It's the middle of summer and do you know what that means? It means THIS!
It means CHAOS! Yes that is our kitchen Sunday mid afternoon. And it's only me and Bill in this house! On a kinder note, it is organized chaos...for me anyway.
Did you ever call your BFF, mom/dad, or sister/brother, you know, the one you share everything with, and tell yourself, "oooo, I have to remember to tell her/him this...and this....oh and this"? That's me right now! I have so much I want to share and yet it's going to look like I'm 'all over the place' when I do. So consider yourself my BFF for the moment and just go with it. Grab yourself a bowl of ice cream, because it's summer and making ice cream is my new thing to do, and let's catch up! Here's my ice cream (bought a new-to-me ice cream maker off marketplace and have made banana ice cream and butter pecan already! YUM!!
First off, is the US going through some $h*t right now or what? No matter what side you're on, and yes there are sides whether we want to admit it or not, it's a hot mess all over! My mind has been going everywhere with the attempted assassination on DJT, especially with all kinds of new reports showing up. Then there's the infamous 'dropping out of the race' leaving one party's election process for a Presidential candidate completely thrown off the bridge. Every time I think, "no, that can't happen, it's not 'legal' or 'allowed'" it happens...and almost without question. My 54 year old mind continues to be blown away... I try not to think about it, but I'm also the same person whose face is online searching out information on the daily. I kind of feel like that 'file cabinet' in my head needs its own Cloud service at this point. I have to say though, summer does not allow Bill and I a lot of down time as you'll soon see, which keeps me busy so I don't lose my $h*t.
As most of you probably know, mid summer starts the harvest season for many gardeners, homesteaders, and farmers. Kitchens are where you'll find most matriarchs sweating their butts off cooking/preserving/canning their homegrown produce as they try to stay on top of each fruit or vegetable as they come into season. So if you're not there to lend a hand in the kitchen, your best bet is to find something to do elsewhere! Fortunately for me, I'm married to a man who completely loves to garden as well as help in the kitchen! We have a fairly decent size kitchen, but I did tell him I think we need another sink (wink wink). As the picture above suggests, it got a little congested and we weren't even canning, thank God.
On top of harvesting our own vegetables, we've also been able to visit our local Farmer's Market about 15 minutes away. We never know what we're going to come home with when we go, but that's the best part. We let the Farmer's Market tell us what we're having for dinner for the week. And I can't begin to tell you all the deliciousness that's available. I don't know if you have a local farmer's market, but if so, GO! Make a point to search one out if you don't know of a local one and find some time to visit one. The variety of fruits and veggies is out of this world and the farmers WANT to meet you. All our farmers have beautiful produce and it's hard to shop at just one farmer's stand. We try to shop at all of them, spacing out our purchases to support all the farmers who set up. We also have farmers selling poultry/meats, baked goods, honey/jellies, plants, BBQ seasoning, and even coffees. And before you ask why we go to the market if we have our own garden....well, it's because first off, we're not even permitted to have a garden in our community because we have an HOA that has a bi-law stipulating no gardens. Ours just happens to be positioned in an area that's hard to see from the road and we have neighbors who are kind and gracious about us having it. They understand our mentality about up-keeping our yard so they haven't felt the need to complain to the HOA and "out us". It's actually an old bi-law that needs revision if you ask me, especially with all the food issues that continuously come to our attention. In addition to not being permitted, we can't grow a lot of the produce we like because of wildlife issues. We try to grow as much as we can in the yard, but we know growing certain vegetables/fruits would be eaten away by deer if we tried. We've tried to grow some produce on our deck in pots, but the results haven't always been successful. So, this is where the Farmer's Market really helps.
