Wahsega Valley Farm

Happy Friday

It's Friday and that makes me ever-so happy. Tonight after work I'm going to stop by JoAnne's and buy some yarn to start Margo's baby blanket. I'm still chewing on the design, but having the yarn to test out a few I like will help me decide. Picking out the yarn tonight though will take awhile since I will have pick up, feel and ponder over each and every one that fits the color scheme.

On Saturday I will probably be cooking up a storm - I make all my breakfasts and lunches that I take to work, so always cook enough to get me through the upcoming week. Not sure what I'll make yet, but I know lunch will somehow include the most beautiful bouquet of rainbow Swiss chard I have ever seen.

And on Sunday Mike and I are going to the farm. Once again, it's been way too long since we've spent any time there. He wants to reconfigure the driveway up to the cabin once we move there and came up with a new idea that I'm very happy with. It won't cut through the front fields, woods around the cabin or any part of my garden area like the original plan would have. I disliked that plan greatly. The new plan will have a much smaller footprint and should be almost invisible. That's what I'm talkin' about! So we're going up to make sure it's as feasible as we think it will be.

If I have time I will try to catch up on emails this weekend, but it's not looking very good right now. I know who you are and I'm thinkin' about you... does that help? Oh... the guilt... the guilt...

In the meantime, happy Friday!

Checking in...

Time is flying by so quickly that this blog is getting away from me. I really love blogging, so I need to somehow schedule more time here. I don't have a topic for today, but instead thought I'd just do a catch up post...

My mind is in a blur with all the projects I want to accomplish during the next eight weeks - and I'm excited. On the one hand I probably have too many things I want to make and am churning with energy, but on the other hand I have to be careful not to stress myself by unreasonable goals. I'm one of those people who has, for the most part, tried to created a stress-free life. I don't do well with heavy weights pushing in on me. Life is too short to feel like that so I try to be light and enjoy the moment. By light I don't mean shallow; I mean vibrating well with the people and surroundings of my life. So I just need to take my time and enjoy the process... which is what I usually do.

At any rate, I have about twenty books I am trying to read on various topics - including crochet, health, vegan cooking, country life/farming and spiritual stuff. Mike probably thinks I am batty since there are books everywhere I relax... at the kitchen table, the living room, on my desk, next to the tub and next to the bed. Sometimes I even read next to the stove while I'm cooking - providing it's a mindless just-stir-every-few-minutes kind of thing. It's just that there are so many things I'm trying to absorb. I wish I had time for some fiction reading too, but I don't know when that will ever happen.

Speaking of veganism, I just bought a very nice book by Alicia Silverstone called The Kind Diet. So far, I'm loving it and I like her tone. No preachy stuff, no putting meat eaters down. How can one convert anyone if you try to clobber instead of peacefully present your point of view? Show by example I say! I made a scrumptious Moroccan butternut squash and carrot stew with quinoa on Sunday (that I got online) that I will probably post in my recipes section soon. Mainly so I can find it when I want to make it again. I have so many recipes flying around my house I can barely keep up with them. My pile of "to try" recipes is taking over the kitchen table and some of my favorites get misplaced. They come from magazines, books and the internet. It's easy to find them here.

And I am trying to decide on the baby afghan design I want to make for Margot. I know the colors, but the design is giving me a hard time. Do I want something whimsical or more calm and conservative? Geometric or flowing? I'm having a heck of a time deciding, but will decide this week... I want to get the yarn before the weekend.

My herb class is calling me again and I'm trying to figure out when to squeeze it in. I need to make some more tea. I've been giving the cats the catnip I grew this summer that dried in the laundry room; I should make some tea out of it along with the lemon balm I also dried - along with some other herbs I have on hand. The kitties love it so though... I just toss a small branch to each of them and they are absorbed for quite awhile with their "herb". Ha.

And, for my long hair friends, I've discovered a new shampoo and conditioner that I love! It's even organic and reasonably priced. I will post about that this week sometime.

Autumn has finally arrived here and the trees are ablaze with color. Mike and I hope to get to the farm this weekend to see the mountains in their autumn glory.

Life is good, busy and beautiful.

