Lessons learned, make sure you have freezer space before you start on something like this....second lesson learned, cook the strawberries down before putting them in the freezer, they take up less space. Better yet, put them in canning jars and stick them in the basement with the chicken.
My old cookbook suggests oven canning strawberries. While there is a lot of controversy about oven canning, I found this to be a great way to do a large batch of jars at one time. Much like my old Conservo (which I absolutely love but cannot use on my flat surface stove--if I would have known that I would not have bought it!!)
Mid-Kid has gone to butchering apples this week and has thus far made several gallons of apple sauce. Again I am thankful for her willingness to sit and do this kind of work. I really don’t like to pare and peel fruit for hours on end. The apples are small this year which makes them more tedious. She has been enjoying a series of historical lectures by Bill Potter.
After a month of frantically trying to get things going, our little local shop is up and running. Not sure yet how fast it is running, but people are stopping by and a few are dropping a bit of money here and there so we are hopeful. This shop thing has morphed for us and in the end we like what we have and the idea we are working with.
Finally we can begin working on the fall chores….and fall, fell this week. It has turned cooler after weeks and weeks of above average temps. I sort of figured we would go from shorts to long sleeves with jeans overnight. We turned the heat on yesterday because sixty-three degrees in the house is just too cold for me. With our lower body temperatures we are prone to get “cold to the bone” easier than we used to.
Fall chores for us means---first me must clean out the basement. It got damp down there this summer and I know there is mold in one area. That means major moving stuff around and then mold killing. We use our basement for storage. Old farmhouses like this did not have any closet space so what most would keep in a closet ends up in plastic boxes in the basement. We attempted to dry in the basement about five years ago and while it helped it was not 100% successful. And this summer we sprung a leak in an area that it has never leaked before. (and that is where the mold has accumulated this year—the small room that serves as our pantry for things like chicken and strawberries.)
We have stepped back and looked at our health issues and changed our protocol again. With two of the three girls starting to go backwards we decided something needed changing. So the family is doing a parasite cleanse. This is not something we have ever done before….and if you ever take the time to study human parasites you will know why. No one wants to think about the fact that they have them, but we all do…and some doctors believe the parasitic load is a huge factor in chronic illness. So going with those recommendations, we are going after the parasites, while also working on metal detoxing….AND then we will go after the mold toxins that have shown up in the blood work. We are hopeful that by the time of the next doctor appointment in Dec that the girls will be ready for that course of treatment.
Our youngest daughter is currently miserable. She started breaking out and itching about three weeks ago. it went from her face to other areas of the body. I had this happen a few years back and it is not fun, nor pleasant. You don’t want to be seen because you look horrible and you feel miserable at the same time. I could take Benadryl and sleep at night…she can’t. Benadryl makes her hyper.
My Dad is dealing with a wound issue that we are very concerned about. The wound therapist was not happy this week. So we are waiting with some concern for his next visit on Monday and hoping that the essential oil blend that we have added to his twice daily regiment will help stimulate the immune system to fight the infection. Also Dad’s blood levels were down again and that might have been a factor in his not healing…
I gotta run for now….I must get at that job in the basement!