Two In One Day!

Since I got my bitching out earlier, I figured I would come back this evening and write about some happy things.  A lot has been going on the last week, mostly prepping for up coming events (you know, the usual...)
For starters, I'm in the process of making my own kombucha!

I was fortunate enough to have a friend who gave me a scoby (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.)  There is a lot of information on-line about making kombucha and what it is, so I'm not going to get into it.  But basically it is a yummy fermented tea that helps introduce a lot of good bacteria and microbes into your gut.  It takes about 7-10 days to ferment and I started mine this past Sunday, so I will know if it fermented and worked properly rather soon!  Can't wait!

I've also been slaving away in the kitchen making things and testing recipes for the upcoming farmers market - which if you've been following  along, you know I've been prepping for this for quite some time.  Today we made Twinkies!  - we are calling them Canooooes so as not to be confused with the famous ones.  We also made our first batch of rose jelly - it's GORGEOUS!  And I think we'll be making a few more batches!

The roses came right from my backyard.  I've got a gorgeous wild rose bush that has been growing for longer than I've been here.  It even survived being hacked to pretty much nothing 3 years ago and still came back stronger than ever!  It's one of my favorite things in the yard.  And it makes such a gorgeous jelly!

To continue with the theme of things I've been making - I make creatures out of socks.  This produces a lot of bits and pieces of socks that aren't quite big enough to do much with.  A couple weeks ago I ran out of socks (a tragedy in my house) and only had some scraps to work with.  Scrapies were born.  I've made 6 so far, and all will be available at the show I'm doing Saturday, Crafty Mart!  Each are only $5 and I love all of them!

Well, it's been a long day and I've still got some things to do before bed.
Thanks for reading this :)  Hopefully I will see you at Crafty Mart or LEAF!

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs

I think this year is going to be very trying for me on the gardening front.  Due to the cold snap we got last week, I've officially lost 2 tomato plants and I think a few more may be following along.  In addition to killing the tomato plants, I've noticed a lot of my sprouts have basically just stopped growing.  I'm hoping this warmer weather will encourage them to shoot up and out now.  My cantaloupe still has not sprouted either.  And, if that wasn't annoying enough, I went out to check everything out 2 nights ago and found 3 of my beans and 1 of my sunflowers smashed. 
Now, I've already determined I've got a rabbit - he ate all my red clover - but this was not a rabbit.  This was a dog.  I've seen my downstairs neighbor's (I live in a duplex) dog walking through my garden previously, so I just assumed it was him.  The only thing I had on hand for a "quick fix" was some bird netting.  My hope was that would at least keep him from wondering through, especially if he got stuck. 
Well, yesterday morning I let Roxy out and guess what? My neighbor on the other side of me has a dog now too.  A boxer/pit bull terrier mix.  A very aggressive I-want-to-come-through-the-fence-and-eat- you boxer/pit bull terrier mix.  And I'm not just saying this because it's a pit bull.  I've known many a pit bull and they are sweet hearts. 
So, Roxy sees this dog, and this dog sees Roxy and they ran to the fence and started going at it running up and down, barking and growling - the netting did nothing. ;(  To make matters worse, both dogs are named Roxy, so screaming their names didn't help.

 Since I can only garden along the fence rows, building a fence would keep me and the dogs out, so that is out of the question.  So, the only thing we could think of was more tomato cages.  At least then the dogs have to run AROUND my plants instead of THROUGH them.  **crossing fingers**

Oi.  I'm hoping this time next year I'll be living in my own house, with my own yard and no neighbor's for at least a quarter mile.....

In other news, I've got Crafty Mart this weekend and the start of the Farmer's Market next Thursday!  Morgan and I will be making rose jelly today and we are doing a test run of the bakery item we will be selling.  Once we know how everything turns out, I'll reveal what it is!

I will hopefully be blogging more, now that the garden is in and I'll be taking a hiatus from doing shows, save the Farmers Market every week.  I'm going to be teaming up with my friend's husband to teach some Tai Chi workshops - I'll be doing some weed walks.  And I'm already prepping classes for the fall.

Thanks for reading this!

Rabbits and Seeds

I broke down and planted my tomatoes and peppers yesterday (in my yard anyway - tomorrow we will plant them in the garden plot.)  They were starting to get leggy and needed to stretch out under the hot sun with a miles of dirt beneath them.  Of course, now that they are in the ground, it is supposed to go down to the 60's this weekend..... the joys of living in Northeast Ohio.....

I think this year will be a good year for the garden.  For whatever reason, my cantaloupe is refusing to sprout, but everybody else is happy. 
I've also discovered a young rabbit living in my yard. 
As I've mentioned before, I have a small yard - that I rent.  There is not a whole lot I can do with it, because it isn't mine.  While we do make sure to mow, and obviously I plant things, I've made it a point to keep the back corner of the yard as natural as I can.  There is some variety of cultivate tree that a previous tenant left to languish in one of those wooden barrels that I have yet to identify, a ton of dandelion, aster, a wild rose, wild strawberry, Canada thistle and a gorgeous red maple.  It creates a shady, over grown oasis for all kinds of wildlife.  I put a gargoyle statue back there to watch over everybody and I cobbled together a birdbath from things I garbage picked and the birds love it.  I've watched grackles spend 10 minutes splashing around in it, bathing themselves. 

So, this rabbit.  I've seen it in my yard several times during the winter, most often finding it's droppings.  I thought maybe it was after my kale that I had planted in the fall, but it was never touched.  The other day I discovered it hanging out in the huge stand of aster I have growing in the back.  I think that is where he/she is living.  Most gardeners would be freaking out about this, trying to deter it and keep it away from their vegetables.  I was excited to find a wild animal using my yard as a home - my efforts to keep that area "untouched" are paying off.  That being said, I could be changing my tune here shortly when I start noticing my vegetables are disappearing.  But for now, I'm more concerned about keeping the neighbor's dogs out of the garden than the rabbit.  I think they might have something to do with my lack of cantaloupe.

