Tuesday, September 17, 2019

A Long-Winded Post About A Busy Day

A good day, a busy day, and I'm gonna take some Arnica to ease the slight ouchy-ache in my lower back!

This morning we were forewarned of more rain to come this late afternoon (and it came) so we went outside first thing to do what had to be done.

We had a big pile of split wood that needed to be stacked in our smaller wood shed so Papa Pea and I did that in two separate sessions.  Got it all safe and dry (or I should say drying) in the wood shed and the mess of wood debris on the ground cleaned up.

My onions were overdue for pulling and being laid out to dry.  It's best if you harvest them after a dry spell, but that's something we haven't seen in quite some time.  So today I decided they had to come out, before the predicted couple days of rain, and harvested them all and with Papa Pea's help got them laid out on racks to begin their drying period.  Lotsa big, beautiful onions this year.

Then my better half gathered a lot of old hay to spread in the poultry yard area right in front of the birds' various shelters.  They still have much green area to roam in but that area where their little feet traverse back and forth to the small enclosures had gotten muddy from the frequent rains.  Now it's carpeted with fresh cover and maybe the eggs will be coming in cleaner.  I can hope. 

I keep the runners cut off my strawberry plants (which are long done bearing now) because I believe it allows the strength to remain in the mother plants and besides that, I prefer to keep three straight rows of plants rather than one big matted patch.  Although the ground was still plenty damp and even muddy in spots, I crawled along snipping off all the vigorous runners the plants have been sending out.  I had two five-gallon pails full of them!


We were offered the opportunity to come harvest as many Concord grapes from an acquaintance's grape arbor as we wanted.  This is the lovely bunch that I was going to use for grape jam which we both like.  But the more I thought about it, I decided that wouldn't be the best use of the grapes.  We've truly been cutting down the amount of jam we eat and since I have a good supply of both strawberry and haskap berry jam, I nixed that idea. 

Lucky me, our daughter offered to take the grapes and make juice for all of us.  Great!  However, when she did some research (takes after her father), she found that for best flavor Concord grapes shouldn't be harvested until after a first frost.  Ooops.  Well, now we know and the folks we got the grapes from said we were welcome to come back and take as many as we wanted.  So methinks we'll be waiting around for that first frost and maybe we can talk our daughter into more juice . . . or wine?!  Although I'm not sure Concord grapes make the best wine.  Anybody know about this?

A couple of days ago we sampled some nice organic peaches that our Co-op had in stock.  They were tasty so Papa Pea suggested I buy a bunch to cut up and freeze for use in our smoothies or cottage cheese fruit salads this winter.

I did so, but they just haven't seemed quite ripe to me so I've had them sitting on the counter waiting for them to soften up a bit.  Day before yesterday I did about half of them but these six were still to be done. 


I've been watching them carefully but when I checked them out tonight, darned if one of them didn't have a great big ol' mold spot on it.  Eeeuuw!  Decision has been made to process and get them all in the freezer tonight. 


I saw this gorgeous autumnal fabric advertised on the Internet a short time ago and couldn't pass it up.  (It was on sale!)  I got enough for fall valances for our back enclosed porch and maybe an apron and some potholders.


The valance for the small window had been done and today I finished one for one of the three big windows.  I hope to finish the rest maybe tomorrow because rain is forecast for the whole day.  In the above pic you can see a smidge of the light green valances I have up for spring and summer.

A rainy, inside day tomorrow in which to look forward to sewing and catching up on inside things.  And giving my back some rest and rejuvenation!

15 comments:

Michelle said...

I have been a slug this rainy day and now you've made me a GUILTY-feeling slug!

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

That's quite the harvest! I've never made grape jam, jelly, or juice (or wine for that matter). That's very nice fabric! Love autumn themes. -Jenn

Mama Pea said...

Michelle - Can't imagine you being a slug. Plus, you know there are days when you go, go, go all day and don't feel like you've accomplished anything. :o( This was just a day where it felt good to cross many things off the list!

Jenn - When I was growing up, the only thing I remember my mom preserving was grape jelly from our grape arbor at the back of our yard. And, oh, it was soooo good. I made grape jam every year from the grape vines on our place back in Illinois but haven't gotten hold of any Concord grapes up here in Minnesota until now.

I'm automatically drawn to fabrics with autumn themes, too!

Dianna said...

Whew! You've been busy! I wish I could half as much in one day. My day today is looking more like laundry, laundry, and more laundry!

I used to love the concord grape juice my mother would can from our vines. It's delicious! We would have to water it down sometimes, it was so rich.

Faith said...

Love concord grapes. I've never made any jelly or jam, your's should be delicious. How pretty your valance came out, I've got a butternut squash I need to do something with. They are so good. Maybe today.

Mama Pea said...

Dianna - You have to remember that I'm able to get more done in a day's time because I don't have little ones that require my attention. And little ones are a full time job on their own. Now go get busy on that laundry! ;o)

Yes, when I made jam and juice from our grapes back in Illinois, I always had to water down the juice. Could be potent stuff!

Faith - We've been talking about getting our own grape arbor started here for years, but for some reason other projects seem to rise to the top of the list before the grapes!

