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Post by emmsmommy on Dec 3, 2023 17:58:25 GMT -5
Out of butter?! How can that happen in Christmas cookie season?? My larder is almost bare!
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Post by raphanus on Dec 3, 2023 21:00:41 GMT -5
Pulled weeds for a couple hours. Transplanted a couple dozen “Red Acre” purple cabbage seedlings from cell trays to 20 gallon fabric pots, most companion planted with peppers. Harvested dandelion, arugula, purple mustard, amaranth, and daikon greens along with some green onions and made a salad with tangerine juice and olive oil. Last year’s unusually cold winter storm on Christmas wrecked my citrus trees and yields were reduced by 90% this year but I’ll probably get about 150 fruits and still excellent fruit qualities 🍋 🍊
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Post by datgirl on Dec 4, 2023 11:44:23 GMT -5
Finally decorated the Christmas tree. Just not been in the mood. The kitty has been pretty good about leaving it alone with just the lights on. We'll see what she does now with the decorations on. I didn't even put on all the decorations I usually do. Yesterday I cleaned up the extra bedroom where the seed starting gets done. Floor really needed a good cleaning. Threw away some old pots that were just grungy or cracked. Later in the afternoon, we went to a friends house. He did a lot of cleaning out of his barn so he had a huge bonfire. He battles depression, so it was good to see him having fun with a lot of friends that showed up. I started talking to a friend of his, never met her before. It turns out she grew up not far from me in Chicago. Small world. Now I'm off to drop a couple of boxes off at the thrift store.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Dec 4, 2023 15:20:44 GMT -5
I got up early today, for me, even earlier than when I go to Aldi! This time it was to get to Ocean State Job Lot - a place that has around 48 digital coupons weekly, and a deal for seniors on Monday mornings, 8-9 am, when any food items we get 20% off, even the coupon items. There were a few things I had to get this time, plus I got a few other things they had on sale. The one that drew my attention first was the Madagascar vanilla extract - $9.99/8 oz, minus the 20%. I just opened my next to the last bottle of vanilla extract - something I used to get at a Mexican grocery in Avondale, but haven't been there in years (fortunately, it keeps forever, in the brown bottles, in the basement, and now I'm stocked up again!). These bottles have something on them about being harvested from "sustainable farming", though they probably all say that now. They also had 25 oz of cashews, for $6.99, which is about 3.58/lb, after the 20%. And peanuts for 2.29, minus the 20%, which is about $1.83/lb - even cheaper than Aldi! They even had some dirt cheap walnuts, but I got them a few weeks ago, when they had the same deal, and I stocked up, for the cookies. I looked at, but didn't buy any Burpee seeds. This place has great deals on gardening items, and 40% off the Burpee seeds year round! And last time I was there I noticed they had put out the 2024 seeds.
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Post by datgirl on Dec 4, 2023 15:33:49 GMT -5
Stopped at Menards after going to the thrift shop and they were already moving the Christmas stuff out. It's been out since August/September, so I guess they figure it's time. Won't be long before the seed displays are out. That's ok with me.
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Post by centralilrookie on Dec 4, 2023 19:58:37 GMT -5
Yesterday was another Sunday of food and football with a couple of grandsons and one nephew. While the boys watched football I had the smoker going with a party mix and ribs. FIL stopped in just in time to eat so I was glad that we had decided to do three racks. The boys enjoyed their time and asked what we’re having next Sunday! 😂 We did send a plate home for the boys younger brother who was to busy playing basketball to come over, the brat!!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Dec 4, 2023 22:08:24 GMT -5
I was going to start making cookie dough today, but I got busy doing other things - one thing I wanted to get done before it slipped my mind again, was to change a bunch of the water in my 4 aquariums, and refill them (instead of just refilling them), which I prefer to do when growing things still, so I can just siphon the water out to the plants, along with that composted fish waste! I hate for it to go to waste, but it happens once a year. Then it got late, especially since I got up very early for me, so instead of actually making any cookie dough, I got things situated for it - a new bag of flour, sugar to the top of the container, and so forth. And one thing I had to do was get that solid block of molasses broken up! It was some "powdered" molasses I use in many recipes, instead of "light molasses" (I only keep around blackstrap for baking bread, which is too dark for most cookie recipes), and this is an easy (and cheaper) way to replace the lighter versions. Unfortunately, even though this was in 3 vacuum sealed bags, somehow, it got a hole in it, thus letting a small amount of moisture in, and forming a solid block! So I took it down to my workshop, and on my anvil, with a very heavy hammer, I broke it up! I took all the fine "crumbs", and smaller chunks, and made them into powder again in the VM! The larger chunks I put into a Ziploc (about 2 lbs, with a couple of silica packs), then 2 more vacuum sealed bags, not sucking the air out, so the glass like pieces wouldn't poke holes in it. The 3 cups plus of powder should have me set for a couple of years, before I have to grind it up again. I took this out on my deck, to sift everything, so I didn't have all that dust in the kitchen! Broken up block of solidified powdered molasses. by pepperhead212, on Flickr About half of the broken up molasses, re-powdered, in the Vitamix. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Tomorrow I'll get started on the cookie dough...
