End of Season Ramblings

We've decided we won't be opening at the farm in October. We will continue to go to Lomax on Wednesday evenings and if anyone wants anything, I'm making deliveries to Nauvoo on Mondays around the noon hour.

I've been letting Grampa Tom go to most of the markets by himself so I could get stuff done  before he went into the fields.

Here's an old trike that I planted in my new peppermint patch. That thing has been driving me nuts! It doesn't work, but every child who comes here insists on riding it. Grampa Tom has been saying he was going to scrap it out for years now. There comes a time when a girl just has to take matters into her own hands! Can't wait till next year when I can sit some flowers on it :)

And I've been piddling around the house. Actually found my living room and kitchen. Now I have to organize the disaster that is my store room that has spilled over and taken possession of the grandkids bedroom as well.  Normally, I keep the kids room accessible, but when we had to rearrange the entire house to get the hospital bed in, everything got shoved in there and it has been accumulating :(

I've been harvesting and drying quite a few herbs.

This is my stevia. Yes that is a shower curtain. Don't worry. That bathroom hasn't worked since the pipes broke when we were pretending to be snowbirds several years ago. It's mostly just and extra storage closet now.

Stevia doesn't put out a great deal of fragrance, but this holy basil has the whole house smelling wonderful! Yes, I know, some of it has flowered. I like the flowers. They are pretty and they taste good! I'm betting they will make an awesome oil as well.

I've been experimenting with making massage oils with my herbs and olive oil. So far, I've been very pleased with the results. Our friend David heard about what I was doing and offered me several thousand little spray bottles to package them in. That should do me for quite a while :)

This week's goals: Start teaching/babysitting my grandkids. I'll try to post some of our activities on my Almost Unschooling Grama blog, pull a ton of weeds, pick my dried beans, dig more potatoes (still have several rows), study more on how to be professional about this blogging thing (I feel like a kindergartner who only knows how to count to 3), straighten the store room and kids room, build a fence around the new garden space I am making south of the deck, bring home more clay blocks from the neighbor's house ... yeah, that's how I roll ...

God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue

Pumpkins?

Look at my pumpkin haul!

Oh wait a minute, they aren't actually pumpkins ;)

They are actually miniature Japanese eggplants! These cute little pumpkins ... egg plants are sliced and used in Japanese stir fries, but most folks here use them for fall decorations. You will probably find them in a seed catalog as pumpkin on a stick. They dry very nicely and last a long time.

We have them at the farm this week: a pint box for $1 or we can go out and cut you a fresh stick with pumpkins attached for $1.

God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue 

Rope Swing Challenge

Take the rope swing challenge! Come see me this week, swing on the rope swing (or just stand by it and look cute), let me take a picture for my FB page and I'll give 10% of your purchase to the Nauvoo Food Pantry! Thursday - Saturday 9-5

Bonus! Mom and I are having a yard sale too! Go to my yard sale page on Facebook for pictures of some of the stuff we have for sale. We ran out of room, but we'll put more out as we have table space! We've only just begun to tap the vast depths of our treasuries ;)

On the menu: eggs, pumpkins, kale, chard, radishes, tomatoes, acorn, spaghetti, butternut and patty pan squash, aloe plants, egg plant, jams and jellies, apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, basil, sage, tarragon, thyme, rosemary, chives, oregano, cockscomb ... probably for getting quite a bit as usual :)


God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue

Signs Done and Out!

They are done!  But not without peril to life and limb :( Yesterday, Grampa Tom had to go to Carthage. I really wanted to get these signs done and I was afraid he'd get home just in time to take off again, so I decided to try to get them down myself.

This is where they were:

Up above that door in the rafters of the garage.

And this is what was below, 'cept for a whole lot more junk. I had to move a bunch just to get the ladder in.

I got a couple of the smaller signs down with great difficulty and then decided I probably ought to tackle it from the other direction. As I took a step down, the ladder slipped out from underneath me. I grabbed the rafters and found myself hanging there yelling "Help!" Then it occurred to me that the only other people on the property were deaf and probably inside.

That wasn't going to work. I thought about just letting go, but the ladder was underneath me and there was no way I could do that without risking impaling myself on the various pieces of junk and metal surrounding it.




My life flashed before my eyes. At least the long forgotten parts about how bad I was at monkey bars 45 years ago.



A word fell out of my mouth that shouldn't have. Instantly I was convicted.


