Insomnia

I can't sleep.  I'm not sure if it's because a) I drank half a cup of chai at 5:00, b) I've had a splitting headache for the past 4 days due to allergies, c) I had a terrible day at work and am wondering if I'm in the right career (again), or d) my new thyroid medicine is keeping me awake.  Probably a combination of all four.

I really didn't want to have to call in sick today.  I don't even know WHO to call in sick too.  My boss is on vacation, his boss is on vacation, the emergency contact number is someone I've never met before and wouldn't be able to do anything about my absence anyway.  At around 4:00 this morning, after giving up my 3rd attempt at falling asleep (I'd already tried reading, meditating, watching TV, writing down my thoughts in a journal, praying, laying down on the sofa, surfing the web, and drinking water...didn't dare try to take more headache medicine) anyway, after all of that I made a vow that I would go into work for at least a half day.  I mean, if you can't sleep, what's the point of staying home anyway?  Except that my head is still killing me, I can't focus on objects (the screen is a bit blurry as I write) and I feel like I'm about to crash any moment now.  I have a feeling that if I actually tried to teach anything I would come out like the teachers on the Peanuts movies...blah blah blah blah blah.  Although, I am able to write this, so maybe I'll be okay after all?  Hmm, 2 more hours to contemplate that.  Maybe I can get into the doctor's office and get some real allergy medicine, this prescription strength stuff doesn't seem to be prescription strength.

Another Blog

I decided I might just keep my attempts at food preservation on another blog.  I tend to put personal stuff here, and while I'm pretty open about myself, I don't share the link to my blog too much.  If someone happens upon me, fine, but the writing on this blog is about me owning up to what I'm feeling and how I'm doing and what I'm into.  But my other blog will be more streamlined to the food issues that I'm so into right now.

If you're interested in my efforts to preserve the harvest I can be found at The Prosperous Pantry.

The Impossible Dream

I frequently have harebrained ideas. This one is no different than the other harebrained ideas, but lets see if I can actually follow through on a crazy idea.

I want to put away food for the entire winter. I want to pretend that I'm a colonist that has limited access to trade goods and has stocked up everything that I need for the harsh, Massachusetts winter. I realize that I'll be using modern technology, in the forms of a freezer and pressure canner, but the idea will be the same...stock up or go without.

I'm a little late in the game. Otherwise I'd already have strawberries canned or frozen, but I'm not too late to try.

I've divided my foods into 4 categories: Frozen, Canned, Dried, and Cellar. In addition I hope to start some salad greens and spinach indoors to add some fresh stuff over the winter. By winter I mean December through March, although it really should be a longer period. I would think there wouldn't really be enough to harvest in March to get you through April, but 4 months of stockpiling is quite enough. I figure I've got 121 breakfasts, 121 lunches, 121 dinner, and 242 snacks to account for, with only 3 1/2 months to start stocking up.

Why, might be a good question.

First, I'm dedicated to the idea of eating locally and environmentally friendly meals. If I buy stuff out of season either I'm getting it from someone far away, somewhere that uses energy for hothouses, or someone else has had the burden of storing my food for me all winter and therefore has probably increased the price to account for energy costs.

I also think it will be a learning experience. Ideally I'd be growing all my own food, but as I noted earlier, my garden hasn't been as supervised as it should have, and definitely wouldn't get me through the seasons. Figuring out what I really need throughout the winter will be help during the planning stages of next year's garden. What I don't grow myself I'll buy locally from farmer's markets or local farms, which will also help me learn more about the local foods community around me.

Finally, I could use a challenge that doesn't involve students, attempts at fertility, or house construction. My acupuncturist told me to do something I love, and I love knowing where my food comes from and feeling like I'm living the way I want to live. I have very little hope that I will actually succeed entirely, considering this is my first time trying this, but I will do my best to do as good a job as I possibly can. If nothing else, it will be an interesting experiment in estimating and storage capacity.

Oven Pickle Canning

I know, I JUST posted a few minutes ago, but oven canning is cool enough to deserve its own subject heading.

