Canning Salsa

Yesterday my daughter in-law Casi and I decided to can some home made salsa using the ball blue book recipe for zesty salsa which can be found at

http://www.cookingcache.com/dips/zestysalsa.shtml?rdid=rc1

The actual recipe that we used had been adapted to go with the canning starter kit that I bought at Lowes and used approximately half of the ingredients listed here. In the future we will make at least the full recipe or even double the recipe and fill 1 Quart jars, these small jars will be gone in no time, we called these little jars personal salsa jars since one person can easily polish one off all by themselves. Next time we will may try some variations like adding Black Beans and Corn. The flavor is amazing and it was a very successful first canning attempt for my daughter in-law. This time we used all store bought ingredient but I cant wait to do this with some of my fall tomatoes and peppers from the garden.

100th blog post.

I just noticed that I had 99 posts so far so this post marks my 100th blog post.


When I started this blog it was because I was forced to be on bed rest after surgery and I have to laugh as I mark this occasion that I once again find myself on forced bed rest due to injury.


Today I looked at the tracker that I downloaded to this blog that shows where in the world the blog is being viewed from. It honestly is mind boggling to see people from everywhere and I do mean everywhere in the world reading about what goes on in my life and what I am doing on my humble little homestead. My kids and I were talking about all of the different countries represented as well as those from what looks like almost every state in the USA and once again we all had to concede that it is a small world and becoming ever smaller as we increase out ability to communicate effortlessly with people from around the globe.


To those of you that follow or simply stop in to visit my blog I want to say Thank You.
Thank you for the words of encouragement when things were rough, for the laughter when life is good, and for reaching out to let me know you understand my thoughts.
Thank you for sharing your lives with me through your blogs, pictures and videos, I feel blessed to have the ability to soak in the different cultures, different beliefs and words of wisdom, to see your successes, your failures, your heartache and joy and for being brave enough to allow others into your world day in and day out.

Unexpected Forced Vacation

On July 31st I got up and out early to beat the scorching heat and get in some riding time.

I saddled up my two mares, my paint mare Karma and the Welsh/Paint Pony mare Lily both pictured here both of whom tend to be a little high spirited and hard to handle. The paint mare and I usually come to a understanding pretty quickly, I have ridden her frequently and had some of my best moments on the trail with her. That morning however, was not so pleasant, both mares were not behaving well even as I saddled them. But,stubborn woman that I am, I rode them both but not without a great deal of head throwing, prancing around, kicking, some rearing up and generally just being difficult.

After my initial rides on both of them I decided to spend some time working with the paint mare Karma to get her to stand still while being mounted, usually I have to have someone hold her while I get on her so she does not run off before I am fully in the saddle. After a repeatedly making her come to a full stop in front of my mounting block I thought she was going to finally cooperate but alas I was terribly wrong. Just as I swung myself over the saddle to sit she decided to take off in a full canter before I could fully catch my balance and find my seat. She ran directly along side of the fence where if I did not raise my right leg it would have been caught. My right foot was not yet in the stirrup since I had not time to place it there and I am unsure looking back on the event if that foot being free was a blessing or a curse in any case as my right leg came up instinctively to avoid the fence my saddle slipped to the left and I knew at that moment I was coming off of the horse one way or another. I have no idea really what happened because it happened so quickly but in a matter of seconds I hit the ground and hit hard. I immediately knew I was hurt but was able to after catch my breath and with the help of my family get into the house. It wasn't long before I knew I needed to head to the emergency room. I had severe pain in my neck and in my rear end.

Long story short, I ended up with some bad whiplash and a broken sacral bone, which is basically my tail bone, the large bone in the back of your pelvis. The whiplash began to ease up after a week but the broken bone has forced me out of work since the event, with the hopes of going back to work after the 26th of Aug. Standing, sitting or bending are very painful with laying on one side or the other in bed being the only comfortable position I can find I am forced to get lots of greatly needed rest and lots of time to think and reflect on where my life is going. Boy is that a scary thing to face.

I have asked myself over and over what went wrong that day and a couple of things could possibly have influenced the events of the morning. Besides being horribly hot and humid for so early in the day, both mares had had their hooves trimmed the day before and even though I was riding on soft ground it's possible they had tender feet.

Additionally, in my repeated attempts at getting the mare to stand still at the mount I had neglected to re-check the cinch which had loosened too much something I usually am so careful to do. Also I believe my high strung mare was pretty agitated by my exercises with her which I failed to fully realize. In any case I did not win this battle with my horse, I did not show her who was in charge and I was not as careful as I should have been.

It will be a long time before I will be healed enough to ride again and I had to admit to myself that I definitely don't bounce as well as I did when I was younger. I will have to really evaluate how best to be safe when riding again and how best to find a way to make these mares safe to ride whether it be being sent to trainers or spending a lot more time with them myself. I can't bring myself to consider finding them new homes, I love them both so for now I will be considering my options.

As for my time off, it's unexpected, its financially challenging, but it's nice to be home.

The event has really made me stop and think about people who live with chronic pain or illness and given me a greater sense of compassion for them. I know that this accident could have been so much worse and I am so grateful that it was not.

First Blog Post from my Droid Phone

Just discovered the Blogger app for my phone that allows me to blog on the go.  Amazing what can be done from this thing. 

