Garden Ideas : Vertical, Straw, and Flower Pots

I'm beginning to THINK GARDEN so here come some of the ideas that are bopping around in my head.

You'll recognize this if you've seen the What to do with old fence sections post.

This is the idea I want to use to make a backdrop for the garden I want to have this year.

The area of my yard best suited for a garden is not tilled. Every year for I don't know how many years, one of my sisters promised to let me use her tiller to make a garden plot in my yard. Every year when the ground finally thawed enough to till I waited until she got her garden tilled first; by then it was so late I had given up on the idea. Other years I made plans that included being absent for much of the summer; naturally I couldn't plant a garden. I inevitably was home all summer after all - but hadn't planted a garden using any of my alternative plans.

This year I'm not going to fret about tilling; I'm not planning on being gone for any length of time. 

This year I'm planning on having a garden.

The picture shows, kind of, what the backdrop of my little garden will be. One difference is that instead of stars it will sport climbing pea plants, and I'm going to leave the wider spaces that my fence sections have for this project and plant the peas in dirt between the boards at the foot of the fence.

Next idea:

Yup. 

Straw bales.

Living in the middle of farm country, I'm betting I can find someone who might sell me some straw bales.

There's a procedure to follow when it comes to this, apparently. Since it doesn't require tilling I'm fine with a bit of prep work. Especially if it works!

-First you get your bales a couple of weeks before you want to plant anything in them.

-Then you get them to where you want them.

-Then you turn them so the poky sides are up and down. If you want them to retain moisture better, or if (like me) you're fretting about them falling apart halfway through the growing season, you can wrap plastic around their sides.

-Then you get some stuff called 30-3-3 fertilizer (don't ask me; I'll find out when I go shopping for it) and some dead fish (this part is an experiment; if I were you I'd just go with the fertilizer until further notice) and some potting soil or dirt of your choice.

-Then you use the water and fertilizer every other day for ten days. The bales you're going to plant tomatoes in get the dead fish in them at about the depth you're going to plant your tomatoes. If they stink, plant them deeper or hold your nose or something. I'll let you know how this goes for me when the time comes. And no, I don't think you're supposed to use canned tuna.

-Once your ten days of every-other-day watering/fertilizing are done, let the bales set for four days, to cool down a little (the water will begin their decomposing process, which produces heat).

-Then have your bedding plants, sets, seeds, or whatever you're going to plant ready to go.

-For the seeds (like carrots and spinach and beets and such), trowel a V shape in the top of their bales, fill the V with your dirt, and plant the seeds in the dirt.

-For everything else, make holes the size your individual plants or sets need, fill 'em up with your dirt, and plant your garden!

-Pray for regular rain or water the bales enough to keep them from totally drying out. Fertilize them every week or two at first. As the season progresses you can cut down on the fertilizing because the innards of the bales will be decomposing and providing their own, and the roots of your plants will be down far enough to take advantage of that.

-Now, here's something you have to keep in mind. As roots start growing they'll have a tendency to push your plants up. Push them back down as needed until the roots get down into the straw.

Me, I'm going to TRY for spuds (potatoes), onions, carrots, cabbage, beets, and tomatoes in the straw bales. Until I'm reasonably sure I can make it work there's no point in me getting too ambitious about the whole thing.

The peas will presumably climb the fence backdrop.

In front of them, at a distance (probably several feet) I'll arrange my six bales in a triangle with its base closest to the backdrop. Said fence will face east, by the way. Our morning sunshine is great; come afternoon it can be brutal. I'll post photos as we go along, once we get around to the time to start going along.

In the back bales will go the tall stuff - tomatoes, potatoes, and probably the cabbages. Four plants per bale, to be on the safe side and not crowd them too much. Next come carrots and onions. In front, the beets. 

I also have a great big flower pot (more than two feet in diameter) that I like to plant spinach in. I'll move it back to my garden so as to have everything together. The first time I planted spinach I harvested my crop when it was the size of the 'baby spinach leaves'  you buy at the store - by pulling it up by the roots - and planted a second crop since spinach grows fast. THEN somebody told me to just snip the leaves and more would grow. That significantly cut down on the number of spinach seeds I had to use.

A note on beets: the greens are incredibly good for you. IF I can manage to make this work, I'll take some from each plant as they grow - to eat in salads and to dehydrate and use in soups and hotdishes and such come next winter. I'll do the same with the spinach.

Yeah, I know it's gonna be a pretty small garden. I'm okay with that for the first year. I'm only just one person.

Come harvest time I'll have myself a feast and can what I don't eat or already have dehydrated. When it comes to canning and/or dehydrating, we have plenty of farmers' markets close by - I'll go to them for corn and beans and squash and pumpkin and stuff I don't have room (yet) to grow my own self. 

Oh ... one of the perks of using straw bales is that once I've harvested my crops I'll take what's left of the bales and put them into the place I want my 'real' garden to be, which is right near where this one is going to be. They'll continue to decompose and eventually kill the grass in my yard right there (especially if I cover their remains with black plastic) while building a right fine topsoil for said 'real' garden. The same thing will happen where the bales themselves are so it's a good thing that's where I want my 'real' garden to go.

