a day off

With summer in full swing, the Mister and I decided to take a day off from all the busyness and head to Seattle for a little adventure. 

 There were no cows or chickens to tend to. Only coffee cups to refill.

As a former truck driver, my Mister didn't mind the almost 3 hour drive.

There were no meals to prepare, but during one of our many pit stops, we gained a new appreciation for bacon. And the possibilities...

Hand dryer in a truck stop restroom~which explains the poor spelling. "I" before "E", except after "C"!

We captured moments on film...mainly because we were clean.

Me and my Minnie-me, Valerie

 We saw some famous landmarks,

The Space Needle

 

and we shopped 'til we dropped at one of the oldest farmer's markets around.

Right on the waterfront, Pike's Place market opened in 1907!

Tomorrow, the firewood stacking, fence-mending, chicken tractor moving, cow stall building, and garden watering will still be waiting for us.

My bouquet of sunflowers, dahlias, coreopsis, sweet peas, and baby's breath only cost $10~and I got the pleasure of watching the young vendor put it all together. Pure talent.

And we'll be ready.

So Long Johnny. There's a New Salt in Town.

Once upon a time, I enjoyed a good barbecued steak. There were certain things I could count on when cooking that steak, such as; the beef was always grass-fed from our farm, it was always cooked until the cow had just stopped mooing, and the steak was always shared with someone special named Johnny. 

Those were the good ol' days.

When I found out about my food allergies, our way of barbecuing had to change. And so did my special partner. See Johnny was no good for me. Oh sure, he made me feel itchy and tingly all over, but he also caused an ache in my belly that would last for days. I loved him, but all he knew how to do was hurt. So I ended my lifetime love affair with Johnny. Cold turkey. I'm not saying it was easy or it happened overnight, but somewhere in the aftermath, something started to change. I realized that I didn't need to be in a relationship with an abusive seasoning full of soy, wheat, and random fillers. I needed the real deal.

The back of the Johnny's Seasoning Salt bottle says "Pure Magic." Then it lists the ingredients: salt, sugar, paprika, pepper, dehydrated garlic, soy sauce powder (made with soybeans, wheat, salt, and malto-dextrin), cellulose gel, and citric acid.

I wonder if the magic is in the genetically modified soybeans, the cellulose gel, or the malto-dextrin. (For the record, I looked up cellulose gel and was assured that it is vegan, so that's one less thing to worry about when barbecuing meat.☺)

This new relationship is so simple. There are no funky ingredients and you can name your bottle of salt whatever you like. I'm calling mine Steve. 

And I'm sure we'll live happily ever after...

Somebody forgot to add the pepper.

~ Steve Just Seasoned Salt ~

3 Tb. sea salt

2 Tb. garlic powder

1 Tb. onion powder

1 Tb. coarse black pepper

2 Tb. paprika

1 Tb. sugar

pinch of cayenne pepper

Mix together. Store in a dry covered container.

Enjoy!

~The End~

the long hot not-so-lazy days of summer

Before we can think about vacations, barbecues, and berry-picking trips to the island, we have to deal with the once-a-year H word first. 

Hay.

Since summer doesn't begin until July 5, haying season begins on July 6. You never know how long a stretch of dry weather will last around here, so it's best to jump right in.

The Mister working out the fine details with neighbor Chuck.

We had seasoned "pros"...

Tanner packing a rogue bale that fell off the truck

I may or may not have been responsible for the hay bales jumping off the truck. Oops.

Son-in-love, Ben, showing he has a farmer side ~ even though he denies it!

We had 1 who graduated from rolling the bales, to being able to lift the bales.

Matt finally weighs more than the bales!

We even had a first-timer. Poppa let her drive...

...but Maddie's real passion was honking the horn. 

Which she did every 5 seconds. 

The Mister built a nifty hay stacker with supplies he found around the shop. It made easy work of getting the hay up into the loft.

As the sun sets on another successful hay season, we can finally start the resting and relaxing part of summer.

Well, at least until Friday when our blueberry season officially begins.

It's a good life.

"Does this make me look fat?"

Don't tell Tilly, but I think she's starting to look a little...how do I put this delicately?...fat.

Besides her extra girth, she's growing in other places too.

"I beg your pardon!"

Having missed the first of several possible due dates, we're now shooting for due date #2~July 28.

I just hope she doesn't become too self-conscious with all of the gawking going on at her back end.☺

The Farmgirl vs. The Slugs

In the life of a real farmgirl, nothing goes according to plan. Regardless of the amount of time spent building a fence, there's always that one animal that will tear through it in a matter of seconds. There will always be an unexpected trip to the feed store, and the garden that looked so nice the night before, can become a distant memory before dawn.

But, these are the challenges that make me want to keep striving toward the goal. The goal of self-sufficiency, the dream of less trips to town, and the hope that one day I'll get it right.

Because we live in the Pacific Northwest, we get a lot of rain. And by a lot, I mean we usually beat our previous year's record rainfall. Every month. Most of us have webbed feet, and wonder if our efforts would be better served building an ark rather than tackle another wet and unproductive gardening year. When the sun does eventually come out, our growing season is considerably shorter than the rest of the country, and not without it's own set of challenges.

I'm talking about slugs. Slimy creatures whose entire life's purpose is to challenge gardeners. I'm already working on a set of questions for God when I enter those pearly gates. First and foremost, (well, after I'm done answering questions anyway) we're going to talk about slugs. And flies. And mosquitoes. (I'm sure He has a purpose for them, I would just like to know what that purpose is.)  