Drying Homegrown Herbs

I had forgotten to post this the day that I did this project back in July. I still have a hard time with the arrangement of photos in my blog posts. But you get the idea here.

I have had this Excalibur Dehydrator for 20 years, I bought it at a yard sale for next to nothing but have only used it a handful of times over the years. Hopefully, that infrequency is about to change. Today I picked some very overgrown Basil from my little herb box off the back porch, rinsed it in a colander and spread it out over two trays to dry. The pics show the before and after, as you can see a large amount of fresh herbs condenses down to a much smaller amount when dried. Yes, herbs are cheap, you can buy them for less than a dollar at the store but there is a real sense of satisfaction in cooking a meal seasoned with home grown spices.

I have a surplus of Thyme and Oregano to do next.

I don't have a book to go with the dehydrator but I am sure an Internet search will give me some ideas on how I can preserve some of the other garden surplus. Anyone have any success with dehydrating fruit? If so I would love to hear from you.

Still alive and kicking.

Dear blogging friends, I just want to say I am still alive and well. Life lately has really derailed my ability to blog and follow blogs. My family and I have been in transition again, as we neared the end of our one year lease we decided the place we were renting was not ideal for our large family.

Fortunately my daughter in law found an amazing home for us to rent on Craigslist. Five fenced acres with covered stalls for the horses, room for the dogs to run free, lots of gardening space and privacy out in the country. We are so much happier.

I will be relieved when all of the boxes are unpacked and we settle in better but if I have to rent I could not ask for a more ideal home. I could even have a dairy goat and a few chickens here.

I am very excited about what I will be able to do here.

We stubbornly moved every one of the big half barrel veggie plants we had going and we continue to get a steady supply of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and tomatillos which we don't quite know what to do with (they are extremely prolific). We also have eggplant and pumpkins coming along.

I am still working way too many hours but somehow I have managed to find a rhythm to it all and am making it work.

Summer came to Florida early this year and with a vengence, we have had consistent temps 95 to 100 degrees every day for about 2 weeks. We finally are beginning to get some regular rain, thank goodness because the whole place was beginning to look scorched.

So life goes on, I hope to catch up with your blogs and lives soon, I have missed my blogging pals,

Here's to a happy summer.

What kind of energy do you bring to the table?

I heard someone say "you and only you , are responsible for the energy you bring into the room". I really like that and hope to keep it in mind as I go through the day in and day out grind, but man my energy really needs some coffee.

Introducing Ashton

This little guy is my newest project, he is my first Angora Bunny, he is nine weeks old and my grandsons who name all of the animals are calling him Ashton, Ash for short. He will provide me with Angora fiber that I hope to learn to spin into yarn. I found a local woman who teaches spinning classes and how to dye the yarn and sells all of the tools for gleaning your own fiber. I am excited about this new endeavor. He came from a really nice young family who are just starting their rabbit business and they have handled him so much he practically leaps into my arms whenever I open his cage. I am in love.

Traumatic Day for Rocky

My baby is growing up. With my busy schedule I try to handle little Rocky as often as possible, including picking up his feet. Today I had the farrier add him to the hoof trim regimen that I have done on my horses every six weeks. He was not a happy boy. He fought with everything he had, but in the end it got done. He is a sweet horse and I continue to enjoy the him for the surprise gift he was to me. I won't begin to be able ride him for about two years, I hope that he will eventually become the replacement trail horse for my trusty old horse Red who is now 27 and just beginning to show signs of his age, he will be a hard horse to replace, hopefully with lots of love and careful training Rocky will fill his shoes someday.

Mini Tornado

Lots of rough storms blowing through here in Florida the past two days, was glad to be off work and hunkered down at home. Yesterday, a mini tornado blew all the tomatoes off the plants and some siding off of the house, snapped a little tree clean off like a match stick, but the family, horses, dogs and kitties are all fine and that's all that really matters. Hope you have sunny skies where you are.

Today is my one day off, but since I worked the last three nights I was so tired and slept all day, so now I'm up at 4 in the afternoon and it's morning to me. Sadly I have but 4 precious hours of daylight left to make the most of. Such is the life of the night shift worker.

The weather here in Florida has been beautiful, Monday my kids and I went on a spur of the moment camping trip, we packed up and went to a local campground called Rainbow Springs, we had such a good time but could only stay one night, we are anxious to find time to make a few more treks out before the heat and humidity gets too bad.
The past few weeks here have warm but without the humidity that plagues us later in the year so we have been spending lots of time outside. My lovely daughter in law Casi has been bitten by the gardening bug, thank goodness someone else in my family sees the value in growing your own food.

Together we have begun to formulate a plan to begin building on the Urban Homestead idea here in our new home in the suburbs. So far we have planted two 4x6 raised beds with cucumbers,bush beans, bell peppers, yellow crookneck squash, zucchini and egg plant, our next project will be to fill a several half barrels salvaged from all my old farm with pepper and tomato plants.

I recently taught myself how to knit from a You tube video, it was much easier then I thought, however the price of yarn is outrageous so lately I have been thinking about Angora Rabbits for fiber which of course would mean I would have to learn to card and spin the fiber into yarn. Has anyone ever read the children's book "If you give a mouse a cookie"? I seem to keep going there.