Being as I'm not getting any younger here I'll likely build myself some frames for raised garden beds, hopefully before I get too old and feeble to do it. The composted straw bales will be a significant contributing factor to the soil for them.

That's Plan A.

Plan B, in case I can't make this work, is to hope everyone else has better luck with their gardens and buy what I want at the farmers' markets.

Either way, I'd best be stocking up on canning jars and building more shelves for them.

What to do with old fence sections?

Here's an idea somebody posted on Facebook:

While it's not quite exactly the look I would (WILL!!) create, it's one of those Ah-ha! moments for me.

Last fall I took down most of the sections that had surrounded my big back yard, leaving only the north property line fence, the front section of that side, and my courtyard. I've got the eight foot sections and their 4x4 posts leaning stacked against each other. There are probably a dozen of them (no I'm not going to go out there in the middle of the night to count them).

The point is that I've got plenty to make as many of these things as I want.

And yes indeed I do want.

Because we were 'stretching our resources' to enclose as much of that big back yard as we could, we spaced the boards four inches apart. That's enough to keep Duke in and and everyone else's dogs out which was the purpose of the fence. That, and to use the historic wooden board fencing my stepdad gifted me with. It had long been in use at one of my aunt's houses, and is one of the few 'local traditional fences' left in the area.

Anyway, the boards are out there, the 2x4 stringers attached, and the 4x4 posts with them. I have a post hole digger.

What flashed into my mind when I saw the above photo was a series of 'backdrops' with scenes from The Mamm Books, or landscapes, or skyscapes, or whatever I want painted on them, at strategic places in my back yard. For that matter, when it comes right down to it I might have just found a home for the big paintings I did for the covers of Perth and Tarnos. They're on fabric that I can (hopefully) use clear poly to 'glue' to the wooden backdrops. Sealing them with several coats of the same ought to protect them from the elements, and I'd put them in sheltered places in the first place.

Because I'll be putting the boards flush instead of giving them so much space between, especially the ones getting the fabric (the others will still need gaps or our powerful winds would blow them to Kingdom Come), I won't be able to make a dozen of them. I don't want a dozen anyway.

So ...

Where do I want them and how big do I want them to be?

The Mamm ones will be smaller and inside my courtyard, for one thing. That's the most protected place for them, and those aren't so much for privacy as for atmosphere.

Let's see. How about around the back porch area? Yep. 

And one over at the big back yard tree. I left a section or two of that fence standing; I can take those apart and rearrange them, add whatever more I need from the rest. 

Actually, I'd really like to make that into a half circle with the big tree enclosed, extending my courtyard to include it. I can take it clear back to the chokecherries if I want. Then it would also enclose the area back there that I hate to mow because it's where the wild daisies grow. I only mow it to keep the neighbors from yapping about my too-long grass. This way I can have my daisies and they don't have to fret themselves about whether or not I'm mowing my yard to suit them. Anyone who grew up here will recognize the all-too-common phrase 'This is Fessenden' said with a shrug and a sigh. They know what it means.

Anyway ... 

Extending my courtyard would also free up the lattice sections now comprising the back of my courtyard fence. The three of them will take the south side of the courtyard another 24 feet back toward the alley, just inside the property line on that side - fewer of the wooden ones I'd have to use for that! 

Mm-hm ... tag off the end of that side with the wooden ones, rounding the west end and bringing it back around to connect with where the courtyard meets the SW corner of my house. I might just paint that arc with mountains and the long part with who knows what. Dunnottar might go there for all I know.

That might just use up all my sections, considering the boards will be a lot closer together than they are now. We'll have to see where we're at when we get it finished. 

The north side has to stay open. That's where I drive in with my loads of firewood to throw down the basement steps, remember. Plus I park there a lot. 

It's been a long time since I've thought about yard stuff. Duke uses my courtyard more than I do, and that's a sad sort of thing.

At any rate, I've got no excuse for not doing this project. I've got everything I need for it.

Well, as soon as the ground thaws enough to get the posts set I will have everything I need to do it.

I'm hoping there will be enough boards to do a bit of a surround for the back porch area. Right now that's where I've got all the big log sections stashed (and have yet to get the rest of that porch demolished). Having a project in the works right there would probably inspire me to get the rest of that old porch torn down and figure out what I'm going to do for steps (or decking, or ramping) at the back door.

I reckon I could plan on using that north door to park beside. The only time I don't park there on a regular basis is when there's snow that I don't want to have to either pack with the truck (driving back and forth over it) or shovel. It's a long way from the alley, a lot of shoveling or packing.

Anyway, if I go with that 'plan' I could ramp up from the north door area, around the NE corner of the house to get to the front door and around the NW corner to get to the back door. Because my doors sit thirty inches up I have to have thirty-foot ramps up to them. I can measure, but I'm betting it will be close enough. I'll have to rail the ramps, and rail the entry platforms, plus build steps up to them - but that won't be much of a problem once I get going on it. 

See, this is how it works. 

