Homesteading: Time to Look at the Roses

Israel: The Dead Sea and Masada

2010-04-06T13:04:00.017-05:00

When people ask me what my most memorable experience is Israel was, it is hard to answer. It's like picking your favorite ingredient in a really great sauce. However, the Dead Sea and Masada do stand out among the favorites.

The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is beautiful.

What you see on the shore is not sand. It is salt. Across the Sea where you see those hills lies Jordan.

The Dead Sea is some 35% salt! There has been a drought for the past five years causing it to become even saltier. In normal years the area, which lies 1385 feet below sea level, receives only some three inches of rain per year.

The Dead Sea is so salty that you cannot sink. Helaine and I both donned bathing suits and waded out into it. You have to wear shoes because the "rocks" are actually chunks of salt and will not only cut your feet but will then "pour salt into the wound."

After wading out, everyone tries to sit down on the bottom. But you can't because you float. It's an unusual feeling to be able to sit on top of the water without sinking!

The Dead Sea was the world's first health spa! Herod used it as such. The mud from the flats and quicksand areas around the Dead Sea are supposed to have therapeutic and cosmetic benefits. I rubbed mud on my bad shoulders and knees. Did it help? I don't know.

There is a great spa at the Dead Sea, called Ein Gedi.
King David is said to have hidden from Saul at Ein Gedi. We ate a sumptuous meal at the spa. Helaine asked if the meal was kosher. The employee rolled her eyes then said, "of course." At the spa we shopped. A cosmetics company has its headquarters there. The cosmetics are made from the minerals of the Dead Sea.

Here is Helaine standing outside the spa at Ein Gedi. The desert is behind her; the Dead sea is in front of her. What scenery!

From the Dead Sea, we drove straight uphill until we reached the Masada.

Here you can see the Dead Sea as we climb up to Masada. There is a cable car. The option of climbing by foot on what is called the "snake trail" is available. Like most, we opted for the cable car.

Masada

I love Masada. It is an architectural, interior-design and engineering marvel. It also holds a tragic story within its walls.

The ancient walls still stand.

When you walk through Masada, you feel you have become a part of ancient history.

Herod (also called by some Herod the Great) built Masada between 37-31 B.C.E. One thing you can say about Herod--the man knew real estate! He built the place both to impress the Roman Emperor and as a refuge for himself in case of a Jewish revolt. He used slave labor to build the place.

He had a swimming pool built and baths. In the desert. On top of a mountain!

The slaves would have had to carry water to fill the pool and baths! Herod never got to use Masada.

Here is a bath that Herod had built.

Though Herod had the place built in case of Jewish uprising, Masada is most famous for the tragic yet brave tale of its later Jewish inhabitants. According to history, in 66CE a group of Jewish rebels overcame the Roman garrison of the Roman Empire. After the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE), the Jewish rebels fled with their families to Masada and used it as their base for harassing the Roman soldiers.

Looking down from the "top floor" to the "bottom floor."

In 72, the Roman governor of Judaea, Lucius Flavius Silva marched against Masada and laid siege to the fortress. but he couldn't breach the wall. Using what was most likely Jewish slaves, the Romans built a ramp of rocks and dirt against the western face of the plateau.
The ramp is 375-feet high! The Romans finally breached the wall of the fortress with a battering ram. But when they entered the fortress, the Romans discovered that its 960 inhabitants had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide rather than face certain capture, defeat, slavery or execution by their enemies.

Here is the rampart the Romans had built to get up to the walls of Masada.

Visiting Masada, I was reminded of the tragic history of the Jews whose only desire is to survive, free to worship the one G-d without harassment. And, of course, of the magnificent architecture. Much beauty of Masada still survives. Food stores were found intact!

Here is an oil jug that sits where it was excavated. Many jars still had remnants of oil in them!

Looking down into the living quarters that have been excavated.

No, this is not a rug. This is a mosaic tile floor made to look like a rug. Imagine the man hours it took to make this. But then Herod used slaves. He didn't care about the hours of tedious work.

Yes, I would say that the Dead Sea and Masada were the most fascinating parts of my visit to Israel. But there is so much more.

More later.....

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Israel

2010-03-16T08:22:00.017-05:00

Our pilgrimage to Israel was wonderful. Here are a few photos that I thought you might enjoy.

One day, we traveled to along the western border. Israel's western border is the beautiful Mediterranean!. The ancient route we traveled was called Via Maris. Via Maris used to link Egypt with the northern parts of Syria and was one of the most important trade roads in the ancient times.
We followed the Roman Via Maris alongside the western shore of Israel, skirting the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.

Here Helaine and Yvonne pose in front

of a Roman wall (aqueduct?) at Caesarea

on the Mediterranean.

Caesarea was built by Herod.

Our trip took us north to the lovely city of Haifa.

Here is a view of Haifa from Mount Carmel.

Haifa is a beautiful city on the Mediterranean

There is a saying: "Jerusalem prays. Tel Aviv plays. Haifa works."

Our travels took us to Acre: the city of Crusaders. In the northern part of Israel, this is an Arab village. Notice the mosque in the background of the ancient well. While there, we had to walk (quickly) through an alleyway where a crowd of men were gathered.

One man had about 20-30 cages filled with CATS! Our guide asked what they were doing. They were releasing the "imported" (and hungry) cats in an attempt to control the rat population.

This is the River Jordan of song and story. The River Jordan is the only river in Israel that has water all year round! These pictures were taken of the river in the town of Tiberias at a spot called "Yardenit." This Jordan River Baptismal complex attracts Christian pilgrims from all
over the world.

The site is touted as the place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

Historians, however, place the event further south near Jericho.

But Jericho is in "contested" territory and not as safe as Tiberias. The tourists don't question it. Thousands come here to be baptized in the River Jordan.

We passed a Bedouin village where camels are available for photo opportunities. I, once again, refused to climb aboard the beasts. They are interesting creatures. The Bedouin no longer use them except for charging tourists to sit on them for photos.

Here is the Western Wall, Judaism's most holy site. The wall stands as the only reminder of the Holy Temple. Here Helaine turns from having prayed at the wall.

Here is a beautiful view of the old city of Jerusalem

as seen from Mount Scopus.

The gold dome is the Temple Mount.

You can see the remnants of the

wall that once enclosed the original

city of Jerusalem. The old city to this day has citizens living in apartments that overlook the Wall. We met a lady who lives in the Old City. She kindly invited us to her home. But, alas, we had no time left to take her up on her invitation. Maybe next time.

The Old City is divided into 4 parts: The Jewish Quarter,

The Armenian Quarter,

The Arab Quarter and

The Christian Quarter.

The walled city is a warren of paths, alleys and "roads." It is a continuous

route of vendors' booths hawking mostly religious wares and "locally and personally" crafted goods. Some of them actually are. Many of them have the familiar label "Made in China." Buyer beware!

The famous "Via Dolorosa" is located in the Old City. The Via Dolorosa is the path that tradition says Jesus carried his cross to his crucifixion. In the Armenian Quarter is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a sacred place for Christians.

I will post more photos later. Israel is a special place to all 3 major religions. It is amazing to see the Old City. But even more amazing is the rest of Jerusalem and the rest of the country which has been built in just 62 years. The amazing infrastructure of roads and bridges, trains, power lines, sewer systems, and potable water for everyone is awe inspiring. I remember as a child sending money to "plant a tree in Israel." Well, now the trees are grown and there are forests surrounding Jerusalem!

For a Jew, Israel naturally holds a special place. The only Jewish country in the world, some 6 million of the 7.5 million are Jewish. Of the remaining 1.5 million most (16%)are Muslim. A small number (2%) are Christian. The remaining 2% are Buddhist, Baha'i, etc. There are a lot of Baha'i.

