The Rain Never Falls

Before I could post this blog the rain did fall for a brief time.  Enough to give everything a nature's drink of goodness.

                                          The first sign of fall, sunflowers.

A few times in the last month we have said, it feels like rain.  It did, the air turned cool, the wind picked up and dark clouds moved in.  Just as fast the clouds separated, the wind quit and the temperatures went back up.  There has been a few storms all around us but none at Cook'n by the Creek.  Soon without rain the creek will have completely stopped flowing.  In the 21 years we have lived here I have never seen the water so low.  Barely a flow going through.  This is why it is so important to protect our waterways.  The small ones feed the bigger and end up to be the Mississippi River.  Fresh water is gold!  The brush grow along the streams for a reason, it keeps the water temperature down so fish, crabs, etc can survive and also stops evaporation of the stream.  Another thing is the amount of rain, cooler temperatures and lots of winter snow.  Snow depth is key to providing water to our streams and springs.  We shouldn't have to be told at this time of  the year to conserve water.   Water is life, just as important as the bees are to our food supply.  So, from this day forward think of cutting back on water usage and planting flowers so the bees can survive and do their very important job.  It is quite scary to think of the little things that determine our survival.  

How very sad to walk over our little bridge and see Clara Creek barely flowing.  The dogs miss playing and rolling in the pool of water that is no more.

We dug potatoes and no not a lot and small.  I saved the bigger ones to eat now and the small ones got canned yesterday.  Eleven quarts to the precious canned foods in the basement.  The canned up beautiful, nice and water with clear liquid.  That is what you want to see when canning potatoes.  Key to the clear liquid is......when peeling the potatoes immediately put them in cold water.  When you have enough for a batch to can bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes that the cold water has been drained off, bring to a simmer and when just starting to get tender on the outside drain the water and put loosely in jars.  Pour fresh boiling water over and leave 1 inch head space.  Do not use the water you boiled the potatoes in.  This will make the liquid in the jars after processing starch and not clear.  If you want you can add 1 tsp. of salt per quart of potatoes before canning.  I did.  For safety reasons it recommends only using a pressure canner when canning potatoes.  No acidity is why.

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No porch or deck to work on so it was off to the basement for a good cleaning.  When I start seeing Daddy Long Legs in the upstairs I know it is time to clean the basement and set off a bug bomb.  About twice a year will do the trick.  There was an old medal school table used for computers we ended up with.  A dirty gold color with a fake wood grain top.  Yep, I headed to the the backroom in the basement and found and ivory colored spray paint and a can of Moroccan Red.  Everything was sprayed except the top and that is now a beautiful Red.  It pays to keep "stuff" around for little projects.  Every once in a while I will buy spray cans of paint, polyurethane, sand paper, mineral spirits and paint brushes to add to my stash for times like today.

 

 I know it is way too soon to be thinking of days like this but...............It is my favorite time of the year and I couldn't resist when I was going through some old photos to post it on the blog.  Dreaming 💖

Just a Little Sad

 Like all things there is a beginning and an ending.  Each year as the garden winds down and the beautiful lush green of young plants turn to yellow, brown and wilted mature and past their time I always feel a little sad.  The joy of waiting for the first young plant coming through the ground, rows beginning to show is our morning walk to check on the progress.  Then the harvest  and what comes next is what makes me feel one more year has gone by so quickly.  I realized yesterday as I was grinding the paint and stain from the back deck with 2 boards left that again a little sad it is coming to an end.  It kept me occupied for the last two week working on the front porch and back deck.  Yes, there were days I thought I just don't want to get the old work clothes on, get all dusty, wear a mask for 4-6 hours.  Those days went by fast and what better way than to take the air hose, blow off most of the dust and then a glorious shower to relax and think of all that was accomplished that day.  As of 4 pm Thursday it was finished.  Except for a trim board that needs painted.  It is on the end our grape vine grows up to.  Until the grapes are harvested that board will just have to wait.  When I told my husband it makes me a "little sad" like the garden ending..........he didn't miss a beat with a come back!  You are not kidding me Cheryle, you have a next project already brewing in your mind........well maybe 😂 For now it is finish the canning and then some fall camping trips are on my mind with reading, knitting, crocheting, hikes, a couple wineries and just good old take a break resting.  

Accomplishments in ones life is key to being satisfied with what has been.  No matter what it is, from grinding paint off, knitting socks, baking something delicious, cleaning or whatever it is a good feeling to look back and say, there I did it and proud of it. Little joys of life can turn into the best things to remember.  

I am also a little sad, the corn needs water.  One type has ears but small.  They will be ready in a week if the drought doesn't take its toll.  They other type is a not going to even get ears.  It grew at least 14 ft tall and tasseled out.  Not one ear!  The potatoes are another failure.  I have been digging them to save what is there.  Not many per hill.  3 -5 and not as big as my fist.  This is the first time raising potatoes that they come out of the ground clean of dirt.  It is so dry nothing is sticking to them.  Tomorrow I will can most of them and save some for our annual corn roast to roast in the hot coals.  Quite a different garden year.  We normally get 100 to 150 pounds of potatoes.  Let's hope the potato and corn farmers have better crops for the market.  The cukes were doing great and we were enjoying them daily until one morning we went out and the vines showed signs of the blight!  By afternoon the vines were flat on the ground.  Our 2 types of peppers did not produce a healthy looking pepper and not many.  Again, strange garden year.  

