The Last Of The Flowers

The morning was really cool as I went out to pick figs this morning. We have a small fire burning in the fireplace and I hated to leave it but needed to get them picked and in the dehydrator. As I was picking figs I spotted my first flock of geese flying south on their migration path. There are still a few flowers remaining and I will miss them when they are gone but will leave them for the bees till frost. I picked some lemon balm for hot tea and added some dried elderberry to that along with a spoon of local honey. Our days have been so busy raking leaves and pignuts(very small hickory nut). The leaves we chop for the compost and the pignuts we burn to keep the mower from breaking a window with them. 

Got the figs in the dehydrator and threw some frozen blueberries in there as well to dehydrate. Will put them in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers to store in my larder. Both the dehydrated figs and dehydrated blueberry bags will go into a food grade bucket with a screw lid to protect them from bugs or rodents. Such an efficient way to store fruit without electricity and free up some freezer space. The dried fruit can be used like raisins in baking or go into oatmeal as well. Many times we just eat ours out of hand as snacks or make trail mixes with our roasted walnuts and dried fruit together or maybe throw in some toasted oatmeal for a granola type mix. the dehydrated figs can be ground to make filling for cookies. My children's Italian great grandmother used to make a fig cookie that was to die for made with ground figs. Wish I had gotten the recipe. 

I threw a vegetable soup in the crockpot. Just 2 quarts of canned beef in broth along with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, some of my dehydrated onions and garlic, a few spices and I have some cabbage from the garden in the bottom of the fridge I will put in there at the end. We love cabbage in our vegetable soup. I should have thrown some barley in there but forgot. 

I think I will put up some more mustard greens today and take a day off from working in the garden. After my run in with the freaky little venomous worms and a week of hard work I need a break from the rake and wheelbarrow. 

Mr DD is still trying to get over his illness and has been working on gathering walnuts and cleaning and drying them to start cracking after they dry out a bit. 

 

It has been an eventful month so far and as gas prices rise we discovered last week that someone has been siphoning the gas out of our SUV sitting in the driveway. I imagine it will get worse if prices continue to climb and the economy worsens. Then this week someone hit our big mailbox out front with a bat or board or something so it will have to be replaced. We have had no problems with anyone in the area so think it is just random mischief and in our 6 years of being in the area our first real problems. I did call and ask the local police to add some patrols but we shall see if that makes a difference . I doubt it. 

Well that brings you up to date on the happenings here in Hickery Holler. We are just fighting hickory nuts, leaves and staying warm. As we continue to hear of shortages and rising prices we remain thankful for our choice of lifestyles and simple living practices. 

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Blessings from The Holler

CQ 

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