While in Israel, never once did I enter a place and have the familiar and uniquely diaspora Jewish feeling, "I'll bet I'm the only Jew here," a sensation that every Jew in American has very often. Visiting Israel was a special pilgrimage. Israel made me feel proud, special, holy and welcome.

I will post more pictures later. The Masada the Dead Sea were amazing.

More later....

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Night Visitor

2010-02-04T12:48:00.009-06:00

I awoke startled last Thursday night. I heard an intruder. In my sleepy haze, I couldn't quite place where the noise was coming from but I definitely heard things falling over. I listened and heard it again. BOOM!!!

It sounded as if something was smacking against the garage door! Apparently someone was trying to get into (or out of?) the garage. I grabbed the phone and my protector and slowly checked all the windows and doors. Then I crept quietly into the laundry room. Yes. The noise was there. I banged on the door; turned on the garage lights from the switch in the laundry room; and yelled, "I've got a gun. Stay where you are."

Silence.

Then I unlocked the door leading to the garage and jumped back. Nothing happened. Nothing was visible through the crack in the door.

I snatched open the door and could see the windows were locked and closed and the garage door was down. But staring me in the face from about 10 feet away was a very angry 'possum. I have to admit I was struck by its beauty. The sharply delineated lines of his color were beautiful. And even angry, his eyes, although beady, were very pretty. I liked this animal. But he had to leave. I couldn't have him waking me up every night. Plus, like all feral creatures, the can be rabid. I had to think of the cat, the dog, and my family.

The opossum at the right is NOT 'Ol Sam. Just a 'possum.

Arming myself with a long walking stick, I looked under the car and all around the garage. No 'possum. "Oh, great," I thought. "The one night everyone else is at the beach and I finally have the house to myself, this happens." I assumed he had left.

I was wrong..

The next morning my daughter-in-law and I spent an hour looking for him in the garage. We searched every corner and looked in the top shelves. No 'possum.

That night, well two o'clock in the morning to be exact, the same thing happened again. BOOM! I recognized it this time as the 'possum. I had decided that he was a male and had dubbed him Ol' Sam. Somehow he looked like an Ol' Sam.

Armed with the walking stick, I snatched open the door to the garage and hit the button to open the electric-controlled garage door. I ran around the car yelling. I raked the floor under the car with the stick. No 'possum. This time he had to be gone

The next day I ordered my son to search high and low to confirm Sam had vacated the premises. He hadn't.

Armed with the same, trusty walking stick, my good son found him fast asleep on the floor behind a screen. A very small space only about four inches wide! Son poked him, expecting him to jump up and dart out. Not Ol' Sam.

He became one angry possum. Being nocturnal creatures, the do not like to be awakened during the day. Being of an opposite but equally irritable nature, I understood his attitude at being awakened. Payback is, as they say, hell.

Ol' Sam opened his mouth like a cat does when it makes the battle hiss. It bit at the stick my son used to try to sweep him out of the garage.

After a brief struggle, Good Son, knowing that wild animals can carry rabies and fearing an imminent attack, grabbed a can of wasp spray that was handy and gave Ol' Sam a spray in the face

Better than mace! The 'possum took of at a rapid waddling crawl. 'Possums are slow.

Ol' Sam headed for the woods and hasn't been seen or heard from since. He did, however, manage to consume a lot of cat food during his brief stay. He was the biggest possum I have ever seen in my life. And I have seen many. However, I must confess that most of the ones I have seen were somewhat flat and lying on the side of the road.

I actually miss seeing Ol' Sam. But I do enjoy a full night's sleep

More later....

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2009-12-08T19:07:00.006-06:00

I cannot believe it is Chanukah again. Once again let me say:

May your dreidle always land on Gimel.

May 2010 bring peace to the world.

May we all know joy and love in the coming year.

May whichever holiday you hold dear
Bring fulfillment of the promise of your faith.

--Yvonne

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Homesteading: Making it Pay

2009-11-07T19:20:00.012-06:00

Someone asked me to follow up with a return-on-investment for my 2009 summer garden. The life of a homesteader, even a kitchen gardener, is a life of chance. There is a chance that the elements will be favorable and a chance that the elements will not.
The summer of 2009 was not a good one for farmers and gardeners in this area. A sudden, violent rainstorm dropped 19 inches of water onto my garden just as it was going good. The rain beat down many healthy plants and drowned many others. Most of the butter beans and all of the okra rotted in the field before they had a chance to produce a crop.

Then, before I could recover from that, a heat wave destroyed almost all of the corn crops and my daughter-in-law and I had to scramble to get the potato crop in before it, too, was ruined. We salvaged about half of the potato crop. I did manage to eek out the can-equivalent of the following.

Veg/ INVESTMENT Can equivalent *Cash-equivalent Profit

Potatoes $6.00............95 lbs. .....................$47.50............$41.50

Corn $4.50..................17.............................$16.15.............$11.65

English Peas $0.45......8..............................$6.00..............$5.55

Okra $0.28................**0................................0.................-$.28

Lima Beans $0.50........2..............................$1.70...............$1.20

Green Beans $0.68......10.............................$7.50..............$6.82

Tomatoes $12...............60............................$45.00............$33.00

*Based on the quality of product purchased for this household.
**What the rain didn’t wash away, the heat burned to a crisp. Last year okra was such a bumper crop, neighbors were sneaking into yards and anonymously leaving bags of it on doorsteps just to get rid of it. This year there wasn’t any. C’est la vie of a homesteader.

The final cost of the garden was $24.41. The estimated profit was $99.44. Of course, this does not take into account the cost of fuel for the tractor and the tiller or the cost of the electricity used to run the irrigation system. The water is from my own well so the water itself is free. Also not taken into account are the many, many hours of back-breaking hoeing, thinning, weeding and harvesting of the plants.

I suppose $99.44 is not enough profit for some. But for me, it was not only profit enough but the pleasure was immeasurable. I got farm-fresh food for many days before nature turned against my efforts. I also managed to freeze/preserve/can enough to get me and my family through the winter. Most importantly, what I did can or freeze was done so with no artificial preservatives and under conditions that I know for a fact were as clean and wholesome as humanly possible.

Will I do it again next year?

You darn betchya.

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ENJOYING THE WEATHER

2009-11-01T15:40:00.008-06:00

Finally the weather has changed. It is cooler; the bugs are gone; the skies are clear;

and the crops are in.

It's fall. The chickens
roam fartherafield on
days like this because

the grass is filled with

grasshoppers, a
delicate treat

for chickens.

Turnips are starting to get larger and should be ready to eat in just a couple of weeks. Certainly ready in time for Thanksgiving. The collards will be ready then, too.

I love the fall.

It's the time here in the country for our Heritage Festival. Some communities call it Founders' Day. We call it the Heritage Festival.

Local churches have Homecoming. So does the high school. There are parades with floats and beautiful young women riding in open convertibles waving at eager young viewers who line the small-town streets hoping one day that they, too, will sit on the back of a convertible in an evening gown and wave the royal wave.

The band plays what might or might not be a Sousa march as their shoes make shuffling sounds on the blacktop of small-town Main Street. And an embarrassed trumpeter just misses hitting the right note. But no one notices because they are watching the majorettes who, like our own grandmothers did, toss their batons high into the air and easily catch it when it falls back to earth.

The parade with its one band and five floats, not counting the Boy Scout troop, the Cub Scout troop, and the Ruritan officers, travels from the pharmacy to the parking lot by what used to be a car dealership. About 3 blocks.
Here in rural America, there are a lot of empty buildings that used to be something but now sit vacant. But we still turn out for our Homecoming parade. And people do come home.
Aunts and uncles, cousins and siblings, in-laws and outlaws, and even exes who owe more back child support than they can ever pay come home to watch their "kin" in the homecoming parade. Traffic is backed up for at least a whole block.

