Where the Sun Don't Shine

That would be on our solar panels since the heavy, wet snow we had last week plastered about 4" of ice and snow on them.

Remarkably, in the more than 15 years we've had the solar panels, there has never been a situation when the snow and/or ice didn't melt or slide off the panels within a day of being covered.  The panels are on a tracker that follows the light (and whatever sun there may be) from dawn until dusk so full advantage is taken of any solar energy available.

But in this particular circumstance, the layer of snow stuck like glue for days.  And days.  Which basically eliminated any solar energy coming into our alternative energy system and battery bank.

Yesterday hubby decided to take steps to rectify our lack of solar power.

Out he went lugging the long extension ladder and a broom.  'Twas a cold, cold day for such a chore, but he wasn't waiting any longer for Mother Nature to bounce warm enough rays off the panels to melt the snow.  (Heck, we might have had to wait until May for that.)

Job accomplished to the best of his reaching abilities, he made the trek back to a warmer environment.

Okay, ol' Sol, time to do your thing.  Our batteries are starving for a burst of energy.

Warming the Kitchen

When we first moved up here to Minnesota, we lived in a nearly twenty year old (circa 1959) house trailer that had no insulation.  Okay, it must have had some insulation, but it couldn't have been much.  We had frost climbing up the inside walls most of the winter.

I made it a habit in the winter time to make breakfasts that were baked in our wood cookstove oven so that at least the kitchen was a halfway comfortable area in which to be.

One dish that I made quite a bit was Fruit Cobbler.  Most of the time I used apples, but the recipe is adaptable to using other fruits.

Last night while I was dangling upside down in our big freezer looking for some bread, I noticed the bags of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries harvested from our garden this past summer.  Dang, I haven't been using them as much as I should so decided to make Fruit Cobbler for breakfast this morning using some of our blueberries.

It's nothing spectacular to look at straight out of the oven . . . 

. . . but, oh my, did it taste good.  Our blueberries this year have a particularly "wine-y" flavor that is outstandingly delicious.

You can see the two of us managed to make a respectable dent in the cobbler at breakfast.  A serving each after dinner tonight as dessert, then Chicken Mama snarfed the portion we had saved for her (this was while she was helping her dad with some computer diffoogulties he was having) and the empty pan is now soaking in the sink.

Want a look at the recipe?  Here it is.

* * * * * * * *

Fruit Cobbler

4 cups fruit (peaches, apples, berries)

3/4 cups sugar (+/- depending on your fruit)

1 teaspoon cinnamon (with apples)

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

Place the fruit in a buttered baking dish (I used a 9" x 9") and sprinkle sugar (and any spices/seasonings you like) over fruit.  (For the blueberries this morning I used 1/2 cup sugar and a couple dashes of lemon juice.)

Sift together the flour, baking powder, 1/4 cup sugar and salt.

Blend the egg, milk and melted butter.  Add to the dry ingredients.  Beat to a smooth batter and pour over fruit.  (I sprinkled a sugar/cinnamon mix on top of the batter.)  Bake at 350° for 60 minutes.  Serve warm.  Or at room temp.  (If there's any left when it reaches room temperature.)

* * * * * * * *

I'm thankful that old house trailer is now long gone from our lives and that we live in a snug house with no trace of frost on the inside walls anymore.  Although our temperature first thing this morning was a couple of chilly degrees below zero, Papa Pea's good job of banking the wood stoves last night kept us very comfortable.  However, it didn't hurt a bit to have that little extra heat from the oven while the cobbler was baking this morning.

 

When Did She Find Time to Write a Book?

Yes, I'm speaking of our very own Leigh over at 5 Acres and A Dream.  How she ever found time to do the thousand and one time-consuming tasks necessary for this book project of hers to become a reality is a mystery to me.

Talk about a busy lady.  Leigh and her husband have spent the last several years building their homestead, and it's been an intense period for them.  They've tackled so much . . . from completely renovating their home and related energy-efficient, self-sufficient systems to delving into homestead animals and their care to maintaining a huge garden and preserving much of their own food supply to conscientiously improving their previously neglected fields and pastures.  All this while maintaining their zest for life and dreams of things yet to be done.

Knowing her as I do from her blogging, this book was written with the thought that it will offer practical help and insight to everyone who reads it.  She's a generous person always willing to share.

Although I've not gotten a copy of Leigh's book in my hands, I'm sure it will be chock full of informative materials for homesteading wanna-bes and seasoned back-to-the-landers alike.  I've always greatly admired Leigh because of her finely honed researching abilities and careful record keeping.  Knowing the way Leigh writes on her blog, I'm certain it will be an enjoyable read, too.

She's presently offering a giveaway drawing on her blog for a copy of this hot-off-the-presses book.  You couldn't go wrong by entering your name for a chance to win.  Just click HERE to see how to sign up.

This lady knocks my socks off with all she accomplishes.  Now all of us interested in the self-sufficient, homesteading/farming type of life can benefit from her disciplined efforts in creating this book.

I still don't know where she found the time to do it.

More Snow

We received about 12" of snow overnight last night and the first half of today.  Reports say we're to expect somewhere around another 12" starting later tonight and into tomorrow.

It's been a heavy, wet snow that gives the old shovel-wielding muscles a real workout.  But a sub-zero (as in possibly 20 below) cold front is moving into our area scheduled to arrive tomorrow night so it's suggested we get all our snow moving and plowing done before the Arctic air turns the while stuff into immovable cement.

The garden beds really do look kinda like beds, don't they?  (Yikes, I'm glad I don't have people to occupy that many beds in my household.  Think of the grocery bill.)

Every branch is coated with inches of pure, white snow which makes it a true winter wonderland out there.

We're grateful for all the ground insulation with the expected cold front moving in.

