This and That

When I started school it was not consolidated until I entered the sixth grade. Yep, I went to a one room school house for my general area which had maybe 30 students at the most from grades 1 through 8. There was no such thing as preschool and kindergarten. A diligent parent taught their children their numbers, letters, basic reading skills and some writing before they even started school.

I walked to school the majority of the time which was about one mile one way. The school had a coal stove to keep us warm during the cold days. There was a shed on the school grounds to store the coal and maybe some other school needs. There was out door privies. No indoor bathrooms in that school. The outdoor recreation area had swings, teeter totter, and a few other pieces of recreational equipment. There was maybe a 2 acre field for ball games and a basketball hoop mounted on the shed wall.

When the teacher started teaching on a higher grade level than I was I paid attention to the higher grade level picking up bits and pieces of their studies. Penmanship was a must back then to keep your letters and words legible. The chicken scratch you see today is horrid. I learned my letters using the Palmer method.

This year we put up a small  table top tree. Hung fewer yard lights.
Christmas was just as enjoyable as other years.

Just happen to stumble upon this this afternoon.

Check out the log cabins for boys and girls.
When I was just a young lad I had a set of Lincoln Logs. I do not even know if they sell that kit any more.
_________________________________________________
3 Old-Fashioned Christmas Gifts Our Ancestors Crafted By Hand

http://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to-2/3-old-fashioned-christmas-gifts-our-ancestors-crafted-by-hand/

Have an imagination large enough to comprehend that there is no end to the universe. Travel through space for billions of light years and never reach the end.

The Stonehenge builders had a watcher on full time duty keeping track of when certain events were to occur to notify their people that it is close to the time to gather for their shindig or what ever they did on those events.

We know the dates for our solstices and and other important dates in our life.

Just set a permanent sitting stone in the ground and on important time events just go out the same distance for two vertical markers which could be set a short distance apart. When you are sitting facing the vertical markers and the sun shines through the center of the markers that would be the date event for those two vertical markers.

Looked like rain today and got my ass out in the yard and blew the remaining leaves into two separate piles. Then I took the mulcher mower with the catch bag and mulched them up and put them into two bags filling both bags.

Figured I had about two bags worth. Those 30 gallon lawn and leaf paper bags.

Was not too long after I finished that it started raining.

That is done except for the other side of the back fence with a mowable strip about eight feet wide which borders a drainage ditch which borders the road.

Took the leaf blower and piled leaves for bagging. Bagged two plastic bags without shredding the leaves. Going to use those dry leaves to scorch the inside of the wooden containers. Only probably need about one minute of burn to scorch them. Bagged two plastic bags of shredded leaves for the garden behind the fence. Build my ground boxes about 10 inches deep and put about 3 inches of shredded leaves in it.

Then I bagged up 3 paper leaf bag containers to set out for the refuse man. Still some more leaves in part of the yard to bag up. Maybe two paper leaf bags left.

Blowing in a pile and using the mulching mower with a catch bag attached works just fine for me. Mulching dry leaves cuts down on the bag count as I can get quite a bit in a bag that has been mulched. Need to do the leaves when they are real dry for max efficiency.

Flowers are still going strong. Pansies are starting to bloom again after I dead headed them and cut them back some a few weeks back.

I had a small chat with the squirrels. Then I walked around and talked to the trees telling them to be nice to the squirrels.

Told the trees they had to shred their leaves they dropped all over the yard and to bag them up. They all agreed to the chore. They got half of them done today.

I was told this story when I was younger.

My father planted some sweet peppers in a field and planted some hot peppers next to them. The bees done their thing on gathering pollen and carrying the pollen to other plants pollinating the plants to grow their vegetables on their plant. The peppers grew up to picking size and when the sweet peppers were used for the kitchen they ended up being hot sweet peppers.

True story.

I was thinking about the log cabin idea and came up with another plan for something that could be useful that could look like a log cabin.

Build a scale model log cabin 36 inches long x 24 inches wide about 12 to 16 inches deep. For the bottom I could use boards about 2 inches wide. Build a scaled low pitched roof covering it with maybe flat tin. Put scale size front door with a window on each side. On the each end put one scale size window in the center.

Are you ready for this?

Hinge the roof front and back to open up the scale model to the inside opening it from the ridge line. At the top of the scale cabin build a tray with four sides about 3 inches tall to set on brackets near the top. Open the roof to the tray, lift out the tray holding small stuff to the larger storage below.

