In search of ...Fungi and Fun

Finally we have had some rain! It was hard to go out and find one of my favorite things to photograph because it was SO dry! So I went to the creek before the scheduled rains and looked around for...

Fungi....
Mushrooms.....
Tiny stuff found on the forest floor.....

I did find some extremely tiny fungi growing orange and red on moss...on a log in the creek. I actually could not see the individual forms without using the Microscope Mode on the Olympus Tough camera.

These were smaller than the point of a lead pencil!

This is what I found:

Ahhh, here is the totally cool Fungi I found! I love how they lined up on the log and there is a slug that seems to be visiting!

Fungi Family:

The supervisor was checking things out from the log above me:

Of course this was before the weather turned absolutely awful. The temperatures are in the 40's and there has been a bone chilling rain for 24 hrs. .

I pulled apart our cabin heater and cleaned it thoroughly, then got it started to warm up the house. 
Brrr! I cut up a small batch of tomatoes and some apples to dehydrate.
My loyal little soldiers are protecting my lids and jars so when I start making jelly from my summer haul of berries, I will have lids.

The tomatoes are slowly ripening and not many at a time right now.

So there it is. A very dull day. But I got a lot of indoor work done. Including attacking the cob webs downstairs. 

Meanwhile, if the weather stinks...

I'll look for things to do inside....while I wait for it to warm up later this week!

Tomatoes or Toomah...toes?

 

First off, I needed to have some fun with the tomatoes. The toys were already in basket on the porch and I just decided to spend some time after picking the 'maters  to have some fun.

I know, childish, but there you go. It also let me practice using the auto stack and auto focus selection on the camera. There is an option for in camera focus stacking on the red pocket camera and the Oly OMD M5iii. Basically it takes a photo shot in macro and takes several shots to pull more items into focus when using a short focal length of 1.8 to 2. I know, gibberish to some, but practicing makes it easier to use when I get out to the woods and want to have some Fungi shots.

The 25mm lens is incredibly clear and will quickly become my favorite to use in the woods along with the macro lens which will actually do IN camera focus stacking. Love the computer chips inside these newer updated cameras.

Ok. I got off track again.

Tomatoes, yippee for canning! Here is yesterday's loot along with the sauce we had for supper which I froze all the extra with mushrooms and sausage for quick meals later this year.

Marigolds...a bowl of them!

Zinnias...I love Zinnias.

Each week I pick a plastic bottle or a can and fill it with Zinnias and drop it at my neighbor's bench. She claims to have a brown thumb and flowers are still a mystery to her. Though she is doing very well with her little green house.

Tomatoes on the porch....

They are the next ones to get ripe and canned. 

However I am setting aside Thursday or Friday to get out with my pal Bill and go hiking. 

I do put my foot down on getting OUT to go somewhere with another human and spend time hiking or biking. This is part of my self care. Bill is willing to hike in all seasons which means we can continue through the winter months. It is something I look forward to a LOT each week.

I started the Veteran's Administration CareGiving class yesterday. More on that later.

My sunflowers are just about done and I toss the stems to the mules. The flower heads I leave out for the birds.

And last but not least. August 31st had an amazing sunrise.

I leave you with that today.

Until tomorrow.

Be well, stay safe and healthy.

Lucky me

I am pretty grateful for having such an interesting upbringing. All summer we stayed at a  small cottage. No TV, no hot water, we did have a toilet that flushed but weren't allowed to use it during the day.

Grandpa wanted to conserve electricity and not burden the pump. I think he was under the impression that we kids would flush for fun? I have no idea. 

My Grandparents had a tiny house not far from where we stayed. Our tiny house had two halves. One half was a room that was the kitchen and everything else room. The other part of the tiny house had 2 sets of bunk beds shoved together to sleep in. And the toilet with a curtain for privacy. It was built for Grandmother's parents to live out their lives in. The floor was wavy, uneven, and fun to play marbles on. 

We spent the summer surrounded by my Grandparents' huge garden. Only now am I coming to realize that they didn't just raise items for themselves and to sell, but they also raised enough food for to always have extra. I can recall their cellar be lined with home canned goods. The floor was dirt and there was a 'cold' room.

My own family had rows upon rows of home canned goods also. I never ate any jelly or jam that was factory made unless it was at a restaurant. I actually still don't as I've only once purchased grape jelly for grandkids when they all visited for a week during the summer and they all wanted grape jelly and peanut butter for snacks.