I want to put a privacy surround in the area of the back porch, which leads to taking out the rest of said back porch, which leads to what I'm going to replace it with, which leads to ramping around the whole north half of the house. Because if I'm going to ramp to the back door I may as well ramp to the front door while I'm at it. And since I have to build a back door entry platform anyway I may as well extend it around the SW corner of the house to my courtyard door, and make it the deck I want.

The problem with that is Duke.

If there's a deck going around the back of the house into the courtyard, he's going to use that thirty inch deck height to jump the fence, bet on it.

Hmm ... 

Dang.

He's getting old, but he's still got a lot more spring in him than I do. He won't attempt the five foot board fence, but half that height ... yeah, he'd go for it.

So I reckon we'll skip the deck around the corner of the house for a while yet.

The rest of it though - that we'll do.

I wish there was a way to screen the whole of the back yard except for the north part I need to keep open for access to that door. BUT the meter reader dude has to be able to get to the meter on the back of the house, between the back door and the courtyard gate. I have to leave a corridor open there, which is why the main part of my back yard fence is dismantled in the first place. He couldn't manage the back gate in the winter when the snow piles up and blocks it - and heck no I'm not going to take my little old gramma lady self out there in the dead of winter to shovel him a path and keep the gate free of snow so he can get in. SO ... I can't connect my fences. 

Heh heh.

It would look pretty strange to have two big fenced sections back there with a narrow meter reader dude corridor between them. 

I'd go ahead and build a screen from the NW corner of my property where the north fenceline ends and take it along the alley end of my property - BUT the utility company planted some stuff right where I would love to be able to drive onto my yard in a curve (which would be inside my fence line) to the north side of my house. They already had stuff right in the middle of my yard back by the alley ... so my only drive in access is the north.

Ah well. I'll have to measure but chances are I can take my extended courtyard fence clear back almost to the alley. Then I can quit blaming them for keeping me from being able to drive into my yard from that side. IF the people who suffer from 'nosy neighbor syndrome' were to the SW instead of the W and NW I could just sweep the fence in an arc from the courtyard on around to where I need to be able to drive in and the meter reader dude would just have to follow the fenceline in from the northwest ... but NOOOOOOO ... it has to be the other way around.

Be that as it may be, I don't have enough boards to do a sweeping fenceline anyway, not without taking down the north fence too, and I don't particularly want to do that. Those posts are cemented in.

Of course ... I do have the whole great big rest of my back yard to play with ... I could drive in like I do anyway, on the north side. But I don't have to drive straight up beside the house like I do. I could complicate my life considerably, and challenge my backing up skills, by planting a section of fence across that whole area, and driving around it. 

Maybe that's where I'll put one of those things like the one in the picture up there. It will be fine right up until the first time I back into it.

Yeh.

This is how my mind works in the middle of the night (and, to be truthful, the rest of the time too). 

Outside projects are on my mind because the temperatures have been warming up a bit for the past little while. It's March, which is a temperamental month at best so who knows what we've got in store for us yet ... March is rarely ordinary. It tends to be either great or horrid - or both at different times. Tomorrow it's supposed to be at least sixty degrees, for example. A little later in the month it will be back down into the twenties. 

One of the things I could do with that section I'm planning on putting across the NW corner of my yard, the one I'll have to drive around, is use it for a vertical garden backdrop to a raised bed garden spot. That area is by far the best place to put a garden.

And yes, this year I DO want a garden.

This year I'll just plan on building it myself and hope for rain.

Raised bed gardens take more water than in-the-ground ones.

Although I might want to try straw bale gardening, which retains water better. We'll have to look into that, eh?

But I want to do a separate post about garden stuff. This one is about what to do with those fence sections.

DIY Apple Cider Vinegar

I have to say I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, how simple this is!

DIY APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

This link is to one of many sites related to this procedure. Basically, you don't need much in order to make your own Apple Cider Vinegar. Here's the short version of how you do it.

1)  gather your apples; it doesn't matter if they're all the same kind or not - some people recommend a mix of sweet, tart, and bitter

2)  wash 'em

3)  cut 'em up into cubes of one inch or so, including peels and seeds 

4)  put 'em into a glass container 

5)  cover 'em with room temperature water that didn't come out of your tap - filtered rain water or snow melt, or filtered water from your store; make sure all of the apple pieces are covered but leave an inch or so at the top

6)  add honey or cane sugar at a ratio of about one part to five parts apple and stir until it's all dissolved; as always, raw honey is best - if you can't get it, do the best you can with what you've got to work with and call it good enough

7)  cover with a lightweight cloth and secure it around the top

8)  stir it once or twice a day for a week or so; leave it alone the rest of the time; bubbles will start forming and you'll smell the honey fermenting; the apple pieces will sink to the bottom during this time

9)  when all of the apple pieces have sunk, you've got hard apple cider; use the cloth you've had your container covered with to strain the apple pieces out; the liquid goes into either another big glass container or into glass canning jars [note: if you use lightweight apples they might never sink; strain anyhow after a week and a half if it smells like alcohol]

10)  cover the filled container(s) with cloth and secure said cloth to said container top(s)

