On Sundays, Tricia always cooks an extra-special meal. After church, the boys come over to the house and we set the table in the formal dining room with the nice china and silverware and sit down for an old fashioned Sunday lunch. We take time enjoying the food and each others' company. After we've cleaned our plates, I put the coffee on and we enjoy a cup or three of good coffee with a nice piece of chocolate or a cookie to go along with it. Simple pleasures.
I walked out the back door for a minute. It's hotter than a two dollar pistol outside. I walked back in and thought, "Let's make some homemade ice cream!" Nothing cools you off like a delicious bowl of ice cream. I heard on the radio this week that the #1 flavor of ice cream sold in the US is vanilla. #2 is chocolate. Either of those would be good. But, then the little flywheels and gears in my head started turning. How about some homemade BLACKBERRY ice cream? Our two blackberry canes are producing now. We've been eating them right off the bush.
The bushes are thornless and they produce really nice berries.
After a short hop, skip and a jump out the back patio to the blackberry bushes, I filled a coffee mug with berries.
I crushed up the berries with a spoon in the bottom of my mug. Sun-heated blackberry juice and pulp filled the bottom of the cup. After pouring the ice cream mixer in our little ice cream maker, I emptied the muddled berries into there as well. We flipped the switch and the maker came to life, paddles turning through Clarabelle's cream. Fresh cow's milk and fresh berries. Can it get any better?
We continued to visit until we heard the ice cream maker struggle to churn through the thickened ice cream. Yep, it's done! Homemade blackberry ice cream.
Cold, smooth, and creamy...
What a delicious way to cool off on a hot summer day.
We just have two rows of sweet corn in the garden. I didn't want to plant a whole lot as we still have a number of bags of frozen sweet corn from last year - both on the cob and cut off the cob. The corn grew very tall this year, some of it reaching heights of 10 feet tall. The tall stature of the corn was call for concern when, after a thunderstorm, most of it laid down on top of the okra growing to the south of it. Fortunately, the sun came out one day later and most of the stalks stood right back up.
Sweet corn is ready for picking when the silk turns from a pink or red color to a dull brown. This one here? She's ready for pickin'.
I have a little goofy ceremony I do every year. The first ear of corn I harvest, I stand right there in the garden row and eat it raw right off the cob. So sweet! So good! I want you to notice something about this variety I'm harvesting today. It is called, "Country Gentleman" sweet corn. How 'bout that name? Even if it wasn't good, I think I'd buy it just for the name. I think the world needs more Country Gentlemen.
Country Gentleman is a white shoepeg sweet corn. Let's talk about that for a minute. Shoepeg corn? What is that? Well, it is named that for a 19th century shoe-making term for its kernels resemble the wooden pegs that were used to assemble the soles to the upper part of the shoes. Another fun fact is that shoepeg corn is a favorite bait for catching Sockeye Salmon. We're not fishing with it, though. We'll eat it all!
Notice the disorderly, mob rule-type organization of the kernels on the cob. Have you ever seen such a thing? It's nuts. Other corn is arranged uniformly, in straight rows. It's as if Country Gentleman corn said, "Ain't nobody got time for that."
But out here on our little homestead farm, we share the bounty with the other inhabitants. I tossed the shucks, silk, and stalk over the garden fence and the cows, goats, and chickens had a field day (pun intended) eating it.
Some of the corn is real nice and pretty, with the whole cob full.
Other ears have kernels missing, both by lack of pollination and by damage from worms. We put the ears in a pot and blanched the corn, allowing it to boil for 9 minutes before removing it and putting into a ice water bathe to stop the cooking process.
I used a sharp knife to cut the small kernels from the cob, making sure to scrape the cob to get every single last bit of 'milk' out of the cob.
Just for grins, I put it into a big measuring cup as I went... The first one was soon full.
It was mighty tempting to not eat a bunch more right off the cutting board. But, not being a sockeye salmon, I was able to resist the temptation.
We packed up the corn in quart-sized freezer bags to put in the freezer.