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Post by pepperhead212 on Dec 5, 2023 10:27:02 GMT -5
I got back from Aldi at 9:15 this morning, so it didn't take me long - I think I was the second one in the line. Price of eggs went up, I guess because they knew people would want more for cookies! I just got one more dozen, so I've got a little more than 3 dozen now, so that should last me. I got some cream cheese, for those cream cheese snickerdoodles, I discovered a couple seasons ago, that are some of the best I've found (though it seems all snickerdoodles are great, no matter what is in them!).
I also got some milk to make some more buttermilk with - something I always like to have in the fridge, and that banana bread took it down to about 3/4 of a cup, which is about what I use for adding to a half gallon of milk, and in about 12 hours at room temp, I have buttermilk! And something that I found out, by chance, when reading a recipe using BM on line, a while back, was something at the end, when they were telling us how to make BM, and there was something I hasn't read before. This was that, like when making yogurt, it is best to heat the milk up to 180°, before cooling to room temperature (warmer, for yogurt), before adding the "culture". This is because something changes in the protein structure of the milk, when it is heated higher, than when just pasteurized, and the milk thickens much better, with the yogurt culture, and, as it turns out, the same with the buttermilk culture! I've done this the last 3 times, and the BM has been very thick and smooth, and not "separated", which it often used to to, though it would combine ok when shaken up hard. To do this, I remove a small amount of the fresh milk (to add the culture later), and add the rest to the Instant Pot, and set on the yogurt BOIL mode, and when finished, I take the pot out, and set it on the stovetop (just to cool faster) with the glass lid on, and in a couple of hours, when cooled, I whisk the leftover culture BM into it, then pour it into the half gallon milk container. In 10-12 hours, it's thickened, and sour smelling, and goes in the fridge. Takes longer to read this, than the actual time spent making it!
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Post by emmsmommy on Dec 5, 2023 17:21:15 GMT -5
Did the last (hopefully) shopping for the school Christmas store today. Fit in a trip to our favorite thrift store and found a few pair of colored 100% cotton denim jeans destined for kiddo's next rag quilt. Also found five pair of pants for her as we've had knees ripped in at least three pair of her knit pants in the last few weeks. Also picked up four dressy shirts/sweaters for me as I find myself wearing the same two to everything. Actually I had one of the ones I wear all the time (and currently have on) in a box to donate last time but obviously changed my mind. Picked up enough ingredients to ensure cheeseballs and banana bread will be made later in the week. There was a local food distribution before Thanksgiving and although we didn't go, neighbors gifted us two $25 meat vouchers from a local business. Ended up getting 5 pounds of ground pork, 5 pounds of ground chuck and two packs of kielbasa. Pork is in the freezer but want to portion out the ground chuck into manageable packages and vacuum seal them. Pinetree order and another package were scheduled to arrive yesterday but when I checked tracking it still said "out for delivery." Our mail generally runs around 1pm but I know when I headed to school one evening the mail carrier was still in the vicinity, which was really strange. Checked tracking this morning and packages were delivered at 5:33 last evening and we're in the middle of the route. I assume a mail truck broke down along the line as I remember that happening a time or two when I worked at the PO. Also remember all the phone calls and angry customers and can only imagine the day the mail carriers had.