The smell of burning leaves lingers in the air after sunset. Families here still sit down to dinner at the table even if dinner is pizza from the local gas station, our only place to get pizza.

This is fall in small-town USA. I love it.

More later....

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HOMESTEADING: GROWING OLD GENTLY

2009-09-07T17:15:00.003-05:00

Today I'm 60. I don't feel any different. Well, maybe a bit different physically than I did at 30 or even 40. But mentally, I'm still the same. Same old anti-fascist I've always been. If I've mellowed at all, it's only to be more forgiving of people. I shrug off hateful comments more than I did when I was young. I think part of that is because I live on this homestead. I think people who are closer to the earth and closer to the rhythms of nature are gentler with others. We see a lot of diversity and a lot of life, and death, on a farm.

Today I got a nice birthday surprise from one of my young hens. A green egg! Five months ago, a couple of weeks before I bought my own incubator, I took several eggs to a friend who had an incubator. She hatched the eggs for me. When she gave me the chicks she told me she had also been hatching eggs for a friend and she might have confused some of the eggs.

She was right! Apparently she gave me an Araucana chick! Araucana chicks and Rhode Island Red chicks look amazingly alike when they are days old. Araucanas lay eggs that can be anywhere from blue to blue-green to olive green.

I went out this morning to gather eggs and there in the pullet's coop was a beautiful green egg. My special birthday present from one of my girls. I feel special, indeed. What a nice gift on this my 60th birthday.

I hope I am growing old gracefully.

More later....

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BROKEN LIFE, BROKEN HEART, BROKEN DISHES

2009-07-27T13:46:00.013-05:00

I've been told that the death of a spouse is like childbirth used to be--no one talks about it. Those of us who have suffered the loss of our beloved spouse know what others think: "It's been 9 months, why hasn't she moved on?" The lack of understanding isn't really a bad thing. The death of a husband/wife is something that most haven't experienced. That's a good thing.

Yes, it has been 9 months since my beloved died. And, no, I haven't moved on. What others don't understand is that losing the one you shared every breath, every moment of life, every joy, every sorrow, every trip, every life cycle event with is akin to losing your own life.

In essence, you do lose your own life. The life you knew for years is gone. The light that illuminated your existence has been turned off as surely as if someone reached into your heart and flipped a switch. My life has no bright light. I live in a world shrouded with shadows.

I say things and wonder if I said the wrong thing. I dress and wonder if this is the same thing I wore yesterday and, perhaps, the day before that, too. I go to the post office and wonder if I brushed my hair. I ask questions and wonder if I already asked it and forgot the answer. I ask a question of the original source of information, was deemed impolitic, and was remediated for it. I lock myself out of the house. I lock my keys in my car. For 10 minutes I sit in my car crying before I can go into class. I walk in shadow. No one knows it but me.

Also, I break things. Somehow items slip out of my grasp. I've lost my focus. I'm distracted. I guess it had been at least 15 years since I broke a dish. But since my Ronnie died, I have broken every glass drinking glass I owned and at least half a dozen dinner plates. I have dropped jars of jam and pickles, 2 casserole dishes along with their matching lids, and numerous coffee cups. I am now relegated to plastic glasses and rapidly closing in on plastic coffee cups.

I sometimes wonder if those who are so concerned with the smaller details of life know that they should be spending more time cherishing the ones they still have with them. Oh, if only we knew when the span of our life ended, we would spend the last days so very differently. Then again, it is best that we don't know. I have learned that much.

No matter how we live, death hits us with a powerful, knockout blow. We are too stunned for the first several months even to talk about it. By the time we can talk about the pain we learn that talking to the living about death just is not done.

Why should we impose our shadow on their light.

More later....

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Homesteading: Preparing for Winter in the Heat

2009-07-03T11:04:00.007-05:00

By the Fourth of July, canning is finished here in Northwest Florida. Gardens are dry and crackly and all fruits and veggies have pretty much been harvested and preserved.

A bushel of green beans becomes this.

225 lbs of tomatoes (minus the ones we ate)

turns into jars of canned tomatoes,
chili sauce and tomato juice.

4 dozen ears of corn get shucked

and await canning.

There's little opportunity for more canning this season. I'll make a few more jars of tomato juice, but the time for preparing for the winter months has ended.

The ant prepared while the grasshopper fiddled. Now I can spend a quiet
summer trying to escape the oppressive heat of the Florida panhandle.

Enjoy your summer!

More later.....

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Homesteaders have Jammin' Good Times!

2009-06-13T14:39:00.015-05:00

Harvest season is upon us. My sister, who just moved to northern Virginia from southern Pennsylvania, says they have a saying about corn: "knee high by the 4th of July." Our corn here in NW FL is grown, picked, and canned/frozen/eaten by the 4th of July. And by that time, our cornfields have already been plowed under.

I've been canning and making jam all week. I've included some pictures for you. I made a batch of spaghetti sauce this week. I picked up 40 lbs of tomatoes at a price I couldn't refuse.

Here is a site you might enjoy. You can see a step-by-step instruction of making sauce.

www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Canning/canning-tomato-sauce.html

The website shows a process that is close to how I do it. Which is probably how everyone does. Our recipes are different but our process is the same. Especially the use of a pressure canner.

Did you know that tomatoes are the #1 most common home canned item in America? Probably because they can grow just about anywhere (even on a patio) and you don't have to use a pressure canner to preserve them.

You do not have to use a pressure canner for jams and jellies either. You don't have to use one for tomatoes if you aren't putting anything else (carrots, peppers, okra) in it.

But you MUST have a pressure canner for non-acid foods. It is the only known safe way to can low-acid foods. Yes, tomatoes are a high acid food, but today I'm making spaghetti sauce. I add other veggies in the spaghetti sauce (onions, peppers, carrots and maybe a zucchini). So we need the pressure canner.

To make my spaghetti sauce, I started off with 40 lbs of tomatoes. I bought them from a produce stand.

I clean them.

I chop them up and liquefy them with other vegetables and seasonings that I want in my spaghetti sauce. If, like me, you like wine in your spaghetti sauce, DO NOT add it here. Add it to your sauce when you prepare the sauce to serve over your pasta.

I cook the sauce until it is the thickness I prefer. See the rings? It was up to the top ring when I started. Yes, It took a couple of hours to cook down this far. But it's worth it.

I fill the jars leaving 1/4" head space. Head space is important! Too little and the jar could burst as the contents expand. Too much and the jar won't seal properly. There are many sites showing head space requirements. Check with your county extension office

Or buy a copy of the canner's "bible" the BALL BLUE BOOK: Guide To Home Canning, Freezing & Dehydration.

It is an invaluable tool to the home canner.

Here is my spaghetti sauce: cooked,

jarred, processed, and ready for use.

Here are some of the jars of peach jam and blueberry jam that I made. Y-U-M.

The peaches we bought were not good for eating. They were too sour even though they were ripe. But they made magnificent jam!

Go ahead!! Try your hand at making jam. It's fun! And economical!!!

In the next few weeks, I'll use the pressure canner to can dozens of jars of green beans, potatoes, gumbo mix, corn, and whatever else I have grown or can pick from a U-Pick farm for a very cheap price. I won't bore you with the process again. But I might show you the pictures of the finished product.

Comments are welcome!

More later....

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Homesteading: Planning for the future

2009-06-10T11:42:00.020-05:00

Remember the fable of the ant and the grasshopper? The ant was busy storing food for the winter while the grasshopper fiddled. Then when winter came, the ant had food and the grasshopper didn't. Well, I've been busy as an ant today.

The potatoes are ready to be harvested. Potatoes grow underground so you have to dig them up. You know it's time to dig them up when the above-ground part starts to look dead. When I was a kid, Mom used to give us a big spoon and send us out to the garden to dig for potatoes. What kid doesn't love digging in the dirt! It kept us happily occupied and saved her from a chore.

