Apricots chopped and ready for jam

Blueberry syrup cooking on the stove

This week I did something I haven't done before: I put cucumbers and cabbage in a brine in an attempt to make pickles and sauerkraut. I'm feeling pretty cool. We'll see how I feel in 3 weeks or so -- when they're supposed to be done. I'll get to that in a second, but I have to tell you how good my blueberry butter and blueberry syrup turned out. Yum. Yum. Yum. The blueberry butter is simply divine on a fresh, warm bagel. I made waffles over the weekend and the syrup was perfect. Here's a bonus: They are both made from the same batch of berries. I'm entirely proud of myself. All the recipes I'll share with you today are from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving. It's published by Canada's Robert Rose publishers, but available from my new favorite publisher (aside from the one that actually publishes me) http://www.fireflybooks.com. (My hotlinks aren't working, sorry)
I discovered Firefly Books quite by accident. Actually, I believe it was more by Divine intervention. They ended up on my doorstep as a gift from a vendor, but it took me a few weeks to figure that out. For a while it looked like they just appeared out of nowhere.  They have a wonderful selection of cooking and food preservation books. My goal through the winter is to read through all of them.

Cucumbers  ready to brine

Back to canning. If you'd like the blueberry recipes, let me know and I'll post it, but it's pretty long. For now, we'll focus on my pickling adventure. I picked up 10 pounds of pickling cucumbers at a local farmers market. It was the end of the day and the woman selling them was ready to make a deal.
I have always wanted to try to do pickles in a long-term brine, but for whatever reason, never managed to get it done. I've been collecting old crocks for years. While many of them are cracked and not really suitable for anything but decoration, I have a few in great condition. I cleaned them well and got them ready for action.
I cut both ends of the pickles. Technically you only have to cut off the blossom end, but I figured I'd take of the stem too -- just to make sure I didn't accidently miss a blossom end -- that could lead to some spoilage. The fresh dill and pickling mix is added then cucumber stacked on top. The salt brine is heated then poured over the pickles and then topped with garlic, more dill and pickle mix. A large dinner plate is turned upside down and weighted to hold the pickles down. The whole crock is then covered with a clean towel and kept in a cool place.
I have an extra house -- an old farmhouse we use as my office and a guest house -- so I'm storing my crocks in the bathtub there.

The first head of cabbage goes in the crock

My faithful assistant squeezes the cabbage to help get the juices flowing

The cabbage in the crock with weights and ready to be covered.

The sauerkraut is a very similar process. I used 5 large heads of cabbage. We shredded one head at a time and then sprinkled 3 tablespoons of pickling salt over each layer. The cabbage will produce it's own liquid and also needs to be covered with a plate, weighted and covered with a towel.
Each day we have to check the brine in both crocks. As the products ferments, it will create a foam which needs to be removed.
I've been trying to get this posted for about 3 days and having computer issues -- as in the slowest connection in the west. Originally I had all sorts of profound things to say, but am so frustrated right now I can't think of any of them..

My own memorial to 9/11

This morning I boiled 3 whole chickens. Chickens that I raised. Chickens butchered nearby. My neighbor is home right now, making fresh noodles for the homemade chicken soup that will use the broth and meat I took to her house earlier today.

In my kitchen I have two lamb roasts marinating in wine. They were raised and butchered in the neighborhood. I’ve been reviewing recipes all day, making plans for the desserts I’ll make in the morning.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early I’ll go to the neighbor’s farm to take part in a long standing agricultural tradition; a threshing party. Back before there were computer aided combines harvesting crops, farmers used horse drawn machines. My neighbor works hard each year to keep this tradition alive – scouring estate sales and farm auctions for horse drawn equipment. She tries very hard to reduce the amount of fossil fuels she uses on her farm and uses horses wherever she can. She’ll be harvesting her barely crop tomorrow with the help of about 15 friends, family and neighbors.

Each year on Sept. 11, I try to find quiet things to do. Activities that keep my family close together and engaged in something that doesn’t require batteries, or electricity or oil. We don’t always get that done, but we make an attempt in honor of the people who are no longer able to spend quiet time with their families – either because they gave their lives or because they’re fighting against terrorism far away.

I’ll post an update and pictures tomorrow, although I’ll be shooting with good old fashioned film so I won’t be able to instantly upload. I hope of this day of remembrance, you’ll able to share time with someone you love in an activity that brings you joy.  I know I will.