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Post by emmsmommy on Dec 7, 2023 3:43:44 GMT -5
Thankfully we only ended up with an inch of snow and no school delays, so I went to mom's yesterday morning and we traveled to the meeting where I was scheduled to do a presentation on crazy quilting. It went very well and it seemed I had everyone's full attention which is always a good thing. Meal afterwards was delicious! Back home hubby and I hurried to load the majority of Christmas store totes goodies into my car. The bus hasn't ran the last two mornings so holding off on loading any more until I see if kiddo will be riding with me or not. Today will be the roughest day as we'll have to set up tables, unload two of our vehicles and get another load of stuff from our storage building at school. Thankfully one of the husbands is coming to help as I fear hubby has sciatica as he's not maneuvering too good. Then we wrap and wrap some more. We're all bringing snacks as I thought maybe that would entice a few more volunteers.
As for gardening, nothing much happening. I do need to harvest the last leek before temperatures get low enough to turn it to mush. Still have a Baker Creek cart calling my name and received the $25 Lowes card yesterday for participating in the discussion of our state seed program. It will likely be used for another shelving unit for seed starting. Tossed around the idea of using our master bathroom as a seed starting room as it sits unused waiting on a complete remodel. There's pros and cons with the idea but the main cons is that it's really out of the way when compared to the dining room. Not being along the path of my usual journey could prove detrimental to seedlings. Have about a month to ponder the idea though.
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Post by binnylou on Dec 8, 2023 0:25:29 GMT -5
Assuming that I’m running out of warm days, the other half of our windows and doors got their fall scrub today. And that means the rest of the flexible garden hose is packed away in the garden shed. I even threw a few super fragranced dryer sheets in to the container to help deter snoopy mice.
Roses finally have a hardware cloth corral around them. The biggest chunk protects the kale during the growing season, then gets moved to the rose for winter. I may have to enlarge the fencing because that rose sure did grow this past season. One rose received its bucket of soil and mulch of leaves. The bigger rose will get leaves tomorrow.
Cat and I went to the back four to check the Redbud tree. Found two branches hanging loose, ripped off by deer. Applied some deer repellent spray, but I think we’re going to put up barricade of some sort. And hang another bar of Irish Spring bath soap. There’s currently an older bar hanging on the right side of the tree and the damage has been to the left side. In case you wondered, Cat likes to ride on the golf cart.
Seed order from Pinetree arrived today, along with this year’s new Christmas cd…Nora Jones. She has the sweetest voice.
I think I’m done with seed needs except for tomatoes. Need to check what I have on hand before I order. Right…
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Post by centralilrookie on Dec 8, 2023 10:03:17 GMT -5
We are on day 6 of life with Ruby, she has taken center stage in our lives, with countless toys all over the floors, constant playfulness and yes even a few accidents that momentarily take the shine off the puppy “experience”. She does love belly rubs even though they are short lived as there is another toy that needs chewed on……
The little white pasture princess that we have been doctoring for laminitis also developed a matting in her eyes so after a quick trip to the vet for salve and eye wash her eyes have cleared up. The vet is scheduled to stop by to see the pony this coming Tuesday and Ruby goes to see her on Wednesday, oh what a joy! $$😂
By my count we are at T- minus four days and counting till my release from physical activity jail. If I’m lucky that the weather stays nice, and I get sweetheart’s blessing, I might get a few things done around here!! Had my sleep test last week and of course I flunked, so I picked up my new hi-tech c-pap device yesterday. Oh what fun…..
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Post by datgirl on Dec 8, 2023 10:35:29 GMT -5
centralilrookie,I know what you mean about vet bills. Just had Kitty Kat spayed and chipped yesterday. I can't imagine what a vet bill for a horse is.
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Post by centralilrookie on Dec 8, 2023 11:46:15 GMT -5
datgirl, without vet bills I figure our 3 pasture pals cost us about $10/day and that’s without the additional cost to our home owners policy, electricity for their barn fan when it’s hot and tank heaters when it’s cold. Know that I’m thinking about it …… maybe I better quit!!😂😂😂
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Post by martywny on Dec 8, 2023 12:12:22 GMT -5
I can't imagine what a vet bill for a horse is That's interesting, when I had horses and goats, the vet bill was very reasonable compared to "pet vets" who only provided care for small animals.
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