11)  leave it alone for a month or so - yeah I realize this sounds awfully time-expensive but it doesn't take hardly any effort on your part so quit whining;  while it's sitting there a 'mother culture' will form on the top and some sediment will gather in the bottom; don't fret yourself, this is what's supposed to happen - it's turning the alcohol of the hard apple cider into acetic acid, which is what you want

12)  strain it again into the jars you'll be storing it in and put it away out of direct sunlight; your Apple Cider Vinegar will not go bad - it might grow another 'mother culture', though; you can just strain it again if you want; if it gets too strong for your taste all you have to do is dilute it with more water that didn't come out of your tap

I'm thinking that if you're reading this you already have a mighty fine idea about all the uses Apple Cider Vinegar can be put to. If not, a quick search on line will tell you in no time flat what a great thing this stuff is.

Here's a LINK to get you started. It's got a bunch of some of the most common uses.

Okay, I'll give you a hint:

Preventive medicine

Curative medicine

Hair

Face

Cleaning

Pets

...

Go take a look for yourself! It's got amazing benefits for such a darned simple thing (not to mention economical).

Thoughts on Medicinal Things

I'm recovering from bronchitis, which would never have hit me if I'd paid attention to my gut instincts a lot sooner than I did.

Fighting being sick for a month and a half was so totally not necessary that I'd kick myself in the behinder if I were agile enough to do it.

Me, I did not go to a doctor for a bunch of pharmaceuticals to deal with my bronchitis. I looked to the grandmothers.

A recent on line post by a friend reminded me that there are other areas of our health that are at risk and we need to be paying attention to them as well as to our physical ailments.

When, some years back, I found myself seemingly locked into something I couldn't find my way out of, emotionally speaking, and the steps I'd taken on my own weren't working, I did go see a 'professional'. 

Working as I do in a health care facility, it didn't cross my mind that the professionals I work with all the time would be so absolutely oblivious to signs they're trained to look for and recognize. Granted, it's not in their job description to be alert to the well-being of their colleagues - but I was in dire shape.

Regardless, my first stop was a self-requested visit with our on site 'mental health professional', a ten minute interview consisting of me filling out a brief questionnaire and her immediately reaching for a prescription pad as I was mildly depressed in her estimation. Horrified at the offer of anti-depressant pharmaceuticals based on our few minutes of contact, I declined.

I had already tried a visit with another site-recommended professional when our whole shift team was struggling with what my social worker daughter (she works in an elder-care facility) had informed me was Compassion Fatigue. Now, this guy's clients were largely in the medical field but I had to finally bring up the term, and then define it for him, which may not have been totally appreciated but geez ... my education, training, and experience is largely crisis intervention. I'm not completely ignorant. When I know something is affecting me and my crew and we need help, I'm going to ask for help. Well, at least I did back then. His advice, when we declined pharmaceutical intervention, was a bubble bath in the middle of the afternoon and us listening to a DVD of his voice soothing us to sleep. That was more than enough for me to say, 'No thanks.' It's a little disconcerting to go to someone for help and find out you know more than they do.

Eventually I found myself in such bad shape that I finally did end up going to a 'real' professional. One who ordered blood-work immediately. One who called in a team to address the issues I had brought up as being of concern. One who told me flat out that the St. John's Wort I had added to my arsenal was absolutely no different from me taking Prozac or Zoloft so really, considering what it was doing to my brain I ought to knock it off and start taking my vitamins like a good girl. That's a paraphrase, by the way. He was much kinder. Vitamin D (the absence thereof) was maybe the biggest culprit, and the fact that my age was a factor hormonally speaking, aside from the Compassion Fatigue. 

He gave me DBT from which to choose my weapons on the latter front, and approved my use of Red Clover as a hormone replacement treatment. Together, the D and the Bs of the vitamin arsenal, plus a good daily multi-vitamin, and my Red Clover tea on a regular basis as opposed to being an occasional 'tonic', and the DBT, made magic happen. Within days the effects were dramatic.

I was extremely blessed to have happened into the team I did at that time. The other diagnosis was 'homesickness' believe it or not. To have that validated was an eye-opener for me. The 'cure' being far beyond my grasp, at least I knew what I could do about it if/when I was financially able.

What nobody brought up but which I'm darned sure was a factor in all this, is that I'm INFJ/P personality type. I have a very strong hunch my demand for paper and pen and the subsequent articulated narrative would have been a dead giveaway as to what they were dealing with - and told them how to proceed.

The point of being so transparent about the darkness that haunted me then is to illustrate how much difference there can be among professionals, and that pharmaceuticals may not be right for everyone, nor necessary for everyone.

It also serves as a reminder that 'natural' treatments aren't necessarily innocuous child's play. Where do you think pharmaceuticals spring from?

Yes I did extensive research on St. John's Wort as a result of what that doctor told me - and of course he was absolutely right. It acts the same way in a person's brain as SSRIs. I also deep-checked Red Clover; same results on the hormone front. Vitamin D and the Bs - same thing. I had to discontinue the Red Clover because it re-activated the intrauterine fibroids that gave me such grief, but the rest of my 'prescriptions' minimized the effects of not having it in my arsenal.