A friend came over this weekend and taught me how to make Senfgurken in the oven. Okay, for the non-German speakers, that's Mustard Pickles. Basically, they're like any other pickles, but instead of putting in the dill you just add more mustard seeds. They have a nice taste, not too sour or sweet, and they're dead easy. I happen to like dill pickles, so I'll be experimenting with the recipe to see if I can get dill pickles the same way.

Oven Mustard Pickles
1 liter water
1 liter vinegar
4 TBSP salt
5 TBSP sugar

Mix all in a bowl and set aside. Sanitize as many jars as you want pickles. Cut cucumbers into slices. Stuff jars with cucumbers, fill jars with cold brine to 1/2 inch headspace, dump "a bunch" of mustard seeds on top of each jar (maybe 2 TBSP?), wipe rims, put tops on jars, and place in the oven. Place a water filled pie tin or other water holding device in the oven in the bottom rack.

Turn on the oven to 275. That's right, start with a cold oven. Set the timer for 45 minutes from the time you put the pickles in the oven, not when it reaches 275. Turn the oven off in 45 minutes but allow the oven to completely cool before opening the oven, at least 3 hours, if not overnight. When you open the oven, tighten the lids again, but you'll notice that they're sealed. My friend's grandmother uses old jelly jars instead of modern canning stuff and apparently they seal this way too (but I'm not that brave).

I'm wondering if this will work with salsas and tomato sauce, or a variety of other typically water-bath canning foods. More experimenting is necessary. What's pretty nice is that you can do a whole bunch at one time (as many as fit in an oven), and if it works the same for all foods, you could probably do a few different foods at the same time.

My friend also convinced me to ferment grape leaves for Domas, so I'll let you know how that goes in a few days. They keep floating, so we'll see...

The Neglected Garden

Unfortunately for my yard, I've had a bit going on this summer. It's been a pretty nice summer, all around (although I won't claim it was an *easy* summer). I was able to take a road trip from New Mexico, do a lot to the house, and I've made breakfast, and enjoyed mornings with my husband pretty much every day this summer. Too bad the list of summer activities did not include weeding or getting plants in the ground on time.

My garden wasn't abandoned, exactly, but perhaps a bit neglected. It really would have helped if I'd known WHAT I was growing, or where I was growing stuff. I had volunteer plants all over the garden, and I lost track of which tomatoes came from what farm immediately upon planting.

I've had to pull the squash plants because slugs demolished them. My bok choy bolted before I ate any. I have pumpkins on the vine, but many of the lower leaves are white with mildew, and I can only hope that the vine with continue to thrive. I've had only about 5 zucchini this summer, and even the broccoli is less fruitful that last summer. My garlic heads were very, very small. I had to replant my carrots, twice, because they were accidentally weeded out or didn't grow. I've still got to go through my potato "field" and pull up potatoes so I can plant winter crops...if it isn't too late already.

I was worried that my tomatoes were NEVER going to ripen, they were yellow for so long...and then I realized that they were yellow tomatoes. I only have one set of tomatoes that are "red" but I think they're actually purple.

So all in all, I'm pretty grateful for everything I HAVE been able to harvest. I've had some cucumbers, and now tomatoes, a small handful of raspberries every day, about 10 squash, a few zuchinni (which still might continue to produce more), 5 heads of broccoli so far, radishes, 4 green peppers, spinach, sunflower seeds, grape leaves, onions, scallions, and much earlier I had salad greens and peas. I could be leaving something out (probably am as a matter of fact) but nothing else comes to mind.

I hardly spent a lot on soil or plants this year (and it really shows). I doubt I broke even, but at least I've been able to get some of my own food, provide a bit of pollen for the mason bees, and have an attractive, if overgrown yard. I suppose my "crops" will taste especially sweet considering their rarity.

Values and Construction

I'm torn. As usual, I have dueling values, and I never know which one is going to come out ahead.