Once, years ago, I found myself driving a truck that was spinning out of control on the ice. Same thing happened. I thought to myself, "Now that was pretty stupid!" and decided to yell "Jesus" instead. The truck stopped instantly.


So, as I hung there, I basically had two choices. Hold on til Grampa Tom got home, or do something. I prayed, "Holy Spirit, help me!" and decided to let go with one hand and try to swing over to the sink. Don't know how, but I made it.

Needless to say, I waited till Grampa Tom got home to get the rest.

Fear and impatience will make you do stupid things, but yesterday, God was merciful to me :) And by the time you read this, the signs ought to be from the highway to here so a few more people can find us!

God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue

Fresh Produce Just Outside of Nauvoo

Goals for this week: MAKE SIGNS! Have yard sale.

I know, I know, it's the middle of September and I'm just now getting around to making signs? Yeah. Disgusting isn't it? But I'm done with the markets. Grampa Tom will be going to Burlington, Lomax and Keokuk this week, but I'm staying home.

This morning I have the produce tables set up. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have signs made and be able to start putting our our hoarded treasures :)

This week we have mums, hot peppers, Japanese egg plant (cute little things that look like miniature pumpkins), potatoes, tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, concord grapes, zucchini, radishes, patty pan, acorn, butternut and spaghetti squash, egg plant, kale, chard, basil, oregano, rosemary, stevia, sage, thyme, chives, tarragon, apple butter, raspberry, strawberry and peach jam ... of course I've forgotten some stuff ;)

Directions to the farm: Go to the Nauvoo-Colusa Jr. High. Turn east on the Colusa Road. Go ½ mile. Turn north on county road 1050 E. Go ¾ mile. The Whitson compound is on the east side – a white house and a single wide trailer. We are in the trailer. The goodies are set up in the carport beside Grampa Tom's folks in the white house :)

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue 

Thanking God for the Weeds!

After the 5 beautiful inches of rain we got last night, I decided to play hookey from the market so I could tackle this:

Last week when it rained a bit, I discovered that I still had strawberries in the Trinity garden, but  most of the bigger weeds were just too hard to pull. Several spots on our farm look like this right now because we haven't had anyone who could run the rototiller and I just haven't had time to pull them all by hand. I'm not fretting over it though. I'm thanking God for the weeds.

When I was a young bride, Grampa Tom's work took us out in the boonies. I was pregnant and the closest jobs were about an hour away, so we settled on me being a stay-at-home mom. After the baby was born, I grew bored, so I decided to read the Old Testament. At the same time this townie girl was learning a whole lot about agriculture. One of the things that really fascinated me was the practice of Shemitah. Several great things happened once every seven years. The one thing that peaked my interest was that the Israelites were instructed to let their ground lay fallow during the Shemitah year. They didn't plant, they didn't plow and they didn't weed. In this way, the ground was replenished and fertilized. I thought that was amazing :)

With the availability of fertilizers today, we really don't need to do this, but back then it was vital. I'm considering this something of a Shemitah year for my ground. The bigger gardens will have the weeds plowed under and I am using the weeds from the smaller gardens to fill my huglekulture dog house garden! After last night's rain, it really needed some more weeds!

So tonight, the Trinity garden looks like this:

and the huglekulture dog house looks like this!

Thank You LORD for the weeds!

Hope Grampa Tom had a good night at the market :)

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Watermelon Cubes

Grampa Tom and I love watermelon, but let's face it, unless you get one that's really tiny, it's hard for a two person household to devour one before it gets bad. We've had one in the fridge that I've been avoiding cutting into for just that reason, but today was a rainy day. Since I can't do much outside, I thought we'd enjoy some watermelon and make the rest into watermelon cubes to give the kids for treats this winter when the only watermelons available are those tasteless, mushy things from Mexico.

I like nice big juicy seeded watermelons. You could choose an unseeded one, but seeded watermelons are so much sweeter and I think you'd probably want to remove the white seeds anyway because they probably wouldn't puree very well.

 

To remove the seeds, I cut very thin slices and used a fork to poke them out.

 

I removed the rind and pureed the meat of the melon. I used a wand, but you could use a blender or a food processor.

 

You could use popcicle forms or small paper cups, but the grandkids that  frequent here most are pretty little and probably wouldn't finish anything much bigger so I poured it into ice cube trays and froze it. (In some of these pictures, the melon looks kinda orange, but I assure you, it was a beautiful red!)