We use a fork to dig potatoes. A manure fork. A clean manure fork used only for the potatoes. We got about 20 pounds this time. Add that to the 10 lbs I got last week and we have already harvested about $12 worth of potatoes. In addition, I have harvested about $5 worth of beans and $3.00 of peppers. So I'm almost at the break-even point on my investment. I still have 2/3 of the potatoes left to harvest. The corn will be ready in about 3 weeks and the okra in about 3 weeks.

Here are the potatoes we dug up today.
They are red potatoes. My favorite.

I have already frozen about 10 lbs. I canned about 12 lbs. I saved the rest to eat.

To can potatoes, You need a pressure canner. Pressure canning is the only safe way to can non-acid vegetables.

I first gather all my materials.

Here are the jars, rings, and lids.

You can re-use the rings every year or until they get rusty.

You can re-use jars as long as they do not

get chipped, cracked or broken.

You absolutely cannot re-use lids.

I had to clean the jars then boil them for 10 minutes.

Home canning is wonderful but a lot of work. Everything must be sterile. Botulism is real and deadly. Some people think that just washing the jars and rings in the dishwasher is enough. Maybe they are right. But I take no chances. I wash them in the dishwasher first then bring them to 212 degrees (boiling) for 10 minutes.

I had to wash, peel and cut-up about 12 lbs of potatoes!

Then I put them into the jars, put them into the canner and processed them at 11 lbs. pressure for 35 minutes. I used large-mouth pint jars. If I had used quart jars, I would have had to process them for 45 minutes.

Here is my pressure canner. It has reached 11 lbs. of pressure. It holds 7 quart jars or 9 regular pint jars or 8 large-mouth jars. For potatoes, squash and green beans, I use large-mouthed jars. It's hard to pour large veggies out of small-mouthed jars.

Here is the finished product.

It's a lot of work for just 8 pints of potatoes. But the first batch is the most work. After that, you already have the materials assembled so the subsequent batches are easier. A lot of work, but I know what's going into my food.

Canned potatoes are great in stews or casseroles. Here is a good recipe for a potato casserole.

Ingredients
2 pounds potatoes, sliced thin
1 large onion, sliced into rings
1 quart buttermilk
3 tablespoons *kosher salt (more or less to taste)
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 (16 ounce) package sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x12 inch glass or ceramic dish with olive oil.
Layer 1/3 of the potatoes on the bottom of the dish. Then 1/3 of the onions. Pour 1/3 of the buttermilk over the potatoes and sprinkle with 1/3 of the salt, pepper and cheese. Repeat 2 more times, ending with cheese on top.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until hot, bubbly and golden brown.
*FOOTNOTES
This recipe calls for kosher salt, not table salt. If you would like to substitute table salt, you will need only a fraction of the salt called for; season to taste.
Using a food processor to slice the potatoes will make it easier to achieve very thin slices. Remember, thicker slices will take longer to cook

Enjoy. More later....

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Homesteader's First Fruits

2009-05-14T14:55:00.008-05:00

Ahhh...the fruits of my labor are starting to come in.

Here is a handful of sugar snaps that I picked today. Up north they are called English peas. People pick them when they are a little bigger and shell them.

Here in the south, we pick them when they are young and tender. We eat pod and all. Y-U-M! See the spots on a couple of them? That, unfortunately, is a result of too much rain.

This is the apron-full of green beans I picked today. I'm having some of these for dinner. These are Blue Lake Green Beans. A popular brand. I'll clean and freeze the ones I don't eat tonight. I'll save them up until I get enough to can. It's raining again. I hope the rain doesn't spoil them like it seems to be doing with the sugar snaps.

Here is the "Second field of corn. This used to be the pasture where we kept the goats. This year a neighbor plowed and disked it for me. I planted Golden Queen corn. It seems to be doing okay. At least this half of the field is. the other half was washed out by the flood.

Look at the baby tomatoes! My tomatoes are having a good year. They like a lot of rain, though. So maybe they will make up for the loss of the sugar snaps.

These are the Blue Lake Green Beans. They look "happy."

My "girls" are having fun during their free range day. At right, proud rooster Chaunticleer is with 2 of the Rhode Island Red hens.

A Rhode Island Red hen is making sure that the feather-footed banty cochins don't get anything she doesn't get.

A Celebrity variety tomato plant in bloom.

The corn in the primary garden is doing well. The potatoes, in front, are doing very well.

A better view of the corn in the primary garden.

The result? A nice chicken dinner. No! Not one of my chickens! I just can't do that. But green beans from my own garden and my onions from last year. I could have used my own potatoes but I had 2 left in the pantry that I needed to use.

There is a great feeling of pride in making a meal with the things you grew by the sweat of your own brow. I highly recommend it.

I work in the garden while Trudy, my "watch cat" hides in the tall grass waiting to pounce on anything that passes her way....mostly the dog.

More later......

Homesteading: Welcoming the Spring

2009-04-15T13:09:00.008-05:00

Time does pass and spring does arrive eventually. With more activity comes greater chance of injury. I broke my foot. Well, I didn't break it. Bad lighting and a nearly impossible to see sunken living room broke it. While I was writhing in pain, another person confessed that she, too, had stumbled in the same spot but was able to catch herself. Sunken living rooms are lawsuits waiting to happen!

Meanwhile, here on the homestead, we had nearly three feet of rain one week! My roads washed out, the bridges collapsed, and I was a refugee in my own home for 5 days. When I did get out, it was only due to the fact that I have 4-wheel drive in my vehicle. Here's a look at what the rain did to my cornfield!

Some of the corn washed away.

I'm not overly concerned though. Rain is not the big problem here in northwest Florida. Heat is the problem. The relentless summer heat and frequent drought are much more likely to cause crop failure than too much rain.

Yet signs of spring are everywhere here on the homestead.

The peach trees have fruit on them.

Baby chicks have hatched.

The proud papa, my rooster Chaunticleer, is strutting about as proud as any papa can be.

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A Homesteader's Garden: Making it Through the Year

2009-03-18T15:33:00.006-05:00

Someone suggested that I plant an awfully large garden. I'm a homesteader. I plant enough to try to get through the whole year without buying vegetables from a grocery store. It has been at least 3 years in most cases since I purchased store-bought canned tomatoes, corn, green beans, lima beans, pickles, jams/jellies, fruit, turnips, peas, okra, or even wine. It's amazing how much one has to can to provide for a family. My family size increased to 5 this year so I have to have even more.

The Ball Blue Book, a canner's bible, has a canner's planning guide based on the US Dept of Agriculture's Daily Food Guide. This is for foods that may be canned and covers a one-year period. It allows for 4 servings of canned meat per week with the understanding that few families serve canned meat at all meals. It notes that 10 other servings of meat, poultry, seafood or eggs are needed weekly, that's 520 annually. This gives you an idea of just how much needs to be grown and preserved.

Amount to Can For a Family of Four for one year

Citrus fruits and tomatoes (includes juices)..............................................252 quarts

Dark Green & Yellow Veggies (spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes)...............144 pints

Other fruits & veggies (apples, peaches, pears, asparagus, green beans, lima beans, corn, green peas, squash, etc.)..........................................................608 pints

Meats, Poultry, Seafood..............................................................................144 pints

Soups.........................................................................................................72 Quarts

Jams/Jellies.........................................................................................160 half pints

Relishes..................................................................................................20 Pints

Pickles, vegetable..................................................................................52 pints

Pickles, fruit.........................................................................................104 pints

This is the amount I work toward. I reach it with the pickles, corn, tomatoes, green beans, and squash. Not with the tomato juice and other things. This does not include peppers and onions and fruit that I freeze.

Burpee, the seed company, claims that just a backyard garden can save a family over $1,000 per year. A small patio garden with a few containers of tomato plants and pepper plants are said to save around two hundred dollars per year.

More later....