Figure it out yet?

A scale model log cabin foot locker.

Tomatoes froze, squash froze and the peppers froze.
Beets in container, scallions, lettuce and flower plants look like they may have survived.
Have three radishes that survived which will go in my salad tonight along with three or four scallions.

The containers should be empty if the viola flowers freeze by January or February to be ready for the steamer to rid the potting mix of nematodes and fungi. 

Make plans the end of the month for my seed purchases that may not be available locally. Want to get a nice start on my seeding for next year to have sizable plants for transplanting.

I was thinking the last few days I would like to try making my own breakfast sausage. I seen at the market you can buy fresh ground pork. Back home when I was younger my father would make our own sausage for patties. I have no idea what he used for spices but it tasted dam* good.

This was done after we done our hog harvesting when it got fall time and the weather was cool enough. We also had our own smoke house to smoke meats.

This is the recipe I am going to start with and adjust for taste preference after the first go at it.

______________________________________

Homemade Pork Breakfast Sausage

https://www.thespruce.com/homemade-pork-breakfast-sausage-3060593

Just went out to take a walk about around the garden. Discovered that one of the Rutgers tomato plants had a branch snap at the main stem. I have them staked at the main stem but did not get around to building the chimneys yet. The branch grew out so large gaining weight that it snapped. I finished clipping it off at the main stem and re broke the snapped off branch back a few inches getting fresh plant tissue exposed. Pushed the branch stem down into potting soil in another container having a pepper plant in it and gave it some water.

Done it just to see if it would take root and grow from the broken stem point. No big loss as it would have been thrown away any how.

I like beans now and then to go with my food intake. I buy canned beans at the store now and then also but prefer to make my own.

This is how I do it.
  I take my quantity of beans I am using for my recipe and place them in a stove top pot with the amount of water required. Just plain water not adding anything. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour covered or until done. Strain and return to pot adding my ingredients and simmer for 1 hour. If I want beans with meat [sausage or beef] I will pre fry the meat and add to pot. One pound or so of ground meat.

Adjustable recipe depending on the spices you like.

16 oz red kidney beans
1 onion of choice [ pre glazed in frying pan]
1 green pepper, diced
3/4 cup smoked BBQ sauce
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp dry mustard or a splash or two of mustard of choice
14 oz drained tomatoes [ I have used inexpensive spaghetti sauce at one time]
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumen
1 tbsp cajun seasoning

Adjust thickness desired by adding liquid of choice. [ I have used apple cider juice at one time or another]
I like my beans that are not running all over the plate.

On our farm we had an apple orchard. It was not of any great size with a few pear trees here and there. Those pears when just right at the peak of on the vine ripeness were the best tasting pears you ever want to eat. I have never seen pears at the store that matches the taste of those pears.

Anyhow we use to bushel up enough apples and take them to an apple presser that lived nearby. We use to do up a 50 gallon barrel of apple cider. Great tasting stuff.

I buy their so called apple cider made from concentrate at the store nowadays. I also buy apple cider vinegar with the mother to use with apple cider. An 8 ounce glass of store bought apple cider with a splash of apple cider vinegar tastes great. The vinegar takes away a lot of the sweetness in the apple cider.

I started using apple cider vinegar when I seen it touted for weight loss. That is also why I started using it in the apple cider. I started about 6 months ago using the apple cider vinegar along with watching my carb and snack food intake and have lost 35 pounds in that length of time. Other than that I eat the same food I always have.

Back when I was younger people use to do more canning and preserving than they do now. I can remember our basement stocked with home made canned goods, crooks for pickling and of course we had a large freezer.

When I buy vegetables at the market these days I prefer packages of frozen vegetables. Has more of a taste of freshness in my opinion.

I have relatives that dried a lot of their garden harvest that were suitable to be stored dried.

Do you know storing potatoes improperly could give off a hazardous gas. Look it up on the net.

____________________________________________

How Much to Plant Per Person in the Vegetable Garden

https://www.thespruce.com/how-many-vegetables-per-person-in-garden-1403355

Went out and watered the plants today, Staked up the Siberian tomato plant. Put some ferlizer [bone meal] on some flower plants.

Lettuce in small basin is doing good. More radishes to be harvested. Got a couple spinach plants that finally came up in the 10qt container.