Once frozen, pop them out and put into baggies!

It's a little bit of work, but the smiles I get paid for it will be well worth it!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Chicken Deterent FAIL

Went out to check on my booby trapped lettuce today. Plastic forks may work for cats, but chickens just don't care!

Myth BUSTED!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Chicken Booby Traps

Went out to cut lettuce the other day and this is what I found! 

Grrrrr ... DURN chickens!

Decided to booby trap what was left of my crop with plastic forks. Got the idea a few days ago from Listotic's website, which I promptly pinned! If this works, I'm buying a lot more plastic forks :)

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Full Tables ... So Much More to Pick!

The tables are already full and we have a bunch left to pick! Grandma Whitson is out picking green beans right now, Grampa Tom is picking currant tomatoes and egg plant. I need to pick radishes, lettuce, some more herbs and I don't know what all else! Only about 3 weeks left of this zoom, zoom, zoom and then on to the fall season of zoom, zoom, zoom!

Starting the week of the 14th, I plan to shift to mostly at home sales. Grandma Whitson and I really need to have a colossal yard sale, so we are planning on turning the carport into a big yard sale the last two weeks in September. I will still have veggies here so people who come will have a double treat in addition to the opportunity to play on the rope swing ;)

Today's menu: tomatoes, sweet corn, sweet onions, cabbage, radishes, new potatoes, green beans, peaches, beets, chard, kale, lettuce, acorn, turban, butternut and spaghetti squash, basil, tarragon, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, (Are you singing yet?) oregano ... lots more, I need to get out picking. Maybe I'll edit this later if I have time.

We'll be at the farm till one, then Grampa Tom will be headed to Lomax to take over for David at the Painted  Corners while I head to Burlington to take eggs to the Agency Hy-Vee and do the Riverfront market at the Port from 5-7pm.

Directions to the farm:

Go to the Nauvoo-Colusa Jr. High. Turn east on the Colusa Road. Go ½ mile. Turn north on county road 1050 E. Go ¾ mile. The Whitson compound is on the east side – a white house and a single wide trailer. We are in the trailer. The goodies are set up in the carport beside Grampa Tom's folks in the white house :)

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue 

Spaghetti Squash Anyone?

This spring I put in a bunch of acorn squash. This is what I got:

But, I think God knew what He was doing. I would never have found acorn squash :)

Thanking God for the weeds anyway! In the Old Testament, the people were instructed to let their land lay fallow every 7 years. This is how the land was fertilized. There's a lot of free fertilizer out there this year :)

God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue

State of the Business Report

Good morning folks! We are open at home and ready for business! 

This morning I decided to do a comparison from this year to last of our business records for the farmer's markets. We actually are about $1000 over last year in sales compared to this time last year!


Praise the LORD!

God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue

It's Sunshiny in the Carport! - Menu Update

 
Would you look at all these beautiful colors? And I'm so organized this morning! Got everything out but the kale, chard and herbs. I wait as late as I can to cut those so they are as fresh as possible. I'll be out there during let ups in the rain to get those this morning.

So whats on the line up today? Tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, green peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers, beets, watermelon, peaches, new potatoes, zucchini, spaghetti squash, spazhini squash, blackberries, peas, egg plant, sweet onions, basil, tarragon, Greek and Italian oregano, sage, parsley, thyme, dill, peppermint ... possibly spearmint and rosemary ... aloe and lemon balm plants ... of course I've forgotten something ;)

Hopefully this weekend we will have sweet corn, acorn squash, peaches and other goodies. Check out my Facebook page for daily updates and more pictures!

We will be open at the farm Wed-Fri from 9am-1pm, at the Painted Corners in Lomax from 3-7pm Wed-Fri and 9-1 Saturday, and we will be at the Port in Burlington from 5-7pm and at the Keokuk mall from 7-11am on Sat morning

Directions to the farm:

Go to the Nauvoo-Colusa Jr. High. Turn east on the Colusa Road. Go ½ mile. Turn north on county road 1050 E. Go ¾ mile. The Whitson compound is on the east side – a white house and a single wide trailer. We are in the trailer. Grampa Tom's folks are in the white house :)

God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue

Under Cover Produce - Click to See What We Have!

Well, after last week's torrential rains on Friday, I finally bit the bullet and asked my in-laws if I could use a part of their carport to set up in. They of course said yes because they love me! I thought about setting up in the yard again today, but in the carport I don't have to chase the shade and that sounds good to me.