I have not fallen off the planet.
Schedules and a critical lack of sleep have caused me to fall behind.
Now, my computer is making me a little wacky! I have 5 posts in the works.
Stay tuned!

Quick update

I have some great pictures from my canning party, which took place earlier this week. Haven't had a moment to sit down and get everything ready for you, but will effort to get that done over the weekend.
I'm waiting to receive my "Mother - of - the - Year" award for sending my 3 children up an apricot tree using a Sizzor lift and a rickety, 100-year-old ladder. The apricot jam was well worth the risk.
We also FINALLY finished the case of blueberries with some incredible blueberry butter. MMMMM good.
I still have zucchini to finish and found a scrumptious sounding ginger, citrus zucchini marmalade recipe. Yum!
We're started to get tomatoes out of the garden. This has been the most productive garden I've ever raised. We had to get it in late because we had such a cold spring here in Southern Idaho. I woke up yesterday to a serious chill in the air and am now panicked it will freeze before I get harvest the rest of the garden. I will be horribly disappointed and plan a full revenge.
My sister and my neighbor have spent the last week scraping and painting my "guest house/studio/canning kitchen". It's a beautiful old farm house about 2 city blocks length from the main house. It's over 100 years old and we've never rented it out in hopes of preserving it. Several years ago, we re-did the bulk of the inside, but the outside was showing its age and we had quite a bit of water damage in the eves.
We're painting (and when I say "we" I really mean people other than me)it a bright white with barn red trim. It's looking great and almost done. I'll then start the process of redecorating the inside, turning the sitting room into a sewing studio. I'm very excited. I'll post before and after pictures.
I'm still feeling well on my new hormone routine. I have more energy, I sleep more efficiently and I feel less, well, weird on a regular basis. Here's hoping...
I'm headed out of town for the weekend, but will post several recipes etc when I get back. Sneaking off to my cabin for a few days with my kids, my niece and a dear friend. It sounds like I'll have some other friends and family join me there as well. The makings of a perfect weekend!

Bringing things into balance

As many of you know, I've struggled with my weight and my self image for years. It has been a long and arduous journey, to say the least. However, it has been, above all else, a blessed walk toward self acceptance and physical health. The trip is not over, but I can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
One of the most frustrating parts of this journey has been a lack of progress physically. Emotionally and spiritually, I'm feeling better than I ever have. Despite the fact I've improved my eating and exercise habits in various ways over the last few years -- my body has not kept up. It's entirely discouraging.
I do not believe in weight loss surgery but in only the rarest of circumstances. I have tried dammed near every weight loss plan, fitness routine and several medications. All with short term losses and long term disappointments -- most often followed by long, long bouts of deep, dark, depressions.
A few months ago, in desperation, I returned to my therapist -- a specialist in eating disorders. She had discharged me several years ago, but it was clear I needed more help. We were making fairly solid progress but I was still feeling lost.
My therapist and I looked into several options, including a stay in a rehab unit. We opted for a check of my hormones. (Rehab is in Arizona -- who the hell wants to be in Arizona in August? Yuck. Plus, being away from my kids 3 weeks or longer doesn't sound like fun..)
So last Friday, I drove to Boise to meet with a women's health specialist. Now, I've read most of the Suzanne Somers books. I watch Oprah. I've heard about this. I've asked my doctors about it with varying, mostly negative results. I come from a long line of women who died of heart disease. Something's got to change physically --
The woman I met with was about my age, I'd guess. Southern accent -- dressed fashionably

