Rewarding Venture

Success! My third fermentation is my creation and a success. Next project? Hopefully it will be cauliflower florets. The local farm market is displaying them and I'll probably use my same mixture or perhaps use white vinegar instead of the apple cider variety so the brine won't be so dark. I think now that I'm getting the knack of using my beautiful pot! I did have to add a bit of water to the lid grove during its three week fermentation period.

Geraldine’s Fermented Pickled Asparagus
Friday, June 5, 2020

About 20 fresh asparagus spears. Cut tips with 3 inch stems. Cut to 1 1/2 inch pieces. You will then have a mixture of short tips and stalk pieces. *

Mix together:

3 T. Turbinado cane sugar (sugar in the raw)

1 1/4 C apple cider vinegar

1 T. natural sea salt

1/4 tsp. celery seed

1/4 tsp. dill seed

1 tsp. whole black peppercorn

10 whole cloves

(I would have added mustard seed but was out of it.)

Heat all ingredients on low, stirring to dissolve sugar completely.

Place asparagus pieces in fermentation pot and cover with above warm mixture. Place weights on top and push down. Cover and add water to pot groove.

Ferment for about three weeks. Jar up and keep refrigerated.

*The remainder of asparagus stalks may be sliced,  cooked, pureed and made into cream of asparagus soup!

Finished June 27, 2020 and is PERFECTLY DELICIOUS! Crunchy, pickled, and pleasantly flavorful!

Recipe created by GMR

OW!

This is all about me and the "Golden Years."  I have PAD. For years a heart murmur has been evident and now, at age 84, the blood is getting down in my legs but not being pumped back up properly. This means that I often have edema in my ankles and feet. I don't do walking like others because of sciatica that has been pervasive for many years. Lately I've noticed difficulty getting up and down from a sitting position - anywhere. I have had to lean far forward and brace my left hand between my legs on the chair and my right arm on the table or something else near by. The right shoulder pain has increased over the past year since my usual local orthopedist has left the practice here. I used to go for steroid injections every eight weeks in the shoulder and sciatic area. They worked. Now, daily I take the highest limit of Tylenol Extra Strength Arthritis that is recommended, and it helps - a little.

Would you believe that my left knee gave out one evening as I attempted to get up from the chair and I fell forward to the floor? What a shock. I'm always careful when walking, to watch where I'm going and my mantra has been "do not fall" since I shattered my shoulder in 2012. What a time the Mister had when he helped me get back up and on the chair again. I didn't think I was hurt and had no obvious injury. After a couple of days I asked a friend to borrow her mother's extra walker as it was still very difficult to get up and down from sitting. After five days my entire leg, especially the knee area, was very painful when I bore weight on it when walking; so bad that I finally called my family doctor for an appointment and I see him today. Right now I'm wearing a wide ace bandage on the area above my knee and it seems to help but bearing weight on that leg is very painful. I'm using the walker totally to get around and it helps relieve the anxiety of another fall and gets some of the weight off of that leg.

DANG!

Another Batch of Soup and Cabin Project

Asparagus, that is.  Made it same way as before on June 6.  See link below.... There is no better soup than what is made from fresh vegetables right out of the local farmer's field! This is superb, if I don't say so myself!

Green Soup

And the new gutters and downspouts were installed today. 2020 cabin project is now completed except that the snow guards on the roof still need to be added (before winter!). These act to slow the snow and ice from sliding off all at once.

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Chive Blossom Vinegar

It's R E A D Y !!!! It's really pretty! Two weeks ago I prepared my infusion. Yesterday I strained and bottled it. The yield was just over one cup. I only did a small amount but am anxious to try it. This morning I wasn't sure if it needed to be refrigerated - it doesn't and should last. This is how I know from the website below. "Strain out the blossoms and store the finished chive blossom vinegar in your cabinet. It should last many months!"

Here are pictures.

(I already had a bottle and a bag of corks - perfect!)

This is not the link I used to create mine, but it is a good one!
Click below.

How To Make This

Father's Day

Daddy was a “Doer.” He did many things but most of all I remember his ability to refurbish, fix, repair, chop, mop, hang, stretch, cut … well you get the idea. He was always working at or on something and no moss ever grew under his feet. As we kids watched him when he was home, we learned how to use screwdrivers, hammers, awls, wrenches, pliers, soldering irons, saws, drills, levels, hand planers, Allen keys, grinders, sanders, snips, vises, chisels, wire cutters, files, measuring tapes, putty knives and I absolutely could go on and on! We still have several of his ancient tools here in the cabin, including three old ladders, short, medium and long. His gardening tools included lopers, clippers, and a bug pump style sprayer not counting a large assortment of rakes, spades, edgers, picks and shovels. He never had a power mower when we were younger and kept the push mower’s blades very sharp! He fixed our bikes constantly. He made us stilts and fenced in my horses. His cabin flyswatter has been retired to the front porch wall.

If it broke, he would fix it - somehow - right or wrong it would be fixed, even if he had to “jury rig” it. “Putter Pop” was  trial and error and succeeder when it came to plumbing, carpentry, electrical, and I think his best friend was black sticky electrical tape!

I miss him.
I treasure my memories of him. 

He was a gentle man and a gentleman.

Recent Family Activities

Grandson's girlfriend caught this 17" - 3 lb. bass the other evening when they came over to go fishing in the boat. She also caught another and as she was reeling it in the resident snapping turtle tried to grab it away. It was an exciting evening for sure! They don't keep their catches and throw them back. She took these photos.

More news came from a grandson in NJ who has just been accepted to the University of Tampa for his continuing education. I don't know who took the picture and didn't ask him if I could use it so I cropped it a little!

A granddaughter is honing in her art skills. This is a pretty one!

This Muscovy duck wandered into my daughter's yard and she has no idea where it came from! It looks to me as if it has had a rough time! Missy also tells me that a great blue heron is stealing her Koi fish right out of her backyard pond!

A NJ daughter moved into a smaller home and had a 64th birthday. She's been VERY busy! 

Our local daughter joined her for the celebration. She just turned 60.

And the twins are doing well.

That's enough catchup for today. 

Don't forget to click on image to view larger

Up and Down and All Around

Look up, look down, look all around and be thankful for what you see and feel. The corn is up, the hay is down, many flowers can be found. Don’t forget to smell the daisies!

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(I chose only 18 of 50 images to give you the idea of how beautiful it is here!)

The Progress Continues Part II

Another gorgeous day! I went out and about for a couple of hours and upon return see that our new roof is growing larger. When riding around in the countryside on the golf car, I took over 50 pictures of the surrounding area and my countryside. Now to sort through these. What a wonderful ride I  had! Look for what I saw in an upcoming blog. In the meantime, here are the men with today's accomplishments.

In the beginning.... (early morning)

Then I left for a countryside golf car rideabout...

and returned for lunch

and then at 4:30 this was what I saw...

Next there will be new front gutters installed on both sides. 

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