This week we have: red and white sweet candy onions, cabbage, tomatoes, kohlrabi, kale, chard, black berries,  zucchini, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, egg plant, new potatoes, green beans, carrots, peas (yes, it's July 30th and we are picking peas), jams and jellies, cilantro, basil, dill, sage, tarragon, oregano, parsley, thyme... there's always something I've forgotten. We have a few ears of shucked sweet corn today. Tomorrow we will have lots more sweet corn and some really good mini cantaloupes that have almost paper thin rinds. Friday we should have peaches, bigger cantaloupe and watermelon.

Stop by the farm from 9-1 today through Friday or by the Painted Corners on 96 across from the Pink in Lomax from 3-7 today through Friday and on Saturday from 9-2 or at the Burlington market in Crapo Park Thursday evening from 5-7 or at the Keokuk mall Saturday morning from 7-11.

 Directions to the farm: 

Go to the Nauvoo-Colusa Jr. High. Turn east on the Colusa Road. Go ½ mile. Turn north on county road 1050 E. Go ¾ mile. The Whitson compound is on the east side – a white house and a single wide trailer. We are in the trailer. Grampa Tom's folks are in the white house :)

 

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue 

Rhubarb, Comfrey and More

There's lots of rhubarb and comfrey in this garden. Rhubarb for a spring crop and comfrey for my chickens and some salves I want to try. Planted lots of flowers to hold the spaces until they take over.  Thank you to my sis and her hubby who helped me dig it and to my neighbor who gave me the comfrey :)

This Weeks Goodies!

We're running a little late here today folks! It was so hot yesterday that I thought it would be better just to pick this morning and if anyone wanted something I didn't have yet, I'd just go out and pick it while they waited.

 There's still a few things we need to get out there yet, but here's the line up: peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, new potatoes, green beans, kohlrabi, radishes carrots, cilantro, basil, dill, sage, tarragon, oregano, parsley, thyme... there's always something I've forgotten ... oh yeah! Peas! Can you believe it? It's the 23rd of July and we are picking peas! We'll have sweet corn this evening.

We're open at the farm Wednesday through Friday from 9am -1pm. At the Painted Corners in Lomax from 3-7 Wednesday through Friday and on Saturday morning from 9-2. We also go to the Burlington market on Thursday evening and to the Keokuk market on Saturday mornings.

Directions to the farm: 

Go to the Nauvoo-Colusa Jr. High. Turn east on the Colusa Road. Go ½ mile. Turn north on county road 1050 E. Go ¾ mile. The Whitson compound is on the east side – a white house and a single wide trailer. We are in the trailer. Grampa Tom's folks are in the white house :)

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue 

Blackberries are coming!

Had two of these beauties today! For a while there we thought the cold winter had probably put us out of the blackberry business this year, but they are coming on strong!

Menu Update

Woo hoo! We should have sweet corn, red raspberries,cantaloupe, watermelon and peaches tomorrow up at Lomax from 3-7 and here Wednesday morning from 9-1! Other possibilities include: radishes, new potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, dill,  kohlrabi, turnips, green beans, cilantro, beets, tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, basil, tarragon, oregano, chives, sage, thyme, spearmint, peppermint, cut flowers, aloe and lemon balm plants ... probably a whole lot more!

If you come out to the farm, tell me you saw this post and we'll give you $2 off any purchase of $5 or more this week. Only one discount per customer please!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Nettles

Stinging Nettle is an herb that grows wild all over the place. A while back, I had the opportunity to go to a wild foods class. There I learned about how to identify stinging nettles. I had heard about this herb before, so I went out and found some to transplant to my garden.

The leaves have one of the highest protein contents of any plant. Back in WWII, when meat was rationed, people would use it in all kinds of things to up the protein content.

From what I understand it is a jack-of-all trades when it comes to medicinal uses. Some common uses are: arthritis, an herbal treatment for allergies, relieves hair loss, treats Celiac disease, bleeding, bladder infections, skin complaints, neurological disorders and a long list of other conditions.

I grind it in a coffee grinder and put it in capsules to take as a supplement. I also use the leaves in soups or to make tea.

There is quite a list of drug interactions so if you want to use it, do your research. I'm not a doctor :) It is a diuretic and can affect blood sugar and blood pressure. Be careful!

The fresh leaves and stems can sting you so I only sell the dried form.