'Tis the season for squash dishes. I love the stuff but hubby is not crazy about it so I have to find "interesting" ways to prepare it. Of course, if he puts enough butter on it, he can suffer through some!

Goatldi said...

Good days work!

I am just about done with a continuous run about ten days of appointments and errands. A lot still pertaining to moving in stuff. Looking forward to being at home more often than not. Anyway my garlic sends aroma every time I pass by it. Almost time to plant.

wisps of words said...

Wheeeewwwww.... YOur busy days, always 'wear me out,' just to read about them!!!!!! :-)

Here, Monday was *A MONDAY*!!!! they kind you think of, when someone says; "What a Monday I had!!!" And you know, they don't mean a good one!

Then Tuesday came along, and was a repeat. Wheeeewwww, to the start of our week. But not a good "wheewwww." A tired out, one. ,-) But! We did get things accomplished. that had to be.

Like getting our flu shot. And getting our hair trimmed, which was wayyyyyyy over due.

Enjoy the rainy days!!!!! Sew, sew, sew that great fabric!

✨🌻✨

Susan said...

Oh, I love that fabric! Fall colors and themes are my absolute favorites. I am not at all surprised that your lower back is 'talking' to you. Good grief! That is a LOT of work - and heavy work. I'll be interested to know how the grape juice turns out - there are quite few wild grapes near me and, as I am still working off jam from six years ago, I'm looking for alternatives.

Lynne said...

That is a lot of hard work to do in one day.I use to make a lot of grape jelly, Beach plum, rasberry, rose hip,and strawberry. Haven't done that for a couple of years. Like the material and the valances look good made from it. It reminded me of all the sewing I use to do besides quilting! Those were the fun years, when the kids were little. Use to make my boys three piece outfits for Easter. Gosh, I could go on and on. Take care xo

Mama Pea said...

Goatldi - A big move such as you've made takes a lot of time to get everything situated and organized as you want it to be. I'm sure you're looking forward to these coming winter months to truly "settle in!"

wisps of words - Sometimes things just pile up so that the start of a week (such as you've had) seems about 8 days long! But just getting those haircuts (!) can make all things better!

I had a no sew day. :o( The rain never materialized (you just cannot bank of the forecasts anymore, it seems) so I haven't made it into my quilt/sewing room yet.

Susan - The grape juice is a gorgeous color and clear as could be! She put it in sealed quart jars and will do what-I'm-not-sure with it later. We sampled it, of course, and it's close to a very dry wine to my palate. No sweetener added thus far.

Lynne - Mmmmm, all of that variety of different jellies sounds so good! I never made rose hip jelly but did make an extracted juice from them and we took a shot of it every day in the winter time to ward of germies.

I made our daughter's clothes until she started asking for "real clothes from the store." Ya just can't win sometimes. ;o]

The Tea Lady's Journal said...

My DIL does a lot of things like you do. I've gone with her before to pick grapes that she turned into jam. Also peaches, again she made jam and canned some too. Now she is sewing and quilting. Their third child is due by years end; she hasn't been able to tend her own garden lately; but so looks forward to it again in the hopefully near future. This was a lifestyle she grew up with. Not me; but I wish I had. I will learn from her all I can. ;o) I enjoy reading your blog and seeing all you do.

wisps of words said...

Sept. 21st

(Re: your comment on my blog...)

Oh yes, remember back when it was ok to give out homemade treats, to Trick or Treaters???!!! When my children were little, the mother of neighborhood friends of theirs, made sweet popcorn balls. The kids helped... It was a production, in their house!!! :-)

And that is what was given out, on Halloween!

Not many years hence, no one would dare, to give out something homemade!!!!! For fear of being accused of putting some horrible item, in them!!!!!!!! Remember the rash of horrible people putting razor blades in Halloween candy??? It was awful.

Another example of the loss of innocence, along the way. -sigh-

Actually I don't remember anything about Halloween, when I was growing up. Since I had a very religious mother, it probably wasn't "allowed." Quietly. But still, it wasn't until I was older, that I learned to have any fun, with Halloween. It took all that time, for me to lose the Fear. -sigh-

Anyway, my post, gave us another reason, to go "Down Memory Lane." You with your Candy Apples, and me, with the Sweet Popcorn Balls! :-)

🍁🍂🎃🍂🍁

Mama Pea said...

wisps of words - Oh, yes! I do remember getting homemade popcorn balls once in a while, too. I've never made them but do remember them being yummy. Probably not good for any of us at all . . . all that sugar on your teeth!

I suppose there have always been people (years and years ago and still today) who look upon Halloween as a pagan holiday. I'm glad that when I was growing up it was nothing but a fun time for kids to dress up (never a purchased costume!) and have a very special night visiting houses around the neighborhood!

Sam I Am...... said...

You have been busy! The harvesting must bring so much satisfaction after all the work in the Springtime. That is really nice you have a co-op and neighbors that share. I'm glad I'm not the only one with an achy back. I guess when you work hard you feel it! LOL! I take it as a good sign....like I do when I see lots of cleaning rags in the wash....progress! Take care of yourself.