There are scads of articles on line about 'natural' treatments. If you're thinking about trying any of them DO YOUR HOMEWORK AHEAD OF TIME.

There's no way I can over-stress that.

Red Clover and Alfalfa both have hormone replacement properties, for example. But one thickens your blood and the other thins it - unless you know which is which, don't mix either with any blood pressure medications. Just to make it easy for you, Alfalfa thickens your blood (lots of vitamin K) so take aspirin 80 along with it; Red Clover thins it so don't go there if you're already taking Coumadin/warfarin.

Do not dick around with any of this stuff without thoroughly researching it for yourself first and I ain't even kidding.

On the other side of the coin are things that aren't likely to do you any harm but only good no matter how you cut it.

Such is the case with the concoction that kicked my recent bout of being sick.

Honey will never hurt you.

Onion, garlic, ginger, lemon, apple cider vinegar ... all perfectly safe although the combination might appall you. Horseradish and cayenne pepper added to the mix might make you want to just stay sick.

It does, however, work. At least it did for me. I did not have to pay out of pocket money I cannot afford for a doctor's visit and expensive pharmaceuticals. A quick inexpensive trip to my local grocery store is all it took. Plus the guts to actually take my medicine, and to continue taking it after that first dose. I don't know what would have been in the medicine a doctor would have prescribed. I do know what was in the medicine I took.

As a matter of fact, ginger is the only ingredient above that I'm not sure grows locally, in gardens at any rate, and there are plenty of apple trees if you want to make your own apple cider vinegar. Well, lemons might have a hard time in our climate ... 

Chamomile is another favorite - soothing and calming without being a sedative, plus it tastes good and grows wild in our area so is free. So do Red Clover and Alfalfa. Can't get better than that. 

When people look down their up-turned noses at my idea of medicine, I'm fine with it. To each his/her own sez I. The pharmaceutical companies aren't in any danger of going belly up because of my choices, and lots of people are happy to keep their businesses going strong, which is presumably good for the economy.

There are many plants out there just growing all over the place that have medicinal properties. If you're interested, go on line and do some searching, then come spring, summer, and fall, do a different kind of searching. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you find.

Just BE CAREFUL and don't get all gung-ho without finding out ahead of time what you're getting yourself into.

Ah, lest I forget to clarify what not everyone knows, DBT is Dialectical Behavior Therapy - mindfulness, a plethora of tools/weapons with which to battle daily events that can drive you nuts (like people who get on your nerves, or stressful situations, or having to be nice when you feel like snarling, growing fangs, and detaching somebody's face from the front of their skull - you know, stuff like that). 

My personal favorites are 'pushing away' and 'role reversal'. Those might not be the technical names, but that's how I think of them. 

The first is simply knowing that the 'situation' is not you, and pushing it far enough away with your mind so that you can see for yourself (so to speak) that it does not define you. You can deal with it later, which frees up the internal resources you have to use to get you through now. 

Role reversal is generally speaking just doing the opposite of what you feel like doing. Instead of growing fangs, give a pretty smile with your current teeth. Instead of snarling, sing something nice. Like that. Me, I sing a lot. It might start out being a DBT weapon, but usually ends up actually how I really feel. The power of suggestion maybe. Whatever - it tends to work pretty well and I am rarely aware I'm even doing it. 

DBT has something for everyone and the beauty of it is that you just pick and choose what works for you ... you don't necessarily have to go through a whole great big long process of learning the whole nine yards. It's a great camouflage technique. People think you're happy all the time when really you don't particularly have to be all that happy. What you don't show them can't hurt them, or you. And no, it's not 'being fake' - it's being respectful of their feelings and of your own. You will deal with your own stuff in your own good time. Meanwhile, it doesn't have to interfere with what you have to do right now.

Just sayin'. It comes in right handy.

Or you could go with pharmaceuticals and therapists that cost a fortune. Me, I don't have a fortune. If I did there are plenty of other things I'd want to spend it on. 

So, for me, it's worth doing my homework, finding out what my options might be, trying what I think might work, going to the professionals when need be (hoping I find one who knows what the heck they're doing), and calling it good enough when it all comes together just right.

Also, for the record, today's scientists are discovering that some of the 'ancient ways' are perfectly valid. Some, of course, are clear out in left field somewhere so don't go thinking that just because it's recommended by the ancients it's a sure cure for what ails you. Decapitation is a sure cure but comes with a pretty big price tag. Not that decapitation was a recommended cure of the ancients, except in the case of the bad attitudes of their enemies maybe.

Holy Hannah That's Got a Kick To It !!!

I had a sore throat which  lemon and honey took care of right quick.

Squeeze a lemon, add a couple of tablespoons of honey, fill your mug with hot water and ... voila ... a few cups of this tasty mix over the course of a couple of days and you're going to be feeling better in general - and the sore throat will likely be gone within a day, if not almost immediately.

If, however, you're SICK sick with one of those colds from Hades, with a cough, congestion, and all that ... you can go on line and find lots of things that will help.

That's what I did, yep.

Here are the things I chose to try: honey, lemon, apple cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, and red onion.

