Busy, Busy, Busy

Top of Wind Chimes in my garden.

Wind Chimes I bought in
Oregon.

I get up in the morning and it seems I have a million tasks to perform so I tell myself that I'll blog in the evening; but then I'm so tired I can't think straight so I just go to bed.

Last night I was up until 2:18 am pressure canning my grandma's recipe for cabbage soup. I made the mistake of quadrupling her recipe. Now mind you, my grandmother was cooking for a family of 10 - they were Mennonite. When you start with a 5-gallon pot full of soup it takes awhile just to get it to boil. I didn't start until about 12:30 pm since I spent the morning in the garden harvesting and pulling weeds. After which I had to clean and refrigerate the harvest. I was tired before I started.

This morning I didn't wake up at the crack of dawn and finish weeding the garden as planned and now it is too hot. I think I will just write a little.

My last blog was anticipating my trip to visit my friend JoAnn in St. Helen's, Oregon and then on to my daughter's in Bremerton, Washington. The trip was enjoyable to say the least and went by way too fast. JoAnn and I ran out of time before we ran out of things to do. Now I have an excuse to go back. JoAnn loves to journal so I got her started with her own blog. We visited Blue Heron Herbary where I spent money on goodies and plants. We visited the Chinese Gardens in Portland where I got some neat pictures and had some really good tea. We got lost on the way there due to navigator (that's me) error. I used Google Maps for directions without knowing the address and we ended up at a closed Chinese restaurant. That evening we went to visit JoAnn's daughter, Amy under guise of a Tupperware party where I spent a little more money. Then on Saturday, we went to Powell's Books in Portland where I bought several books. My cheap trip on saved airline miles was getting expensive and I still had several days to go. Besides it was fun and I knew my frugal daughter would keep me from spending money. The best part of my trip was visiting. It was great to see my friend of 29 years and catch up. It was fun barbecuing with Misty, Richard, Madelyn, Becca, Jesse and Jesse's brother Jordan. And it was wonderful just having hours of time to talk with my daughter. She's so far away. (To see the rest of my pictures visit my Facebook album.)

Becca, Jesse, Madelyn, Misty, Jordan & Richard checking
out the 3D television.

After a week from home, I had plenty to do when I returned; but I was tired and took the weekend to recuperate. (I was also a little down after the high of seeing everyone.) But a garden waits for no man and there was work to do. I transplanted some seedlings I had started. Seeded new peppers that never came up. I harvested beet seeds, peas, green beans, cabbage and green onion. I tied up tomato plants. I also wanted to make some cotton dish cloths, but I didn't want them to be plain, unbleached so I hand died them.

Elder Blossom Jelly

Last Sunday my husband and I went for a Jeep ride to Eshom Pond. We wanted to check and see what the fishing situation was and just enjoy the drive. I took pictures of wildflowers - lots of pictures. Then on the way home David took me by "my" Elderberry patch and I picked both Elder blossoms and ripe Elderberries off the same bushes. Ain't that a kick. That meant Monday I was cleaning berries and blossoms. I dried three quarters of the blossoms and used 4 cups to make Elder Blossom Jelly. The dried blossoms will go into my special blend of Becca's Tea. I also purchased a flat of Boysenberries and made up some seedless jam. On Monday I also pressure canned 11 jars of Chicken soup. I still have the Elderberries to process. I think I'll make my Elderberry Syrup; it's better than Airborne for preventing a cold. I'll also make jelly. Then I have to deal with the cherries and strawberries in my freezer. I made Cherry Jam, Cherry/Strawberry Preserves, and Black Forest Preserves before I left on vacation, but I ran out of time to use all the cherries up so I still want to try making a Cherry BBQ Sauce.

Whew, that is not where I intended to go with this blog. You may wonder why all the gardening and canning? Well I never was a girl scout or boy scout, but I believe in being prepared. Our economy is very shaky right now and I am currently out of work. Anything I can do to help save money is a good thing. Also, the big farm conglomerates are adding so many chemicals to our food that I prefer to have at least a little control over what I eat. I can't be totally self-sufficient since I live on a large city block; but I can make the best of what I do have. I'm starting to jokingly call it My Five Acre Farm.

My friend JoAnn gave me a book entitled Into the Forest. The story tells of two teenage girls who are left to fend for themselves when their parents die. The economy has collapsed. There is no gasoline, electricity, phone or internet. They live in the forest on their own and are running out of food. They do not have the knowledge to live off the land or fend for themselves. I do not want to be like these girls. I want to be prepared as much as possible. If I never have need of these skills and knowledge at least it's been a fun learning process.