Next weekend we will travel to Keuka Lake, one of our favorite rides.  Not far is the Windmill Market and down the road is a wonderful Mennonite vegetable, fruit and greenhouse.   If you haven't been to the Windmill it is a fun place to walk around.  They have outdoor and indoor stands and sell just about anything you can imagine.  The Mennonite market is the place to buy though.  Very reasonable prices.  I will be hoping to get a couple bushels of tomatoes, peppers, mild and sweet, peaches and pears.

  

A Morning at Cook'n by the Creek

 My morning starts between 6 and 7 am and Jamaican Me Crazy coffee is waiting for me thanks to the tall one.  While enjoying the early morning quiet and coffee I check the world and local news.  Next FB,  do a little knitting or crocheting.  Finally by 8 am it is get the breakfast going.  Today it was over by 8:30.  As I was cleaning up in came a fresh basket of summer squash and a great surprise.  The rhubarb decided to take a late season spurt.  There was enough for 2-1 gallon freezer bags full.  While Dick was watering the garden, yes it is so dry and the corn's leaves are curled for lack of rain I washed and prepared the squash and rhubarb for the freezer.  Then off to the blueberries that had the branches drooping with so many berries on them.  As I was looking them over for bugs and missed stems I decided to make a Lemon Blueberry bread.  I doubled the batch, one loaf for the freezer and one for now.  

Rhubarb ready for the freezer,  very nice and a colorful red on the inside this time around.  I believe we are going to try rhubarb wine once we get the garden tucked away for winter.

Thank you Robins, you left us a lot for winter!  They are nice and juicy!  

Time to set, relax and sort blueberries.  I watch youtube while sorting.  Always something I can learn.

2 cups for the lemon blueberry bread and 2 qts for the freezer.  I just love seeing our fruits and vegetables saved away for those cold winter days.

Did you know there is an art to picking blueberries, even raspberries and blackberries?  First of all, start at the bottom of the bush and pick from the bottom of the berries not from the top.  There is less chance of those little round jewels slipping from you fingers and hands to end up on the ground.  Work your way up the bush, one branch at a time starting from the outside of the branch and working in.  I only pick 3-5 berries at a time.  The more I try to get the more I tend to drop, defeating the purpose of picking more at a time.  Now that I think about it, it just might be 71 year old hands vs young ones.  If you are near my age you probably notice dropping things seems to be the new norm.  My theory, the more I drop the more exercise to bend over and pick stuff up......just a kind way of saying.......time is taking its toll on the old gal!  But.......I can still do it so no bitching here 💕   Back to the blueberries and other berries you want to freeze. NEVER wash them.  You just can't get them dry enough to put in bags for the freezer.  Take a rest and go through the berries looking for leaves, stems........bugs or little worms.  Once that is done you can either put them directly in freezer bags, into the frig to get them cold and then the freezer or you can lay them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment, put in the freezer. Once they have frozen solid then put them in the freezer bags.  I have done it both ways and the put in freezer bags, frig and then freezer is my choice way.

Lemon/Blueberry Bread Recipe:  I doubled it for two loaves but this is the single loaf version.

1. 1/3 cup of melted butter (real butter)
2. 1 cup of sugar
3. 2 beaten large eggs
4. 1/2 cup of milk
5. 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
6. 1 tsp baking powder
7. 1/2 tsp salt.......................................beat wet ingredients until fluffy add dry ingr.

Add 3 tsps. of lemon juice and a TBSP of lemon rind and mix thoroughly.  I also added a 1/2 tsp of almond flavoring just because I like the smell and taste after baking.  

Fold in 1 cup of fresh blueberries.  I can see using blackberries and raspberries too :)

Grease and flour lightly a loaf pan, bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed lightly with your finger.  While still warm, drizzle with a glaze using 1 cup of confectioners sugar, TBSP of melted butter and a tsp or two of lemon juice.   If needed add a little milk so you can drizzle it on.  

As Bugs Bunny says........That's all folks!  Remember Pass it on and enjoy the great outdoors!

Summer Suppers and a Little Deck Work

What the summer suppers are......fresh picked squash fried, cucumbers and onions in a vinegar brine and spaghetti with fresh made basil pesto.

 

The green beans and garden peas are only a memory until a jar is opened or brought from the freezer.  I worked on summer squash and kale for the freezer this morning.  Everything grew so nice this year and seemed to be spread out for harvest time that is was not overwhelming picking and putting up.  Some years everything seems to pop at once and by the end of the season we are saying......smaller garden next year.  Not so this summer, we are actually planning bigger and more care friendly.  The bailed square bales worked great for the rutabagas and spaghetti squash.  Next year the cucumbers will be added to the bale garden.  We came up with the idea of putting the winter squash in a long narrow strips.  Let them run away and no going into the other vegetable rows.  Every year we think, there they are far enough apart and every year they just spread farther.  We'll fix them!!