Leaves in north Georgia by PRoachScarling

Sunday fun in the kitchen

I had so much fun last Sunday - spending most of my time in the kitchen with pots and pans a-flying. I started out making our Sunday morning waffles and was disappointed to find no more frozen strawberries and blueberries in the freezer. Alas, summer is indeed gone. But with autumn comes apples - lots of apples. So I grated one and added it to the batter, along with a mashed banana. And, instead of an agave and strawberry blend for a "syrup" for the waffles, we just added a bit of apple butter mixed with the agave and it was a mouth full of autumn.

I decided to I needed to use more of the apples we got on our day trip to the orchard a couple of weeks ago and made a Apple Upside Down Cake for the first time, substituting this and that to get what I wanted. It turned out great, but I want to add some more personal touches to it before I post the recipe. It's super easy.

After the cake, I made the Lentil and Farro Veggie Soup from the previous post and was very happy with the way it turned out. I particularly like making vegetable soups. I normally don't use a recipe and just throw together what I have in the pantry and fridge and it's always good. Sometimes the seasonings aren't what Mike likes (he curses cumin), but I love them all.

And, after the soup, I decided to finally try Heidi Swanson's Big Sur Power Bars from her 101Cookbooks site. They were super dooper easy to make and are very tasty. I didn't toast the nuts per her directions though because I prefer raw nuts. And I have a few ideas to make them my own that will suit my tastebuds just a bit better. Heidi is such an inspiration.

I've noticed that some sweet things I've been making with various sweeteners (agave, brown rice syrup, turbinado sugar and honey) are just too sweet for me. Mike doesn't think so, but I really believe I can cut back quite a bit on the sweetness in some of the treats I make. Some recipes really just don't have to be so sweet!

It was a fun and productive day in the kitchen and I'm ready for the weekend again. Now.

Apple season

Last weekend Mike and I went up to the north Georgia mountains and bought three pecks of apples. I took all kinds of pictures of our little trip, but as I mentioned earlier, there was no memory card in my camera - doh. We bought some York and Jonagold apples, apple butter, local honey, other fruit preserves (fig, blueberry, strawberry - mostly sugarless) and some muscadine cider from our favorite orchard, Mercier Orchards. They have a huge store and an apple tasting counter where, like wine tasting, you can sample each type of apple. Very cool. There were all kinds of apples and apple products there. 

 

This weekend I had fun making a few things with the apples we got. Here is a picture of some of the Yorks and Jonagolds - and Sophie looking on:

 

I used the apples in my waffles, and made an awesome French apple cobbler, substituting agave for sugar. And I juiced one of my favorite fall drinks - fresh from the apple apple juice:

 

Sometimes it's so sweet though that I like to break it with some carrots, making a really pretty and still sweet drink:

I have other plans for the apples too. I was afraid they'd go bad before I had a chance to use them up, but not a chance. I need to make some applesauce this coming weekend and a sugarless apple cake or something else fun.

It is autumn and I love it so. But... I'm starting to miss my little garden. The tomatoes and peppers are all but done and it won't be the same around here without being able to walk out and grab some whenever I want. The herbs are still going along quite well, but most will die back at the first freeze. Here is a picture of some of my last peppers. Not only were they tasty, they were so pretty. These are banana and bell peppers.

And, while I'm posting pictures, here is a recent one of Zena at almost 6 months old. She's such an entertaining little demon. And fast. While on the deck yesterday she caught a butterfly, bumblebee and honey bee all within 15 minutes. I rescued them for fear the last two could hurt her, but she is definitely the huntress.

 

And one more of her feets... she likes to get underneath the basket and "hide" when I'm sorting the clean laundry on the bed.

 

We're having a very wet autumn this year. It is pouring right now - and I could barely see my way into the office this morning. I'm wondering how it will affect the foliage this year... it is only beginning to turn color.

A blonde moment...

Not to diss blondes, but yesterday I had a blonde moment. Or, I should say, a blonde day. Mike and I went for a long drive in the mountains and I took my camera along to take pictures because it was supposed to be a beautiful day. I bet I took at least a hundred shots. Award winning photos I just know.

We got home around 6:00 and when I attempted to upload the photos from the camera - guess what? There was no memory card there. Nope. All those stunning shots of scenery, Mike, apples and our farm weren't captured any place but in my feeble mind. Ha, what a doober.

Maybe I'll try to describe what I saw tomorrow in a post. Won't be the same, but maybe I'll give it a shot.

