Mother Nature, the Original Prankster

I walked out of my house yesterday, the humidity was like walking through a swimming pool. I know it is an adage that people complain about, but in Kansas, it really is the humidity not the heat. I did my morning chores, sweating. After a time, I decided to work inside, it was just too much. Around noon, I went outside to wait for the bus with my youngest son. He started pre-k yesterday. He did good, getting on that bus all by himself, but mommy. . . I had to remind myself that I too was a big girl, and if my 4 year old didn't cry, neither should I. And for the first time in 11 years, I was alone.

Around 3, I went back outside and it was cold! Needed a jacket cold. I went out and harvest my sunflower heads, and started on the popcorn. A neighbor pulled up and we chatted. She informed me that it was in the mid 60's. She was covered in goose bumps. I digress. She was wanting to give me her billy goat. We talked a bit about that, and she said she thought it was a Nubian. I told her to find out for sure, and I would take him.

Back to popcorn picking. I was going along just fine, and then it felt like the back of my finger had been burned by a cigarette. I pulled my had away from the corn stalk, and there was a bead of water siting on it. I wiped it away and suddenly it felt like someone was pulling my finger nail off. I whimpered and dropped what I was doing. I had no idea what was going on. I thought I might have been stung, but there wasn't a mark on me. My finger began to swell, and turned purple. Then a red ring formed around sickly pale flesh. I assumed that the bite or sting was there.

Once into the house I quickly made a baking soda paste and painted my finger with it. My hand was hurting down to my wrist by that time. I hollered at a friend of ours, that is staying with us, and told him what happened. He said it was a caterpillar. My mind went to those large green ones in Florida, that everyone would tell us, would kill us if we touched them. He laughed and said no, you don't have anything like that here. Thank goodness, I really didn't want to break out my husband's how to amputate (insert body part here) books.

The paste dried, I brushed it off, and the stinging isn't as bad today. The swelling is down, and I will be wearing gloves in the garden.

Thursday Mush

If you are interested, Wego Health has published an interview with me about my migraines. You can find the article here.

I am feeling rather stiff in the hands this morning. All that weeding is catching up to me. Typing seems to be a little time consuming.

I am thinking about some more How To posts. Since I realize that many of you come here looking for that. I have covered many many topics here, and try to write about them as I have accomplished them.

The boys and I will be building a goat playground. I am not sure when the angora's are due, but the kids will need something to do to keep them from getting too destructive. The adult pygmies need one as well. They love jumping on the cars, they need to stop that.

I must once again inform you how much my good neighbor rocks. My husband was out front last night when the good neighbor came flying by in his truck, slammed on the brakes, backed up into the drive, jumped out and handed my husband 10 pounds of ground beef. "This one is free. 80% lean, $1 a pound." and he was off. $1 a pound!?! Where on Earth do you find that kind of price, and 80% lean? oh my! And this was after I threatened to get my gun when I caught him snooping in my garden. It was all in play, and he was just seeing how my garden grew. Making sure I actually knew what I was talking about. ha!

Everything but the spinach is going great. The spinach came from local seed. Out of 1,000 seeds, 2 sprouted. Not good odds. So now I have to find a new source.

I keep forgetting to mention. I am part of the Great Sunflower Project. It is a program to help researchers with bees. They are unable to send out more seeds right now, but you can sign up for next year, or make a donation to the cause.

It's all about the frogs

My middle child turned 5 years-old on labor day. What better way to celebrate than with frogs! Of course he loves frogs, so we stuck with that theme.
I made a Devil's food cake topped with white chocolate almond frosting. Using black colored gel piped icing my husband drew out the frog, log and flies. I couldn't draw a stick figure if it saved my life. I used green decorator piped frosting to fill in the frog, and crushed walnuts for the log. Click link if you want the recipes.

We had a great time, and even allowed the birthday boy to start a small camp fire {that boy loves fire}


Our strawberry popcorn harvest has come in. The early rains cause some of them to mold, so it is a small harvest {that and my husband tilled under our white popcorn} Even with the small crop, we still get to enjoy warm popcorn on a snowy night.



The decorative sunflowers that I did NOT plant a few years ago, has over ran my peppers. We removed a half acre of these renegade flowers in the spring, but my husband thought to leave a row as a wind block. I did ask him if he remembered how these things grow and that they were too close to the peppers. When will he remember I am right?



I finished up my pear project this weekend. Pear Preserves, and pear Jam. I made a mistake on the pear jam {will post that tomorrow}
The preserves were easier than I thought they would be. More waiting than cooking.

We also opened up a jar of the pizza sauce I canned. It turned out great. Everyone was happy with it. I must say that I can't help but smile when I taste the "fruits" of my labor that have turned out so well. It's called pride, something that anyone that knows my life history, knows I have had little of.

I have also been listening to gun fire the past few days. I need to check if hunting season has opened, or if I have poachers roaming the roads.

Sunflowers

Oh, the sunflower. Such an interesting plant. Have you ever driven by a field full of them in the morning? They all face the east, watching the sun rise. Drive by during lunch, and they are all looking toward the heavens. Then drive by after work, and they are all watching the sun set.

I decided to first grow sunflowers to roast and eat their seeds. Our first year we grew several large, beautiful heads. storing them for replant was easy, preparing them for roasting was another matter.

One of my sunflowers in is glory

I read the book, really I did. But for some reason my brain did not process the information correctly. I filled a sealable plastic tub with water and salt. Placed the seeds into the water and sealed the tub. I allowed them to soak for two weeks, before opening the container and preparing them to be roasted in the oven.

Two weeks is too long. The book actually said one week. {Where is my impatience when I really need it?} So instead of the properly saturated seed, perfect for roasting and eating, I had about 30 lbs of seedlings and mold.

Starting to droop

Luckily for me, I still had a few whole heads that I had hung upside down in the barn to dry. I tried again, and this time I was successful.


Sunflowers are ready to harvest in mid-summer/early Autumn. Allow them to droop. The petals will fall off, and the green on the back of their heads will turn black. Cut the stalks low, and hang them upside down to dry for one to three weeks. Too long though and you are looking at stale tasting seeds.


Make sure there is little in the way of moisture when you are drying them, or you will end up with a soft, powdery gray mold on them. {not appealing} Once the heads are completely dry, you can rub the seeds right off the head.

petals have fallen

Sunflowers are one of the few plant sources of Vitamin D {just a little trivia to amaze your friends with}

If the seeds are still a little damp, set them out to dry longer. To store them correctly, they must be very very dry. Store them in their shell to retain the vitamins.

To roast them unshelled and salted. You will need 2 gal. water and 26 oz of salt. Stir and leave for one week {that's one week!} Stir them once in a while. Spread out on a tray and bake at 350f, mixing them every 10 minutes for at least one hour.

You can press them for oil {that's the plan this year} or make bread, cookies, top your salad with them.

I have been reading a new blog. If you have gardening questions, ask them at Gardening 1 on 1. Though I must warn you, it's not a completely pro-organic site. I still recommend it if you need help.