Due to circumstances beyond my control, I did not get to plant near as much as usual in my gardens this year. Thus, I am always looking for a good deal on fresh veggies. This weeks find was cauliflower and Brussel sprouts.
A great find is only good if you know how to use it. Although you can just steam pretty much any vegetable, that can be a bit bland and when you have an abundance, it helps to have a variety of ways to use it. Today I decided to roast both veggies together.
Fresh veggies need to be cleaned and cut to size for use. This will leave you with a bit of scrap but no worries! Compost is the way to deal with that. This is my compost bin which I bought before my kids were born. If you have read many of my blogs you will know they are grown, so that’s a long time. It was a very worthwhile investment.
The recipe:
Fresh Cauliflower and brussel sprouts
Olive oil to taste
Salt to taste, optional-I do mine without salt
Garlic powder to taste
Pepper to taste-I use black pepper corns
Onion powder to taste
Parmesan cheese to taste, optional for topping
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Place cleaned veggies on the baking sheet
Glaze with olive oil
Top with garlic powder, pepper, onion powder and salt if desired
Roast for 30 minutes
Remove from oven and top with parmesan cheese if desired
If the only way you have ever had brussel sprouts is boiled to death and you don’t like them, I don’t blame you! At least give this a try. You can use this recipe on a variety of veggies such as broccoli. It will also work with frozen veggies. Just cut the time in the oven to 20 minutes.
A few years after we planted “Papaws” climbing rose I began collecting a few petals from it. I love the smell of roses, and these had a unique smell to them. For a long time, I just used them as a potpourri. Eventually my curiosity convinced me to look up other uses for rose petals. There were so many, and it was a shame not to use them for something.
The first thing I tried was tea. Several articles I read mentioned that rose petals were high in vitamin C and antioxidants. Beginning by adding them to the tea I already made for my sons we decided to try it. I figured it certainly wouldn’t hurt to add a little vitamin C to their diet. Especially when they were under the weather. The rose petals also added a wonderful flavor to the tea, meaning they were more apt to drink all of it. Often, I now make tea with just rose petals, inhaling the steam. I not only like the taste, but I also love the smell of those roses.
To make tea all you need to do is gather the petals and steep them in boiling water just like you would a tea bag. I dry a lot of the petals and then store them in glass jars for use when the roses aren’t blooming. You can use a tea ball, or you can just use loose petals and strain your tea into another cup. If it is not sweet enough just add a little honey.
Eventually I decided to try infusing rose petals in coconut oil. I am allergic to so many store-bought skincare items that I had begun using plain organic coconut oil on my face. It really helped my skin maintain balance, not too dry but also not too oily. I kept reading that rose petals are good for the skin. I have used this ever since. Last year when my husband was so sick, I let go of self-care much more than I should have to spend all my time caring for him. Although I felt it was necessary at the time, I can really tell the difference from letting myself go. So, I am getting back on track now. The jar to the right is ready to warm and strain.
This is how I make my rose petal oil:
Rose petal infused oil
Choose a carrier oil. I used coconut oil, but you can use olive or almond oil. Crunch rose petals into a jar and cover with oil. Add the lid then swirl just enough to coat the petals without shaking. Warming the oil will help release the scent from the rose petals. I use a coffee cup warmer or set in the sun until warm. Let it sit for 4-6 weeks in a dark cupboard. After it has sat long enough, warm the oil and then strain out all but a few of the petals.
Being fascinated with herbs and their many uses for as long as I can remember, I have grown and used many of them in cooking since I was a teenager. A friend introduced me to Mother Earth News when I was 15 or 16. After reading about organic gardening, I became especially interested in various herbs and their uses. I continued to read and do research over the years and began to make teas from many of them. Eventually I added wild herbs and flowers to my collection.
My first tea was peppermint. It settled a belly ache and our doctor said it was safe for my first baby Charles, who was colicky for quite some time. He was eventually found to be lactose intolerant. Charles will be 26 as of July and still drinks my mint tea. He joined the Navy when he was 18. Last time he was deployed I asked what he would like me to send him. The only thing he wanted was my mint tea and chocolate mint which I also started making during his childhood years.
From the time my youngest son, Chris was a baby he would not swallow pills and would spit out any liquid medicine I gave him. He would, however, drink mint tea. My grandmother used dandelions and was pretty much never sick, so I did research on them. Apparently, it has antibiotic properties. So, I began adding it to my mint tea whenever he was sick. He could have the worst flu ever and would only be sick enough to stay down for one day. He has drunk that tea every time he gets sick for 22 years now. Evan as an adult Chris will come in and say “Mom I am so sick; would you make me some of that tea?
