trees, loading them in the wagon and taking them back up to the cabin to eventually be used as firewood. I wish I could say we did more, but we really didn't (and I don't even feel bad about that!)
We also took one morning to go into town- the boys went garage-saleing and the girls took our traditional trip to see the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox and to stop at "the Moccasin Store", aka "Morrels" which is just a touristy shop that we have gone to every year since I was little (and my mom before me).
We arrived home Monday late afternoon, glad to be home but also wishing we could have stayed longer. We've already decided to take more time next year and to bring the dogs. We debated bringing them, Buddy would have been fine in the car and would have had a great time with the other three, but Linda is old and crotchety and doesn't do too well with other dogs that want to play with her (plus she's a spaz in the car). We didn't want to take Buddy and have Linda get lonely, so they both stayed home. Maybe next year!
I came home tanned, with a few bug bites but without poison ivy (as yet, sometimes it takes a few days...) and it's back to the grindstone tomorrow! I'll post pictures later this week.
About a hundred years ago or so my great-grandfather built a log cabin on the island for his gun club. After they disbanded he, my great-grandmother and their kids (my grandfather and his two sisters) still used it and built a few other small buildings; the bunk-house, which has two single beds (made from birch logs) and Three Bears which is a smaller, one room cabin. The old ice house is still there but, unfortunately, is beginning to fall in on itself and there is also an outhouse- only Art, my uncle John and my grandfather use the outhouse. It's a two seater, but why I'm not really sure. The island itself is about six acres but 60% of it is poison ivy. There are northern pines, birch, and cedar trees that, in the spring and summer, makes everything so green and dense. They didn't get electricity or running water until the sixties or seventies; before that there was the lake for bathing, the outhouse for doing your business, a wood stove in the kitchen for cooking and oil lamps for light. My mom, her siblings, and cousins would go up every summer when they were growing up. While most of the Twin Cities heads that direction on the weekends, when you have your own island you don't have to worry about congestion or tourists.
Art and I arrived Thursday afternoon (it's about a 10 hour drive). My parents had been up there for about a week already and my aunt, uncle, two cousins and their kids and dogs came up on Friday. We had a wonderful time tubing, wake boarding, BBQing and just relaxing. We love it because it's so quiet and you can sit on the front porch, watch the sunset and listen to the loons- we haven't relaxed this much in forever, it seems. We did take 2 1/2 hours one morning to do some work: there are paths all over the island and over the last year some trees had fallen, blocking the paths. Art, my mom, and I went around the paths cutting up the trees, loading them in the wagon and taking them back up to the cabin to eventually be used as firewood. I wish I could say we did more, but we really didn't (and I don't even feel bad about that!)
We also took one morning to go into town- the boys went garage-saleing and the girls took our traditional trip to see the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox and to stop at "the Moccasin Store", aka "Morrels" which is just a touristy shop that we have gone to every year since I was little (and my mom before me).
We arrived home Monday late afternoon, glad to be home but also wishing we could have stayed longer. We've already decided to take more time next year and to bring the dogs. We debated bringing them, Buddy would have been fine in the car and would have had a great time with the other three, but Linda is old and crotchety and doesn't do too well with other dogs that want to play with her (plus she's a spaz in the car). We didn't want to take Buddy and have Linda get lonely, so they both stayed home. Maybe next year!
I came home tanned, with a few bug bites but without poison ivy (as yet, sometimes it takes a few days...) and it's back to the grindstone tomorrow! I'll post pictures later this week.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
ok, ok...
I have been catching some flack lately for not updating my blog (you know who you are, Harry) I'm sorry. I just don't think anyone cares that I spent yet another weekend weeding the garden and mowing the lawn. But good news! Art and I are headed up to my family's cabin in Bemidji, MN so I will have much to share next week. Have a wonderful 4th of July!
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