preservationista
- Catching Up, family, Gold Country, History, House, preservationista, renovations, This Old House, Uncategorized
Living History
We’ve been in the 1880s house for a little over a year now, and have gotten to know her creaks and groans. We lost a housecleaner who felt a ghostly presence in the upstairs bedroom. I’ve found hundreds of pennies in the dirt and grounds, mementos perhaps of the previous owner, Penny, who passed away just as we were taking possession of the house. We have been visited by neighbors who have rejoiced at the resurrection of this old house, from its decrepitude to its new life as our home. And we have lived through a year in real seasons, with snow, heat, power outage, wildfire, and autumn colors. We…
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not ready for prime time
Working on my challenges this week has kept me busy. Want the deets? Read on… 1) FYI, don’t put nonrechargable batteries into a recharger. They blow up. This happened a few minutes ago and we then had a nasty battery acid spill to clean up. It was my fault — I’ve been hounding the corps about recharge the batteries! I stuck them in there but apparently didn’t realize. I just stuffed them in. Oops. Sorry. Mr. Husband not amused. 2) We are coasting toward payday and I’m sticking to my no-shopping-til-payday mini-challenge, because we had so much leftover holiday foodstuffs that I couldn’t see the back of the fridge. I’ve spent a few…
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keeping track
This is a year of keeping records on what we’re growing, how much we’ve produced, where we’re saving and how we’re getting out of debt. I’ve been doing all these things for a while but now I’m actually tracking them. And you, Dear Reader, will get to follow along as I pinch pennies, pick up grains of rice and glean fallen apples. Doesn’t that sound enticing? Well — trust me. I’m excited about it. I hate to call them resolutions, although I’ve resolved to live this way. These are more like over-all goals and ways of being. Being rather than doing. A context rather than a rule. So here are…
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playing with my food
Garden gone wild! I’ve been experimenting with cucumbers and zucchini all day, trying to figure out how to preserve the bounty of these tasty veggies — well, they’re really fruit — in different ways. Why? Because we eat only seasonal, locally grown produce. So when there are no cucumbers in my backyard and none at the farmers’ market, there are none on the table. So that means at least six months a year without cucumbers. I love cucumbers. Cool, neither sweet nor sour, they are one of the most refreshing things I can think of to eat raw, out of hand like an apple, in a salad, with dip. Love…
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and now, pickles
While we were out…the cukes and zukes went crazy. I knew they would. The tomatoes are conspiring to be right behind. But I’ve counted all my jars and it looks like time to pickle. Today: “Sandwich stackers,” they call them at Vlasic. Gonna slice those cucumbers lengthwise and fill two 1/2 gallon jars with refrigerator pickles. I would attempt to seal these jars for shelf-life, but I don’t have a pot large enough for a full water bath. Actually, I do — that’s a fib — but I’m scared to use it. It’s called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and it’s my ginormous pressure cooker [shudders]. Before Cucumbers from the garden.…
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