Every time we come home from the market, I spread it all out and just stare at it. What a blessing to have the market so close! We then decide what we're going to have for dinner for the week and what we can combine with our own garden produce to make or preserve. This past weekend was a busy one. We had zucchini and cucumbers in our garden ready to go so I made 4 loaves of zucchini bread (to freeze) and additionally made 2 loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread while Bill made his delicious refrigerator pickles. I also made some salsa for us for the week and even tried my hand at a mango salsa since I've been on a mango kick for the last 2 months. It was so good and I'll link the recipe I found for it HERE. And do you see that watermelon in the picture above? OH EMMM GEE! First off, you have to understand, I DO NOT LIKE MELONS and I tolerate watermelon, but can walk away from it without batting an eye. When I was a kid I liked it, but as I've gotten older it's just very bland anymore. However, Saturday a week ago, while visiting the Farmer's Market, they were giving out samples of watermelon, and of course Bill had to try it. He absolutely loved it and said he wanted to buy one. I tried a sample and before you know it, it's on our kitchen counter being cut up for dessert that evening. The flesh was so bright red, sweet, and juicy, not that light pink almost white bland stuff. It was so good I went back this past weekend and got another one. The variety is called Sangria, and if you know me, you'll understand the irony. That's just one of the reasons I love the market; you won't find these watermelon varieties or heirloom tomatoes, or the gazillion varieties of peppers at the grocery store.
When sampling the watermelon, I forgot to mention we also sampled this zucchini rice casserole. We just happened to be at the market when the county extension office was welcoming everyone to the market for the season; hence the reason they had samples. The zucchini bake was out of this world and fortunately they had recipe cards for everyone. They also had a table set up with about 75 other recipe cards to highlight the different fruits and vegetables of the season. This was all FREE! And having all the zucchini available from our garden gave me the chance to try the recipe. Super easy to make and it turned out just as delicious as I remembered! Pretty sure it's going to be a staple in our home.
Bill grilled us some chicken to go with it and BOOM, dinner was served! Feel free to zoom in on the recipe and try it! Thank me later! Oh, I didn't have brown rice so I used what I always cook and it tasted just as good!
Veggies aren't the only thing we're picking. The unseasonal hot weather that started in May had our pear tree ripening sooner rather than later here. Bill got out there before he made his pickles to monkey around in the tree and use his pole to start collecting. We have been fighting the squirrels for weeks now and it was getting a little out of control. So, although they are small (because we don't thin out our tree) it was time to collect.
And of course this week I'll be making pear butter, some pear juice, and of course spiced pears. I get all excited to have the shelves fill up again!
Our flower gardens are also blooming! We have such a variety of flowers I don't even know where to start so I just keep taking pictures to fill in my garden journal I like to keep. It's been a continuous bloom fest since the first daffodils early in spring. The dahlias and zinnias are starting to come in hot, but what I like is walking along the dahlia garden and seeing some random celosia plants that self sowed from last year!
I grew some Queen Anne's Lace for the first time this year and found out this butterfly loves them and will start their family on them! I had no idea! I went out one day and found one caterpillar and the next day there were two! After searching the type of caterpillar it was, this is what it will grow up to be...
GORGEOUS! I'LL TAKE IT!
Of course my herbs are taking off as well and this year has been wonderful harvesting so much lavender, chamomile, calendula and so much more. Since studying herbalism, I am continuously starting new seeds for herbs I want to grow and use for medicine. I have everything from peppermint to lemon balm, comfrey, lemongrass, wormwood, hyssop, holy basil, borage, St. John's Wort....and so much more! I can't wait to make my tinctures, oils, and salves. And speaking of herbs, I was thinking how this is the season where we have to start planning for cold/flu season. Making homemade herbal remedies takes a little time, but with some planning, anyone can be ready for cold/flu season. However, not everyone knows which herbs to use or may have even heard of some herbs being medicinal. So, I decided that I am going to start posting an herb a week to help introduce you to some of the benefits herbs have medicinally. Once I start listing them, you'll be able to find them under the Herbal tab! And just a reminder, I make tinctures, oils, and salves to sell. They are hand-crafted, small batch. You can check out the shop under The Wicked Kettle Shop above to see what I have available.
And to close, I went ahead and looked into a Farmer's Market directory for you. Visit www.usdalocalfoodsportal.com and in the box that says WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR type in Farmers market and in LOCATION put in your zip code! Hopefully there is one close to you! If farmer's markets aren't available near you, type in farms instead of farmers market. Some farms are open to the public and sell right there on their farm! Enjoy your summer...and go eat some ice cream!
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