Looks like the corn is doing great but that could change with the weather.  Rain is predicted for Wednesday, we sure need a couple good soaker days.  Clara Creek could use quite a bit.  The lawn has gone brown dormant from lack of rain but that is usually what happens in August.  The nights have been cool with a breeze which is great for a good nights sleep around here.  The coyotes have also been quiet but they will soon make the circle back around one of these nights.

I sat on the deck relaxing while  Dick put the stain on.  It was one of those days that it felt like fall just around the corner.  The cherry trees are dropping their leaves and with the soft breeze they were floating softly to the ground.  What a peaceful moment, like watching snow flakes float down in the winter.  

And so it begins......the back deck, 49 boards, 14 steps to grind the 4 layers of stain and paint off.  The front porch looks great, took about a week so I am estimating the back deck will take 2 weeks if the weather and heat cooperates.  Not looking at the big picture.  As of now all steps are done and new stain along with 14 deck boards.  Going to be too hot for the next couple days but maybe evenings will cool off enough to do a few boards.  I love the new look and the porch rails are all painted.  Thanks to Mugs Jones for recommending Behr porch and deck paint....I got the high gloss and it is amazing with coverage and the gloss finish.  The dusty road we have put up with does not stick to it.  If it does we take the air hose and blow it off.  Simple solutions :) I love them.  Clara Rd has now been resurfaced and the dust has been much less.  Hoping in another week there will be no dust.  Dick is the stain and paint guy and I am the grinder.  For some reason all of my life I like to work outside and with power tools.  If I was as strong as a guy there would be no stopping on the tools I could use!  Maybe watching my dad do so many things, who knows, I am just one odd gal!  

My favorite seat for a week.

If you don't like the cloth masks this might work for ya!😂

30-45 minutes then off it comes for a break.

Fair Weather

I am not talking about the weather being fair but Millport Fair weather.  Hot sunny days and cool nights.  We sat on the back porch the other night and both of us thought this is Fair Weather, of course it is.  The fair just didn't happen this year.  We live in a rural area where the year is not complete without certain things.  Fishing season, leek digging, spring gobbler, gardens, woodchuck hunting, buying a fishing  and hunting license, sending for doe permits, fall foliage, small game, archery season, doe day, holidays, the first frost, first snow, first sign of spring, etc.  The list can go on and on.  This is country life, days, weeks, months and years ruled by mother nature or man made events.  I love it here and I really missed driving by the fairgrounds and seeing cars parked in fields, people on the midway and smelling the food stands.  We only go once during fair time but it is enjoyable and always see a few people we haven't seen in years.  So this year that part of the full circle of our life is missing.  

Today is the LAST OF THE BEANS!  Ten quarts to can and hopefully by 1 pm I can officially say  imadone.  

Saturday we did go to a fair, The Frosty Hollow Herb Festival.  If you don't know about Frosty Hollow B&B please google and go to their website.  It is owned by a local gal and grew up in Shinglehouse.  Well, not right in Shinglehouse, she was a country girl from up Honeoye on the Butter Creek Road.  Gail Jackson, she married Joe Ayers from Coudersport and together on Joe's family farm they started their business.  It is amazing, the gift shop is every woman's dream stop to shop, the accommodations are beautiful with that special country touch that Gail and her daughter in law Donell are so good at.  They also have the Big Dipper and Little Dipper that are separate houses nestled in the country side.  If you are coming to our area you will find comfort and relaxation with this wonderful family to make sure all of your needs are met.  Check them out just to see all they have to offer.  Back to the Herb Festival.  I have been going quite often in the past or so many years.  I think now it is for the woodfired pizza they offer at donation cost throughout the day.  We took friends with us and they have already said, they will go again next year.  The pizza is delicious, so much so we even asked Donell if she makes the sauce.  She told us what it was and how she mixes it.  Wednesday I will be using it on our woodfired pizza.  That is just how good it is!  

This week the grandson took Dick out to a great find of Chicken of the Woods mushrooms.  They came back with a plastic bag full.  I fried a sample up for supper and the rest I simmered in seasoned water, cooled and then off to the freezer for some cold winter nights of a taste of summer.

Later I will be out to the garden gathering summer squash to put up for winter.  My niece gave me a great recipe for squash casserole.  It is delicious and this week I will be making it again.  You can add anything you want, always a way to change it up and add variety to the casserole.  The first time I added sliced chorizo.  This time I think it will be mushrooms and chopped Kale.  This also will taste good in the winter!

Yellow Squash Casserole:

vgrease a 1 qt casserole dish.  Using 6-8 small summer squash and 1 onion sliced steam until not quite tender.  Drain well.  While they are steaming whisk 1 egg and 1 cup of sour cream together.  Crush 1 sleeve of ritz or town house crackers.  Using 2/3 in the casserole.  2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, using 1 1/2 cups in the casserole.   Mix everything together gently, pour into the casserole dish.  Top with remaining crackers and cheese.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.