Hitting the road

Mike and I are taking off soon... we'll be home some and traveling some during the next few days... and I won't be online after tonight until Sunday or even Monday... a break from the computer - yay! I think it will do me lotsa good. And Mike can rest his poor, overworked body. We'll leave all the daily challenges, political news and craziness bubbling over in the world behind for a few days and instead... concentrate on peace and quiet, nature and beauty and just spending time together... reading a little, sleeping a lot, wandering in the mountains and enjoying the wonders of nature...

Life updates

I'm glad Mike and are taking off a few days later this week; I need to get away from blogging and emails and work and the city and the regular day-in and day-out of living. Sometimes it can just wear ya down y'know...

I must apologize for not keeping up with my emails to anyone waiting to hear from me. Some of you other bloggers probably know... if one has a blog and you post controversial topics on the blog, you will receive lots of emails. Well, I do anyway. Sometimes I feel like I'm running around trying to put out little fires everywhere when I get them. I love writing, and I truly love getting comments and emails very much, but sometimes I just want to live in the real world and so the emails wait. My apologies. I spend so much of my time reading and researching and delving that I have to force myself up for air and let myself see the sun and trees and birds flying around... I hope you know what I mean.

I didn't mention it, but the little ticker on my countdown clock on the left side of this page is now below 365 days. That's now less than a year until we can move to the farm! Only... I need to change it to say,"Time left until I retire" instead, because we won't be at the farm full-time by then, only part-time. We have to sell our current house and figure we'll spend half the time at the farm and half the time at our current house until we can get it cleared out. We can't clear it out until we build a storage place up at the farm. But I'm not complaining... you know why? Because it's less than a year before I get to retire! I've worked full time since the beginning of time (well, it sure seems that way) and really, the thought of not having to go into an office five days a week is almost too much for me to comprehend.

Here are a few updates that don't warrant a whole paragraph:

1. My veganism is going along fantastically and I am still enamoured with learning new ways to cook with new ingredients. Mike is hanging in there. I'm quite sure he will never give up eating meat.
2. The movie Julie & Julia was a lot of fun. Especially watching Meryl Streep play Julia; she was wonderful - and sounded so much like her. And Mike didn't fidget much at all during the whole movie! Of course... I didn't enjoy seeing all the raw meat they kept prepping to cook and boiling lobsters alive. Didn't like that one bit. 
3. Sophie has learned to not get anywhere near the steps on the deck. She was "bad" two times and then got it. She's a good kitty. She and Zena are loving their 13-foot scratching post.
4. I have so many peppers on my deck garden I might have to freeze them. I'd never heard of freezing peppers before, but yep, you can do it.
5. I feel bad that I never wrote the two book reviews I said I was going to write. I don't like that and I am going to do it one of these days. Both books have so much to say and are so profound, I want to write the reviews. 

That's enough for today... I have some reading and dreaming to do... vacation days... soon...

Preparing to enter the time machine

Tomorrow night is my 40th high school reunion. Yep, it's almost here. I'm really looking forward to the party though I wasn't friends with many people there. I had my own little group I spent time with, but most of them won't be attending. But my best friend, Cathy, will be at this reunion - so I'll see her after thirty years. And I will recognize most of the people there, so that will be fun. Here are a few pictures of me back in high school.

I wonder if they will play the music we listened to back then? Music can really take me back. Then, all I'll need is a whiff of some English Leather cologne to really time travel. I gave Allen English Leather as my very first "real" gift when we were dating back then. Oddly enough, this reunion is going to be held just down the street from where he lived at that time. Old familiar music and smells - whoa, that would be a heady mix.

The party will be fun and I'm sure everyone will look so different. My friend Carol told me that she was shocked at her last reunion, which would have been her 40th or 50th. She said all the women had gotten fat. She is almost 70 and still in shape and was surprised at how all the women had changed. I told her I thought lots would have had face lifts by now, but she said the biggest difference will be their weight - "just wait and see." I don't know... a lot of women my age work out and keep in shape.

I've been fretting about what to wear and how to do my hair. Now the party is almost here and I still don't really know the look I want. I have a "fall-back" outfit that Mike likes a lot, but it's just not doin' it for me the way I want it to. You know how you feel when you're wearing clothes that fit perfectly and project just the look you want? The exact you you want to project? It makes you look pretty, approachable and confident? And your hair is perfect? I don't really have that look in my mind's eye. Maybe it's because I don't know the look I want for this occasion. I sure don't want to look 18 again. But do I want to look 58? Well, I am 58 so that's where I am. But I don't dress like a 58-year-old. Today I am wearing jeans to work (a new summer Friday thing), a long form-fitting tunic  with a big belt slung on my hips. Big earrings, silver cuffs... Do I feel 58? Nope, I just feel like me. Age doesn't enter the equation... I've never felt an age.