Cut everything up that you can cut (including the whole lemon and a whole bulb of garlic, not just a clove) cover it with a cup or so of good honey (not processed too much, go local if you can) and dump in a hefty amount of apple cider vinegar. 

My cut up ingredients came to just about a quart (didn't use the whole of that honkin' big onion I got; once it made me start crying I stopped at about half) and I put about a quart of apple cider vinegar with it. Oh, and because our store doesn't carry ginger root I just dumped in a tablespoon or so of ground ginger.

One recipe said to keep the concoction in a jar and give it a shake every day for 2 - 4 weeks (that one didn't have all my ingredients but was kinda halfway close) but ... well ... y'know ... I'm not feeling all that great right now and didn't want to wait a month - I'd be long over this by then so what would be the point.

I let it simmer for a little while on low (which none of the recipes said to cook anything but I figured it might speed things up a little) and then poured myself about two ounces of the medicinal liquid off the top of the concoction.

That's where the HOLY HANNAH !!! came in.

If this stuff won't cure what ails you I doubt anything will. It surely tastes like medicine I'll grant it that. It's one of those 'hold your nose and don't breathe when you take it' things, trust me.

On the plus side I'm feeling a lot better already.

I think it's my body's defense mechanisms kicking in to prevent me from having to take a second dose any time soon, to be honest.

There's nothing in it that could possibly do me any harm, of course - they're all proven to be really good for a person - but the combination really does pack a powerful punch.

It's not just got curative power - it's also a great preventive tool. It will give you tremendous motivation to not let yourself get sick in the first place.

Some folks swear they down a couple of tablespoons of their versions of this stuff on a daily basis and are never sick. Me, I'm not absolutely sure it's the daily dose that's responsible. They must come from hardy stock in the first place to make it through those daily doses. That, or it's a daily reminder to their systems of what's in store if they DO get sick. Motivation, I tell you. Motivation. Stay well or else ... 

In conclusion - yeah it works. Whooo-eeee does it work!

Just don't forget to hold your breath. And for God's sake don't drink it out of a glass you're going to drink Pepsi out of next, not without boiling said glass for an hour or so first.

Chase it with fresh pineapple (for coughing, as you don't want to be coughing this stuff back up) if your store carries pineapples which ours does not so I chase it with that sweet syrup of honey and lemon.

   

  

'Shifting For Ourselves'

Having to work holidays doesn't necessarily mean we can't have our own sort of celebration.

New Year's Day of 2016 sees the swing shift 'Shifting for Ourselves' and having a blast with it.

We're having a pot luck meal, but initial reports indicate it might not be what a person would expect.

Here's a list of what we've got on the menu so far, with much more we won't know until the last minute.

Lasagna,

French bread, 

deviled eggs, 

scalloped potatoes and ham, 

knoephle-kraut-sausage combo, 

banana muffins, 

fresh veggie mix, 

black-eyed peas with bacon, 

romaine with lemon, 

cinnamon cider with whipped cream and nutmeg dash, 

sea-salted caramel bits, 

whole wheat dinner rolls, 

dill pickles, 

chilled shrimp with cocktail sauce dip or lemon wedges,
DOT's pretzels (as opposed to the ordinary kind)

 … for starters … 

There are sixteen of us, eight on each of our Units, when fully staffed (which we sometimes are) which gives us a starting point for knowing how much to make/bring of our various contributions. We've also invited some family members as well as some of our co-shifters who aren't scheduled.

Our supper breaks are between six and seven p.m. with two half-hour slots - about half of us taking the first half hour and the rest taking the second which gives us our timing.

We also, if we can fit them in, have a couple of fifteen minute breaks, one between four and four-thirty and the other if/when we find time around nine which gives us set-up and tear-down time.

So each of us will be bringing whatever we choose (accumulating it in the staff refrigerator for a few days ahead of time when possible) and each of us has fifteen minutes to help with the setting up, thirty minutes to eat as we visit, then fifteen minutes later in the shift to get everything cleared up.

When somebody asks if everyone's invited, from the other shifts and departments, the answer is no. We can shift for ourselves, get the set-up and eating and clean-up done for ourselves, but no we do not have the resources to cover everybody. Nor would it be anything like a good idea to have more than five times our own numbers trying to cram into a space (and time-span) that will accommodate half us at a time in relative comfort but not many more than that.

So we say if day shift, med floor, night shift, and departments want to have their own New Year's Day celebrations, they should have at it. Of course a lot of them don't have to work holidays anyway and we aren't overly concerned about those folk. The rest have exactly the same resources that we do. 

This is our own way of taking care of our own selves. We're making the most of what little time, space, and personal resources we've got, fitting our celebration in between the priority of our work requirements. And it must be said that our people have noticed and appreciated our good spirits in the days approaching said celebration. The anticipation and planning gives us a head start on the fun!

Our shift leaders have indeed taken the lead here, sharing their idea with us and being the first to kick in their contributions. We as a team have been more than happy to make this a creatively festive celebration.