My favorite dish to make with this is Corn Maque Choux. So doggone good!! I'll show you something else we did with it in a couple days. Sweet corn is fun to harvest, but the next best thing is eating it.
The Sunday Drive. It's largely a relic of a bygone era. With no particular destination, you piled in the car and let the vehicle "just roam around," like Jerry Jeff Walker sang. I remember we had station wagons, several of them over my childhood, with a luggage rack on top, spoiler and simulated wood grains on the side. The very back seat faced backward. Your perspective on the world was framed through that big back window on the Oldsmobile during family vacations or Sunday Drives.
With gas prices at all time highs right now, driving around for no particular purpose carries with it a high price tag. However, memories that you can make on these Sunday drives are priceless. As I sit here reminiscing, I recall breakdowns, running out of gas, playing the license plate game, playing I-spy, having family conversations, singing "You Light up my life" and "Smoky Mountain Rains" at the top of our lungs, engaging in fights with siblings, and I even recall bad odors wafting through the cavernous interior prompting the windows to be quickly rolled down.
Those family trips in the car seemed like wasting time just to get to the destination, but in retrospect, as I look back, I realize that there was a lot learned and experienced in the trip itself. My oldest son, Russ, shared a song with Tricia and I last Sunday that really resonated. I'm going to apologize, because it is a very emotional song and video, at least to me. My eyes started leaking a little bit as a watched and pondered the lyrics. Click on the arrow below to watch and listen to Brett Eldredge sing, "Sunday Drive." I've posted the lyrics below the video. Perhaps it will dredge up some fond memories for you as well. Further below the video, I've posted the thoughtful lyrics. I hope you can recall some of your memories of Sunday Drives...
Sunday Drive
Brett Eldredge
They didn't ever say where we were going We just climbed into the backseat Eyes wide open to the picture show outside I guess we really didn't understand it all Remember looking up at them in the front row Hands touched together, almost out of sight It's been a long, hard week, but now the slow release Of a Sunday afternoon
And we were only young But they were trying hard to reach us How was I to know That there was something so worth keepin'?
'Cause we were Watching the world through an open window Trees lined up like dominoes This old car could find its own way home It's the ordinary things that mean so much That's where I learned it all from them To fight, to love, to laugh again Man, I thought we were only wasting time Out on a Sunday drive
The sun warms your soul just like an old friend Singing songs along that ribbon of a road And everyone you love is sitting there so close You're never thinking that you'd ever get old No, you'll never get old
Just watching the world through an open window Trees lined up like dominoes This old car could find its own way home It's the ordinary things that mean so much That's where I learned it all from them To fight, to love, to laugh again Man, I thought we were only wasting time Out on a Sunday drive, oh
I never said where we were going I just helped them to the backseat Dad just laughed and said, "Son, don't drive too far Your momma gets pretty tired these days" After a few miles I guess they recognized some places And I listened as they reminisced About a world that they had always known And how it's changin' Probably never gonna be the same again
I caught 'em in the mirror They were holding hands and smiling Looking younger than they'd been in years Oh, through all the years
And they were Watching the world through an open window Trees lined up like dominoes This old car could find its own way home It's the ordinary things that mean so much That's where I learned it all from them To fight, to love, to laugh again Man, I thought we were only wasting time Out on a Sunday drive
The idiom "cool as a cucumber" came from a poem that was written in 1732! Wow, some things have staying power. But what does that saying mean? Well, since cucumbers are largely made up of water, they stay cool to the touch. We need things cool to the touch. It's the first day of June. It's been 80 degrees at 7:30 am in the morning and already getting into the 90's in the afternoon. It is warming up quickly!
Our garden, fortunately, has been producing nice fruit. We are picking at least 3 cucumbers everyday. We planted three varieties: Mademore, Boston Pickling (my favorite), Organic pickling, and Suyo long.
I came back from the cucumber trellis yesterday with all varieties except for Suyo Long. I planted them 3 weeks later, so we don't have any of those yet. But I did get a surprise. What is that thing in the center of the cucumber colander?
I am almost 100% certain it is a Lemon Cucumber! A seed or two of that variety of seed must have gotten mixed into the seed package!