Our chickens love dried nettles. Not sure about fresh ones. Occasionally our flock gets a “cold”. Usually if this happens, they drop production for a few weeks. Sometimes they even go into a molt.

This spring when they started to sneeze, I put some dried nettles in a pillow case and stuck it in their water. Within a couple of days the sneezing and coughing had stopped and the egg production was better than normal.

It's a pain to harvest (quite literally), but we have decided we need to grow a whole lot more of this gem :)

Have you learned something? One wonderful life rule is : "Learn something every day." It's a good rule. If you have, you can go back to bed now :)

Summer's Here! Menu Update

The gardens are really starting to produce! Come see us for all your holiday veggie needs.

Menu Possibilities
(while supplies last)

Grama Sue's pasture raised rainbow eggs
Strawberry jam
Raspberry jam
Apple butter

Your Daily 5
Radishes
Kale
Chard
Red Onions
Sugar Snap Peas
Beets
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Cabbage
Kohlrabi
Carrots
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Green onion
Cucumber
Peaches
Turnips

Later in the week we may have:

Sweet Corn
Peaches
and Melons

In the herb department we should have:
Greek and Italian Oregano
Sage
Dill
Thyme
Chives
Cilantro (Dried only)
Tarragon
Basil
and Parsley








Come get some good eats!

God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue

Menu Update

Aren't they cute? Grampa Tom had a fit. He thought I was planting his boots. The one with the strings is his boot, but it's an old one that I stuck away in the store room a couple of years ago when I first saw this project on Pinterest :) I'm asking $10/boot!

So this week we hope to have:
Grama Sues Pasture Raised Rainbow Eggs
Radishes
Kale
Chard
Red Onions
Sugar Snap Peas
Beets
Zucchni
Cucumbers
Cabbage
Kohlrabi
Carrots
Broccoli

We may be able to bring in some:
Tomatoes
Sweet Corn
Peaches and Melons

In the herb department we should have:
Greek and Italian Oregano
Sage
Dill
Thyme
Chives
Cilantro (Dried only)
Tarragon
Basil and Parsley

Come get some good eats!

God Bless You All!
~Grama Sue

This Week's Menu Possibilites

 While supplies last!

Grama Sue's Pasture Raised Rainbow Eggs
Salad Mix
Tomatoes (only available Fri. and Sat.)
Radishes
Kale
Chard
Green Onions
Rhubarb
Beets
Kohlrabi
Peaches
Broccoli
Strawberries
Turnips
Peas

This Week's Menu Possibilities

Grama Sue's Pasture Raised Rainbow Eggs
Spinach
Salad Mix
Tomatoes (only available Fri. and Sat.)
Radishes
Kale
Strawberries
Chard
Green Onions
Asparagus
Rhubarb
Cucumbers
Beets
Kohlrabi
Peaches
Sugar Snap Peas
Sage
Greek and Italian Oregano
Dill
Thyme
Chives
Cilantro
Dried Gourds
Blown Eggs
Plants:
   Aloe
   Calencula
   Lemon Balm
   Pumpkin on a Stick
   Hanging Flowers

Update on Grampa Tom

Life has been crazy busy with Grampa Tom down. Hate to be so MIA from this blog, but it's kinda low on the priority list right now :(  I am going to try to  post a list of menu possibilities once a week for anyone who might want us to deliver to their home.

Grampa Tom is slowly recovering. He had a set back with some infection in the incisions on his legs, but hopefully in a couple of weeks that will all be healed up.

He started cardiac rehab last week. His blood pressure has been really good since the surgery, but when he started the rehab, it shot way up. Don't know why that is, but they put him on some blood pressure meds and it is back down. The meds really knocked him out the first day. He seems to be adjusting to them now, although he tires really easily.

He is able to wash eggs and do some little things around the house. Can't wait till he can haul the 50# feed bags out to the chickens again! I am getting pretty strong though, I should probably keep doing it  :)

We have been so blessed by people who have stepped up to help. Several people have come to help plant and weed the gardens, lots of people have given money to help us through this difficult time and even more people have held us up in prayer!

Job 14:7 “For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that its tender shoots will not cease.

Grampa Tom may have been cut down, but a sapling that comes from a tree that has been cut down is often stronger than the original tree because of the large root supporting it. We are fortunate to have strong roots in God, in our family and in our community! Thank you for all you have done!

