Lady winter is a fickle old gal, that she is! One minute blowing hot and the next minute cold. The truth is that we needed this desperately. We needed it to help with the insect population next year. We also need the moisture desperately in any form we can get it. We may not like the inconvenience but in the long run it is what is best for us.
O Wise One and I were pleasantly surprised to hear someone this morning out in our driveway. Seems the neighbor boy had decided to clear our driveway with his truck and blade. This is the boy that my husband has helped alot through the years with his poultry 4-H project. At some point in our lives I think the neighborhood has figured out that we are old. One day after a storm (not this one) I looked out to see the insurance man out there shoveling my snow covered steps. Maybe I need to start wearing my makeup more often : )
Anyway....
Storm or not I keep myself busy! I processed and froze 6 bags of pumpkin puree.
And baked bread.
And then cut up perfectly good bread according to Baby O. She was not happy! But she will be.
Once she tastes these garlic, basil and ramano cheese croutons.
In the freezer they go because salad season is coming.
Salad season is coming. You don't believe me look at my baby lettuce....
Then I cut up some more bread and made garlic bread rounds for the freezer.
To go with these stuffed shells that are freezing as we speak. I caught a sale on cheese: ) Stuffed with a mixture of cheeses, garlic, basil and eggs.
I also spent some time surfing the web. I don't do that very often, I usually get on the computer and get what I have to get done anymore and then get off. I found where someone had pinned my seed saving post and made the comment about my unconventional seed saving : )
See I told you people.... the gardening police were watching me!
Just imagine I manage to plant an entire garden or make that 3 of them without the help of a cell phone app of any kind. No garden notebook or computer program to plant my garden. No diagrams or plans. Ah the madness up here in this crazy, jumbled, old gray head of mine. I manage to care for, and harvest, and preserve enough to feed my family for years. Not to mention supplement the animal diet of my animals. We do this each and every year except for the year I was fighting stage 4 cancer. Imagine we only cranked the tiller twice last year. I have enough seed saved to plant my garden for the next three years atleast. This year I have ordered 3 packs of seeds. All my other seeds are waiting in my pantry, all those unconventionally saved seeds : ) Sitting there in recycled peanut butter and mayo jars free for the using. And I don't even have a horticultural degree and I have never tested my soil and I don't even buy fertilizer, and rarely buy a pesticide of any kind. I make my own compost, and fertilizer, and bug spray. I spend sometimes 6 hours a day on the end of a hoe and then take time to sit down and write posts about my unconventional ways. And I am old enough to be your grandmother and probably your great grandmother.
Unconventional
Honey this is the lady that is still talking on a black rotary dial phone. When it storms I can still call anyone I want when there is no electricity. They just don't answer because
THEY DON"T HAVE ANY PHONE SERVICE BECAUSE THE ELECTRICITY IS OUT!!!!
Or they don't have reception cause there is a storm ..
That phone is unconventional too but it works just like it has worked for the last 60 years.
I'm gonna go quilt now and listen to the snow melt off my tin roof.
Think I will quit surfing the web!
Everyone stay warm and safe.
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
The world needs more unconventional people like you. It would truly be a better place if people worked as hard and you and your husband do. There is so much laziness in the world that I find your blog inspiring. If you can grow your garden, so can I. If you can preserve your own food, so can I. You are probably old enough to be my grandmother but I learned from her just as I am learning from you. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us.
ReplyDeleteYou just keep to your 'unconventional' ways and those of us who appreciate them, will continue to learn from you.
ReplyDeleteblessings, jill
I love your telephone! I didn't know they would still work. Our phone doesn't need electric either, but it is a modern one. I try to keep our electric gadgets down to only what we need since we have to generate our own power here. Love your pictures and love you on Pinterest!
ReplyDeleteLove your garden 'plans'. Maybe you should package & sell them! We are still struggling with whether to remove our land line (we have 2 phones that work w/o electricity). that $60 a month could definitely go for something else.
ReplyDeleteI love you can do attitude, plus you mentioned just the other day you rarely advertising. LOVE LOVE LOVE that! Plus you openly share the complete knowledge to those of us wanting to learn and can do also. I planted your recommended jade beans last fall and loved them. However the bush got the best of my back so this year I'm going heirloom pole.
ReplyDeleteI have gained so much from your site never change, what the heck am I saying stay you.
