AT LAST!

Hello dear friends!   Sorry about my absence!   Life just got in the way of all things bloggy.  Thank you to all who have checked in and inquired about my whereabouts.  It really means a lot to me.  I'm glad I'm back because autumn is my favorite time of year and I want to share it with all you dear people.  Here's how the front garden looks in October:

It's been a very strange year.   Usually by now we have seen our first frost, but this year we haven't yet turned on our furnace.  Yesterday it was in the seventies.  Although summer got off to a slow start, it was a perfect growing season, everything was so bountiful.  We dug carrots this past week. 

GARDENING

An entire wagon full.   See? You don't need acres upon acres of land to provide food for your family.  A normal sized yard with a well-planned garden will provide plenty.  This was only two rows about two feet long.   The secret to growing nice straight plentiful carrots is to dig down a good eight inches of soil, making sure to remove any rocks, then combine the soil with plenty of compost to make a nice soft friable soil.   You really don't need a lot of land if you use the land intelligently.  Adding compost to your soil is so important to growing healthy and health-filled vegetables.  You're replenishing the minerals.  That's why so many of the vegetables you see in the groceries stores, may look beautiful, but that's about it.  The large commercial farms use a lot of chemicals to make their food grow, and years upon years of farming the land have depleted the minerals.  It's important to let some of your garden lay fallow for a year and give it a rest, add compost, and rotate your crops. One of the things that has been keeping me busy has been canning these carrots.   Carrots are a lot of prep work!

Oh!  Miracles of miracles!   We planted a hazelnut bush several years ago, but it never produced any nuts.   Last fall I had a talk with it and told it that if it didn't start producing, I would cut it down.  Well!   This year it gave us these

five little nuts.  So I've granted it a reprieve.  I'll have to study up on how to prune it.  Has anyone out there ever grown hazelnuts and have any tips for me?

HOMEMAKING

Another reason I been absent is that we have been doing a lot of rearranging of the house.   Being an older home,  it really lacks in closets.   Last year it just about drove my son and me crazy with all the winter coats hung on a rack in our dining room.  We both have a tinge of obsessive-compulsive syndrome and disorder makes us uncomfortable.  Anyway, something had to be done with the coats and boots before another winter came, so Ran built us this coat cupboard:

He used a piece of plywood left over from another project, free pallet wood, and old door that was in the cottage when we bought it (it didn't fit any of the door jambs) and the hardware was picked up at various garage sales for pennies on the dollars and the paint is the same paint we use throughout the house for most of the trim (Olde Century paint ind Olde Pewter), we always keep a gallon on hand for touch-ups.  The total cost was around $5 for the project.  What a difference!  BTW, we have been picking up free pallets from a farm down the road.   Some of the wood is oak and heart pine.  We keep the nice wood for building projects and the ugly stuff we cut up and use for firewood.  Free heat!

Anyway, another thing we did was rearrange our rooms. The dining room was always so small and has five doorways in it, we were always banging into something.  So we made it into a small sitting area, which works much better.

It's a pleasant place to sit and talk, works much better for us, this way.   The living room was always too big and boxy.  We never could figure out how to arrange the chairs.  Every year we would move the dining room table into it for big holiday meals.  So we decided to just keep it as a dining room,especially since we got rid of our cable and no longer watch the TV (we still have one and I'm trying hard to convince Ran to get rid of it, I don't like how it looks).

The table is an antique Sheraton circa 1820.  When you have both leaves open, it take up most of the room!   I bought it ages ago when Ebay was just starting out for $50 and I think it was another $50 to have it shipped.  Boy!  I sure do miss the old days when you could get a bargain on Ebay (and the old postal rates).  Speaking of bargains, here's my pretty Halloween-ish  vintage coverlet that I found at a garage sale for $5!

Can you believe it? It's full sized and in perfect condition.   When I got it home, I discovered that it had a Depression era label on it stating it was woven by the Tennessee Weaver's Guild.  That's the sort of thing that keeps me on the hunt at garage sales.  See that little sampler  behind the chair?  Another bargain I picked up at a garage sale.  It was an old stamped linen from the thirties that I embroidered with floss I picked up at garage sales. Total cost was one dime.

Most of these old linens have Spring-time themes so I was thrilled to find one with a Fall-ish  scene.

CRAFTS

I also cross stitched this little crow tuck-in. 