It is named appropriately. It looks like a lemon, but it tastes like a cucumber.
On these hot summer days (and it is only June1!), what one needs to cool off is a nice, cool salad. Lettuce is out of the question. We finished that up in the garden months ago. But a nice cucumber salad hits the spot. We cut up cucumbers, fresh tomatoes, Creole onions we just harvested, fresh picked blackberries, salt and pepper, Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Then we grate a little Parmesan cheese on top. It's better if you put it in the fridge and let it marinate for a few hours.
Holy Moly! What a delicious, cooling salad.
We have been eating cucumber salad every single day!
This past Saturday, my cousin, Patrick and my Aunt Cheryl flew in from Dallas. We had a crawfish boil planned. Dad got 120 pounds of crawfish and we had some corn and potatoes to go along. It was the perfect day for a boil! The weather was nice. My brother and sister-in-law came in from New Orleans. My sister and her crew were there. Mom & Dad and Tricia and I and our three were there as well. Before the boil we spent some quality time visiting.
We put the first of four sacks in the heavily seasoned boiling water and set the timer once it returned to a boil. Five minutes later, they were done. We let them soak for 20 minutes and posed with the first batch of crawfish.
(L-R) Benjamin, Laura Lee, Cheryl, Mom, Patrick, Tricia, Emery, Kristian, Russ, and Dad
We poured the first 30 pounds of crawfish across the table and folks began peeling and eating. We got the second batch boiling. The way we timed it, when the 30 pounds on the table were just about eaten, we had the next boiled batch ready to pour on the table.
A ravenous crew of crawfish eaters demolished those crawfish!
In between each new batch, we emptied the table of the heads and peelings.
There was visiting going on, too. Aside from eating crawfish, there was corn and potatoes, jalapeno poppers, cookies, watermelon, blonde brownies and all sorts of other snacks.
Kristian brought his potato gun and my sister's kids shot potatoes into the woods with a loud BOOM! They had lots of fun watching potatoes fly hundreds of feet.
And then it happened. Like a Biblical plague, the horseflies descended on us, swarming, stinging, harassing. Like ants at a picnic, they thought they were going to terrorize us into submission. But they were wrong. We fought back. Armed with fly-swatters and rolled up newspaper, we waged war. Slow progress at first. It seemed like if we killed one, three more would appear. The battle went on for 30 minutes or so.
At last we could visit and eat in peace. When I tell you we killed over a hundred horseflies, I'm not exaggerating. In fact, my sister swept them up and like hunters posing with their prey, we took a photo to capture the memories. Look at all the dead horseflies at our feet!
Visiting, laughing, eating crawfish and killing horseflies. Louisiana Saturday Night!
Here is Tricia's Mother's Day bench. She wanted this bench placed in this very spot so that she could sit in the shade, drink coffee and watch the garden. It is a peaceful spot, for sure. If you could add audio to this photo, it might not seem quite so peaceful. There's a goat that's not quite weaned that's hollering for a bottle, roosters are crowing, cows are mooing, dogs are barking. But you know what? It is still a peaceful, nice spot.
The garden looks nice from that serene, pastoral spot. But just beyond the picket fence, there's a sinister plot brewing. Annie, the Nubian goat, despite my best efforts at barricade building, has been successful in a scheme of craning her neck over the garden fence.
She's snipped off three branches of a Cherokee Purple tomato plant and devoured it! Annie's antics cost us in tomato production. I'll be fashioning yet another panel to thwart her from doing it again. You've always got to be thinking three steps ahead with these goats!
If we are successful keeping the goats out of the garden, we still have quite a time with worms and bugs. That's why I've started to pick our tomatoes when they just start to turn a pinkish color. I put them on a platter inside and let them ripen indoors.
The label you hear about "vine-ripened tomatoes" sounds great, but I've found that if you leave them to ripen on the vines, the bugs and worms (and goats) will get far more fruit than we will. Here's one of the culprits I'll introduce you to: The Stink Bug! It's called that because if you squash it, it emits a nasty odor that really stinks. These boogers will sting the tomato and cause scarring and discoloration. Bringing them inside before ripening betters your chances.