Hugelkultur Dog House

Since Grampa Tom was laid up, so many people have stepped forward to help us out. We are overwhelmed! Yesterday, my sister and brother-in-law from Waterloo came down to help with the garden. The big row gardens were too wet to work in, but it was a perfect day to rip sod and work on my hugelkultur dog house.

Hugelkultur is a raised bed garden style that was developed in Eastern Europe. The base of the garden is a wood pile covered with sod and compost. This type of bed has all the advantages of a regular raised bed plus! It creates more planting space because you can plant vertically as well as horizontally and the wood acts a sponge and long term fertilizer so you don't have to water or fertilize as much.

Most hugelkutures are built as 6-7 foot x 4-5 foot mounds with large logs at the base. My basic aim with this project was to build a nice warm dog house with a garden around it so I started with some pallets on the inside and then I stacked blocks around that to make nice dry walls.

Then I started building the garden beds.

 

I put up pallets and lined them with straw from my giant feather grass clump and paper feed bags to keep the dirt in. Then, I filled the beds with logs and twigs along with sod from the new garden bed.

I have been working on this for a few weeks now here and there so I had the walls about half way finished before my sister and her hubby showed up yesterday. It had taken me a long time, so I thought maybe we might get the walls to the 3/4 mark, but amazingly we got all the walls up, packed with wood and sod! It must have been Grampa Tom and my dog's expert supervision! Not really ;) Sharon and Clark worked their tails off!

We now have a large flower/herb bed on the corner of my in-laws drive way.

and some nicely filled hugelkultur walls!

The dog house still needs a roof. I'm planning on stuffing Saran wrapped pallets with packing peanuts and scrap styrofoam and wiring them to the top. I will top them with a large sheet of plastic or some tar paper and put some tin on top of that. The wood, dirt and sod that we put in will settle, probably by about a third, so I'm planning to keep filling the beds with yard waste and compost this summer.

 

TA-DA!!!! It doesn't look like much this year, but next year I hope to fill it with petunias tomatoes and gourds. Can't wait!
Tomorrow we are planning to tackle the big row gardens. We have some people coming to help and Grampa Tom is looking forward to his short stint of pure management :)


God Bless You All!

Grama Sue

Quincy Blessing Hospital

What do you see in this picture? A rock covered roof-top? Not me! I see an awesome space for greenhouses and container gardens :) Blessing hospital in Quincy, IL has lots of roof top space like this. 

Grampa Tom wound up there last week needing emergency open heart surgery. The whole place was terrific! The doctors knew what they were doing. The nurses, therapists and aides work their tails off! The social worker and financial counselor were incredibly helpful. They had a dark, quiet room for me to sleep in the night after his surgery and a very reasonable hospitality house across the road where I could get a shower, wash clothes, fix a meal and sleep for the rest of his stay. The food was even good! 

Yep, the only improvement I could suggest would be to improve the scenery a little with some roof top gardens. Perhaps the master gardeners program that works out of Quincy could make this a project. Not only would it give patients something beautiful to look at, but they could produce a good deal of the fresh veggies for the hospital.

Lemon Balm

This patch of lemon balm is going to be torn out this year. Grampa Tom and I use so much lemon balm during the summer that I thought I needed another bed, but I've got so many little patches turning up here and there that I've decided this space would be better used as a parsley patch.

I usually don't bring cut lemon balm to the markets because it wilts to quickly, but I'm planning to put this bed in pots to bring all summer long so my customers can grow it too. Lemon balm needs full sun to produce to it's full potential, but like any plant in the mint family, it can survive just fine in partial shade. Be careful where you put it though! It's a weed. It spreads by the roots as well as by seed. To keep it contained, you should put some sort of a boarder around it and keep it cut so it doesn't flower.

We use lemon balm on a daily basis during the summer when it is abundant. I even bring a pot of it in during the winter. Lemon balm makes a wonderful tea. We mix it with the green tea that we make into iced tea. It is also great in salads, soups or on sandwiches.


It's great for any type of skin irritant, bee stings, bug bites, rashes, cold sores ... just rub the leaves on the affected area. Lemon balm has been shown to have anti-viral qualities. Citral (the chemical that creates the lemon smell) has been shown to cause cancer cells to self-destruct.


Got a toothache? Put a few leaves between the affected tooth and your cheek. The pain will start to subside within a few minutes :)


I make a tincture of it to use on mouth sores during the winter, and I'm experimenting with making lotions, creams and salves with it. Haven't got that one down yet - still in product development (shhh... That means I haven't gotten around to finishing what I started.)