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A HOMESTEADER'S STIMULUS PLAN

2009-03-04T16:52:00.008-06:00

I'm stimulating my personal economy again this year. I'm planting a garden that I hope will feed my family and me until harvest time next year.
Come along and let's track how well my "IRA" (In-ground Roto-tilled Allotment) performs compared with the ones that the banks sell. The banks are giving about a 3.5% return on the dollar. I think I can get at least 100% return on my investment. Here's how....
Today I bought seeds for my garden. Of course, my time is free, so I can't count that cost. But I do know how much one can of green beans costs so I can compare the cost of the green bean seeds and how many "can equivalents" I get in return.
Here's what my garden has cost so far:
Potatoes $6.00
Corn $4.50
English Peas $0.45
Okra $0.28
Butter Beans (Lima Beans) $0.50
Green Beans $0.68
I haven't bought the tomato plants yet or the bell pepper.
As I see it, I spent the equivalent of 8 cans of corn on the corn seed and 12# of potatoes on the seed potatoes. I should harvest about 120-150# of potatoes and the equivalent of 40 cans of corn...more or less.
The rest of the garden was $1.91...the equivalent of less than one can of each vegetable. The entire garden, so far, has totaled $12.41. I think I'll get much, much more than that back.
We'll see

More later......

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FORGOTTEN NOTES IN WINTER COATS

2009-02-06T20:52:00.003-06:00

It's the little things that make a happy marriage. It's the little things are missed when someone is gone. It's the little things that make me cry.

It has been very cold here lately. So I pulled out the heavy winter coat to wear to the beauty shop for a much needed haircut. I haven't worn that coat since about this time last year. After my haircut, I pulled my coat on and stuck my hands into the pockets. There was a note from my Ronnie. Not a love note or a personal note. Just a list of farm stuff he had checked the prices on.

But it was in his handwriting. And it was from a time when he was alive and we were happy. A time when my life was complete.

Apparently we had gone to the co-op together and he had written down the cost of some items he was interested in buying. Then, I guess, he handed me the list. A lot of good that did. There was the list of goods and their prices in my coat pocket, not having seen the light of day for at least a year.

Did we need the list later and couldn't find it? I don't remember. Did he have to go back and get the prices all over again? Did we ever buy any of those things? I don't know. This was a little thing. Not even significant enough for me to remember.

But the sight of his writing made my heart leap. And tears stung my eyes. As I pulled it out, I said aloud: "Oh look. A note from my Ronnie. I haven't worn this coat in over a year." I looked around and everyone had that "awwww" look on their face. And I had tears in my eyes.

As I do now.

It's the little things that make up life. A whole bunch of little things.

Awwww.

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Roses Will Come

2009-01-16T12:10:00.003-06:00

It's cold. I mean really cold. Officially it got down to 17 last night. Now that might seem warm to people in International Falls, MN, but to those of us in Florida it is totally ridiculous!

I'm thinking of tearing out the gas log fireplace we have and putting in a real fireplace or wood burning insert. When we built the house, my beloved, may he rest in peace, and I did not know that gas log fireplaces are FOR DECORATION ONLY. I was shocked when I read the paperwork on it a few months after we moved in. If you are building your dream house, discuss fireplaces with your contractor!

We knew we didn't want the mess of a wood burning fireplace, having just moved from where we had one. It's more than just: carrying ashes, getting burn holes in the carpet, having to have the chimney swept annually, buying storing and carrying wood; it's also having to stack the wood in a place where termites won't enter the house when they invariable get into the wood! We had that happen once. What a pain termites can be! But I do love the ambient heat of a fireplace and the coziness.

When considering building your homestead house, you should think long and hard about fireplaces vs. stoves. We thought we had the equivalent of a space heater with a hearth around it. We had done that before and got great warmth for the money. But this was just one of a few things that did not turn out to be what we told the contractor we wanted.

In the first winter at our homestead, I kept smelling gas. Why do women seem to smell things like that before men do? Finally I convinced Beloved to call the gas plumber. Watch out! We had two different plumbers assure us that they were "gas certified" only to call back and cancel because they were not! Finally we got a wonderful certified gas plumber who not only found the leak, a cracked pipe, but also informed us that the gas log we had was designed for natural gas. Our house uses LPG! Our contractor subcontracted it out and never even checked to make sure that the correct thing had been put in. Most gas appliances come fitted for natural gas. A little adapter kit has to be used for LPG. No one told the subcontractor that we did not have natural gas available to us. I wish we did have that availability. I love cooking with gas. But gas lines do not run out this far. Not much does!

Life is moving forward for me. I miss my Ronnie of beloved memory very much. However many things keep me very busy.

I have new chicks to take care of and the older hens are laying again after what seemed like the longest molting season in history.
L@@K at the baby chicks! The larger one is 2-1/2 weeks old and the little one is 5 days old. The big one is about 6" tall. They are Rhode Island and Old English mixed. I hope they are both females!

In less than one month we plant potatoes, the first crop to be put into the ground. Then follows the remaining crops.

The dance of life continues with or without my participation. I might as well participate. Even if I dance alone.

More later.....

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2008-12-19T20:38:00.006-06:00

May your dreidle always land on Gimmle.

May 2009 bring peace to the world.

May we all know joy and love in the coming year.

May whichever holiday you hold dear
Bring fulfillment of the promise of your faith.

--Yvonne

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OH YEAH, LIFE GOES ON. LONG AFTER THE THRILL OF LIVING IT IS GONE.--JOHN MELLENCAMP

2008-12-02T12:10:00.014-06:00

I made kumquat marmalade this morning. Wonderful how doing something that homey can fill your mind. And my mind needs to be filled. Some friends came by yesterday. They are a wonderful, caring couple. They have lovely things in their garden: kumquat trees, satsuma trees, grapefruit trees, pear trees, as well as a regular veggie garden and a host of wonderful flowers.

They brought me a bag of kumquats, satsumas and grapefruit. I immediately ate several kumquats and a couple of nice, juicy satsumas (Y-U-M to both) and thought I was going to pop. Then I decided I'd make marmalade. So I chopped up the remaining kumquats and most of the satsumas and let them soak overnight. This morning, bright and early (for me) I was up making marmalade. I hope it turns out good.

I try to keep busy. There is a business about death that must be attended to: papers to be filled out and signed, bills to take care of, people to contact, headstones to be ordered. That keeps me busy.

But there is also other business that goes on.

Mortgage companies do not care if you are going through an emotional crises. They must be paid. So, too, must the phone company, the power company, and other utilities. The car note still arrives along with all the other bills with no regard to what else is going on in your life. In a way, it can keep one tethered to the real world.

So, I still muddle on. And I make marmalade.

More later....

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2008-11-11T11:51:00.008-06:00

This morning I awoke to the sound of cultivation. The field across the road was planted in soy beans this season and they are cutting them. Life does go on. The cycle of birth to death continues. It is ever so present on a homestead. But one can see it everywhere.

In the hospital where my Ronnie died there is a "birthing" floor. When a baby is born a few bars of a lullaby are played on the hospital's public address system and sound throughout the hospital. At the very instant that my sweet husband died, that lullaby trilled through the speakers in his room. My angel had left for heaven at the same moment that another life began. I was struck then by it and now it somehow helps me muddle on. If you can call the fog I am living in muddling, then that is what I am doing.

I cannot believe that at this very minute 2 weeks ago my beloved Ronnie was alive and joking with me. Then suddenly 9 hours later, he was gone from me forever.

I go to my own blog to "visit" him. It hurts. But it helps.

Friends and family help also. I am touched by the out pour of love and support that I have received. Most of it comes because everyone loved my sweet husband. He was a treasure for everyone who knew him. But most especially for me.

More later....