As a child we lived out in the country for short periods of time. My dad would take us on walks or bicycle rides on Sunday afternoons. We often picked berries along the way, to take home and eat the next morning for breakfast. At some point he showed how to pull out the petals of a red clover flower and suck the liquid out of them. It was sweet and we began doing that anytime we saw red cover. This memory gave me an idea and I tried adding it to the mint tea. The tea was not sweet enough for my youngest and I really try to avoid sugar when possible. Red clover was a hit! Both boys loved it. Thus began my journey into foraging.
I worked with troubled youth for 16 years and was also a foster parent. Although I never got my degree, I took several classes for both of those positions every year during that time. Due to my husband acquiring cancer, I retired early from working with youth. The last nine years I spent being his caretaker. The cancer was followed by heart surgeries, etc. and he never fully recovered. Since I was unable to have children until my early 40’s, I was still raising my two sons who were 13 and 16 at that time.
Found My Forever Home
I grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois but moved to Indiana in my teens so my father could help care for his father who was dying of cancer at that time. I have visited several other states and lived in California, Texas, Tennessee, and Wisconsin for short periods of time. I always came back to Indiana so the last time I stayed. My roots are here as my grandparents lived here all their lives and I have many cousins who grew up here. I also raised my sons here so this is, and always will be home to me.
Nature Lover and Rescuer Since Childhood
I am a nature lover, fascinated by all living things from animals to insects, to plants. I grow things to attract and feed hummingbirds as well as all other birds and bees. I grow many herbs also which I use for many things including cooking, teas, and salves.
I am also a rescuer, having rescued animals since I was a kid and added rescuing children as an adult. Unable to give birth to my own children, I switched careers from working for a paper and seniors magazine, to working with children in need. That is how I found my two sons who I adopted, the first at birth and the second at 4 ½ months old. They are my life (even though they are in their twenties), and they always will be.
Still Rescuing …
Still a rescuer I have two dogs and two cats, all rescues. I help Action for Animals with the many cats who are dumped in this area and get pregnant if they are not already pregnant when dumped. Yes, people are that cruel. We try to trap them and get them spayed. I have trapped mostly raccoons when I try, but I feed the cats and talk to them trying to get them to come near or at least not run so they are easier to trap. The kittens are fostered until they are old enough to get spayed and then taken to Pet Smart to get new families. I am fostering one such kitten now.
Widowed and Starting New
Now I am a widow. I lost my husband last September. As my husband’s health deteriorated I stepped away from my blog. After six months of intense treatment trying to save him, he finally decided to go through hospice at home until his death. This was a very difficult time for me and I am grateful the Navy let my oldest son come to help with hospice. I was overwhelmed by all the paperwork afterwards and withdrew from everything for a time. Now that I have a little more time I am ready to get back to work here.
I got up today just like any other day. Cleaned a litter box for the cat-room fixed a cup of coffee and sat down to check emails and other such things I do first thing every morning. I had been working on some Christmas decorations, taking old stuff and reworking it to make it look new or better this year. I have collected Christmas memorabilia over thirty years so I have plenty to work with. I started donating a lot of it a few years ago. So now I have hodge podge of different items to work with.
We are not putting up a tree this year since our kids are grown and will not be home for Christmas. We invited our neighbors for Thanksgiving after they offered to give us a turkey and said their kids and grandkids cannot be there for the holidays. We cooked the turkey and side dishes and they brought a desert. They enjoyed it so much they asked us to join them for Christmas. They said they will cook the meal and we can bring desert this time. Much better than being alone for both us and them.
Without having a tree this year, I decided I still wanted to at least have an advent wreath and started with that. The base is still like new, but the trimmings were all shot. We had fresh greenery on it last time and that of course had to be thrown away. I had to order new candles and they are not here yet, but I found a decorative gold plate that I had picked up a few years a go at a thrift shop and had not used yet. It was made to hold candles, not for food, so I set the candle base on it. I also found a mini nativity and used in the center along with a couple angels from the tree ornaments. I did not want to add any greenery until I added the advent candles, so I cleaned the space I planned to set it up.