It's also reported to be good for anxiety, insomnia, colic and upset tummies. It is even been proven to help Alzheimer's patients be less agitated.


Lemon balm also seems to be a pretty safe herb to use. The only warnings I can find about it are cautions when using with sedatives. Lemon balm can increase the potency of these drugs.



Our chickens love it. They always keep any stems that try to escape the garden trimmed back well. I try to dry some every summer to give them a treat during the winter :) Dried lemon balm looses it's scent quickly, but if you put it in the freezer it keeps pretty well.
So be looking for it when you come see me!


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue 

Alternative Health - Asthma Gone!

Yesterday, I did some pretty heavy duty cleaning and I didn't have to take any asthma meds! I'm not sure exactly what I am doing right, but I thought I'd share my supplement and oil routines. Maybe someone else might be helped.

Morning: chromium, garlic with parsley, a B complex, a pro-biotic, magnesium, hawthorn, ginkgo, cranberry, stinging nettles, ground egg shell capsule, and during the winter, vitamin D3

Evening: magnesium, selenium, ginger, zinc, hawthorn, garlic with parsley, cranberry, nettles and 2 ground egg shell capsules

I grow and pack the egg shell  and nettles capsules myself. I'm working on being able to produce my own ginger and may try to put some garlic and parsley together in a capsule sometime this summer. Not to sure about that though. I think the gel caps that I currently use from Puritan's Pride are odorless because of the combination, but I'm not sure if that is really the case or if they do something else to the garlic.

The ginger is a fairly recent addition. I bought a bottle a while back, but it made my stomach burn so I quit taking it. Then this winter, I decided to try it again, but make sure my stomach had plenty of food both before and after the capsule. That worked and I suspect it may be a major factor, because ginger is known to reduce inflammation.

I used to take 1000 mg omega 3  and 1000 mg evening primrose 3 times a day for my joints, but I have found that if I eat plenty of tree nuts every day, I can do without those, so I make my own trial mix out of several different types of nuts and dried fruits. I eat about a cupful a day. Lots of calories, but when you work like I do, that's not a big problem. I am also of the opinion that middle aged women need a good amount of fat on them to keep their bones strong anyway.

The other thing I think might be a major factor in the asthma issue is the oil routine I have developed. Last winter, I read somewhere that doctors are having some success treating back pain by putting people on anti-biotics for 100 days. Seems that sometimes bulging discs are caused by a bacterial infection such as pneumonia or a skin infection that somehow traveled to the spine and lodged there. This made sense to me, so I thought, "If I rub oils on my spine every day for a year, maybe the problem spots would heal up. So I ordered a back roller from a guy I "met" on a Young Living Face Book group and mixed up a concoction I thought might be helpful.

Last fall, I had stuffed a jar full of rosemary and lemon balm and covered it with olive oil, so I decided to use this as my base oil. I took an empty essential oil bottle and put a dropper full each of Thieves oil, melaleuca, and oregano from Young Living in it. Then I filled it with my homemade rosemary/lemon balm oil. I topped it off with a roller ball and twisted it into my back roller.

I've been using this for a couple of months now in the morning and before bedtime. I really think it is helping my back. The pain isn't gone yet, but I seem to be stronger! Chiropractors say that asthma can often be cured if the back is aligned correctly. I don't have the time or the money to go to doctors much, but maybe this is healing my back enough to kick the asthma :)

If you'd like to order or become a distributor, go to my website. https://www.youngliving.org/gramasues

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Raised Beds Officially Planted

 
The last few days have been really busy with filling and planting all the raised beds. We have potatoes, spinach, radishes, lettuce, chard, carrots, kohlrabi, kale, onions and cilantro planted. I am hoping to get a bed of parsley planted tonight or tomorrow. Grampa Tom is out hauling corn to town for the next couple of days and then he'll be in the fields so I'll probably need to do most of  the rest of the planting. I don't mind. It feels so good to dig in the dirt! I'm sore, but it's a good sore and I feel stronger every day!

Only thing is, I've decided I need about 10 times the raised beds we have now. That is going to be my major project this summer. I've got one started that is going to be an earth bermed dog house/raised bed huglekulture garden. I'll be posting about that when I've got it built.