There was a time when my aversion to slugs was non-existent. In fact, there was a time when I thought slugs appeared to be quite tasty. At the ripe old age of 2, I decided to test that theory. I don't recall being rushed to the hospital by my frantic young mother, but I do know that these days, whenever I see a slug, or even the slime of the slug trail, my gag reflex goes into overdrive. To say that I hate the slimy little creatures would be a gross understatement to how I really feel.

And they know it.

The "remains" of a jalapeno plant.

Maybe it's retribution for what they feel I did to their ancestors. Maybe they hold me personally responsible for all of the Morton's salt that has been spilled. Or maybe the scream heard 'round the world, caused their fight or flight mode to kick into overdrive. 

They should've run when they had the chance.

The pepper cemetery

See, slugs don't know everything. Sure, they know how to sneak out under the cover of darkness, and annihilate my plants. But they don't know about Google or Facebook. After posing the question of what natural slug deterrents other people use, I was gifted with many options. Some of which were; sprinkling diatomaceous earth around the plants, providing beer for the slugs drinking pleasure, the old salt trick, spreading fine hemlock bark dust in the beds, adding crushed egg shells in order to cut the underside of the slugs, and copper, because slugs don't appreciate it as much as gourmet chefs do. My original weapon of choice was beer. But then the dogs found it. I do not want to live with the guilt of turning my dogs into lushes. So I turned to choice number 2; copper.

Don't use wire cutters~tin snips are the only way to go!

Copper tape, to be exact. It is found in the pipe section of home improvement stores. (Back of the store, on the right~Thank you Kim!)

For around $2.50/10 ft. roll, I was able to wrap copper tape around all 10 of my pepper plants, and the remaining cucumber and zucchini plants. A second roll will be enough to tape off the entire lettuce bed.

Which is where the slugs moved after The Great Pepper Party of 2012.

I only have 2 words now.

Game. On.

This post is linked to The Morristribe's Homesteader Carnival 
and
The Homestead Barn Hop.

Happy 4th of July!

Really, this should say it all. Unless you live in my neck of the woods.

And you like cardboard.

1st place~2 years in a row!

Especially floating cardboard with cute boys in it. (I may be biased, but the captain really rocks my world.☺)

My Mister is the one holding the 1st place statue~which incidentally, was made of cardboard.

Congratulations to the Peacehealth (hospital) crew for their exciting 1st place finish in the annual Cardboard Boat Regatta! 

 

Cinnamon Spiced Granola

I'm not much of a cereal eater, but I do appreciate a good granola from time to time. Store-bought granola might be tasty, but have you ever stopped to read the labels on the box? While meandering down the cereal aisle, I decided to look for an acceptable alternative to homemade granola. Something that could take the place of our homemade in an emergency; did not contain gluten, and wasn't made with a bunch of genetically modified, processed ingredients.

After 30 minutes, I gave up.

Because I ran out of boxes to read.

Maybe I'm a granola snob, but I know what I like. I know what my kids like. And I know what won't make them sick in the long run. If we are going to eat healthy, whole foods 80% of the time, I would rather not waste our remaining 20% on crappy cereal that holds no nutritional value. 

Not when granola is so easy to make at home.

Our old stand-by granola has been Fruity-Coco-Nutty Granola. I've been making it for at least 10 years. Which means that it lost it's WOW factor back in 2003. Then we discovered Almond Joy Granola which turned into a "life is short, eat dessert first" kind of breakfast cereal. The Almond Joy Granola is perfect on ice cream, but not so perfect when you're trying to teach prepositional phrases to a bunch of wild chocolate junkies who can't seem to stay in their seats.

Thanks to "The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook," we have a new stand-by breakfast cereal. With only a handful of ingredients that you probably already have on hand, this is economical, healthy, and just plain delicious. 

And did I mention nutritious? Save the 20% for the uncles, Ben & Jerry. They need a little love too.

~Cinnamon Spiced Granola~

(slightly adapted from "The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook")

3 cups GF rolled oats, divided

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 c. chopped almonds

1 c. unsweetened coconut chips or flakes

1 Tb. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. ground cloves

1/4 t. ground ginger

1/4 t. sea salt

1/2 c. grade B pure maple syrup

1/2 c. melted coconut oil

1 t. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 

2. Place 1-1/2 cups rolled oats in a food processor and pulse until oats are chopped up. This will add a little chunkiness to the granola. Pour the oats into a large bowl and add the whole oats. 

3. In the same processor bowl, add the walnuts and almonds. (Can use pecans or hazelnuts, if preferred.) Pulse until nuts are coarsely chopped. (It's faster to chop the nuts in the processor, but it's fine to chop them by hand.) Add the nuts to the oats. Add the spices and mix well.

4. In a small saucepan, melt the coconut oil, then measure out 1/2 cup. Pour any remaining oil back into your oil bucket or jar. (It will firm back up as it cools.) Pour the coconut oil into the oats. Add the maple syrup and vanilla. Using a wooden spoon, mix well, making sure that all the oats are covered with the wet ingredients.

5. Spread the mixture onto a broiler pan or a cookie sheet with sides. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven, but do not remove the granola from the oven. Leave it alone for 1 hour. (Trust me!) After an hour, remove from oven and finish cooling on the counter. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

*Leaving the granola in the oven will allow the granola to dry without burning. When cool, the granola will be chunky like the store-bought, but without the soybean oil and wheat starch to hold it together. We usually add dried fruit to the granola after it is out of the oven. Some favorite additions are: chopped dried apples, dried cherries, dried mangoes, dried blueberries (my personal favorite), or raisins.