If only I had chickens

It's a toss up this time of year:  either the woodchucks and squash bugs have gone through the garden like Sherman's March to the Sea or, if I am fortunate, I have dodged those bullets and now it starts - the avalanche of produce.

I begin to remember (cause I do already know) that even two people cannot eat enough green beans from an 8 foot row as fast as they can grow.  Leave out the Swiss Chard and the potential for zucchini which rarely goes unfulfilled!

It's really too early in the season to think about canning the overflow - at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  So the plan is to eat as much as we can and try to find homes for the extra.  So far my friends and neighbors haven't started avoiding me so it's working.

I love going out to the garden and deciding what is on the menu for supper:  no tomatoes yet but plenty of other things that go in a salad.  This year I even have one plant of the small sweet peppers (the colored ones) that are good for salads or, perhaps stuffed with cheese, used for snacking.

Also planted one Ancho/Poblano pepper - I really have no clue what to do with these peppers and I'd better figure it out cause they are coming soon!

Last night a new recipe for the Swiss Chard.  Usually I just steam or boil it.  Wonderful with butter and salt and pepper.  This time I tried sauteing it: simmered some smashed garlic in olive oil and added the chopped up chard ribs.  Cooked until tender, tossed in the chopped up leaves along with some red pepper flakes and slapped on the cover.  Once the leaves were wilted added just a splash of red wine vinegar and there was the side dish, ready to go!

At that point the green beans were steamed and the chicken breast was done on both sides - grilled in olive oil with spices to a crispy outside and tender inside.

So most of my supper came from the garden and more will as time and woodchucks allow.




Now, if only I had chickens it could have all come from the back yard!

I wonder how woodchuck broils up?

P.S.  Definitely not a shortage of lettuce these days either!

I did tell you - lettuce practically grows itself (in the absence of woodchucks and rabbits!)

Sharing

I have shared with this one neighbor several of my "extra" vegetables along with over-runs of jam and/or test drives of pickles and relishes.  Was never sure if they were taking the things to be polite or if they really enjoyed them.

The other day the husband showed up at my door with a flat of nectarines for me!  And when I offered to pay for at least some of the cost here was his answer:

It would take all the pleasure out of giving were I to take any money from you so that’s that. The flats are oddly not all that expensive and, quite honestly, if I was looking to save money I wouldn’t be shopping at Trader Joe’s. Besides, you can’t put a price on the delicious things you make so that makes us even (with a big edge going to you since you make the best-est stuff ever.) I think this sharing thing is going to work out just fine but I’ll need to up my game if I’m going to stay in contention. 

My message this time is go ahead and share if you have extra anything:  produce, crafts, time or just simply your company.  Cause you never know how valuable it may be to the one you are sharing with!

Just do it!

Same old drum

I've been trying really hard to think of a new way to say the same old things.  Decided to just get that tattered drum out and beat it some more.

As adults in an ever changing environment - whether we're talking about politics or weather -  there are a few things we need to be doing to

Take

Care

of ourselves!

It's not up to the government - local or otherwise

It's not up to your neighbors (although we should be helping them)

It's up to us to take care of ourselves.

As always, I'm not talking about plowing up the back 40 (even if there IS a back 40) and laying in enough gardens to feed the county.

Not talking about storing enough water to float an ark if the rain gets bad enough.

Not even talking about enough long term storage food to feed that aforesaid county.

I'm just saying:

We should (need to) have enough non-perishable food for at least a few days.  Doesn't have to be fancy - just doesn't need refrigeration.

We need to have at least a gallon of water per family member (don't forget Fido) per day for a week.  Remember:  what's in your hot water heater is there in a pinch.  And you don't need fancy containers - refill ones that you are emptying - like soda or juice bottles.

We should have at least basic first aid supplies and a working knowledge of how to use them.  It's a sort of joke (not really) that when seconds count, emergency services are minutes away. In reality our actions in those first seconds can have a huge impact - so all of us need to know some basics.

None of us can protect against global warming or an EMP strike out of nowhere so there's not a lot of sense in losing sleep over it - but we can be as ready as possible to take care of ourselves and our families in at least a short term emergency.   I'm sure that most people out west didn't expect wildfires to the extent that they are flaring up this year, nor did any of the many flash flood victims think that they would be cut off from "town" for days in the aftermath of a storm.

So please take a look around your house and acknowledge that either (a) you are in good shape for most of these items or (b) you need to make some positive steps towards being ready to cope with at least a short term emergency situation.  Easy enough to do once you take the first step!

Then you can go back and pick that lettuce that I KNOW you have planted - right?  😇