Coming up for air.......

 

This year has just flown and wading through the golden leaves from the norway maple on the way out to check on the chickens this morning I am reminded, Fall has arrived.  Change is forever on the move here in Northeastern Ohio.  The weather patterns have been inconsistent but the last three days we have been living the dream of 70F degree days and gentle winds.  My biggest show of the year is over and I have had time to lick my wounds over this grueling 5 day show.  Time to fish again, time to hike again, time to just watch the leaves fall.  Time to realize I am slowing down...... I guess I have entered my Fall years too :) 

I am walking, wading and reflecting and deciding where my next steps will take me.  I made a list of the things I love and make me feel like I'm 12 years old again......  Oh glorious 12 years old!  

Time to take off your shoes, roll up your pant legs and wade the rocky bottom of the river, flipping small rocks over with your toes hoping something swims away.  Oh how I miss that 12 year old and now there is nobody to call you home before the street lights go on so you can stay as long as you want; until your feet are blue and toes are numb but still you stand in the river because there is just no better place and geese fly over so low the breeze caresses your top your head.  

I have been sitting at a wheel spinning pots for over 40 years and have missed so many Falls and late Summers as shows and galleries are relentless this time of year.  Not this year!  This year I am fishing, canning and gardening.  The house is winning and there are so many repairs that need addressed before the snow flies.  

I've been busy with shows this year and a trip to Alaska sparked my wild woman outside spirit!  Sleep in the back of pick up trucks, fish till you can't hold the rod and eat whatever your hand touches ( a cold reindeer sausage) in the cooler because you rolled in after dark, very hangry and very tired and you get up the next morning and can't wait to do it again!  

I didn't get to can any thing last year and the basement shelves looked like Old Mother Hubbard lived here.  Every jar was empty and the spiders had moved in.  In the past I did all the canning and still had time to do shows, I'm definitely slowing down and I'm not happy about it.  I'm making life decisions and realized I am on one hell of journey, an adventure to be sure.  I will not be potting as much but not closing up the studio.  Gardening more, fishing more, commenting under my breath on life's little observations and if I want to take day and just watch the river go by it just might happen.  

I miss glaze development.  How can you stand in a river, waist deep in crystal clear water, engrossed by the transparency and movement of water and the textures just beneath the surface and not want to race home and start tinkering with chemicals to capture the illusion of water on the surface of a pot.  That will never grow old for me.  

or this ......... how do I get this into a glaze? 

I have time to make cordage, and collect plant material again.  I am teaching a weaving class in February!  

The basement is full again!  More on that in another post but I am over the moon happy!  

I have had time to take canning classes on steam canners, gluten free bread baking and making cordage.  

I have time to write again too......... 

 

Summer living.........

 

The month of May was one long drought and a couple hard freezes but now it's mid July and my underwear has mildew.  You just don't get summer until you find yourself swearing and out of breath wrestling on a uni-boob sports bra.   I bend over in the garden and there is a rainbow over my butt..... it has been that wet.  It is still better than dragging a hose around everyday or watching plants die; I will take the rain!  

This small half acre has fed us beyond my wildest dreams.  There is cauliflower in the freezer!  

All those seeds started in the cold studio in February thrived for the most part.  We did have wild weather swings and so many plants couldn't decide what to do so they bolted, biennials should not be going to seed until next year.   Swiss Chard and Onions have bolted even though they were started from seed.  The plants are telling me they are stressed, especially the onions.  I grew a lot of storage onions, placed all over the yard.  The only place they didn't bolt was the back garden which is somewhat shady.  The onions in full sun bolted, even though watered and mulched.  Onions that bolt or go to seed do not store well.  What to do with 200 onions I cannot store?  Time to start canning stocks, dehydrating, canning with port wine reduction and making a puree with olive oil and tossing it in the freezer.  It's a lot of onions to deal with! 

I grew three varieties: Patterson (long term storage), Blush (long term storage) & Alisa Craig for grilling immediately.  Learn to punt! 

We have eaten so much cole slaw this year as the cabbage was stupendous!  Lesson learned from last year, use all the insect netting!  Cover everything!  It worked!  I planted three varieties: Savoy (crinkle leaved & huge), Little Tiara (small & compact), Red Dutch (large & later producer)  Hands down the Little Tiara is my favorite.  Small tight heads and super sweet.  You can plant quite a few in a very small space.  Red Dutch is having trouble forming heads but leaves have been good to stir fry.  The savoy is a winner and I plant it every year.   

I used strawberry plants to border the gardens and as a ground cover around the asparagus and blueberry plants.  All I can say is WOW!  We picked every day for two weeks.  The rains came, the nights cooled off and strawberries went into hyper berry season.  We picked over 30 pounds, freezing most.  The deer leave them alone, although not the chipmunks or the raccoons.  It was a fight early on when a family of raccoons descended on the berry patches and cleaned them out.  They rolled around in the beds smashing plants and berries.  When they used the backside of the pond (right next to the patio where I drink my morning coffee) as the woodland powder room it was game over.  Pooping on the top rocks as the water cascaded over the rocks and the Miller relocation van started rolling.  For eight straight nights the van drove into the night looking for just right place with water, woods and free range and they lived happily ever after.  The cats put out the word on the chipmunk condos, also living in the stones around the pond and Poof the chipmunks were gone.  Thank you neighborhood thug cats.  

Thankfully I only put in 4 swiss chard plants because who knew they would take over half a row. 

I have been planting swiss chard for as many years as I've had a garden and never liked the way my teeth would feel when I ate it.  Started doing a bit of digging around to understand why.  It's loaded with oxalate crystals or oxalic acid.  Hard on the kidneys but great for removing rust.  If you blanch swiss chard for 3 minutes it removes 72% of the oxalic acid from the swiss chard.  How am I this old and not know this?  The blanching water is brown!  I blanch the leaves first and then the stalks and no more gritty teeth!  Whoa, game changer!  This works on beet greens and spinach too!  I had been dehydrating all the green leafy tops of everything and dehydrating to make green power.   

Beets, pickled and roasted.  Green powder in the blender jar and bowl of pea pods.  Dinner is served! 

Cucumbers are just appearing, along with the striped cucumber beetle.  Stay tuned for that battle!