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2008-10-31T18:05:00.004-05:00

Ronald Stuart Gordon
1939 - 2008

Ron Gordon, 69, finally lay down to rest after a long, hard 30-year battle with heart disease. He fought and lost his final round at West Florida Hospital in Pensacola on Oct. 29, 2008.

Ron was born in Washington, D.C., July 15, 1939, to Irving and Adele Gordon. He and wife Yvonne moved to Northwest Florida in 1999 where Ron found true joy in his happy marriage, his wonderful dog Bingo and his John Deere tractor.

He is survived by his beloved wife Yvonne; four sons: Mark (Dory); Larry (Maria); Stephen (Barbara); and Michael (Haley); one stepson Scotty Correro (Jennifer); sister Terry Gordon; 10 grandchildren; two step grandchildren; and Bingo.

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Homesteading: Making Cherry Wine

2008-10-23T13:20:00.004-05:00

The cherry wine is bottled!!! Yay!! It is so good now, I can't imagine what it will taste like when it has aged a bit. You are supposed to wait a year before tasting your homemade wine. I wonder if anyone has ever done that!

What a mess I made while bottling it. I wasn't paying attention while I was holding the siphon tube in one bottle. I turned around and voila! I had splattered wine all over the kitchen. Even after I cleaned it up, my house smelled like a winery. Actually, that is not a bad thing with this cherry wine.

Ron doesn't drink. At all. Ever. And I drink very little. People ask me why I make wine. First of all, I do enjoy a cordial of sweet wine in the evening occasionally. But most of all, it makes wonderful gifts. If you can find the half bottles, you are in luck. So far, I found only one. It is beautiful!

L@@K at my homemade cherry wine! Notice that I haven't put the goldleaf toppers on yet. I'll do that later.

In the middle ages, the smart "healers" used warm wine to clean wounds. I don't think they knew that if you warm it too much the alcohol cooks out. And I'm not sure they knew that the alcohol was an antiseptic and that the sugar promoted healing. But they had figured out that wounds treated with warm wine seemed to heal better. And they still do.

I read an article recently on the curative powers of honey. Fascinating! Of course, it has to be pure honey and not treated or heated. Raw honey. It amazes me that modern doctors are finding that many of the old remedies, herbs and treatments work! We are very fortunate to have modern medicine and old remedies working hand in hand to relieve suffering and cure illnesses.

I only wish they could make an artificial heart that would let my sweet husband live another 30 years or so.

More later....

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HOMESTEADING: ISOLATION

2008-09-14T21:13:00.008-05:00

We got some sad news this week...some homesteaders out west that we correspond with are splitting up. They moved from the BIG city to a spread on the prairie. They thought it would be an idyllic life.

They ran cattle. That's what you call it when you raise cattle...running cattle. They had built up a modest herd. They moved out west from L.A. almost 3 years before we moved to Florida.

She says the isolation killed the marriage. I' sure there was more to it than that. But isolation is part of homesteading. And Isolation can kill.

Isolation can devastate many. Or bless others. After 28 years in the public eye, I was more than ready for some isolation even though it was certainly the last thing I ever thought I'd be doing! But Ron had always had the dream. When we first met, he said that all his life he had wanted to live in a cabin in the middle of the woods.

Well, that's what we did.

It's a long way from the road to our house.

We stay active. We do things. Ron goes into town every day to go to the post office. I go with him once a week. Unlike a big city post office, our post office is where you find out the latest news. If you see some construction going on in town, you ask at the post office and you find out what's being built. See a house go up for sale? Just ask, you'll find out why. Of course, you have to be willing to shed a little light on your own life. It's only fair to contribute to the grape vine.

We also go to the feed store. You learn a lot there, too. Same with the bank, the grocery store and, of course, the pharmacy. The only thing is, we can go to the post office, the bank, the pharmacy, the gas station, the feed store and the grocery store in a trip of about 30 minutes. According to how long we chat and how long we shop. In a town that's only a couple of blocks long, everything is right there in one spot. It makes life simple. Simple is good.

We go to the fireworks displays at Christmas and the 4th of July. Yes, for those of you NOT from the deep South, we southerners shoot fireworks at Christmas. Huge professional displays on the water. They are great. You meet neighbors and get to chat with people you don't see very often.

We call on our neighbors a couple of times per week and we go to the library every 2 weeks. Mix that in with all the doctor's visits and we have a very, very full life.

Our house is on a dirt road far from

the madding crowd.

Some people get isolated because they never became involved with the community. After moving to the "sticks" many folks become disillusioned. A lot of city people want to move to the country and "connect" with nature, but they don't realize that when you leave the big city behind, you leave big city ideas and big city "dudes" behind, too. You might not like country folk. You might call them hicks. Some people think country folks are dumb. As Gary Sinese, one of my favorite actors and a Texan, once said: "Country don't mean dumb."

The problem isn't with the denizens of rural America. My friend felt isolated. And she grew to hate her life. Now she's leaving and going back to L.A. It's where she belongs.

Homesteading takes planning. And hard work. And patience. And strength. And an ability to back up and start over again and again and sometimes again. It takes the ability to admit ignorance and an ability to learn new lessons. It takes strength and wonder and the capacity to be awestruck. If you don't have that, you can't handle it.

It helps to have a strong partnership. But it is good to be strong enough to admit that you tried and failed. That you were wrong in thinking you could make it. It's right to pack up when it's time to move back to the city. But it's sad.

We are sad that our friends' lives have come to the end of the entwined cord that was their marriage. Others will try to homestead. Some will make it. Some will barely make it. Some will fail. Some will thrive.

Ron and I are thriving.

More later....

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HOMESTEADING RECIPES

2008-09-10T19:30:00.012-05:00

Here on the farm we eat home-cooked meals. I've been asked to share a some of our favorite recipes. Of course, we are blessed to get up to a dozen fresh eggs each day so quiche is a regular favorite here. The Marbled Chocolate Bars are also a homestead staple.

Easy, One-Bowl Quiche

This quiche creates its own crust!

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1/2 cup water

4 large eggs

3/4 cup biscuit baking mix

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

8 ounces shredded Mozzarella

(or cheddar) cheese

1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 cup cubed cooked ham (or 6 slices bacon cooked crisp and crumbled)

*1 medium onion, sauteed and cooled(optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease 10 inch quiche or deep dish pie plate.

In a large bowl, beat together milk, eggs baking mix butter and Parmesan cheese. Batter will be lumpy. Stir in spinach meat and cheese. Pour into prepared dish and bake for 50 minutes or until eggs are set and top is golden brown.

*If you add onion, be sure to saute it and let it cool before adding to the egg mixture.

Lentil Salad

1 cup lentils

1/2 cup sliced fresh carrots

1 medium onion diced

Fat-free Italian dressing

Kosher salt

Wash and drain lentils. Place in a pan with enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Add sliced carrots. Continue boiling for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Transfer to a bowl. Refrigerate until cool. Add diced

onion. Dress with Italian Dressing (we prefer fat free). Sprinkle a few grains of Kosher salt on top and serve. Serves 4-6.

Marbled Chocolate Bars

1 package fudge brownie mix

4-ounces package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips, divided

Preheat oven as directed on brownie mix package. Make brownie mix according to package directions. Pour into a greased 8"x8" baking pan. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop cream cheese mixture by tablespoons over batter. Cut through batter with knife to swirl the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips. Bake as recommended on brownie mix package or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Leave a comment and let me know how these turn out!

More later....

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HOMESTEADING: DOING IT YOURSELF

2008-08-31T10:43:00.010-05:00

I made wine! It's part of the homesteading lifestyle. Of course, Ron doesn't drink. At all. And I can keep one fifth of wine for a year or two before throwing the remainder out. But we have so many wild blueberry bushes and wild grapes growing in the area that I thought I would give wine-making a try. What fun!