And we're as ready as we can be for more snow! 

Notta Lotta . . .

Not a lot going on around here in the past week that has been noteworthy, but I thought I'd better get a post up so you know I am still functioning.

Although my Thanksgiving decorations are lovely and we've enjoyed them for about a month now, since today is the first day of December and it's only a little over three weeks until Christmas (Eeeep, how did that happen?), they must go.  I contemplated doing the switcheroo from Thanksgiving to Christmas decorations today but couldn't get enthused about the project so managed to successfully ignore it.  Tomorrow?  Well, gosh, what with Monday being laundry day and all . . .  Can I manage to put it off for one more day?

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to a lovely 4" of snow covering the ground.  Our first snow of the season.  I can't remember the last time we had a decent amount of snow on the ground before Christmas or New Year's.  Just thirty miles south of us they got eighteen inches.

Right now as we speak (or type or read or whatever), we have heavy snow coming down.  We've gotten about 3" in the last 90 minutes.  ("It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . . ")

I've been sleeping much better at night lately. (I'm sure you're all thrilled to get that bulletin.)  I haven't been waking up in the middle of the night and staying that way for 2-3 hours.  Only one problem to solve so that I don't have to get up earlier in the morning than I want to.  Said solution would involve a catheter, and I really don't want to go that route.  TMI?

This year I've been wrapping Christmas presents as they arrive.  And, boy, does that feel good.  I used to really enjoy wrapping presents and went overboard to make each and every one look special.  Hunh.  Not anymore.  When did wrapping presents become a chore for me?  Dunno, but the last several years I've found myself putting off the task until the last minute and then, let me tell you, it's no fun at all.  But this year, I'm staying ahead of the game.  Yep, I am.  (Feel free to check up on me in a week or so to see if I still have the right to be so boastful.)

Something that works well that I have been doing for the past couple of years is making my Christmas cookie doughs early and stashing them in the freezer.  Making as many cookies as I always think I have to want to then isn't such a chore.  I can pull out a blob of frozen dough and bake up a batch of cookies whenever the desire hits me.  So how many different varieties do I have made up ahead and in the freezer right now?  Ummm, none.  But I'm gonna get started on it really soon.  (You would have to ask, wouldn't you?)

I'm signing off now so I can go back into my quilt room where I put in a couple of hours this afternoon.  I have a new Christmas motif shower curtain I'm bound and determined to get done and up this year.  I shouldn't admit it, but all but the quilting has been done on it for a couple of years.  I just haven't, for a multitude of lame excuses reasons, finished it until now.  Keep poking me until I post a picture of the finished project hanging in the bathroom, okay?

Is It The Lack Of Daylight?

It's darn near scary the way I've been feeling and thinking I need more sleep lately.  Today around 2:30-3:00, I felt like I really, really needed a nap.  Now, I am NOT a napper.  You could most likely count the times I've taken a snooze of any kind in the middle of the day in the last umpteen years on one hand . . . without using the thumb.

So did I listen to my body this afternoon?  Of course not.  I didn't take a nap or even plop in a comfy chair or stretch out on the couch.  I had laundry to finish folding and putting away and a small basket of ironing to do.  I kept moving and must admit I felt a little revived.  Then around 4:30 I sat down in my quilt room to do some hand quilting until time to trundle on into the kitchen to rustle up some dinner.  Thirty minutes later, as soon as I got in the kitchen, I felt so tired again that it bordered on feeling uncomfortable/sickish.  I had very little appetite for dinner.  (What?!  NO APPETITE?  Call 911, she must be on her way out!)

Sitting at the table (trying to summon up enough energy to rise and do the dishes) after eating, I told hubby I didn't think I was going to be able to accomplish anything tonight except getting into my jammies and collapsing on the couch.

So what's wrong with this picture?  If it were summer time at 5:45 of an early evening, we'd still have four hours of daylight and I could/would accomplish a lot in that time.  Heck, this evening I could do lots of neat things before bedtime:

*  Bake an experimental recipe of new Christmas cookies
*  Make the batch of caramel corn I've been wanting to make since before Halloween
*  Clean, sort and rearrange my pantry (I love doing that!)
*  Order the gifts I've picked out for myself for Christmas from Papa Pea
*  Go play in my quilt room
*  Plan my garden for 2014

But let's face it.  This is the time of year for all of us to kick back and stop thinking about everything we could/should be doing.  When darkness falls at 4:30 in the afternoon, not only does my body register a signal that it's time to call it a day, but I need to learn to allow my mind to do the same thing.  We push enough in the spring, summer and fall.

Yep, gotta learn to live more with the seasons and go with the natural cycle of the year.

That settles it.  I don't care if it is only 6:31 p.m.  I'm going to bed.

Lonely Whipped Cream Seeks Pudding

I had some whipped cream left in the refrigerator this morning (we ran out of pumpkin pie before we ran out of the whipped cream) so I decided to make some chocolate pudding for dessert tonight.  (Why did I make a pumpkin pie less than a week before Thanksgiving?  I have no explanation, but it was really good!)

Top each dish of pudding with a dollop of the leftover whipped cream, and it was a nice finish to tonight's dinner of fresh fish.  (Thanks to Chicken Mama for providing the fresh fish!)

The pudding recipe I made this morning is straight out of my More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre, published in 1976.  It's unique in that it calls for no eggs.  I've found this a go-to dessert when our chickens are molting around the first of the year and I ration every egg I get from them.

Here's the recipe:

Quick Chocolate Pudding
1/3 cup sugar or honey
2 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups milk

Combine above ingredients in a heavy saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (8-10 minutes) stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon butter.

Serve warm (yuck) or cold (yum).  Makes 4-6 servings.  Very smooth and very good!