Take a walk on the Wild side

Do dee do dee do do do...
Say hey babe, take a walk on the wild side!

Between the huge flush of Chicken of the Woods and the Wild Apples, it has been a booming wild week. 
I took some C.O.W. to Olive along with some wild apple jelly and got an apple pie from a wild apple tree in return.

There are two places that have wild grapes that are easy to get to. One is on the side of the gravel road and one is a huge grape vine that has been growing up the metal section of an old hay rack that leans up against our busted up garage. [See? the junk pile serves a purpose!]

The shots below are from the grape vine alongside the road. It is intertwined with a sugar maple and so the colors right now are very bright. See those little grapes?

I thought I'd taste some this year and they are sweet! So.
Since I'd made apple jelly from wild apples, I thought I'd see how hard it was to make grape jelly from tiny grapes!

Apparently Concord Grapes are very expensive these days [I used to have access to concords when a relative grew some on their farm]. They are the best grapes to use for jelly.

These are free! It takes a bit more time to pick enough, but I thought I'd give it a go.

 

I washed the grape bunches and then started picking them over and inspecting them. The process is tedious but with the help from music and ...

a bit of help from my friends...

[you know I can't help but bring my Lego Minifigures into the kitchen for help!]

This is what the process looks like.

From my first picking, I got nearly 2 1/2 cups of juice without putting the skins and seeds through a food mill. I had to go out and get some more but with 5 cups of juice, I can make a batch of Wild Grape Jelly.

While I was cooking up the grapes, I was also working on some not wild food. I'd purchased about 4 lbs of carrots at the Farmers Market. They were super sweet and delicious. I needed to get some frozen and vacuum sealed for winter veggies.

Farmer Bob came to the rescue and helped haul some of the larger carrots. It seems that they were too large for his little trailer! Fortunately, Bob seems to never get upset over difficult situations.

I need to be more like Bob.

I got a huge pot of them cut up and blanched.

I ended up with 7 servings of carrots frozen and ready to eat this winter and two half pints of dehydrated carrots mixed with onions, green beans, and tomatoes. Those half pints are what I dump into a broth I'll make out of the mushrooms or a beef broth for making soup this fall and winter.

I figure if I spend the day prepping food for future use, it will give me more time to explore and love the outdoors.

I can take more time to Walk on the Wild Side.

Brawn and Brains

The picnic table will get the chainsaw treatment...safely by my neighbor. This was project #2. The ancient glider that was rusted through.

Hubby bought this in 1998 and it was aged then. I painted it a few times and finally just gave up on it. For several years it has just been moved from spot to spot to mow around. No adults really sat in it ever. The kids love it and after the last time kids nearly tipped it over, I figured it needed to be dismantled.

I got out the handy dandy 7/16 inch wrench and 3 got bolts off. None of the other nut thingys would budge. With quiet determination and lots of rolling sweat, I began to saw and rip the old wood away from the bolts.
Charlie supervised.
Again.
No cuss words.

Now to bend the metal at it's stress points and make it smaller so I can toss it away.

Next on my agenda was fencing in the forest. I need/want to stay busy and productive.

The 4 wheeler loaded with fencing supplies and a partial bucket full of pasture grass seed. I'm seeding the 'ridge road' that was re-dozed by my farmer friend.

I want to get the mules into the forest to browse on the undergrowth. I used to have donkeys, mules, and horses in the forest but after 2007, the repairs were just too overwhelming for my husband.

My idea is to do a bit at a time. I'm using electric braid fencing which is easy to manipulate and string. The hard part is pounding the t-posts and carrying the post pounder along with all the posts into the woods.
Hah! I now know how the 4 wheeler operates so I can use the trailer to transport the items I need instead of hiking back and forth, I can use my time more wisely.

Bless the person who invented these little pound in posts. That means a lot less pounding of the T-posts and less pain to those arthritic hand joints. I must laugh though. Yes it hurts sometimes a lot. But my OT person said "Use it ... or Lose it."
I'm using those hands.

I had a round about discussion with my neighbor regarding fencing and straight lines. I argued that yes...he could saw down a tree if it was in his way. However, I'll use that tree with a temporary nail in insulator and make my fence according to ease of use and the lay of the land.

My idea was to use my brains to make things easier for me. He wanted [as my husband used to do...] perfect straight lines. I argued straight lines are for line fences and not 'sections'.

He promised to help.
Yep.
I got this too.

I'll take a photo of this area after the mules have been in for a week or two and see if you can spot the difference.
Tomorrow, if it isn't pouring cats and dogs, I will string the soft wire.

I must be getting much stronger. A year ago, I couldn't squeeze the hand break on the 4 wheeler, I'd given up all thought of ever operating it. My Occupational Therapist told me to work my hands. I did. Out of necessity I've worked my hands, elbow, and shoulders. I'm stronger now than I've been in a few years.

Yesterday I unloaded 50 bales of hay and stacked it in the shed. I felt fine after that. However I did take breaks often.

Tonight was another story. I couldn't for the life of me, sit inside the house after supper and let daylight fade away.
I went out to the garden and picked.

I tossed weeds over the fence to the mules. They liked it.

I picked an ice cream pail of green beans and set them on the porch.

I asked Rich to come out and see the beans. He hesitated, I told him the temperature was fantastic on the porch. He and Charlie came out.
I started to snap the ends off. I have time tomorrow afternoon to blanch the green beans and freeze them.

Rich surprised me by sitting on the bench that my Kenosha Gang made for us...he asked if he could help with the green beans.

We spent an hour in silence. Listening to the birds, the cattle, and the mules all make their evening noises as we silently snapped beans together.

And it was good.

This is a plus in my book. He is taking interest, he is participating. He doesn't see it as a big deal, but I do.

Charlie observed.

So I count this day as a good one.

It started with a gorgeous sunrise....


And ended with a warm and loving sunset...

No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.
~~Aesop