The invitation said "NO JEANS!" and to wear "Sunday casual". Those constraints put a fly in the ointment for sure. I had a beautiful "evening" outfit all picked out that I can't wear now, and I can always throw a good jean look together at a moments notice. But "Sunday casual"? What the heck does that even mean? My Sunday casual in summer is jeans with a t-shirt, usually barefoot.

Well, I will have all day tomorrow to figure it out. If I don't post tomorrow, you will know that I will be in a tizzy with half of my closet on the bed and hanging around the room trying to put "the look" together. Whatever the outcome, I will try to get pictures. Gotta do that.

Stay tuned...

Saturday morning at the market...

Mike and I got up early this morning to go to a new local area farmer's market nearby. We'd heard it was inexpensive and just starting out - so thought we'd give it a try. It starts at 8:00 a.m. and goes until noon - and after 9:30 most of the good stuff is gone we were told. So we were there at 8:00! Which worked out fine since Zena rarely lets us sleep later than 6:30 in the morning anyway.

And what a beautiful day! Oh my goodness, to get a 60-degree morning here in July is unheard of, so we enjoyed being out in it immensely - and spending time together. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the humidity was low. I took my camera in case I saw any interesting shots...

Here is part of the little market as we were walking to it:

We bought fresh corn from some guys who have a farm not too far from our acreage, so we chatted with them awhile. Here is their truck loaded with the corn...

... and some cucumbers, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, beans and yellow crookneck squash ready to sell.

The next place I wanted to go was the Indigo Bath and Body booth. I talked to Jennifer and Justin and Jennifer has been making soap since she was 13! They smelled heavenly, but I didn't buy any since I still have plenty I've made myself. Justin's t-shirt says, "Real men use handmade soap!"

Here is a picture of Mike testing out some basil lemonade, something I had never heard of. It's made with lemon juice, basil, sugar and some "secret ingredients". It was pretty good!

And here I am picking out some patty-pan squashes. I love patty-pan squash; they look so cool - and yeah, they taste good too.

And me again - with the sun in my eyes and my face looking weird. I was really enjoying our cool summer weather!

Mike was "starving" so he stopped to get a big ol' cinnamon bun. Okay, I had two bites.

We bought too much and it really wasn't all that inexpensive. We ended up with a round zucchini, round lemon cucumbers (so cute!), watermelon, okra, corn, mole sauce, multigrain bread, jams, honey butter for Mike and some sweet potato bread that Mike just had to have.

But it sure was fun being out in the beautiful weather first thing in the morning together. It was like a little mini-date for us since Mike is usually at work Saturday mornings.

After leaving the market, which is right next to the Chattahoochee River, we drove down a bit to take a shot where all the rocks are in the river. I couldn't get a really good vantage point, but this will have to do. It only shows a narrow part of the river and not all the big rocks where people hang out. You can't see it in the picture, but there were several people fishing and quite a few herons hanging around them hoping to steal a fish I guess.

When we got home, I checked my tomatoes and here is what they look like today. These are some of the grape tomatoes:

And here are the standard sized tomatoes, not yet red, but getting bigger daily:

I also have at least 13 banana peppers almost ready and 9 bell peppers. I'm drying more catnip, stevia and mint leaves. Here are some of the mint I just picked; I think these are the lemon mint:

This was a super fine morning. I could use more like it!

After putting away all our goodies, we went shopping for a new "outfit" for Mike to wear at my high school reunion next Saturday. He's going to look nice all spiffed up!

Ouch

I'd like to write a bit, but I stuck a piece of sharp metal in my left eye this morning and I'm having a heck of a time looking at the computer screen. I think I scraped my cornea a bit. Nothing like I've done in the past where I had to wear a patch over my eye for days when I somehow got a little rock stuck under the lid, but it's still burning a bit and watery. What did I stick in my eye? I'm embarrassed to say. You know those little metal mascara combs? I hate gooped up mascara, so I use that little comb to break up any clumps and make my lashes look relatively natural. But I stupidly stuck the pointy teeth in my eye and the clumps are still there because my eye started to tear up and then I couldn't see very well at all. What a klutz. I really should be more careful.