So why am I so lucky? I learned how to preserve and garden as a kid. A skill I was sure I would never use, ever. After all, we are the land of plenty right? I mean I can go to the store and pick up whatever I want when I want.

After swearing off vegetable gardening for many years, but growing flowers, I decided to experiment and mix it up. Flowers and green beans along with leaf lettuce.

Soon the garden grew larger and included all the basic veggies that Rich and I both loved. I had continued all along to make jellies and jams from foraging in the woods and picking blackberries, raspberries, and seeking out the wild apple trees to make apple jelly.

I went to the store after the Covid-19 #SafeAtHome order came to our state. Imagine my surprise in March when the land of plenty became the land of empty shelves. 

I dug back into my childhood and decided the prepare for this coming fall and winter. I planted another vegetable garden with the foods I knew that we would use all year to make stews, soups, and meals.

This is the third batch of tomatoes. The other two batches yielded 8 pints of Pasta Sauce to use for Lasagna and of course spaghetti this winter. I used to hate canning tomatoes, especially the peeling part.

Not so much any more. I use a food mill that separates the skins and most of the cores from the tomato. Easy Peasy.

It all comes somewhat naturally to me as I reach back in the memory banks to kid-hood. Grandpa's habit of saving things that could be useful in case of a shortage must have stemmed from living through WWI, the pandemic, the depression, and the rationing of WWII. Now I get it.

My Grandparents weren't idiots, they'd seen a world they hoped I would never see.

Yes I am Lucky.

Not going there...and other stuff

I got baited yesterday while working on tomatoes and stirring things and waiting for a medication delivery.

I noticed that someone I knew stated that our state was like living under martial law because we had to wear masks and that South Dakota never had any issues with Covid-19. I simply noted to them that SD had a 10.7 person density per square mile and our state had 107 per square mile and in the cities it was something like 6,000 per square mile. 

Uff. I should have ignored it. I was ashamed that I even tried to point out to someone the difference between states. Oh well. I will smack myself on the head a few times and repeat my mantra [scroll past, do NOT comment]. Conclusion: Don't comment on Meme's that so many people post thinking they are real info.

In other great news! I got the Firestick working well for hubby. He is now getting used to asking Alexa or as he calls her Hey Alex...to find programs for him to watch.

It has been dry dry dry here. The humidity is way down so that is a bonus. It gets warm in the afternoon however the slight breeze is nice.

So with the new Firestick, I finally got rid of the ancient computer we were streaming with. Years ago one of the grands slipped an SD card into the CD/DVD drive.

So I decided to see if I could retrieve the SD card.  Have you ever taken a laptop apart? Well it isn't exactly easy, but I didn't have to take care doing it.
And I had help.

I think they were looking for 'intel' and they found it!

I went for a walk to look at the back fence, the forest ground in that area is so barren and dry. Whew.

However the moisture near the creek keeps things green and growing. I did stop and stand in the creek to admire some filtered light.

I cooked up pasta sauce and canned it yesterday. Today I am cooking up a fresh ham with instructions on how to make pulled pork.

Here is hoping for some rain and a few days break from processing tomatoes. Huh. I don't think that is going to happen!

And I did retrieve the SD card and it wouldn't work. The photos were from October 2013.

Apples. Simply delicious!

A friend of mine visited this weekend and they enjoyed some of our apple jelly and applesauce.

I explained to him that I'd picked apples and made apple juice and canned it. I also use the juice to make jelly. The pulp gets run through a mill and I use that to make applesauce.

He asked me to send him a recipe. So here is my method that is really quite simple.

Picking the apples.
I know~basic~ but I took some photos while up in the tree. I enjoyed the view in the tree!

The only thing I will do different next time is get a bag to sling over my shoulder so I won't have to climb up and down the ladder as much.

I wash the apples then cut them in half and dump them in a large pan. I add a little bit of water to the pan. It is an experiment. Sources on the 'internet' say to cover the apples. I find that makes the juice a bit watery. I found a happy medium of just adding enough water to get the apples to steam up.

I take an apple smusher aka a potato masher and mash the apples. I let them simmer on low for about 15 minutes.

I ladle the mushy stuff into a strainer and let it drain. I don't push on the mush too hard as I want some nice clear juice. Another method is to use is straining it through some material. I like to use an old cotton pillow case cut up. It gives the clearest juice.

Once you have your juice you can decide if you want to make jelly or simply can the juice. I use Sure-Jell to make the jelly. If I feel like making jelly this winter, I simply can the juice in a hot water bath for the recommended time.
I just canned a gallon of apple juice so I will have plenty to either drink or use to make jelly.