Once I got a small bookcase cleaned off, I had a perfect place for it. I added a cloth placemat in Christmas colors with poinsettias on it and placed the advent wreath on it. Then I found a Santa kneeling over Baby Jesus praying and added it on one side, next I found a Christmas candle and small plate holder for the other side. It looked good enough to me that I decided the Advent wreath did not need any more décor.
Now for the rest of our living room. First, I have a wreath made from a harp, that I picked up in a thrift shop and had used the past few years. The ribbon, greenery and bow were fading quite a bit, so I took them off and looked for things to redo the harp. A large bow that still looks new added to the top in the same colors as the harp. Then some bells and French horn ornaments hung from the center of the bow, so it had a musical theme. I am happy with that, so I hung it on the front door.
Another child’s wreath I found again at a thrift shop but had not used yet, I worked on adding ornaments to replace what was missing when I got it. I have worked on it and it looks okay, so I hung it on the kid’s old bedroom door. I am not sure what else I might want to do with it, so I decided to sleep on it and work on it more today. So back to when I got up today.
After I sat down with my coffee and checked emails etc. I decided to check on a crafter’s group I recently joined to see if I could get some ideas of what else I might try on the kid wreath. It is basically a train track with a small train on the track. There were a few tiny, scattered decorations like a snowman and some gift packages. I added some bells at the top and a couple ornaments with my kid’s pictures from when they were little.
Looking for other wreaths that might be child oriented, I came across one that was white and had bright red cardinals on it. It was very pretty, and I immediately thought about how cardinals at Christmas time had always brought back images of my Grandfather. He loved cardinals and always had bird feeders for them in winter. Such a pleasant memory for this time of year. I might look for some odds and ends to do one similar next year.
After looking at other wreaths for inspiration I dug through more of the old stuff and rearrange it on the wreath until I was happy with it and went to find my glue gun. My son had borrowed it and he said it quit working the last time he used it. I decided to work on some other decorations and before I knew it my son came in with a new glue gun, bigger and better than the one I had before. It was time to finish that last wreath and get it hung up. I love it and sent a picture to my oldest son who will not be home for Christmas. He really liked.
I will probably keep this wreath the way it is and maybe he will end up with it someday when he has kids. Any way the Christmas decorating is done for this year other than adding the candles to my Advent wreath. Unfortunately, the Advent candles I ordered did not come on time due to the pandemic. The post office is so short handed with workers being sick or quarantined. Christmas will come on time regardless of this year’s pandemic. It will be a little different this year, but we will make the most of it Just like Mary and Joseph made the most of it that first Christmas so long ago. I hope you are able to do the same.
Now that cold weather has settled in and outside gardening is done, I am starting on gardening inside. I grow herbs as well as vegetable, fruits and flowers. Mint is my most prolific herb. The largest crop is peppermint, but I also have chocolate mint. The chocolate mint is my nephews favorite as well as a friends grand daughter. I generally dry quite a bit of both to use in winter for tea. My sons always loved the taste and it seemed to settle their stomachs during flu season. This year I am also using mint in my windowsill garden, just because I like to use fresh mint occasionally in a drink or as a garnish.
Peppermint starts with one Chocolate mint start.
I also love to grow creeping rosemary and use it in cooking. It is a great ground cover in between other herbs, except it dies off every winter. I usually dry what is left when it dies out, this year I have decided to try transplanting it for indoors, adding it to another windowsill garden. I have not tried growing it inside before, but if it does not live long I can still dry it and add it to my herb bottles.
Creeping Rosemary with a little Peppermint plant on the side,
Today I managed to transplant several starts in between other things that needed done. I will do a few more over the next week or two. I have a box full of tea or coffee cups that my yongest son and I picked up at secondhand bargain shop a few years ago. I plant starts in them every year. Sometimes I give them as gifts to beginning gardeners. Maybe the peppermint will be Christmas presents this year. It does seem to be the flavor for the season.
Walking onions are another herb I have never tried indoors, so that might be another one of my next experiments. The stems are much like chives and can be used in place of chives until they begin sprouting little onion bulbs on top. They then fall over and plant themselves for the following year. I do have enough to try one inside so I can eat it on a baked potato now and then.
Do any of you have a favorite herb that you grow or might like to start growing? If so please mention it in the comments.
Finally we have running water in the tub and the wirlpool works great. For those of you that know me this is a big deal. We have been remodeling our house in stages for many years. We bought all the materials to do the master bathroom several years ago. We enlarged the room, got the walls and floor torn out and replaced, then got this tub in the room.
