Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Mules and Veggies


Eddie and Megan brought me veggies from their garden! How lucky can a mom get? I got these wild colored carrots along with Swiss Chard and garlic! Oh...YUM!

Today I blanched the carrots and froze some and put a variety of them in the little dehydrator along with another tomato and an apple. 



My thought is...I won't run the little dehydrator with just one tray of anything. I like dried apples while hiking so I chopped one up and tossed it in along with the tomato that needed to be processed. The carrots will become strange twisted colorful shapes as they dry.

I'll put some onions, carrots, tomatoes, and green beans together in a packet for dumping in a stew or soup later this fall or winter.

My morning was fun. I did the grocery thing at 7AM then chores, and this afternoon I'll be introducing my neighbor Olive to our mules. She is a master Chef and also a mom who works for MOSA with is an acronym for Midwest Organic Services Association. I think she can work from home. 

She and my ex neighbor Terri work together. 

Any...way.... 

Olive spent time cooking and doing the Master Chef thing all over Europe and I imagine .... everywhere? I don't know much as we haven't had time to talk about all of that. However, she used to be a groom and rode/exercised horses in Europe. 
I'm thinking this could be a really great friendship in the making.

She is my neighbor on the ridge. She likes foraging, hiking [night hiking or day hiking], riding, and cooking. 

Could I learn something from her? Oh yeah.

Face it. Being a Caregiver for a very difficult spouse is tough. So I'll forge friendships. Those friendships KEEP me sane.

~~~~~ 
2pm rolled around and Olive came trotting into the yard. I had gotten my two gals, Sunshine and Siera out and had saddled them. 

It is that time of the year that they somehow find burdock and manage to get it in their tails. So I was finishing that.

Olive fit in my Simco saddle just fine and we went over the 'how' to operate Siera. She's easy. She is very lazy, so a whoa works well.

I got up on my little red mule and we headed towards the hay and oat fields to ride in between the strips of corn. 

Siera did her normal thing like turning towards home when she thought Olive wasn't paying attention. I let the two of them work it out. Siera won't bolt or run off, it isn't in her nature. She'd rather stay with the other mule.

Anyway we circled the fields and then I asked if Olive would like to try some hill work. We went down into the neighbor's woods and rode down the steep trail and into a dry run. We sat on the girls and chatted down in the deep woods for a bit, then returned home.

We were so busy chatting and talking Mule/Horse Talk and getting to know each other...that I only took one photo.

I think this sums up everything.


Olive asked if we can do this every Tuesday. I'm like....um, yeah! Of course, with weather and schedules permitting.

It will be nice to exercise The Fat Bottom Girls together with another enthusiastic person.


10 comments:

  1. Oh a Master Chef...you can learn and pass the knowledge on to us! It is great that you have a friend to ride with you! :)

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    1. I wonder if I want to really learn how to cook better or just enough to get by. It will be more fun foraging with her and hiking as well as other outdoor stuff.

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  2. Great example of "when one door closes, another one opens". So awesome that you have such an interesting neighbor and with common likes!! No doubt you and Olive will become very good friends. Fun to have someone nearby to trail ride with, happy for you!

    We froze all our carrots in chunks and a few shredded carrot bags for future carrot cake. No blanching for me, too much like work lol. I tried a new colored carrot this year, kinda looks like what is pictured. Name of the carrot was "Dragon". Purple on the outside, candy corn colored on the inside. It was suppose to be spicy. Guess what it tasted like? A carrot.

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    1. That may have been this variety of carrot, and we had some purple ones all the way through too. They were tastier either because of the color or because we just thought they were better than store bought ones.

      Olive does have a 2 yr old so I'm sure some of our adventures will include him. Her husband is a part time stay at home dad and works doing soil testing part time.

      I can say that all my neighbors are good neighbors and interesting.

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  3. Great riding and good bonding. The mules may not like you getting so many riding friends. It is good for the mules though. I am fascinated with the dehydrator. I have never had one.

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    1. They work very well, I love making apple chips in them for packing along when I hike and then making up soup mix veggies to dump in stews and soups in the winter.
      The mules love the attention and thrive on work!

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  4. Sounds like you have a pretty cool neighbor and a new friend!

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  5. Anonymous4:57 PM

    You and Olive are going to have a great time together!

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  6. How fantastic is this! You will become great friends, of this I have no doubt. I used the dehydrating function on my air fryer yesterday for the first time. It won't be the last.

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  7. Anonymous6:38 PM

    Looks like fun! I have not ridden a horse ( or mule) in a very long time. Nigh foraging sounds fun! There are many mushrooms that glow in the dark, but I have never seen them because I'm safe and warm inside every night. But I do with I could see one one of these days...

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