I love your attitude as well , never say never lol ! I think the fast that you do all of this is remarkable for I have lost a lot of this I was raised with on the farm . I guess I let the modern age get to me . I remember those phones we had them on the farm as well and a party line no private lines back then . Your unconventional ways are whats teaching us how to survive and to depend on the land they way it used to be and I love it . Thanks you for all you do ! Have a good evening !
ReplyDeleteWhile I like some of my electronics, I love unconventional ways and that is why I like your blog. My husbands grandparents lived on a farm and raised 7 children. Back then there was no such thing as "take out" as grandma was always cooking from scratch. Grandpa used to grow his own hybridized daylilies and people were in awe of him. We have some in our garden now and so do some of our neighbors. When he passed away there were some businesses that wanted to buy some to make their own daylily gardens. I always think of that he left his mark in this world with his daylilys and that is what you are doing here. You are leaving your mark with us, your followers, and we are now inspired by you. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteSounds like me and your grandma and grandpa would have been fast friends : )
DeleteMy parents still have a rotary phone that belonged to mom's parents...and it's still connected to the phone line and works and gets used! When I can (not much money for splurging right now), I want to purchase an old rotary phone from an antique shop or somewhere...a working one or one that can be made to work again as a rotary dial phone. I may be a "Gen Xer", but I sure do appreciate a lot of the "old ways"!
ReplyDeleteThank you for blogging and giving us so much inspirations and the rope of learning from you. Its invaluable! Blessings to you and your family:)
ReplyDeleteYou do it right!!! I would not think twice about this stranger who obviously has much to learn. Unconventional seed saving has worked forever and it needs to keep working.
ReplyDeleteI applaud your ways and try to do the same as my forefathers/mothers did. If it's good enough for them it's good enough for me.
I, too, have an old phone which works without power. Yeah, for us "old" folks who know how to get by.
Happy quilting.
Yeah us old gals just have sense enough to know what works when nothing else does : ) Hugs my friend!!
Deleteunconventional? bwahahahaha Um how does someone think they had seeds years ago... 70, 80, 90 years ago and more? They saved them!!!! Even if someone doesn't save the seeds now, the seed companies wouldn't be in business and there would be no seeds. D'oh.
ReplyDeleteYou just keep on keeping on CQ and O Wise One!!!
And I have looked high and low for a phone like yours but can't find one. I settled for a touch tone phone that has a cord on it. Which works without electricity too and cost under $6 at a big box store.
I have two loaves of french bread we are turning into french bread pizzas for supper tonight instead of making unconventional pizza crusts.
Love ya CQ!
Im wondering whats unconventional about the way you save seeds... I guess Im gonna have to go digging thru your archives to find out
ReplyDeleteI always stick mine in an old popcorn tin.. all the oldtimers used to keep theirs in an old coffee can and the freezer, and while I rarely have room in my freezer, I've decided this year Im gonna carve out a space for them to lengthen their little seed-life.
You may be old enough to be my sister or my mama.. definitely not old enough to be my grandma.. Its nice to find bloggers out there over 30 (haha-my oldest daughter is 31) who blog about some of the same things I love to read about & do.
Love that phone too.. we still have two wall mount phone but the rest are modern.. I miss the old ways most of the time.. some of them anyways. ;)
Yeah some things old I don't miss too! I hate outhouses because I am scared to death of spiders.
DeleteThat rotary phone of yours sure brought back some memories for me. My Nanny (my cherished great-grandmother)had one just like it. It make me feel very sad when I look around and see what a throw-away society we have become. Finding things well made and made to last in this day and age is a daunting task at best and darn near impossible at worst. Thank you for sharing your "un"conventional ways. I want to learn to be just like you.
ReplyDeleteI just donated a box of old cell phones to the local recycle that a handicap organization runs. I just so much miss they days when you bought something and it worked for your lifetime. Many things now just aren't that quality.
DeleteI guess I don't understand why your seed saving ways are so unconventional, I think it's great. I keep reading about Monsanto and corporations owning the rights to the seed and having to purchase rights to plant certain seeds. How is this conventional? I'm going to give seed saving a try this year, I'm also starting to grow plants from seeds for my garden this year. Last year I wasn't very successful but I won't give up. I think it's sites like yours that keep us all trying for a better life thru simply living better. Growing food is a big deal. I have friends who struggle financially, but during our growing months they put up as much as possible to get them thru to the next growing season. You have inspired me to cut back on a lot of boxed and canned goods, that with a little time and know how I can make almost anything. Thanks for all you do and keep sharing your wonderful stories with us.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks for the idea of freezing stuffed shells. I never thought of that, but I had some in the pantry so I'm getting some meals ready for March. God Bless you and yours.