That was as far as we got before Charles was diagnosed with Cancer. He was in very bad shape for a long time and we put everything on hold. Since his recovery he has gradually been finishing all the projects we had started before his cancer battle. First he got the floor tiled, then the toilet and sink in. It was very slow progress, as he is not able to work as hard or as long as he used to. Charles got some help from his brother with reinforcing the floor under the tub, so it would hold the weight of that much water.
After that other things took priority, like replacing the porch that hat rotted out. Always something in need of repair first. Finally he was ready to finish. Lucky for us his friend Robert showed up to help him. They spent two days getting everything connected to the pluming underneath and making sure nothing leaked. Finally we not only have running water, but the whirlpool jets work great and they have a bubble mode. I made sure that worke today. First just the jets on, which is great for my arthritis, then bubble mode made the bubbles at least four inches high.
That old Cherry Tree is the most Giving Tree as any I know of.
When our first son was born, we planted a cherry tree. It grew as he did, and we started having picnics under the tree when he was three or four years old. When his brother was born the fall after he turned three, we decided to plant another cherry tree of a different kind the following spring. By the time, the boys were old enough to climb trees the first cherry tree was big enough to climb. It had the large, sweet cherries that taste so good without cooking. They would both climb up to pick cherries to for that night’s desert but end up eating more than the picked. So, I usually had enough to eat a few after dinner, but not much else. I never minded because I grow everything organically and the cherries were a healthy snack.
A few years later they began making forts under the cherry trees. Their cousins or friends came over to play and they drug out their soldier costumes. It was not long after the 9/11 incident and Fireman, Police Officer and Soldier costumes were the rage at Halloween time. We always let the boys play with their costumes, the oldest passing down his too the youngest. The forts started by dragging dead limbs from other trees. They arranged them propped up against the tree trunk. Before long they realized the grass that we raked up under all the trees after mowing, made a perfect camouflage for the limbs.
One weekend my younger brother came for the weekend with his oldest boy to have a sleep over. He and my husband were very close, and he used to come have movie marathons when he had a free weekend while in Med school. This weekend my husband was in need of a new suit, so him and my brother went shopping and I went out to play with the boys. We found canteens that held water and packed peanut butter sandwiches and other snacks in the soldier packs. Then we headed to the way back (what my kids called the three lots behind the house and garage) to start building forts. The first cherry tree was visible from the driveway, so they started on it first.
I made a few trips back to the house for more water and the boys built the forts without my help. They had made them before, so I was not worried about it. They used more branches than usual and placed them closer together. Then came the grass. It was packed together from being raked really thick under the trees. They used large sections and laid them on the branches, like a grass hut. It worked very well.
Soon after they finished the first fort and had branches stacked for the second one, they heard the car pull up. The boys climbed in the forts and hid, sending me to tell the guys to go check out the boy’s forts. They looked towards the way back and did not see anything. I just told them to walk back there. The boys ended up laughing so hard because the grown-up men could not see their fort until they were almost all the way back to it.
As my boys started growing into men, that beloved cherry tree with so many good memories began to die. It made me sad, but we had to cut it down.
We discovered that a baby tree had started to grow at the base of that tree. We left it to keep growing and hope someday it will get big and fun for grandchildren to play in. We left the stump a little taller than usual and cut it in such a way as to have a seat to sit on halfway to the back of our property. The little tree is still growing although not very big yet. I hope by the time my oldest gets married and has kids that the new tree will be big enough for his first child to have a picnic underneath it. I can sit on the old stump and read to my grandchild “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. That old Cherry Tree is the most Giving Tree as any I know of.
If you end up with more cabbage than you can eat before it goes bad, freezing may be the way to go for you. Sometimes I make sour krout but I did not have enough to be worth doing that this time. We use cabbage in several dishes, such as Vegetable soup, Minestroni and with Mulligan Stew (sausage, potato, cabbage and carrots).
First thing to do wash and cut the cabbage the size you want it. Fill the steamer basket with the chopped cabbage. The bottom pan needs about 5 inches of water. Turn the fire on low so the water can start heating while you are chopping up the cabbage.
Then set the steamer in the bottom pan and turn the heat up medium high just long enough to wilt the cabbage, about 15 minutes should do it.
Next put the steamer in the sink and run cold water over it to stop the cooking process. If you skip this part the cabbage will continue to cook and will end up mushy when you unthaw it for cooking.