Cleavers Tincture and Vanilla Extract

My garden and garden plot are slowly coming along and pretty soon I'll be able to plant my tomato and pepper plants I've been lovingly tending since the end of March. 
I spent the day running errands and getting a lot of things done around the house that I've been putting off.  I also had some time to play with my new camera.  No more fuzzy, low light photos!  Mr. X gave me my birthday present early :) 
I spent a lot of time outside today and in the kitchen.  I was able to pick about a 1/4 cup of violet blossoms, so I'm soaking that in some water over night.  I was hoping to get enough to make some jelly, but I'm thinking it'll just be a syrup instead.  Then I can add it to seltzer water and make a violet soda.  I also headed out to the garden plot and loaded up on Cleavers to make a tincture.  A tincture is a type of medicine made by infusing alcohol (typically vodka) with a fresh herb; in this case Cleavers.  It traditionally sits for at least 6 weeks before use and then is good indefinitely because the plant material is preserved in the alcohol. 
Cleavers are a fascinating plant that get their name because they "cleave" or stick to passing animals and humans.  A large clump of them make a great sieve.  They are also known as "bedstraw" and were typically used by midwives who prepared a bed of the plant for childbirth.  This practice was learned from watching deer, who also give birth and bed down in bed straw; hence, Cleavers are considered deer medicine in Native American culture. 
Cleavers are great for all kinds of things including calming of the nerves and filtering out toxins (and helping those organs whom perform this function).  According to Matthew Wood in The Book of Herbal Wisdom, "In short, we may say that Cleavers cools, moistens, filters, detoxifies and promotes transportation within the hidden waterways of the body."   Cleavers has also been used to cure cancer, traditionally of the tongue and thyroid.  Needless to say, Cleavers has a lot of uses and this is just the tip of the iceberg!
To make the tincture, I collected the Cleavers, cleaned them ( I didn't rinse them, I just checked for dead or brown plant matter, non-Cleavers plant material and insects and spiders), I crammed as much as I could fit into a jar, filled it up with vodka and screwed a lid on.  Then I labeled and dated it.  Tada!  In 6 weeks I'll have Cleavers tincture!

I also made up another batch of homemade vanilla extract!  All you need is a few vanilla beans, a nice bottle or jar and some vodka or rum!  I sliced my vanilla beans down the middle, but DO NOT scrape!  I placed them in the jar, warmed some vodka, then poured it over the beans and voila!  It'll be ready in about 6 weeks as well and the longer it sits, the stronger it gets.  I also do this with almonds and fresh mint!  It's WAY cheaper than store bought and now that you have a large bottle, you can add as much as you want to whatever you want!  Sadly, I didn't get a picture.

Tomorrow will be homemade mustard, violet syrup and banana bread!

Perseverance

I'm starting to really get frazzled and frustrated.  I have too many irons in the fire and not enough hands pull them all out.  I find myself getting more and more irritated at the amount of things I need to accomplish and finish that I can't finish because I have a job to go to.  The little things that used to just annoy me at work are really pissing me off because I don't want to be there anymore.  I want to be at home, working in the garden, sewing, canning, blogging, trying new recipes, preparing new classes, teaching etc... but instead, I'm at work.  I've started to internalize my frustrations and now my back aches, I have a pinched nerve, my shoulders hurt.... This just makes things worse. 
Ultimately, the only way I'm going to feel better is by working harder to get me away from my job.  But that will only happen by stressing myself out more and working harder than I already am.  Ugh.

On the bright side, I am making strides in walking away from my job.  I paid off my car on Friday - hurray!  I got my birthday present early - Mr. X bought me a new camera;  This means I get to take killer photos in ANY light and promote myself much better than I am now.  I had a great time at the Cleveland Flea this weekend and made a sizable amount of money which will allow me to purchase supplies to continue getting ready for Farmers Market season here in a few weeks. 

I'm getting there slowly but surely - I need to just keep plodding along.  I don't have the word "Perseverance" tattooed on my back for nothing.

This past week has been somewhat long, stressful and frustrating.  My wisdom tooth decided to make an appearance (again) so I've been in pain for most of the week.  Being an herbalist, I strive to use only herbs when taking care of myself and my injuries; that being said, typically the only remedy suggested and known for taking care of tooth pain is cloves.  Well, guess what?  I'm highly sensitive (swollen-tongue-covered-in-canker sores kind of sensitive) to cloves.  So that rules that out; ibuprofen and I have become friends - I have an appointment with the oral surgeon on Friday to schedule the removal of this demon tooth.

While that has been going on, I've also had to get my garden ready, my garden plot ready, dandelion jelly made and lots of prepping and making of things for the Cleveland Flea this coming Saturday and the farmers market starting in June - this is the point where I loathe having a real job.

The good news is all of my seeds (save for a few because I ran out of potting soil) are in the ground or their respective pots.  The garden plot is pretty fantastic:

It doesn't look like much now, but in a few months....

I was pretty stoked to find some garlic mustard and cleavers around the area too!  And I'm sure I'm in the minority when I say I was excited to find garlic mustard.  Yes, I know it's an invasive - but have you ever eaten any?  It's quite yummy and you can make quite the tasty horseradish-like vinegar using the root.  I like to cook the greens down with some garlic, olive oil and a splash of veg. broth and let it simmer.  Toss with some pasta or serve over rice!  Yummy!

Dandelion jelly was made this week as well.  It'll be ready for sale here soon, I just need to make labels.  And I think we will be making another batch this week, in addition to a few quarts of dandelion wine. 

Isn't the jelly pretty?