Hang in there and keep trying on the seeds. Seed saving is a pretty straight up thing. Like everything else everyone has their way and of course it is the right way. Some isolate their plants with screen enclosures and self pollinate to keep out the bees and prevent cross pollination. Some vacuum pack their seeds. Some freeze their seeds. Some make charts, and notebooks and spread sheets of their garden. For the most part I dry my seeds. Keep them, in a cool dark place in a moisture proof container. That's it and it works for me. Some garden and some criticize the way others do it. I will pick up my hoe tomorrow and do what I have always done, what makes me happy and what works for me. If it helps someone else or motivates someone else to get off the computer or the cell phone and give it a try then I have accomplished what I desired.
DeleteI think that people make it sound so hard and scare the younger gardeners to death. You gotta buy these expensive tools and have these certain seeds and do it this certain way. That's a load of crap. Just do what you love and eventually you'll figure it out. Check out a couple library books and do a little research. Then garden....
Keep those unconventional ways coming, I am soaking up every single bit of information your sharing, infact I've even got the hubs reading your blog now!! We are 30-somethings trying hard to learn all we can to be better about providing for ourselves and our kids. We garden but currenly live in a sub division and aren't permitted animals but are on the look out for the opertunity to move to rectify that situation. But we figure in the mean time we ought to learn all we can from seasoned individuals like yourself who are willing to share and so we do EVERY CHANCE I GET, lol
ReplyDeletethanks for everything and please keep the info and tidbits coming!!!
Dana in VA
I love your blog and recently shared with my Mom who also enjoys. I think your unconventional ways are really just common sense ways that make the most of what you have. I've recently retired from a very stressful job and I'm trying to bring some of your unconventional, common sense into my life.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad still has his rotary phone and you're correct that it's very reliable. I have one from the 70s that I'm still using, but it's a new fangled push button model :-).
As long as it works that is all that matters!
DeleteOur old rotary phone just recently quit working ;( Not sure how old it was, but old and trusty. Sigh....we'll miss it!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, as always. Have a wonderful day
Oh my. I would miss my old phones. They just work better than so many. No static or interference noises like the cordless. As you gat older and not hear so well those background noises kill you!
DeleteYou are the biggest inspiration to me - I "pin" almost every single one of your posts, and not to comment on how unconventional they are, either. You sure are unconventional, though - didn't you know you could buy croutons in a bag at the store? ;)
ReplyDelete(Just kidding, by the way - after seeing your post, I plan to make some bread Saturday morning and freeze up my own mess of croutons!)
Awesome article and so true! I never thought about slicing bread and making garlic rounds for garlic toast. Duh... again. I would welcome any help for how you manage such a wonderful garden without pesticides, fertizer, etc. The thing that kills my garden is squash bugs! I love squash and two years now we have gotten not one squash. Ugh... I til, then plan, then pile on grass clippings. If I have any compost, I work it in. But my garden was pitiful last year. Possibly I didn't water enough? But we did water with a sprinkler.
ReplyDeleteThanks for another excellent post! I always look forward to seeing them.
Oh man I laughed and laughed at this post! I call my husbands Grandma (who happens to live in Hannibal, MO) on a regular basis with canning and gardening questions. I swear I can hear her shaking her head at me! She just keeps telling me to just relax, shut off the computer and go dig a little and it will all work out. She hasn't planted a tomato in years because they plow the tomato rows under every year and now they just have volunteers everywhere! Her tomato seeds came from her moms tomatoes that they grew on the farm, and she did it the same way you do.
ReplyDeleteThis will be my first year planting a REAL garden. We are doing raised beds because the soil here in central Florida is so sandy, it's hard to grow anything. I get myself all in a tizzy over what to plant when and how to plant it, etc. reading your blog sets me back at ease. Thank you!
I have also learned sooooo much about canning from your blog. I manage a family of 6 with multiple food allergies and make most everything from scratch, so learning how you make ahead and freeze/can things has really inspired me. I'm even thinking of teaching my daughter to quilt for a homeschool 4H project. We shall see how that goes.
Thanks again for all of the wonderful advice! I so look forward to your blog posts, you are a blessing!