I ran a mid-year assessment on our assets (because we really are trying to understand our spending) and I'm not sure how I feel about the results. On one hand, I think it verified what I've thought over the past month, we have fairly normal spending habits, although we only just broke even last month. Perhaps we have even less than normal spending habits... if you take out a few categories. Like the house. And the travel.

We have spent nearly $21,000 on construction this year. We've added a bathroom, replaced another bathroom, added a laundry room, and added a new entryway/mudroom. Realistically, we have another $10,000 to go before the house will "shine", and that's not really counting a real "redo" of the kitchen.

On one hand, this house really needs/needed a lot of work. I grew up with the idea that you keep up your property and improve it to make it the best it can be. I don't like living with water stains on the ceiling, cracked stairs, and holes in the walls. Paint may do wonders, but it's not enough to fix the problems this house has. And we're not all that handy. Well, my husband does the tile, and I paint, but neither of us has any intention of taking on the plumbing or the electrical work.

The thing is, after having spent that much money repairing a house, there's this huge lump in my stomach that says, what else could I have spent that money on. I could have given it to charity, not worked, adopted, or bought a piece of land in the country. Are my priorities alright? Is it okay to spend that much money on a house?!?

One of my friends in New Mexico has a bathroom that's out of date and slightly mildewy, but she's got other things to spend her money on, so it stays the way it is...functional. It's less than it could be (and I would think her remodel wouldn't be too expensive), and somehow I know I just wouldn't be able to leave it alone.

Which leads to the question of whether or not we're in the right house. I said sometime this year that we'll stay one more year here and then we're outta here, but that's easier said than done. The more work you put into a house, the more you want to see the whole thing done. It feels a bit incomplete. Then there's the question of WHERE we would move to. I've been scoping out alternative neighborhoods, and I think I have a good idea of where I might want to live, if we stay in the area, but a few months ago I was pretty ready to pack up and move out west. Finally there's the question about the price our house would sell for. Have we increased its value enough that we would at least break even? Ideally we'd come out ahead, but there's still so much more that would bring down the price.

So perhaps the real question is, at least for now, when to stay when. Can I leave the ceiling in our living room with a stain on it? Can I avoid covering the brick monster floor in the kitchen? Can I leave the stairs unfinished? Can I leave the landing floor parquet? We have old, run down furniture, can I stop wanting a new couch, a new slim TV, a new dining room set? Can I stop wanting anything?

The Benefit of a Local Shop

Our lock has been on the fritz. A few months ago we tried to get a key cut, and it didn't work. That was at Home Depot, so we just figured they guy didn't know what he was doing. A few weeks later we tried to get a key cut at a local shop, and it didn't work, again. We figured something was just wrong with the lock. Even the keys that we already owned started to fail us. We relied on a couple of keys that would hesitantly open the door, going without a key if the contractor needed a key or if we had a guest.

Today the lock died completely. We thought our contractor had gone for the day until he sheepishly came up to Gerd's office where we were talking and told us he couldn't get our lock back together. He'd taken it apart in an effort to get it to lock.

We debated going to Home Depot to get a new lock, but decided to try the local lock shop that we've had good experiences with in the past. They were the only shop that carried a key that would fit our classic Mini. We like to support local business, and were only concerned if they would be open at 5:00 or not. Turns out they close at 6:00, which was plenty of time for her (it's run by a brassy Southie lady) to help us.

We had only taken in the back portion of our lock, thinking that we needed to replace the whole thing. She sent us back for the lock itself, but out of concern for us not having a lock in place, sent us home with a temporary deadbolt with keys to put in the door until the lock could be replaced.

After installing the temporary bolt, Gerd went back with the lock, with the intention of getting it fixed and repinned. He came back, a little embarrassed, not more than 10 minutes later. The locksmith had oiled the lock with WD40 and it worked just fine. She'd seen me ogling the pretty keys and picked out a butterfly key that she reminded him that I'd wanted. Cost of the new key, $2.00. No charge for the temporary lock, or the lock servicing.

I figure we might have spent something like $100 replacing the lock. It's not my favorite lock, so someday we might go ahead and do so. But if we do, we're definitely getting any new locks from the local lock shop.