This and That

Wow. Where did summer go? Today is the last official day of summer, tomorrow fall will make it's entrance, and, before you know it, winter will be here. Let that sink in for a moment.

All and all our fall garden is doing good. We could use a few days of rain, but things seem to be coming along. (See picture at bottom). Hopefully by next summer we will have water out by the garden so we won't have to dip from the pond during dry spells. Dipping from the pond pretty much is a chore.

As I write this, I have 5 trays of bananas in the dehydrator. I have no idea how they will turn out or what I will eventually use them for, but I will have them anyways. I hope to do apples next, now those I have plans for!

One evening a month, I head out to a local tea room, owned by my friend Libby, and meet up with 11 other ladies, most of which are fellow dingbatters. We are the local Bunco team and we call ourselves "The Mad Hatters". Bunco is a very hard game to describe but easy to pick up on once you sit in. It's kinda like dice on steroids and it's a pure blast, plus we get to eat a great meal and drink some delicious tea. Oh, and if you're lucky you get to win money. It's the social highlight of our calendar.

If anyone out there wants to learn more about herbal remedies or uses, I highly recommend Rosemary Gladstar's book "Medicinal Herbs, A Beginner's Guide". I can't wait till spring so I can get started planting my herb garden.

On a sad note, for the past couple of weeks the turtle we called "ET" had been missing. He was the first to come in the afternoons when we called, and would actually come part way out of the water to meet us. Over the weekend I found him dead up on the bank on the other side of the pond. Hubby buried him out under one of the cottonwoods. We have no idea what happened, but hubby said that his shell looked a bit deformed. Believe it or not, we miss him.

Well, guess I had better go get ready for my big evening out. Wish me luck - Mama needs a new pair of shoes!!!! LOL!

P.S. Is there anything sexier than a man tilling up a garden?

How Many Times Can I Use the Word "Dehydrating"?

My friend Donna, over at the OLD WAYS, NEW TIMES blog, has been telling me about how great her dehydrators are. She has three of them going practically round the clock and has been dehydrating just about everything she finds on sale at the markets. She is a dehydrating Queen, I tell ya!

Two days ago I was at our local market and they had a really good sale on sliced mushrooms. I stood there thinking, "These would be perfect for dehydrating". After much debate I ended up buying 5 pounds of them. The debating came about because, while they were perfect for dehydrating I didn't actually have a dehydrator yet. So, after I left there, I headed over to the BigK and luckily they had what I was looking for, plus it was on sale (SCORE!).

I have to say, so far I love the thing. For the past two days I have been sucking the moisture out of  mushrooms right and left! Out of the 5 pounds of mushrooms I have dehydrated and vacuum canned 5 pints, which should be enough to get us through the winter soup/stew season. The only downside so far is that hubby and daughter have discovered that they don't much like the smell of mushrooms being dehydrated. They are really glad that I am finished.

Today when we went over to town we stopped at the grocery store. They had an amazing sale on onions: four 3 pound bags for $5.00. You guessed it, I now have 12 pounds of onions to prepare and dry.

My husband and daughter's noses may never be the same again.

Donna, you have created a monster.

But What if They Don't Want to "Coexist"?

We have a big problem here on our little island. It's one that many of you may also be dealing with right now.

Coyotes

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has a lovely website, www.ncwildlife.org, which describes how to coexist with coyotes. According to the NCWRC website, coyotes are here in all 100 NC counties as a result of "Natural range expansion from neighboring states", and we should just learn to "coexist" with them because they really aren't that big of a deal. Yeah. Right.

Now, I knew that there were coyotes in our county. A friend of mine who lives "off island", about 15 minutes away, has lost her entire flock, including her turkeys and her guinea fowl to them. A local farmer over that way has had a time with them eating watermelons out of his field. But it never occurred to me that they could make their way over here - we are on an island for God's sake!

How did they get here? Some people say that they swam across from the mainland. Some locals even swear that they walk across the bridge at 2 in the morning (I haven't decided yet if they are kidding about the bridge or not). I guess it really doesn't matter at this point how they got here, what matters is that they are here now, and it sucks.

People on our island are starting to have chickens go missing. Cats are disappearing too. A neighbor of mine has been finding scat in her yard with fur in it - lovely.  I guess it doesn't matter much to a hungry coyote what he is eating. It sure matters to us though. People here on the island are getting worried.

So, what are our options? The NC Wildlife Resources Commission does have some good information on the website about things to do to prevent conflicts with coyotes and what to do if you have a problem with them. It's worth checking out. As for us, we haven't gotten our chickens yet (planning to in the spring), so we don't have that worry, yet. Our cats are kept indoors and we have become extra careful while walking the pups, especially at night when we take them out for their last walk before bed. They are kept on a leash and we constantly scan the yard with a flashlight. We are also keeping a loaded rifle by the door. Hopefully we won't have to use it, but if we have to, we will.  I repeat: this whole coyote thing sucks.

I think that I would be really happy if the varmints just ran right back over the bridge to where they came from. That would solve the problem for us here anyway.

NOT holding my breath on that though.

Yes, You Can Can!

If you like to can, it's a great time right now in Eastern Carolina. Last week the figs ripened, this week the pears and the wild scuppernong grapes. If you have never had wild scuppernong grapes you are missing out - they are the bomb! My pantry is starting to fill up with home grown, home canned fruits and veggies.

It's exciting, really. I'm glad I'm pushing myself to dust off the canning books and to get in the kitchen and do something really healthy for my family. Searching for canning recipes in some of my vintage canning books is really fun too. I love reading the old pamphlets and cookbooks. They have lots of great old recipes and good information in them that is still relevant today.

Since we didn't get into our place until late July, we didn't have a chance to put in a summer garden. We ended up buying corn from our local farmers market to can and to freeze. I also found a fantastic sale on carrots at our grocery store and we canned about 10 pounds of those too. So, just because you haven't actually grown anything yourself, you can always find vegetables at your local produce stand or market. You can can!

Anyway, I know that it may not seem like much, but it's a start until our fall garden comes in. And speaking of the fall garden - I really am going to need A LOT more canning jars!