Forty One Years on the Planet

I celebrated forty-one years on the planet this month.

Since my birthday, I've pondered where I am in my life - and this is what I've come up with...

Interestingly, I feel younger and more full of life than ever... at least until 9pm, when this Cinderella droops and has to find her bed. But then again - it's a rare day when I sleep past 6:30am.

I exercise more now that I did in my 20s or 30s.

I love and care for more animals that I ever could have imagined.

I set goals - and meet them! - better than ever.

I have relationships that I treasure, a hubby that loves me wholeheartedly, and kids that make me proud (and exasperated, of course).

I am training to run my first half-marathon in November, and my second in February. Until last year, I couldn't run more than a single mile at a time.

I am building a law practice, loving my husband, raising two beautiful healthy kids, and running an urban homestead - and I think I'm doing rather well at each... and loving each facet of my life.

Is it weird to have found such a zest for living and enjoying life at year forty-one?

Just a Couple Cucumber Vines...

When deciding what to add to our garden this year, I told my dear hubby that I would like just a couple cucumber vines this go around.


Who knew that "just a couple" vines could produce so much?

An armful of cucumbery goodness!

We have two vines that are currently producing a great deal of heritage-type, non-GMO cucumbers - one with traditional, long cucumbers and one producing pickling cucumbers. 


So what do you do with an overabundance of cucumbers? You pickle them!! Have I ever pickled anything before in my life? Nope... but that's never stopped me from doing stuff before - ask anyone who knows me.


So on the 4th of July, in between shopping and getting the house ready for an influx of my son's rugby buddies and a dive-in movie, I decided to preserve some of the pickling cukes - but not before my dear hubby and son were a bit creative with them...

Yes. They are boys with only one thing on their mind. Cucumbers.

So I'm not a fan of mushy, fake green pickles. I'll spend more at the store for the pickles in the cold case every time. So I wanted to do something as close to that as I could. I found a great post at Urban Hennery entitled "Not USDA Approved" - and the pickles look awesome! She also preserves in a way I can totally relate to (i.e., preferably with friends and lots of beer breaks). 


So I used, but adapted, her recipe. In addition to what she uses, I added a clove of garlic and 1/8 tsp mustard seed to each Quart.  Since the men in my family are spicy food fanatics, I also thinly sliced up a jalpeno and added it to three of the jars (and carefully marked them with a huge "S" for SPICY!). Finally, I learned that when she says "stuff with cukes" she really means stuff/wedge the cukes. You don't want those puppies floating all about in the brine.

Grandma Leona’s Dill Pickle Recipe:(adjust to the amount you want to make)

• 12 lbs pickling cukes
• 1 gallon apple vinegar
• 2 quarts water
• 2 cups pickling salt
• pepper corn
• whole cloves
• dill seed
• 12 quart jars and lids

1. Sterilize your jars and lids
2. Put a small head of dill in the bottom of each jar, plus 10 pepper corns, 2 cloves and 1/4 tsp dill seed
3. Stuff with cukes
4. Bring the brine (all other ingredients) to a boil. Fill each jar and promptly put the lid on
5. Set aside to cool – they will self seal
6. Hot pickle variation: add a 1/4″ cube of fresh horseradish and 1/2 small jalepeno

Note: Yeah, I realize that these days all the books tell you that you have to do the hot water bath. But my family has been eating these pickles for 40 years and no one’s ever died from them yet.

So I assembled my supplies, sterilized the jars and got ready to pickle (doesn't that just sound like so much fun!?)

Getting the ingredients together.

My results thus far look promising.  I also had a quarts worth of bush and dragon beans, so I said what the he**, I'll pickle those, too. I ended up with only 5 quarts worth of good quality cukes, so I saved the rest of the brine and will preserve the new cukes as they ripen. Easy peasy.

A couple of the finished pickles - one cucumber, one beans!

What should I pickle next? 

236 Years and Counting

Happy Birthday, America!

 Credit: “American Dream 2” by artist Parvez Taj

The Star Spangled Banner

Francis Scott Key

1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The Problem of Roosters

I recently convinced my sister to build a chicken coop and raise chickens for eggs. After all, I've been doing it for several years now, and it's an easy and fun way to teach your children (and yourself, if you're a transplanted city girl like me) about agriculture, biology, animal behavior, etc.

My Sister's New Coop!

The list of subjects goes on and on. Chickens are extremely educational.

So, my sister recently texted me a photo of her homemade rubbermaid brooder and her four cute-as-can-be chicks she picked up at the local feed store.

Being the practical sister I am, I texted her back..."You do realize that at least 1 or 2 of these cuties are roosters, right?"

She was not amused.

When all you really want are hens, roosters can be a problem you have to deal with... even if you can have a rooster where you live, you'll likely only need one...what do you do with the rest?

Recently, we had five roosters from our first large incubator hatch that we had to...um... send to freezer camp. I know that sounds cheesy, but in a way - it helps me to find a smile, when it's really not much of a smiling kind of thing.

Living where we are, we are allowed to have roosters - but we are only on 1/2 acre and live close to neighbors who are not thrilled with the concept of roosters.

Unfortunately, with this last batch...one of those roosters became my daughter's special friend. Since hatching, this particular chick had been extremely friendly, would roost on her shoulder, and was simply a lovely bird. We hoped that it would turn out to be a hen, but... it wasn't. That chick turned out to be a very, very loud rooster - doing what roosters do best .... crowing with joy and vigor at 4:30am.

In the end, these particular roosters taught my daughter and I a great deal about being both humane and human. On our way to drop the birds off at the processor, we cried together. We reminisced together. We were strong together.

We realized we are human in our practice and need for protein and meat. We can do as most humans do, and purchase our meat at the grocery store - having no idea where it came from, or what kind of life it lived.

Or we can choose to know those things, and choose to be humane in our consumption.

Our roosters had six months of good food, water, dustbaths, bugs, roosting, flapping, and fun with the hens. One rooster in particular had an amazingly unique life, being treasured and petted by a beautiful young girl.

At the end of those six months, they met a swift and humane end, and we know where our meal came from...

Our Five Roosters