. I noticed a Monster energy drink on her desk.
"You're talking to me about health and yet you're drinking that swill?" I asked.
"It's my only vice. I allow my self one once in a while. I've been nursing this one for a day or two now."
Well, good. She's human. Excellent.
She tells me what I already know. Most people are under educated about their hormones; the purpose they serve and what happens when hormones are out of balance.
How do you know if you're out of balance?
Fatigue, weight gain, dry skin and nails, depression, elevated cholesterol, memory loss, decreased concentration... shall I go on?
At this point, I was about to cry. Wasn't she going to tell me I have to lose weight and all those problems would go away? Wasn't she going to scold me? Patronize me? Tell me science doesn't support my belief that something is wrong within me and it may or may not have anything to do with my weight?
"As long as you're out of balance, none of these things will change."
This isn't my first rodeo. I've heard all this before along with "all you'll need to do is purchase $500 worth of vitamins every month and make your weekly appointments and we should have it cleared up in a year or so."
My blood pressure was increasing. Please God -- don't let this be a scam.
So I took the blood test and came back to the office a few hours later for the results.
I've had a full hysterectomy, so I knew there would be some sort of imbalance.
There was.
According to these test results I'm vastly short in 3-different hormone areas. My thyroid in under active. The numbers were so low, she described my current hormone replacement regime as
"Spitting in a bucket."
She suggested trying 4-new therapies in high doses. In 60-days, I'll check back and we'll see how it's going.
Here's what I know so far: I typically feel like I've been drugged by 3p.m. I must take a nap. I haven't needed a nap. I did today, because I didn't sleep well last night because I stayed up late farting around on the Internet. In general, I sleep like a baby.
I have no idea what the next 60-days will bring. I'm terrified, this will be yet again, another load of bull shit.
I figure it can't hurt to try and I'll keep ya'll posted.

Say Cheese!

I had big plans for this post. It was going to include beautiful photos outlining not only the activities for the day, but provide instructions in the event you wanted to duplicate said activities.
Well. Hmmm. How do I say this?
I.
Forgot.
Mostly.
You'll see the ones I remembered to take.
My kids started school today. Did I remember to take the "first day of school pictures?"
Nope.
I had a three-hour lunch with an old friend. It was wonderful. Simply joyful to be in her comfort again. We created a beautiful memory, but it will not be preserved in photos.
Noticing a trend, I decided to make cheese -- since, clearly, no one has had a chance to say "cheese".
I use recipes and supplies from http://www.cheesemaking.com. I found the site while I was trying to figure out how to make cheese. Since I have several thousand dairy cows in the back yard, it makes sense to make cheese, right?
The easiest to make is mozzarella and since I had a pizza date for later in the evening, mozzarella was in order. Again, I had planned a step-by-step instructional post. I forgot to take pictures. Here's one of the curds just as they started to separate from the way.

Homemade mozzarella is delicious. Wrap up a leaf of basil in a little hunk of fresh, still warm cheese -- it's spiritual, really. I had fresh-from-the-garden Roma tomatoes today -- really, there just aren't words.
I whipped up some tomato sauce, using the last jar of tomatoes from last year. Used the whey to make pizza dough then carted it to my friends house 45 minutes south of here in the big ol' city of Twin Falls, Idaho. (Again, I forgot to take pictures.)
My friend Shelley is teaching my daughter, Patti, and I how to make and use pin-hole cameras. First we had to eat. One needs good nutrition for creativity.
We grilled the pizzas and Shelley had made an amazing green salad featuring some heirloom tomatoes so we had quite the feast.
Shelly got started making pin-hole cameras a few years ago after visiting with a particularly inspiring artist. She's done some incredible work with them. Patti and I saw several of her pieces hanging in the coffee shop of the student union building on the College of Southern Idaho campus last summer. We went home and tried to figure out how to do it on our own, but without a good dark room I couldn't figure out how to get it done without making a horrid mess.
I called Shelley, a CSI professor and friend and asked for a lesson. That was in June. Between her schedule and mine, this is the first time we could get together.
Shelley, her daughter Emma, Patti and I gathered around her dining room table and began crafting our pinhole cameras. They were using a cardboard cylinder formally used for containing raisins. Patti and I brought a rather large shoe box.
Since Patti did most of the work, this might have been a good time to take pictures.
I remembered to do a few, but like your instructional cheese recipe, you'll just have to wait for the "how to make a pin-hole camera" post.
We have the cameras constructed, but will wait until we have time next week to shoot and develop the photos. Shelley has dark room in her basement. I'm pretty sure I will be living there sooner than later. I really have always wanted a dark room.
It's a school night, so Patti had a late night -- but it was great fun to spend time with Shelley and learn something new.
We came home and still needed to close up the chicken coops. A mountain lion has been seen in the neighborhood, making doing chores in the dark, well, creepy.
The bonus is I figured out why there were three or four chickens sitting outside the coop when I went to open the doors this morning. I couldn't figure out how this happened because it really appeared to me that all the chickens were on the roost.

Tonight I looked up and saw the hens roosting in the trees.
It would have made a great picture.

Hmmm?

It appears some of you are having difficulty posting comments. I have no idea why. I also can't get any "hot links" to appear.
So please be patient as I try to figure out why it works on every other blog I keep, but not this one.
Grrrr