I started with blueberries several weeks ago. Yesterday I bottled my first batch. Here it is. I bought the
supplies, the bottles, and the gold cap
seals at a brewers' supply shop in Pensacola.
Friends gave me their empties.
I made the labels myself. This one
is a little crooked. But it says
Yvonne's Homemade Blueberry Wine 2008.

One gallon of wine makes 5 bottles (5 fifths, duh) of wine.

I have cherry wine fermenting as I write. In about 3 months, I'll bottle that.

L@@k at the cherry wine fermenting! It is now in
the carboy, the secondary
fermenter. See the "must" in the bottom!
That is dead yeast cells and cherry pulp.
I will rack it again in about 4 weeks.
I'll do this several times until the yeast
is no longer active. Right now the bottle is
bubbling like crazy. That's CO2, a by-product of
fermentation. The CO2 escapes into the airlock on
top which makes a plopping sound when the air escapes
into the liquid. When all the movement stops, I will
have cherry wine! Then I'll bottle it.

The wine will make great gifts! At least for the friends who gave me their empties :-)

More later....

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Homesteading: Gearing up for the Winter

2008-08-26T16:38:00.016-05:00

Fall is coming! Here on the farm, the last traces of summer are disappearing:

Ron is mowing the hay for what
he hopes is the last time this summer.

The last crop of the season (figs)
has been preserved. Here are fig preserves.

The last visitor of the summer, my friend Ann, has just

completed a lovely visit and gone back to Michigan. By the way, Ann took everyone of the photos here except for this one of her. She's a great photographer as well as a great friend and guest! Come back soon, Ann!

The last blooms on the

Pampas Grass are fading.

Bingo has received his last
"summer buzz" cut.

The baby goats are weaned.

The Poke Berries are ripening. Poke Salat is a southern thing. The plant grows wild
along the side of the road. Although the whole plant is poisonous, the young leaves can be eaten after cooking them using two changes of water. In late summer, the beautiful magenta poke berries ripen. birds love the berries. The juice of the berries leaves a permanent stain. Back when people hung their clothes out on the line, birds decorated the laundry with magenta droppings.

The hens have stopped molting and are

getting their new winter feathers.

And the ever-watchful Trudy,
our beautiful tortoise shell cat, is
amassing a lovely, thick winter coat.

Here on the homestead, I think we are ready for winter. We'll see. Homesteading means never leaving anything to chance. We are prepared.

More later.....

Homesteading: Growing Old Together

2008-08-16T19:16:00.004-05:00

You grow old regardless of where you live. Homesteaders grow old peacefully. Surrounded by the sound of crickets and tree frogs and the sight of deer, rabbits, wild turkeys, and an occasional fox somehow makes growing old a slower process.

We had a "growing old" experience this week. Ron had to go to the emergency room. He had been having some trouble catching his breath for a few days. Sunday he said he thought he was all better. Monday he woke me up at 5 AM with the words, "I need for you to drive me to the emergency room."

Those are words no spouse likes to hear. I tried to get him to let me call the ambulance but he insisted I drive him. The ambulance would have taken him to the small (but very good) hospital in Crestview. He knew it was fluid around his heart, congestive heart failure, and wanted to be at West Florida Hospital where our excellent cardiologist practices. As long as he was sitting down, he was okay.

The hospital is about 90 miles away. I got him to the emergency room pretty quickly because it's interstate all the way. He had agreed that as we passed by the two towns between here and Pensacola, he would tell me if he needed to go to the local ER.

Here is West Florida Hospital.It used to be called West Florida University Hospital. It has recently been merged with Baptist Hospital. WF is an excellent hospital. It is a teaching hospital. Ron had a bevy of beauties stopping in frequently to see if he needed anything.

He enjoyed the attention.

Sure enough, he had a fluid buildup. His BNP (measures the fluid buildup) should have been 100. It was 1100! By the next morning it was 450. By the next night it was back to normal. I got to bring him home Thursday. These flare-ups do happen. He had it happen once before but didn't need to be hospitalized. This time he just let it go too long. THAT will never happen again!!!

Some people might think I'm overprotective of him. I don't think there is such thing as being too protective of my Ronnie's health. But what I do is make up for his sometimes too-casual attitude toward his own care.

It's called love.

And here on the farm, we have a lot of that.

More later.....

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HOMESTEADING: I'm Queen of the World!

2008-08-10T12:05:00.011-05:00

We celebrated our 10Th anniversary Thursday, August 7. Little did we know that a BIG surprise was in store for us!!! Read to the bottom to see what I mean. We had a wonderful time! But then, we always have a wonderful time.

Ron and I can go to the grocery store and have fun. We are together 24/7 and never get tired of each other. I had a friend in college whose husband was in the Navy. He came home every 6 months. Their marriage was wonderful for the 10 years he was in service. Within a year after he left the military, they were divorced. Once they had to spend extended amounts of time together, they found out that they didn't really like each other! We are blessed. We like each other and we love each other. It really does take both. We make each other laugh. Humor is very important in a marriage. And respect. We have lots of that, too.

About that surprise.... We went to Panama City Beach for our anniversary. We got there on Wednesday, August 6. The next day, our anniversary, was the hottest day of the year. It was unbearable! We drove straight to a window tinting place and had our car windows tinted as dark as the law allows. It helped some.

After that, we went back and got ready

for the big sunset cruise

aboard the Lady Anderson. L@@k at this boat!

We were so excited about the cruise. We went to the dock at the appointed time and picked up our tickets. Then sat facing the water letting the breeze dry the sweat from our brows. I happened to glance at the ticket and saw the words GOSPEL CRUISE. What a surprise. Ron Gordon on a Gentile Gospel cruise! We had to laugh.

Then the buses started pulling up. All from local evangelical churches. Out spilled dozens of people... All older than us. Ron turned to me and said, "I think we are the youngest people here!" At that time, he was right!!! Later a young couple arrived with 4 children. A beautiful family with the best-behaved children I have EVER seen.

Ron and I were cracking up at the idea of our being on a Gospel cruise. It proves the old Jewish adage: When man plans, G-d laughs.

But the cruise was wonderful. I went up top, leaned out over the water and shouted, "I'M QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!!" I think I saw 4 people praying for me.

The food was the best I've ever eaten--prime rib, shrimp, vegetarian pasta, vegetables and other delicacies.

Then the "entertainment" started. The group was good. Not great but good. We enjoyed the music and didn't mind the preaching. They only preached about 10% of the time so that wasn't bad. Ron did mention to me that we were probably the only Jews on the cruise. I'm sure he was right.

A photographer went around asking
everyone if they wanted their photo
taken. Since foolish me had forgotten my camera,
we went for it.

L@@k!!
Here we are in our full
blurriness. She wasn't the best
photographer but I actually appreciate
the blurriness. I'll insist on it for all my future photos.

We are now starting our 11Th year of wedded bliss. We pray that we will be blessed with another 10 then another 10 and so on and so on. I highly recommend marriage. It has really made me feel that

I'M QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!!

More later....

HOMESTEADING: SHARING THE LOVE

2008-08-04T17:10:00.006-05:00

I find it very hard to believe, but this coming Thursday, August 7, 2008, Ron and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary! Ten years! Seems like only yesterday in some ways. But in other ways it seems as if we have always been together and a part of each other's life. Kismet.

We have a wonderful life together...even though Bingo, the wonder dog, does get into every picture.

Ron often mentions, sadly, that he wishes he had met me many years earlier. I remind him that I'm 10 years younger. Earlier probably wouldn't have worked. After all, he was already married with 4 sons before I graduated from high school!
So we are thankful for what we have and only pray that we live long enough to celebrate many more anniversaries.

We are going to Panama City Beach for our anniversary. He is taking me on a lovely sunset dinner cruise on the Lady Anderson. I like that.

Panama City Beach is our favorite beach area. L@@k at that green water!

Sand dunes are beautiful. They are protected by law!

