It's going to be disappointing

Spaghetti squash blooms

January and February of this year seem such a long time ago. Ron was ill, but we still talked about the garden we hoped to have. He listened as I rambled on about seeds and soil, offering a few suggestions of what he'd like to see planted. We had no idea just how sick he truly was. 

All the garden planning wasn't wasted. I did manage to start JetStar tomatoes, cabbage, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, spaghetti squash, basil, dill, cucumbers, gourds, and some annual flowers. I wish he'd have lived long enough to sit in the garden and enjoy being among the growing things.

The brutal heat wave we experienced mid-June wreaked havoc on my garden. I've been told tomatoes won't flower if the temps get above 90F, and it looks like that may be somewhat true. The plants should have a lot more flowers than they do, and some of what was blooming have dried up.

The dill is over. It bolted in the heat so I pulled all of it and dried what I could for the spice rack. The cabbage is doing wonderful, tucked safely beneath a mesh cover to keep the moths away. Yes, I know the cabbage are planted very close together. They are annual plants, good for one year only. This works just fine. Next year I'm putting the cabbage in buckets so I can plant something new in the raised bed. The jalapeno peppers are finally flowering, but not profusely. I hope I get enough of a harvest to make a batch of cowboy candy. If not, I'll have to purchase enough to round out the recipe. 

Every year is really a different growing season. One year the peppers may be too plentiful and the tomatoes crap out. The next year, just the opposite can happen. We plant and we hope, and we accept what we're given. 

My garden will look very different next year as I'm learning to do everything - cook, do laundry, shop, and garden, for one person. Except for the begonias in the planters, that is. I've mentioned several times that my grandmother loved red wax plants and I grow them every year in her honor. 

It's never too early to plan, and I'm making notes of what I think will work next year. The damn squirrels got to the lettuce and spinach, so I think I'm going to invest in a raised planter with a cover. There are a variety of them available. I need to invest in some better tomato cages, too. 

My life is like the garden, always growing and always changing in unexpected ways. This year, 2024, has brought many disappointments, with probably more to come. But like the garden, I'm resilient. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, rural living, country lifestyle, life changes, disappointments, heat wave, planning ahead, 

New Year's Eve Reflections

The closing of a year is a time of reflection for a lot of people. A lot of writers, myself included, take time away from writing stories to write a retrospection of the year. I'm working on mine which will post at Between the Keys on January 2, 2024. I'll come back and drop in the link when it goes live.  That 2023 Retrospection is about what I achieved (or didn't) in my writing life. What about my personal life? 

Things did not remain status quo in 2023. The Lord of the Manor began the year as the man I've known since the early 1980s, and he's ending the year visibly aging and in declining health. He'd been on a slow slide for years, but 2023 has been disastrous for him. 

My own health remains good. Yeah, I need reading glasses now but who doesn't? I'm aware that some foods I used to eat with impunity need to be off the menu. Hot and spicy hasn't quite dipped to mild and boring but it's definitely headed to medium heat. Caffeine is restricted to coffee in the morning. I've been careful about soft drinks because of both caffeine and aspartame, aspartame being the more evil of the two to my system. Water is now my beverage of choice. 2024 will be the year I embrace flip flops for around the house, too. I went barefoot too much this past summer and now I'm paying the price with dry soles. 

This past year was disastrous on the financial front, too. Stock market gains? You jest. The Dow broke 37,000 in December 2023, but it was well below that for most of the year. I'm among the group who depends...well, maybe that's not the correct word. My personal spending reflects what the markets are doing. Necessities only when it's down and a few trinkets when it's up. 

The Garden. I jumped the gun in 2023 and started cuttings waaaaay early. Live and learn. The same goes for some seeds. The 2024 garden will be more diversified with less emphasis on tomatoes. I will probably want to can tomatoes and I'll pay the price for a bushel from local growers. I want to have fun with (and within) my garden this year. I spent peaceful hours in my garden last summer. 

What's on tap for 2024. A lot more of the same day-to-day *stuff*. Replacement windows are an expensive project coming up and I'm sure there will be others. My Charger needs a few things like new brakes and the backup camera replaced. They're not major auto repairs, but I'm sure they will cost a bundle. Perhaps I'll get around to doing a much-needed power-washing of the house this year. 

With my husband's declining health, I find myself unable to create visions for the coming year. So much depends on what happens with him. I've been in training to be on my own for many years, and that may manifest itself in 2024. I'm living in a sort of limbo.

But I will keep right on living. I will be doing more to please myself and no one else. None of us should allow the physical and/or mental disabilities of those around us to dictate what, how, and when we do certain activities. That may sound cruel but if we are to continue, sometimes we need to come first. 

That's where I need to be in the coming year. Doing what needs to be done, doing what I want to do, and letting go of what I can't prevent. It may be more difficult than it seems. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, New Year's, rural living, health, well-being, end-of-life issues, planning ahead, gardening, a writer's life, Between the Keys blog, country lifestyle, disabilities,

Potato soup base

Having embraced the idea of being intentional about building a prepper pantry, it's become obvious how much money it's going to save us in the long run. It's not that we're destitute - far from it. We live debt-free. Being intentional is a freeing way to live. 

I am determined to make good use of the recently purchased pressure canner. I discovered that a bag of potatoes in the cellar were beginning to sprout, and my first thought when that happens is always potato soup. I consulted the Ball canning book for the instructions on how to can potatoes, and then took to YouTube to see how all the canners do it. 

The information was consistent for canning potatoes and soup. I'd be able to process the potatoes with a splash of chicken broth, onion, celery, and salt. The milk, or half and half, plus a dollop of butter will need to be added when the jars are opened and the soup made. I had enough potatoes for four quarts with a cup of de-fatted homemade broth in each. I topped off the liquid with boiling water, added the lids and rings, and processed the jars according to my canner's instructions. 

One of the jars siphoned on me. That is to say some of the liquid siphoned out before the lid sealed. There is still a lot of liquid in the jar, and the seal is good, but I put that jar in the refrigerator and we'll have potato soup in the next day or so. All we need is for Himself to bake up some nice, soft dinner rolls and we'll have a meal. 

In time's past, we may have used some of the potatoes before they sprouted too far to be used. With the canner, none got tossed into the woods for the wild ones. Plus, I have four dinners, or lunches, ready to go with minimal effort. I call that a win. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

**5/9/21 update: We decided we prefer to process only the potatoes in jars and add everything else for soup when it's time to make soup.