We might not have much to work with, but we can by golly get a heck of a lot done in our bits of break time without making a big deal out of it (although it really is kind of a big deal) and without interrupting the flow of our shift or interfering with the care of our people.

One thing I've noticed is that our choices of contributions fit pretty darned well with our work setting - a health care facility. There aren't many (any) junk food types of things represented, not many carbs, lots of healthy and tasty stuff though! 

We do ourselves proud. 

It's a great way to begin a new year!

2015 12 07 Happy Feet Boots Getting Ready For Leather Soles

Contrary to what management at my part-time shift-work job may think, not all of my always belongs to them.

The whole rest of my time, aside from when I'm clocked in there, belongs to me.

Since those long hours of pounding on concrete floors are brutal on my feet, legs, back, shoulders, arms, and neck ... it behooves me to do the best I can for them with the rest of that always. It kind of stinks because the whole thing was to spare my body the hurting feet, shin splints, aching muscles that I had assumed just went with the territory of that job. I assumed it right up until the 24 shifts I put in wearing the experimental versions of my happy feet boots and learned the difference.

Being as appearances trump health and comfort, my poor body is going to have to cope with the consequences and hope it never amounts to anything more than the 'normal' pain associated with the job when my feet send the hurting up my legs, which makes them hurt and not want to take the burden that usually belongs to those big strong muscles. That pushes the load onto my smaller more vulnerable back muscles, which makes them rebel and refuse to take the strain. That puts the load onto my shoulders, arms, and makes for a pretty stiff neck from stress and tension. And that's not even counting the headaches from said tension along with those bright spotlights that trigger my bad eye into its own kind of pain and flips the headaches into migraines.

So yeah.

I'm darned well going to get these pairs of happy feet boots soled in leather and finished up - even though I can't wear them for their intended purpose, there's not a soul in this big wide world with the authority to inform me that I can't wear them whenever I'm not at that shift-work job.

Okay, that's it for my rant.

In case you don't already know, that blue stuff is liquid rubber - not exactly 'liquid' but it's a consistency a person can paint onto stuff. It makes the soles and a bit up the sides of my happy feet boots waterproof and non-skid. The smurf-blue is newly painted on; the darkening stuff is drying into the dark navy blue it will stay.

Not that you'll see it.

Once these coats are dry I'll add another one just before I put the leather on.

One thing about this rubber stuff is that it's a terrific adhesive - bonds things together, it does. So it will work as a waterproof glue to hold the leather in place.

The plan is to run the leather up the sides far enough to be able to use for lacing bases.

IF I were going to use these for that shift-work job I'd take the leather and laces clear up past my ankles for that extra support - but - since I don't have to worry about that I'll save my leather for when my friend gets the new thick felted wool boot forms to me and I actually make the final version of these happy feet boots!

*laughing*

Not that there's any real shortage of leather.

I hit the jackpot recently on a jaunt to our local Frip Shop, remember. I've got lots of black leather and some really really beautifully buttery soft brown.

Even so, there's no point in wasting it, right?

Right.

Onward.

The top pair up above (the ones that are almost dry now) go with a matching sweater vest (the boots were the sleeves) and a pair of ear muffs made from the wide upper part of the sleeves I cut off to make the boots fit right. I'll wear a pair of black wool pants tucked into the boots and a wonderful black merino sweater under the vest.

The lower pair has a matching scarf and mittens to go with them.

Yep.

It's all an experiment to see what still might need adjusting before I get the actual final pairs of boot forms. Which isn't to say that I'm not going to wear these, because I most certainly will.

I've also got a pair of lightweight bright red ones I wear lined with my felted wool 'footprints' as inside soles - very comfortable with wool socks. They're my slippers.

And I've still got the original pairs (one black, one brown) my friend made for me. I'm still using them for experimental purposes.

So that's it for the time being.

This woman is heading for bed and some good solid rest while the rubber stuff finishes drying. Tomorrow will be soon enough to get the leather designed and cut.

Believe It Or Not, There IS A Method To My Madness

Appearances are important, there's no denying that. 

But appearances can be deceiving if they're not built on a dang strong foundation, a healthy one, one that meets fundamental needs. Otherwise those appearances are nothing but a facade, fake, deceitful, a lie to save face.

If something is going to be put to hard use, best be sure you take the time, make the effort, and put forth the resources it takes to build something that's going to be able to stand up to that hard use. Make it attractive, absolutely, but under that attractiveness had better be something of substance. 

Really.

First you build your whatever it is as strong, as tough, as resilient, as task-oriented as you possibly can. You build it from the foundation up, and you build it to stand the testing. You make it meet specific requirements and you make it endure what it's going to have to endure. 

Then you refine and shape it.

THEN you make it pretty.

The paint is the last thing to go on.

You put a pretty facade on something that's not built to last, and it's deceit plain and simple.

It's like putting an overlay on a road that needs a re-build, for cryin' out loud. You can put those overlays on relatively quickly and cheaply (and it looks great!) but that road is still going to be weak and it's gonna give out sooner or later, taking all those over-layers with it. You've just wasted time and effort and money, not to mention putting others at risk. Because you KNOW that road is rotten underneath.