Let me introduce you to another villain: The leaf-footed bug. See him on top of the green tomato? He stings the tomato and causes scarring to the tomato. Secondary pathogens enter the opening in the fruit where the leaf-footed bug damaged it and causes the fruit to rot.
There are things to kill these bugs, perhaps, but we don't want to spray poison on the food we'll be eating. Harvesting early seems to be the trick.
Another thing we have to watch is growth spurts after rains. After a rain, and the sun warming things up, the tomato will grow so fast that it rips the skin open. The fruit grows so fast that the skin can't keep up. Look at an example of this below. Can you see the long cut? That's from rapid growth.
We're picking 8 to 10 tomatoes a day right now. They turn red quickly indoors and then those we don't eat or cook with, we put in the refrigerator. Pretty soon, we'll be canning them and drying them.
Today's post has nothing to do with gardening. Nothing to do with milking cows or dairy goats. Not a word about chickens. Most of our posts are about Biblical agrarianism - learning the 'old ways' while living in the modern world. I wouldn't call us preppers, although we grow food and raise animals for meat and dairy. For a long time we've strived to live contra mundum - against the world, in defiance of common opinion. At the end of this post on spring cleaning, I promise you that you will find that this post has a lot to do with surviving and thriving while living in post-modern times.
Spring Cleaning. Here's how it starts. At our church's monthly business meeting, a motion was made and seconded that we have a "work day" at church. The motion carried and we made a list of what needed to be done and what supplies we needed. On Saturday morning at 8 am sharp, pressure washers were fired up and all the bricks were washed. Dirt dobber nests were scoured off the building, along with spider webs, mildew and all sorts of other buildup.
The out-building that had a green-tint to it because of mildew, once again regained its tan color after power washing.
The music room was cleaned up.
The pews were polished so that the wood shined again.
As you might imagine, there was food involved. The BBQ pit was fired up at the same time the pressure washers were.
The drainage canal that runs along the back of the fellowship hall had grown up in willow trees. Coming from the north, you couldn't even see the church. We tackled that project with machetes, axes, and a chainsaw.
The washing and cleaning and chopping continued until we were checking the time to see when the food was ready.
Finally, there was only one tree remaining...
TIMBERRRRR.....
If a tree falls in a drainage canal and no one is there to hear it fall, does it make a sound? I don't know the answer to that., but we heard it fall and we also heard our stomachs growl. We were all hot, tired, sweaty, and hungry.
We were all done!
Inside, we were greeted with the fragrance of chicken, sausage, rice dressing and other delicious sides. You may not believe me, but I promise you I'm telling the truth. There was even a pot of squirrels cooked in a brown gravy. How many other churches serve squirrels at their fellowship meals? Delicious!! There was a coffee pot going and about nine different types of desserts. We asked God's blessing on the food, read some Scripture and began eating and visiting, laughing and smiling. It was a good day!
So now we are at the end of the post. I promised you that this post had a point, and here it is. We are members of a small country church. On a GOOD Sunday, there are 44 believers in attendance. Everyone knows everyone and if you miss a Sunday, people call to see if you're okay. If you are sick, you'll get food brought over. If you have a need, people call or text one another for prayer. After church on your way out, people bring produce from their gardens and other stuff to share. You may go home with some cabbage, or sweet corn, or squash, or purple hull peas, or a dozen eggs or some sweet dough pies. But we don't only eat good food, we feast of spiritual food from the Word of God. It is nourishing and edifying to the body and soul.
Right now in our world that's spinning out of control, people are stocking up on food, ammo, and other necessities in the even times get hard. That is, of course, wise. May I add to that some better advice? Get right with the Lord. Put your faith in Jesus and not in your own preparations. We can do nothing without Him. Find a small church community of likeminded believers who love Jesus and love one another and serve Him and each other. We were not created to be alone. God will never leave us or forsake us. When times get hard, it is vitally important to have family, friends and a community of believers to support, encourage, and assist each other. We will really miss out if we leave that important aspect out of our preparation plans.