The day after our dinner cruise, Ron will go with me so that I can do some fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Ron doesn't fish much any more. It tires him too much and he just doesn't have the patience. He always said he thought he liked to fish until he met me. I could go fishing every day. The first year we lived in Florida, I actually did go fishing every day!

One of my favorite things to do in Panama City, FL, is to go watch the commercial fishing boats come in. You can sometimes buy great fish right off the boat. But it's just fun to watch.

L@@k at the commercial shrimp trawler coming in for the day. It had a crew of trainees that day. It was fun watching them dock. They got it docked after only 3 tries!

More later....

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Homesteading: Living at the mercy of Nature

2008-07-08T15:46:00.003-05:00

We came back from a lovely beach weekend to find that our house had been hit by lightning! Lightning struck the ground at the well, traveled down the pipe to the well, cracking the well casing. Apparently the lightning then raced through the wires to our breaker box and into the house. We lost the computer, a phone, smoke detector, the golf cart battery charger and a few other things....not to mention the well! We have no water. We are true homesteaders now. Thank goodness we didn't lose the freezer!

Mother Nature is powerful. But we are strong.

Homesteading: Respecting Mother Nature

2008-07-05T10:17:00.006-05:00

There is a hurricane headed our way. Her name is Bertha. She's an early-season hurricane so she probably won't reach us because there is still some cool air to keep her at bay. But I remember Betsy. It was 1965 or 1966. I don't know which. I was in high school at the time. Betsy devastated New Orleans. So "early season" doesn't mean much.

The thing about Bertha is that she is a Cape Verde storm. That means she formed at Cape Verde in Africa. Cape Verde storms track our way. That is always scary. Ivan was a Cape Verde storm. So was Katrina.

When Ivan hit our Gulf Coast in September 2004, we received 130+ mile-per-hour winds here on the farm. We are 45 miles from the Gulf of Mexico! But it made landfall close enough to us to cause us some damage. Plus it was the widest hurricane I have ever seen! We lost a shed and several oak trees. One of which fell on our truck! We were without power for 9 days after Ivan!! It was an adventure. However, it was not an adventure I want to revisit.

Ivan took out huge sections of I-10 in Pensacola, the part that crosses Escambia Bay. They just recently opened the finished section of that part of the Interstate. We went over it last week. There are still some cranes there and I think they have some "cosmetic" work to finish but after 4 years it is finally completed.

L@@k at the damage Ivan did to the Interstate over the Escambia Bay!

I don't know whose house this is, but this is the kind of damage Ivan did to our area:

Homesteading: All about Family

2008-06-19T21:43:00.006-05:00

Ron recently returned from a short visit up north. Here are the Gordon men--a very handsome lot.

Here is Poppa Ron reading to his 2 youngest granddaughters the beautiful Grace (in his lap) and Lily Gordon.

Here are Yvonne's 2 grandprincesses Nova (L) and Terra enjoying the beach in Destin.

Homesteader's Gifts

2008-06-15T12:42:00.016-05:00

Today I harvested about 3 lbs of okra. Did you know okra is a hibiscus! L@@k at this beautiful, yellow okra blossom. Nature is amazing, isn't it! In addition to the great food, we get this gift of flowers!

The thing with okra is you can harvest it every day. Every single day you think you've reaped all there is. But the next day you find a big, honking okra. And you ask yourself, "Self, was this here yesterday and I just missed it?"

But you don't answer yourself because you don't know the answer. Maybe it grew overnight. Maybe it was there and you didn't see it. Maybe it was there and you meant to come back to it and forgot. Such is life.

Farming/gardening makes you realize things. Such as...if you see something you want or need, get it right then. It might not be there when you come back. Or you might not get to come back. Or it might be changed when you get back to it. Sometimes we just don't recognize the gifts until after we've passed them up.

This is the first year we planed okra. We love it. Some people hate it because of the slime. If you cook it right it's not slimy. We love gumbo. You can't have gumbo without okra! Hence the okra.

I have a wonderful 30-minute chicken gumbo recipe!! You use the store-bought rotisseried chicken. Email me at: chicksinfla@gmail.com and I'll give you the recipe.

Look at this monster okra pod. The one pictured with it is an average-sized one!

Here is today's haul. I got about 3 lbs of okra, a few bell peppers. I think they are called Marconi. They look like a Cubano but they are just different-shaped sweet peppers. Speaking of different...look at those deformed cucumbers!!! The heat made

them ripen too fast so they are deformed.

Someone asked me if the garden is all I have to talk about. I think they were actually asking if the garden is all I have in life. No. It's not. But who wants to hear about bugs and grass and laundry and such. Who wants to hear how blessed I am in my marriage and my faith. Who wants to hear that I waxed the floor or made made a batch of homemade English muffins?

Who wants to hear hours of how wonderful and beautiful my grandprincesses are? And how successful my son and daughter-in-law are? Or how many rejections slips I've received this year? Who? No one. So I write about the garden. Oh...we did buy a new chair. How boring is that!

We go along each day doing the best we can with what we have. And as always, all of our work takes place under the careful and watchful eye of Miss Trudy who was a gift from a passerby who pitched her out the window of their truck as they drove down our road.

Cornucopia -- A Homesteader's Joy!

2008-06-13T11:35:00.006-05:00

As promised, the 25 ears of corn made 8 pints of corn. Why, you ask, do you see only seven? We ate one for dinner. Y-U-M!! It's like anything else that's fresh--it just tastes so much better! No chemicals, no preservatives. Even the salt has additives in it!

It's like the fresh eggs we get each morning. After eating only fresh eggs for more than 4 years now, we can't stomach eggs in the restaurant.

Our favorite breakfast place in Panama City Beach uses dozens of eggs per day. You would think at that rate they would be fresh. But, to us, they taste rotted! By the time eggs get to the grocery store, they are several weeks old. Or, sometimes, even months old.

If you have always eaten store-bought eggs you won't know the difference. But even restaurants buy their eggs from a distributor so they aren't much better than those sold in a store. We just can't enjoy eating breakfast out anymore. Unless of course we get something wonderful like Belgian Waffles.

Now if only I could teach the hens to lay those! Hmmmmm.

Homesteaders' Delight!

2008-06-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

What a surprise we got this morning....babies! Well, kids to be exact. Sox gave birth to 3 kids! Unfortunately one died within an hour or so. But the other 2 are doing fine. One of them is already having lunch!! L@@k!!

The other goats couldn't care less. All they think about is food.

JoJo tries to talk me out of a cookie.

Patches gets in on the act.

The hens are oblivious to the goats. But they sure give great eggs! Five Rhode Island reds on the top, Seven Feather-footed Cochins on the bottom.

Today we harvested corn and dug up the remaining potatoes. This is only about 25 ears of corn. We'll get the rest later. We figure we'll get about 100 ears of corn. It takes 3 ears to make a pint of canned corn. Look at the corn!

Here's Mr. Ronnie shucking corn.

Here's the cornfield where the delicious corn continues to grow.

Ahhhhhh.......the watermelons are growing!

And, as always, we take time to smell the roses. Even if we forget to weed them as we should.

Fruits of our Labor: The Homesteader's Garden

2008-06-03T19:31:00.003-05:00

We have worked so hard this year on our garden. And L@@K!!! Today's haul is about 15 lbs of potatoes! We are so proud.

Yesterday I canned 7 quarts and 9 pints of string beans. Look at these beauties!

I had to buy the beans from another farmer. But, hey...we do what we gotta do! At least I canned them myself!

Oh...L@@K at my pickles!

I bought these beautiful cukes from the same farmer. These are dill pickles. I grew the dill myself! I've never made dill pickles before and was very pleased with how they turned out.

This is a super recipe. Email me at: chicksinfla@gmail.com and I'll send it to you. I'll make sweet pickles later in the season.

More later....

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