Yeah it takes a lot more time, effort, and money to do a re-build - but when you're done that road is going to stand up to the traffic load it has to carry.

So I suppose it's a matter of what you're setting out to do. 

If you want your whatever it is to just look good temporarily, go for the facade by all means.

If you want it to last ... ummm ... different story, huh?

Me, I'd just as soon be putting my own efforts into something that's liable to still be fully functional and strong long after I'm no longer there.

But that's just me.

The method to my madness in this case is based on that. Otherwise it would be simply madness. I'm not one to indulge in madness without method.

So I'm doing what I do, and keeping an ear to the ground to see if the road I'm on is one that will endure or not. If I find that it is not stable, and that there is an overlay going on instead of a re-build, why in the name of all that's Holy would I continue to risk my life on said road? That would be madness without method, believe me. 

Knoephle Soup

No I'm not a German from Russia, not much German at all when it comes to that ... but boy do I love knoephle soup!

I looked on line for recipes and found a bunch. They're all pretty similar but each has its own take on the basic recipe. People add and change all kinds of things to suit themselves, so feel free to to likewise.

Because my daughter reminded me only just this morning, I figured now would be a fine time to add my own take to the mix.

First of all, the best chicken broth comes from *are you ready for this?* boiling a chicken, preferably pre-plucked and gutted and washed. 

Second of all, nothing can really replace rich thick cream and real butter - nothing. The cream goes in last of all, by the way, after the neffles even.

Third of all, valley reds are better potatoes for this than Idaho baking spuds.

Fourth of all, chopped or coarse grated carrots add a bit of color.

Fifth of all, the 'neffle' (my own term, beg pardon) dough is supposed to be droopy and you better be quick with your kitchen shears when you're snipping those little bits of it into the boiling soup.

Sixth of all, since you have a cooked chicken sitting right there, put some into the soup.

By now you've got the gist of what knoephle soup is all about. It's rich and creamy and filling - and totally delicious.

But here's the method behind the madness:

1/ Boil a chicken 
2/ While the chicken is boiling make your neffle dough out of a beaten egg, a few tablespoons of milk, and flour added until the dough is formed enough to halfway handle. It's going to be sticky as all get-out so flour your hands. Form it into a ball, cover it, and set it aside. How much you want is how much you make; might have to use two eggs and yada yada.
3/ Cube your potatoes to about a half inch. If you leave the skins on they're healthier but then you've got bits of potato skin in your soup because, you know, they don't stay on the potatoes when you cook them.
4/ Chop or coarse grate a couple three carrots if you want them in there for color or nutritional value.
5/ When your chicken is done boiling, use a strainer and put the broth into your soup kettle. You can add canned broth (Not Water) if you want, depending on how much water you used for boiling the chicken and how much steamed away in the process. Cover the chicken in an appropriate bowl and set it aside.
6/ Into the broth put the potatoes (and carrots if you used them) and cook them until they're done (when you can easily poke a fork into the potatoes).
7/ By now your chicken ought to be cool enough to get the meat off the bones, so do that and cut the chicken into small pieces (whatever size you like). Put however much chicken you want into the broth and do what you want with the skin and bones.
8/ Your neffle dough has been patiently waiting its turn for all this time so roll it out into a snake, hold it up pretty high over the boiling soup kettle, and start snipping like crazy because if you don't that whole snake is going to droop right down into the soup and you'll be screwed. The thing here is to snip as fast as you can so the neffles start cooking at as close to the same time as possible. They'll first sink and disappear into the broth and stuff but they'll pop back up pretty quick and get in the way of the ones you're snipping, so HURRY!
9/ You can turn the heat down a notch or two right about now so you don't burn your soup, and give it a stir once in a while to keep the neffles circulating. You'll have to test them now and again. They're done when they're all floating around in there and are little funny looking dumplings of various shapes (but should be all about the same size if you've done your snipping right - about a half inch up to an inch or so - you are not going to be able to get them uniform so don't worry about it). When they're dumplings, they're done.
10/ Take the kettle off of the heat now and stir in as much butter as you think appropriate - about a stick for a normal batch, more if you're making more.
11/ You'll notice that the only milk called for so far has been the few tablespoons that go into the neffle dough. That's because we aren't using milk but thick rich cream, the thicker the better. And now, just before you're going to serve it up, you add about half as much cream as you have soup broth (or more if you want it creamier), give it a good stir, ladle it into bowls, sprinkle parsley for decoration, and serve it up. It will be thick and creamy, not thin and watery the way some are, with hopefully lots of potatoes and neffles - YUM!
NOTE: you may have noticed that I didn't include any salt or pepper - that's because different people like different amounts and some can't have any salt at all - so make sure there are salt and pepper shakers within everyone's reach so they can use what they want.
ALSO NOTE: if you're one that has to have specific amounts of ingredients, this recipe is obviously not for you.
ONE MORE NOTE: you can cut your prep time down significantly if you've done some pressure canning ahead of time and have your broth and your chicken (sans skin and bones and cut into bite-sized pieces) already canned. A couple quarts of broth and a pint of chicken ought to do you for a normal sized batch.