I'm so glad I don't have to work inside all day every day!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

To Reinvent the Wheel

A while back, I was telling a friend that I would like to build a top bar bee hive. He didn't know what that was, so I described it to him. He  asked, "Sue, why do you always have to reinvent the wheel?" So, I went on to tell him about the difficulty I have handling the weight of regular hives.

Grampa Tom often makes the comment that I "always do things the hard way", but I just can't do things the way he does them. I can't just see or hear something and remember it. I have to use memory tricks or I don't remember. I can't throw a shovel full of dirt 16 feet, so I shovel the dirt into the garden in one place and then I use the rake to spread it out. I'm likely to do things backwards and then have to go back and straighten it out of make adjustments.

I am only 5' 4", I've always had memory issues. I'm spacially challenged and slightly dyslexic. And even though (for a woman) I have a large rib cage and shoulders, I've never had even half as much upper body strength as a typical woman. Seriously, I know how to change a tire, but I can't physically do it! One of Grampa Tom's favorite memories of when we were first dating is when he ran across me literally jumping up and down on a jack trying to get the lug nuts loose! He laughs about that every time he tells the story! I was so glad to see him drive up in his white truck like the hero he became that day! He whipped those babies right off and changed my tire in no time.

But I regress ... Guys, and everyone else who looks at the crazy things I do and wonders why I am always trying to reinvent the wheel, the reason is: Your wheel is just too darn big!  Either help me or I'll figure out some other way to get it done!

Rant over :)

God  Bless You All!


Grama Sue

Raised Beds

Finally got Grampa Tom to let me fill the block beds with real dirt! We've had potting soil in them for years. The stuff is wonderful to work in, but the stuff is $$$expensive$$$, and it needs a lot of water. We had a 2 year old compost pile that was free and needing a home. Best possible dirt you could ever find!

Got some radishes, lettuce, peas, spinach, black berries and chard planted today. I am sore and tired, but we should have something come market time! We should have rhubarb too. We have a good friend who has some greenhouses who told us he would sell us anything we need to fill in the empty spaces. He says he will have lots of strawberries and he even has tomatoes that are blooming.

It's been a long cold winter. I'm really sore, but it's a good sore. I have to take care of a handicapped lady tomorrow. Good thing, I need a day of rest :)

God Bless You All!

Grama Sue

Stevia

Stevia is a sub-tropical to tropical plant who's leaves are much sweeter than sugar. . Different plants have different levels of sweetness and there are even differences on the same plant from cutting to cutting so using home grown stevia can be a bit of a challenge, but the rewards are well worth it.  

Studies done on this plant suggest that the compounds in the whole leaf have anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-diarrheal, diuretic, and immunomodulatory actions. Most stevia found in stores contains only the stevioside compound that gives the leaf it's sweet taste. The other compounds in the leaf are those that do these jobs. What's really interesting about this plant is that it only seems to affect blood sugar, blood pressure, etc. when levels are abnormal. Sweet! According to the info out there, there are no known harmful side-effects like artificial sugar substitutes, however, I do know a couple of people who say it gives them headaches.

You can grow stevia from seed, but only "black" seeds will germinate. I did have a plant that flowered and put out seeds a couple of years ago that produced babies, but from what I've read, plants from seed may or may not have the sweetness of the parent plant. Propagating from cuttings is the preferred method, but I haven't been successful at that :(

To use the stevia, I dry the plants and put them in the freezer. When I want to use some, I grind the leaves in a coffee grinder and sweeten with the powder to taste. Stevia doesn't ferment, so it's no good for things like wine or vinegar and when making jams or jellies you really need a no-sugar pectin because it doesn't contribute to the jelling process like sugar does.

The plants are sometimes hard to come by. Last year I didn't find any until August and they weren't as sweet as other plants I've had, but I dug them up and brought them inside because I didn't want to be without this year.

They look kinda scraggly by spring, but once I get them back outside in the sun they will perk up. I've done this before, but I lost them last winter because I had to be gone and they didn't get watered enough. I'll wait until the temps stay above 50 most of the time before I put them back in the garden. I've killed a few by putting them out to soon. They love a thick mulch on well drained loamy soil. Raised beds are perfect for them. Once established, they tolerate temps in the 33-50 degree range quite well. I've even covered them like tomatoes when there was a light frost and had them come through fine.

Unless I can get enough quality plants, I won't be bringing stevia to the markets. So far, I've only been able to produce enough for my breads and jams, but it's really nice to be able to brag that I grow my own!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue