Good bacteria, healthy gut

How could you NOT read this blog post with a catchy title like that? Yesterday I bought an extra half gallon of milk with the intention of making yogurt. I have been paying almost $5 for a quart of organic yogurt. I could make my own for half that price. 

When I had organic dairy goats I made yogurt at least once or twice a week. My kids love smoothies so this was one of the best ways to use the abundance of raw milk that we got. Because it was raw milk I did a quick pasteurization, allowed it to cool to 85-100 degrees and then stirred in yogurt from my last batch. 

But today I am starting with milk that had already been pasteurized so I just put it in my favorite, thick ceramic bowl, whisked in some of the Seven Stars Farm organic yogurt I had (1-2 tablespoons) and put it on my 1970's slow cooker base. I discovered that the low setting on this old base keeps the culture mixture at about 110 degrees. Perfect!

If I am making coffee or cooking I sometimes must make adjustments to this setup so it doesn't get too warm. I set the slow cooker base on low, inserted my candy thermometer, covered with waxed paper and a kitchen towel. A couple of hours later I checked the temp. All good. 

Later in the day I had started my food dehydrator which definitely warmed up the kitchen quite a bit. When I checked my yogurt the temperature was a little too high so I just pulled the towel back to the side and let the yogurt continue to culture. 

I like my yogurt with more flavor so I allowed it to culture overnight. If you don't really like a strong yogurt flavor, just culture it until it sets then jar up and refrigerate. 

 Using my canning funnel I filled two quart-sized glass canning jars and had 2 very full quarts of organic yogurt that was mild, so smooth, and very healthy. 

My favorite way to eat yogurt is with either raw honey or raw agave, a little bit of my homemade vanilla extract and some organic blueberries from my freezer. Just a little bit of heaven. 

Now I can make some frozen yogurt, too, with yummy berries, a little organic sugar or honey, and vanilla.

Oh, and what is this about a healthy gut? Scientists are beginning to think that the bacteria in the gut are very much tied to the immune system in a person's body. Since I struggle with chronic Lyme disease I want to make sure I get some good bacteria each day. I am hoping I can heal my body with this food and others.

Give it a try! You won't believe how easy it is to make your own yogurt.

Paper Towel Alternatives

I reached a point recently where I had to choose between buying food or buying paper towels.  Of course, it was a no-brainer.  We went without paper towels.  And then we went without a little longer.  But I hadn't really provided anything in the kitchen to substitute for those oh-so-handy paper towels. 

I began to bring the subject up at the grocery store checkout line when I guiltily bought one single roll of a really cheap brand (which are awful, btw).  It was interesting hearing some responses.  The male cashiers all completely understood what I was talking about.  The female cashiers looked at me like I was on crack.

One male cashier told me that he cuts up his old t-shirts and uses those, washes and reuses them.  What a great idea.  By the time I got home I completely forgot about trying to find something to substitute for those oh-so-handy paper towels.

One day I had to laugh at myself.  They are called paper "towels".  Duh.  That means that at one point in history people used actual cloth towels for the jobs that we typically pull a few off the roll for (sorry, ended in a preposition).

I would think about it a bit, envision that flannel would be an awesome paper towel substitute.  I still haven't done anything about making me some towels to use in the kitchen.  But here are some creative alternatives I have found.

• Paper grocery bags -- did you know that is what your mothers and grandmothers used to drain fried food before the advent of paper towels?  So now I often ask for paper instead of plastic so I have a supply for fried chicken. [Yes, I tried those reusable bags and they got nasty really fast -- did not think a cashier would want to touch them after a few months. Working on sewing some new ones.  Okay, thinking about working on sewing some new ones.]
• Junk mail -- I know.  Strange item to use but if you drop an egg on the floor you do NOT want to use your sponge or a cloth towel.  We all have some junk mail laying around.  Just open a letter-sized item and use the envelope to scrape the egg (or any other fairly solid mess) onto the paper, and toss.
• Newspaper -- these are especially good for cleaning windows.  I don't subscribe but we do get junk mail printed on newspaper such as grocery store ads.  
• Waxed paper or parchment -- waxed paper is quite handy (and I use it when I run out of plastic wrap as well with a rubber band).  Parchment paper is expensive so you are not going to clean up the counters with it but in a pinch it can be useful.
• Old clothes -- this goes along with cutting up old t-shirts to create reusable kitchen towels.  I have been known to grab a t-shirt that has a hole in it, clean up a nasty mess or clean the bathroom and then toss it out.  If you clean up a grease spill you do not want to put a grease-soaked cloth in your washer and dryer.  Hand soak, wash, rinse and hang on the line.

I would still like to have a supply of clean, folded kitchen towels on hand but learning to make do really is rewarding.  When I get around to making my towels I will take some pictures.  I do have some ideas that might be interesting.  And old t-shirts go straight to the garage for my mechanic son to use.

I would love to hear what creative alternatives to paper towels you have all come up with (what is with the prepositions today???).

Garden Beauty

Sugar pumpkin vines are growing all over the cattle panel fencing.  Still getting very few pumpkins take but happy to have three so far.  That is three that I don't need to buy, and with canned pumpkin containing PBAs now fresh is best.

And I want those pepitas!

Did find a section of powdery mildew on my vines, though.  I just took a mixture of baking soda in water and wiped the affected leaves.  I have used baking soda on old furniture that had white mildew on it with great results.  Fingers crossed.

The light was just perfect for some beautiful shots of my front garden.  When I need to do little post processing I know the light is just right.

Closer shot of one of the pumpkin vines reaching for the sun, tendrils seeking the next handhold.  I am in love with my pumpkin vines.  I think growing plants that give me and my family food is such a beautiful thing.  Spiritual, really.

First San Marzano tomatoes ripening.  I had more than one with the bulbous part.  Not sure what causes that or if it will affect the tomato flavor or texture.  I shall let you know.

All I know is that I want to grow a lot of plum tomatoes next time.  I need more garden space.  I need more sun in my yard!

Sadly, I had to pull up and throw away the two freebie tomato plants I got from the nursery.  They both showed signs of what I think might be Late Blight.  So out they went.  I am not terribly sad.  I just made room to plant some of my fall planting seeds I received from Annie's Heirloom Seeds.

Tiny tomatoes on one of my deck canned tomato plants.  Lots more flowers and potential tomatoes.  I want to be harvesting tomatoes in October! I can dream, can't I?

Bell pepper plant with four sets of flowers getting ready to open and give me lots and lots of bell peppers.  I love peppers, and I love bell peppers.  I like slices of fresh bell pepper on my hamburgers with onions, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo and ketchup.

I pinched the central stalk when I planted it.  So happy to get four producing stalks.  Did I mention that I can't wait to eat one of these?

This Suyo Long cucumber has been hanging down from the beginning promoting a straight fruit.  And it is ready to harvest.  These cucumbers are not growing fast enough for my family.  My boys saw me eating cucumber slices from a bag yesterday and descended like piranha.  I guess I will need to eat my cucumbers in secret if I want more.

I can't quite describe the flavor.  They do not taste like typical grocery store cucumbers, as would be expected.  They don't taste like hothouse cucumbers (which I love).  They have slightly different flavor but the boys all agree that it is pleasant and delicious.

Here is a shot of my tomato bed mess.  Yes, I should have staked them.  The varieties I planted are still going strong out in the yard.  They have left the bed and are growing about 5-6 feet on either side.

Now that I know I can get 6 ft wooden stakes for $1.29 each I will be staking and trellising these guys in the future.

I think I shall dub myself the accidental gardener!

Just so different than most

There are times when I wonder if I was just not meant to live in this time, or if I am just so much different than others that I am forced to live on the fringe. 

I know that I would be a stalwart liberal if I didn't embrace so many conservative values.  But daily I am ashamed of some of the crap I hear coming from the conservative machine.  Then I hear the crap coming from the liberal machine and shake my head. But I don't think I am a libertarian because I do not believe it would be good for our country to dramatically downsize our military.  Again, I just don't fit anywhere.

Then there is the whole kid thing.  When most of my relatives and friends are bragging about what college their kid got into, I am encouraging my kids to work and save up for college so they won't be in debt.  They will also work harder in college if they are paying for it. 

While other people I know are bragging about the $300 boots they bought their daughter for Christmas I delight that my daughter shops at Target from the clearance rack and that she is in love with her 1980's Toyota truck.  My kids know how to cook, clean, are required to have a job before they can get their driver's licenses, and when they turn 18 must pay rent (not a lot, but something). 

I celebrate the fact that my kids are thinkers.  They are not drones, mainstream, vulnerable to peer pressure, or like anyone else.  Around here we celebrate true diversity: that you don't need to do life like everyone else does life. 

Then there is my penchant for discovery.  Any kind of discovery.  Must learn new things.  Must expand my knowledge base.  Must know what is going on in the world around me.  Must try to change the world.  Need more input (and I know someone will know what movie that quote is from).

Wow, that is just downright exhausting.  But that is who I am.  I don't think I could stand to be married to someone like me, and I'm pretty sure that is why my husband (soon to be ex) just disconnected.  I was too much for him.  I am too much for me sometimes. 

In a post-apocalyptic world I would do very well.  In this world I am an enigma, strange, a little off.

Oh well. I think I'll just go watch my Suyo Long cucumber grow for a bit. 

Same yard, different photos

Brown-eyed Susan

I have been wanting to venture forth and get some amazing shots of Connecticut sights, but I got sick over the weekend and am still feeling a little wobbly today.  Soooo, I grabbed my camera, tripod and headed out the door.  Since it was only 6:30 am when I started the light was very low.  I found a lot of my pictures to be grainy -- high ISO to compensate for low light creates noise, or what we see as a grainy shot.

I almost deleted all of the photos but then decided to work with what I had.  A couple of hours post processing and I have a few shots that make me happy.

Brown-eyed Susan close-up

In the low light, the bright yellow really pops.  I love it!

The photo to the left looks totally different on my monitor with an hdmi cable vs. non-hdmi.  Hmmmm, think I need to break down and get a second cable.  Huge difference in color saturation.

New sugar pumpkin growing on the cattle panel fence

I have had a problem with female flowers and their potential fruit turning yellow and falling off.  Out of my four vines I have only three pumpkins that have survived.  Don't get me wrong.  I am certainly not complaining.  Sugar pumpkins were $.70 a pound last year and I ended up not getting any.  And that is non-organic pricing.  My pumpkins are heirlooms grown organically (property has been organic since 2003 -- three years after we purchased it).  Even my dairy goats were raised organic, organic feed, limited vaccinations, limited worming (used herbal wormer), and this garden area is located in the old goat yard.

Back to pumpkins not "taking".  I think it is related to the amount of rain they have been getting: a lot!  Each time a pumpkin has "taken" it has been during a dry spell.  So now I don't even water these babies.  They don't seem to like much water at all.

I will probably need to figure out a harness setup to ensure the pumpkins growing on the fence do not break off or damage the vine.

I wanted you to be able to see the spines on the Suyo Long cucumber.  They are quite prickly.

A young Suyo Long cucumber

Then as they near harvest time they fill out and become smoother.

I will be harvesting the largest cucumber today.  I can't wait to make a salad with my own cucumber, cherry tomatoes, fresh garlic, and feta cheese, all marinating in a balsalmic vinaigrette.

Amish Deer Tongue lettuce

And finally, here a another picture of the Amish Deer Tongue lettuce going to seed.  I look forward to photographing the flowers and seeds, and especially look forward to saving my own seeds, though they will have been cross-pollinated with a variety of other lettuces.

There is a lot more going on:
- Allowing my snow peas to grow full-size for seed harvesting
- Same with my purple pole beans (which I disliked tremendously but will give away -- I just don't like pole beans)
- More Moskovich tomatoes are growing in my driveway container garden
- Deck garden is thriving including tiny buds on my bell pepper plant already and several tomatoes about 1/2 inch in size plus lots and lots of tomato flowers

When I really miss it

This morning did not go as expected. 

Last night one of my sons came into the living room really stressed out.  He had been offered an opportunity to train for a position that he wanted.  The catch was that he had two weeks to learn what usually took six months of training.  I said my usual mom words about how he is super smart, very capable and would learn it quickly because of his incredible memory (all true words).  But then I kind of zoned out.  I wasn't really tuned in.  I find myself doing that a lot the past few years.  Sadly, for a couple of years, I felt nearly disconnected from my family.  Not physically; I still got the kids to school, saw that they had clean clothes, money for school lunches (except the numerous times I forgot).  But on an emotional level, on the connectedness meter, I was rating pretty low.

So this morning I hear a knock on my door.  Oh crap! It was 4:45 and I was supposed to be up at 4:00 am.  Dressed in two minutes we were out the door.  My son was extremely irritable in the car.  There are many reason for this, and it isn't really unusual in the mornings, but today I was not very understanding and asked him to just stop. 

After dropping him off at work it hit me that he was extremely nervous about starting this new position.  He had no breakfast, no coffee, no lunch, and he was stressed out beyond belief. 

I had missed it.  I just completely missed it.

I have a lot of reasons for my lack of sensitivity, but no excuses.  When I pick him up he will receive a huge apology. 

Some days I just really miss "it."

Don't judge a book by its cover

It has been a long, hard road to the first tomato in this home.  Let me go back just a bit and explain.

Last winter I decided that I wanted to attempt to grow a vegetable garden again.  Since becoming horribly sick in 2006 with Lyme disease and co-infections I had to sell my organic dairy goats, cease any type of outdoor activity that put me at risk (at the direction of my doctor who told me I must stop getting re-infected), and wasn't even able to cook for myself or my children.  We are talking take-out and frozen foods.  Not only did it double our already insane food bill, this whole situation exposed my family and myself to horribly unhealthy foods, the source of nourishment for our bodies not being very life-giving.

Fast forward to 2011, several years of no treatment.  A year of long-term antibiotics.  I had recovered to about 50% maybe of my former, healthy self.  And you know what? I was thankful to have that much of my health back.  I considered myself high functioning.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I am a dreamer.  I tends towards idealism.  I wouldn't quite call myself a Pollyanna but I see the bright side of things.  When I see the dark side of things I fight to change them.  And then I focus on the bright side for awhile.  I create.  I capture beauty.  I attempt to make things better.  I don't give up.  I am a fighter.  I wanted some of my former life back.  I wanted to grow some of my own food again.

After much research I decided that I wanted to grow all heirloom vegetables and herbs in my garden.  I didn't want anything associated with Monsanto or its dangerous GE products.  I haven't used pesticides in over 30 years and knew that Round-up was just wrong.  I bend over and pull weeds.  Gasp.  Yes, they come out of the ground when you pull on them.  Sorry, I had to throw in a teensy bit of sarcasm because Round-up just seems so silly to me. 

Back to my garden.  I placed an order with a small seed company, Annie's Heirloom Seeds.  I excitedly received most of my order within 2 days and the rest was shipped with plenty of time to plant. 

I planted my seeds indoors in February.  We had already been experiencing spring-like weather so I dove right in.  I let my seeds live on the windowsill in the living room where we get lots of light and great full sun at least half of the day.  They did well except when the cats wanted to play with the tags.  I still don't know what varieties of tomatoes are planted where in my garden.  Cats make gardening so interesting.

One of my plants, Moskovich I discovered, ended up in a container in my driveway and the rest I planted in my backyard garden where they thrived.  My first tomato has been watched and documented for what feels like months.  Seriously, I think it took 3 months for this tomato to ripen.  Three days ago I went outside and checked my first and nearly ripe Moskovich tomato and it had split all along the top and down the sides.  Oh, I was heartbroken.

Moskovich tomato split after a rainstorm and cool night

I placed the focus of my tomato love on the counter in my kitchen out of direct sunlight and hoped and prayed.  It needed two or three more days to ripen.  I watched for mold.  I watched for bugs.  I picked my tomato up every day to gauge its ripeness. 

This morning I checked it and when I squeezed just a bit some juice came out on my hand.  I knew it had to be eaten today. 

Let me say that I am actually not a fresh tomato person because I grew up exposed to mealy grocery store tomatoes.  When I was older I discovered Roma tomatoes and stuck to those but I would never just cut a slice of tomato and eat it. 

My youngest is a tomato lover.  When he was very little he would go in my vegetable garden and eat tomatoes right off of the plants, like apples.  I had never done that and never thought I would enjoy a fresh tomato like that.

This morning changed that. 

I cut into my first tomato of the season, my first Moskovich ever.  I cut a small piece off of the bigger slice and popped that baby into my mouth. 

Oh my! I have never tasted a tomato like this. EVER!  This is what tomato lovers know tomatoes can taste like.  This is what tomatoes are supposed to taste like. 

It isn't pretty, but my first tomato of the season is a winner!  Blue Ribbon!!!