After cooling the cabbage put a serving size in freezer bags. How big of bags and how full you fill them depends on the size of your family and how many you are cooking for. I used gallon bags and filled them about 3/4 full. Flatten the bags and lay them flat in the freezer. This makess them easier to store and they will thaw quicker when you are ready to use them.
Bathtub Remodel
While I was working in the kitchen, Charles was working on the master bathroom. He is hooking up a tub with a whirpool. We both have disabilities, but we refuse to give up on our activities. The whirlpool should help with the arthritus and his leg that was broken in several places back in 1975. I can’t wait until I get to try it out. When it is finished I will post a follow up.
I am determined to find a way to keep on doing what I do no matter how old, or what obsticles I have to overcome.
At the end of the year it is time time to prepare the garden for winter. The last couple days I have gone out in between the rain and storms and cooler weather, to prepare my raised beds for winter. First thing is to clear out the dying vines, plants and weeds. Then I swept up leaves off the pavers and threw them on top of the dirt. As you can see in the picture below, the dirt is dark and rich great for growing anything. I will continue sweeping up the leaves and piling them up thick enough to completley cover all of the dirt. By next spring the leaves will have decomposed to the point of looking pretty much like the soil under them. We will add compost from the bottom door of our bin and the soil will be ready to start all over again.
I leave the tomato cages in the raised beds all winter to keep our dog from digging in them. She seems to think they are a great place to bury her toys. She watches me and tries to help when I plant in the spring and then watches how everything grows, so maybe she is trying to grow some new toys. You never know with that silly thing.
I had a visiter over the summer who told me I should write about how I do everything for my gardens. She grew up helping out on a farm so I thought she probably new all about gardening. So yes they had an acre garden and farm equipment and several people doing the work, so nothing like I am doing. She said she was fascinated with some of the ways I did things. She also said that she bet a lot of people would love to know the little things I do to care for my gardens and how I use what I grow. So I am sharing what I do and you can try some of the different things I do if you want, or you can share some of your tips with me for next years gardens. Just write them in the comments below.
I love to try new things and there is always more to learn. I started hearing about and reading anything I could find on organic gardening when I was 21. I had my first home that spring and so I got to have my first garden on my own. I did Circle Style organic garden and had so much food from a very small area.
The woman who lived behind me had a huge garden all in rows like you would typically see back then and she thought I was crazy. Kept telling me that she had been gardening all her life and her way was the best way. So me being me as always, being the different one in th bunch, (my sixth grade teacher told me that I was unique and I should embrace that) I ignored her and did it my way. So using a method I had read about in an old Mother Earth Magazine my first sister-in-law had given me a few years earlier, I made my circle garden.
First I used a tomato cage in the center, like the one in the picture. The cage was for compost and we threw all of our food scraps, as well as adding raked up grass and leaves all summer long. I then planted tomatoes all the way around the outside so they could climb up the cage and much closer than a normal garden. I then used three long branches and tied them together at the top. Then pushed the bottom of each branch into the ground teepee style around the cage. At the bottom of the branches I planted viny things like green beans.
Outside of the cage area I divided the circle into four sections and planted something different in each section. I had cucumbers, radishes, carrots, and all the things you normally see in a garden, but in much less space. Every time it rained, it washed the nutrients from the compost in the center down into the ground all around it and fed my little garden. I had an abundance of vegetables and canned tomatoes by myself for the first time.
My neighbor came to the fence one day to brag about all the tomatoes she had canned from her huge garden and I politely told her that I had canned slightly more from my tiny garden, which by the way was still producing more. She never had anything to say to me after that. The reason I am writing about my neighbor is not to make myself out to be so great. It is to show that you can always learn more and continue growing as you get older if you are willing. I still research and try new things all these years later.
So about seven years ago I finally decided to try the raised beds. I started having problems with my knees and legs, not being able to bend and stoop as I had always done. Long story short, it took several years to get diagnosed and spiralling downhill with my mobility I thought it would be a good idea to go with raised beds so I could continue gardening until the day I can no longer move.
That year the boys helped me put down the first row of cinder blocks and each year we added a little more until they were three blocks high. Now I can tend to them without stooping. Two years ago I was falling a lot and having to use a walker, so my husband put down pavers so I could use the walker and still do my gardening. Since then working with my doctor and a rhuematologist, I am finally able to get around with just my cane handy in case I lose my balance. I am determined to find a way to keep on doing what I do no matter how old, or what obsticles I have to overcome.