We no longer have any cross stitch shops in the area.  Remember when every little town had one? So I buy old linen napkins and linens form estate and garage sales, which can be picked up for a dime or a quarter.  Then I use waste canvas which I have very good fortune of finding at our local thrift store to make sure that the crosses are all even.  I also buy all my floss there.  It's an inexpensive hobby.  BTW, Ran refinished this cupboard, the dining room table and the little Cushman's Colonial rock maple chair in the sitting room since I last wrote.   Did a beautiful job.  The chair was a $5 purchase at a garage sale.  I love those older maple pieces from the 40s and 50s.  The really knew how to make furniture back then!

We also laid this little flagstone path under the trellis.

The picture doesn't do it justice.  All the stones came from our yard and and empty lot.  The cost of this project was free.  See?  you can do things to make your home more valuable without spending money!

ANOTHER BARGAIN

I have wanted a ringer washing machine for ages.  They are so economical and save so much water.  You only need to fill the basin once for all your loads.  You start with the light colors and the least dirty and move on down to the darker and dirtier clothes.  Another tub is used to rinse the clothes.  You can agitate the clothes for as long as you need.  So it can take as little or as long to do the laundry.  And the machines are low tech, just a pump switch and a motor switch.  When we get done with the laundry, we siphon the water into a wash tub and keep the "grey" water for flushing the toilet and watering plants.  Saves gallons of water.  How many times does the average washing machine fill and empty during one wash cycle? 

 Also, just being mindful is a great way to save water.   Our experiment earlier this year has taught us to to turn off the water while getting our teeth brushed and getting washed up.   But the other day I was rinsing off a spoon and I had a wash basin under the faucet.  I noticed that I had used almost a gallon of water just to rinse off that one little spoon!  How many times a day do I rinse out a coffee cup or spoon?  How many gallons do I waste?  Now I'm mindful of those things.  It's far better to fill a small wash basin with water and wash several things that just a "quick" rinse.  Even if it means, I have to get out a second spoon.   How many times do we mindlessly just go over and turn the heat up, when we could just as easily put on a sweater?  How many times do you walk out of a room and leave the lights (or TV) on instead of switching them off?   It all adds up.  If we had to go back to the olden days and lug our own water or chop our firewood, I'm pretty sure we would be more mindful!   But in truth that is what we are doing.   Instead of chopping the wood, we are working in offices and factories to pay for those things.   As I always say, the only true path to freedom is self-sufficiency.

RECIPE FROM THE PANTRY

Two thing that it seems we always need to "use up" are bananas and milk, so an old-fashioned southern banana pudding is always a great way to use them.

Southern Banana Pudding

3/4 C. sugar, divided
vanilla wafers (bought for $1 at the dollar store)
3 tbsp. flour
dash of salt
3 eggs, separated
2 C. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4-5 bananas, sliced

Combine 1/2 C. sugar, flour, salt in a saucepan.  Separate eggs and beat the yolks into the sugar mixture.  Stir in the milk.  Cook over low heat until thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. (I also stir in 1/2 tsp. of banana extract, optional).


Spread a small amount of custard on the bottom of a 1 1/2 quart casserole.  Cover with a layer of wafers. Top with a layer of bananas then the custard.  Continue to  layer, ending with the custard.

Beat the egg whites until frothy.  Gradually add 1/4 C. sugar.  Beat until whites form stiff peaks.  Spoon on top of pudding.  Bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes or until the meringue's peaks begin to brown.

THRIFTY THINGS WE DID THE PAST FEW WEEKS

Thought I'd never get to it, didn't you?

Harvested and canned carrots.
Harvested blackberries and made jelly.
Laid a flagstone path under our trellis with free stones.
Refinished a table, hutch and chair with stripper that we bought at estate sales and  a thrift store.
Built a cupboard from repurposed wood.
Heated the house with free pallet wood.
Collected and cut up free pallets for firewood and building.
Made a cross stitch piece from thrifted items.
Attended two auctions for free entertainment.
Traded bushels of carrots, apples, pears and garlic and herbs for a lamb roast and some venison.
Used that venison and our vegetables to make chili which I canned.
Attended a moonlight madness sale where I bought a pork loin roast for 89 cents/ lb. and roasting chickens for 69 cents a pound.
Prepared the chickens, one which we ate and used for sandwiches the other I froze the meat.  Ditto for the pork roast.
 Saved all the bones and meat scraps from the lamb, pork and chicken and made  a good bone broth that I canned.
Bought a wringer washing machine at an estate sale.
Used the gray water from washing clothes for flushing toilets.

So that's it for this week!  Hope you all have a lovely week ahead!

Jane