What Homesteading Activity Did You Do Today?

[oldmobie]

Cleaning out a freezer today to defrost and move it, we found a bag of hog fat. I can't eat much bacon on the new diet, and I'm out of bacon grease, so I thought I'd render a little to season cast iron with. I sure didn't mean to, but I think I'm making pork rinds...

[steev]

Mmmm; almost chicharrones. Saturday afternoon in Guatemala was a good time to get a liter of beer and some fresh-rendered, warm, salted chicharrones; prolly took some years off my life-span doing that, but only from the petering-out end, so no big loss.

Don't know what your diet is (I hope the restrictions are more than out-weighed by the benefits), but those crispies are useful in so many ways in the kitchen.

[oldmobie]

Good thing pork rinds weren't the goal. I think they could benefit from serious refinement to my method. Slicing the fat chunks thinner, thawing them fully before cooking, starting with already rendered lard, or more heat would probably have made them lighter and crispier. On the other hand, the high heat and or too long on the heat probably explains the slightly burned smell of the lard. The surface part was brown and kinda flaky, but not puffed up or crispy. The taste wasn't right. The dog was even reluctant to eat the piece I gave him. Should still season cast iron though, so  I'm cool with it.

The diet benefits do outweigh the restrictions. It's "carb-consist". I only went along with it to control my blood sugars more easily. I take a low dosage of metformin, no insulin. Started the meds and diet close together in January. Blood sugars have been within the target range for most of that time. But I've REALLY been enjoying the side effect of the diet. I've lost 68 pounds, just by changing how I eat.

[mjc]

Somewhat productive day...drying a ton (well, not a literal ton, but a lot) of mint. Only takes a couple of hours to dry in the dehydrator, so I'm burning through it pretty quickly.

Also pickled a batch of garlic scapes. I thought I'd have more, by thanks to the power company tree trimmers, I ended up with about half of what I should have. The rest may still be usable, once all the 'trimmings' are moved off the patch of 'let it go' garlic.

And I have the kids out picking raspberries. This is the first year in a while that we are managing to beat the birds to the berries! Usually, the timing of the weather makes it nearly impossible to pick them, unless you want to end up half drowned. Also, that makes for rather bland berries. But we had decent weather to ripen them up, this past week and the rain of the last couple of days hasn't impacted them, too badly.

[steev]

Had to replace another blown solenoid, so I have no spares, again; must go to the irrigation store to buy a complete new-model controller/valves array; looks like the old ones may be senescent, so I'd better have back-up.

Did a bit more fence repair.

Nothing salvageable on the Blenheim apricot (birds and wasps); picked the Tiltons a bit under-ripe, as the pests were already working them pretty hard; picked arugula; watered the walnuts, which were looking very stressed.

[steev]

Two of the walnuts look dead; that's eight I've killed; one is hanging tough; that's what I get for not keeping them in the cooler Bay Area for planting out the next November; so often, I let optimism overcome prudence.

Bought that current-model controller/valve array: $460! Yow! I think I need to get my 25gpm well on-line and arrange better control; the problem is that battery-powered control isn't rationally available on that scale and my solar is not yet up to the task; so many things are being obstructed by the choke-point of building a house, given the need/desire to minimize the tax assessment; I may be over-thinking/under-deciding this stuff.

Weeding continues (interminably); looking like a fine crop of wild arugula; must sow some molokhiya; I continue harvesting the feral wheat; looks like a good crop of grapes coming, if I can keep the birds, wasps, and bees off.

[mskrieger]

you grow molokhiya, steev? wow! When did you develop a taste for it? That's such an Egyptian thing.

as for homesteading, I'm happy to report that we've reached the point of the season when we no longer need to purchase produce at the grocery store. Plenty of greens from beets and chard, purslane (just weeding the garden I get pounds of purslane) lettuce, and brassica raab. Cilantro, chervil, parsley and dill galore. Looks like we'll start getting zucchini by the end of the week, cucumbers a bit later and maybe tomatoes by the end of the month.

And garlic scapes--so many. We were fully self-sufficient for garlic growing only hard neck types this year. I feel so self-actualized. Garlic, a basic staff of life, and I had enough bulbs to last through the winter and spring until the scapes came in, and now another fine harvest coming in a week or two. Yay!

[steev]

My understanding is that it's the most commonly-used vegetable in Egypt; molokhiya and rice, for example. I don't recall when I got into molokhiya; it may have been when I was supervising the sky-hooks we used to lift the blocks of the Great Pyramid, but it might have been when I was there with Napoleon's troops, shooting the nose off the Sphinx; I can't be sure; my short-term memory has gone all to hell; I like it as a thickening agent, like okra; I think the seed, which is copiously produced and easily threshed, promises to be useful in breads as a flavorant/augmentant. Could be good to add to sausage. Given my current plague of locusts, I'm not sure I'll get any this year; hmmm, molokhiya-fed locusts fried with cumin, in a pita with some tahini and a spritz of lemon? Might work. Man does not live by catsup alone.

[mskrieger]

Molokhiya-fed locust would be succulent indeed. But I'd flavor with za'atar instead of cumin. Personal taste preference.

[steev]

Succulence in insects is exactly what I'd want to avoid; crispy, yes; squooshy, eeew!

While za'atar might be preferable, I don't have a mixed planting of the appropriate herbs, so the locusts could self-season without me having to herd them around (I'm a lazy cook). "Grass-hopper-boy"? That just doesn't have that "Old West" ring to it, come-a-ty-yi-yicky-yicky-yay! No; "Old Middle East", fer sher.

They don't seem interested in the wild arugula, unlike the bees; I think my way forward is clear: Colonel Sanders, watch out; Steev's Deep-Fried Locusts with Arugula Honey is the wave of the future, or my name isn't steev!

I'll point out the increased desertification of the farm (here come the dunes) and the plague of locusts; I've told all the resident Jews that they're free to go to Kiev, Warsaw, upstate New York, Beverly Hills, wherever; I'll make my own damned bricks, so long as they shut the Red Sea behind them, not to let the flies in! Amon-Ra knows I try to see all sides of things, but it's hard when you're a two-dimensional guy, walking with one arm up in front and the other arm down in back.

Clearly, along with my corn strain "Ayatollah Hominey", I now have to breed favas "Fuul Mydammass".

[steev]

Last Saturday night on the farm, sitting out star-gazing, the Milky Way so thought-provoking, listening to my radio-earphones, I fell asleep; didn't wake up until 6AM; a tad stiff-necked from sleeping in a chair, but actually quite nice.

[mskrieger]

Ma'ashallah.

[templeton]

collected lilypilly fruits from the street tree across the road, intending to make a magenta-purple infused gin. The colour faded to almost nothing after 30 minutes

(not my picture)

[steev]

Eugenia (or some other name I can never remember; Syzygium?) used to be very common in the Bay Area; one variety had ping-pong-ball-sized fruit, but along came Psyllids which made the leaves all grotty, so they fell out of favor for landscaping; I always found the fruits a very refreshing mouth-wet in hot weather, though not very flavorful.

Obviously, you've got to drink that gin PDQ.

[12540dumont]

And here I thought Lillypilly was made up! I made sour plum gin. It's a lovely magenta color and quite yummy.