I believe the Sure-Jell recipe calls for 7 cups of apple juice.

I decided to run the leftover pulp through my food mill. It did a nice job of getting rid of the seeds and skins.

Since I had a ton of other things to do during this day, I added the pulp to my crockpot, added some sugar and some cinnamon to taste and set the crockpot on low.

That evening the applesauce was hot enough and had cooked enough to can.

From the tree to the shelf in about one day.

Oh and let's not forget that apples do very well in the dehydrator!

Mules, Pigs, Apples, and Stars

Here is to hoping that Rich and Mica stay out of semi retirement from mule riding. Mica is about 21 years old and has always been a 'hard' keeper. However she had a hard job in her younger years. She was a 'heeler' and a trail mule. After we acquired her she was used for trail riding and team penning.

The view from Mica is different than any other mule I have ridden.

I could really like this view...a lot!
Mica gets a little grain in the morning and a little bit at night. None of our other mules really need grain. They can stare at a piece of grass or some hay and gain weight.

I plan on riding Mica much more this fall. She is tall enough to get me through those thick weeds in the valley. After she and I break open a trail, I'll rotate with Sunshine and Siera. Fred gets a break after all of his hard work training youngsters this summer. Although he will put up a huge fuss if he is left behind.

Apples.
After juicing the wild apples the old fashioned way.

I took the left over pulp and ran it through a food mill.

And viola! I had the makings of apple sauce or apple butter.
I put the apple sauce in the crock pot with some cinnamon and sugar to slow cook while I canned 4 quarts of apple juice.
Now common sense would say that it is less work and easier just to buy apple products, but there is some sort of satisfaction in making it yourself.


Pigs.
Swine.
Vernon County Fair.

Regarding Pigs. Hmm. Well we purchase our hay from a local farmer and have for 9 years now. I met this farmer through work. Rich and Ed hit things off right away and have been friends ever since.
Ed's daughters started to show swine at the Fair along with other projects.

This year Rich and I actually went to the Fair specifically to watch the Swine judging. Rich has not been to a Fair in a very long time.

I'd forgotten how intense showing an animal at the fair can be. Months of work are then judged in an arena with a lot of people watching. The judge looks over the animals and places them.

Learning how to walk a pig and show off your pig is really quite the task. Just say I was very impressed. I'd seen the farmer's girls raise these pigs and train them.

Stars.
Last summer Lily asked me if we could see the Milky Way. So I've done a bit of studying including using a program that would show me the location of the Milky Way on any given day.
I studied and practiced in taking photos of it too.

I wanted Lily to know that indeed the Milky Way does shine right above "Grandma and Grandpa's" house.

I obviously need more practice for 'shooting' stars, but as always, ... I love a challenge.

Of Fog and Wild apples

The morning started out with thick fog and a brilliant sunrise on the ridge.
I don't know if the extra color is because of the smoke from the wildfires out west or not. But the fog was thick and intriguing.

If I stood on our ridge and looked east just before the sun broke through, I could see where the other ridges peeked up out of the fog. I can tell where the Kickapoo River is in this shot. But only because I am familiar with the lay of the land.

September is a good month for sunrise photography and dewy wet surprises.

My idea yesterday was to pick some more of the wild apples from the pasture and make some apple juice. The trees are abundant with fruit this year and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

So far I've made 10 pints of pink apple jelly and 2 quarts, one pint of applesauce. So I thought I'd try making some apple juice. I've done it before and recall how pleasant it was to open up a quart and make some 'fresh' apple juice in the winter to drink.

I dragged a ladder out to the pasture and after so many trips up and down the ladder picking and gently putting the apples into the bucket, I decided that perhaps next time I'd take a canvas shoulder bag to pick into. It would save a lot of trips.

I got nearly a 5 gallon bucket full before I stopped.

I washed them and chopped the apples in half then put in just enough water to cook them for about 20 minutes at a slow simmer.

[Note...WOW, does that ever smell great!]

Strain the cooked apples next. Sometimes I use a cloth to get the purest of juice and squeeze it.
This time I just used the strainer and what didn't drip out with the pulp I transferred to another container to run through the food mill later.
This will become either applesauce or applebutter.

Somehow this would not have been a pleasant task in the old kitchen that had no counter space.

This harvest season is proving to be rather productive.

And of course it makes for a pretty nice Still Life display too.
Dried food and canned food along with tomatoes and zinnias.