Tomorrow the Advent fast begins for those of us on the Old Calendar. And just in time, as the Thanksgiving leftovers were looking pretty sad and were dispersed to the animals. I spent some time today preparing for Lenten meals. The quickest way to fail on a fast is to come home hungry from shopping and there’s nothing Lenten in the house ready to eat. I cooked a big pot of rice, a pot of vegan baked beans, and a loaf of bread plus chopping up some salad-ready vegetables. The food part of an Orthodox fast is really secondary, but as the housewife over here, it’s up to me to have Lenten food at the ready.
Members of our family will be arriving Sunday so I made a dozen banana pecan waffles. I used a wholesome pancake/waffle mix (Pam’s) and added bananas, pecans and extra eggs. These should be very satisfying served with real maple syrup and sausages.
I made a few bottles of mead last spring but I haven’t sampled it yet. The fact is, I don’t know what mead is supposed to taste like? Kind of beer-like? Honey-ish? It looks ok… Stay tuned.
This year’s garden was a mixed bag. Because of the continuing drought in California, I felt I couldn’t really water my garden well enough for it to thrive and as a result, many of my favorites failed. I didn’t get one edible ear of corn, and not many summer squash. Two measly pumpkins! There were plenty of onions and tomatoes but not one edible cucumber. If it doesn’t rain this winter we may not bother planting a big garden next spring.
On the other hand, the herb gardens did really well, probably because many herbs thrive in a dry Mediterranean climate. We have probably thirty different varieties, many grown from seed. We were over-loaded with calendula flowers, so I made a calendula/lavender eczema salve with beeswax and olive oil. I also made some really tasty dried culinary herb combinations, especially the Italian herb combo. I concocted some herbal tinctures in vodka for various remedies as well.
The best thing about 2022 gardening was the four Greenstalk vertical planters we bought. Not everything grows well in them, but what does grow well grows REALLY well, such as most herbs and surprisingly, strawberries. Even if we abandon the big garden out in the yard next year, we’ll keep the Greenstalk towers going all year round. They don’t use much water, which is a definite plus around here.
We took our oldish hens to the SPCA because they were chronic egg-eaters and I lacked the energy and will-power this year to butcher them myself. Seriously, these sinners were gathering around any hen laying an egg and as soon as it landed, they’d pounce on it. So we got rid of ’em. We raised up a new batch of chicks, four of them, and they have begun sporadically laying. I am wondering what is happening with the Rhode Island red population, as the last few flocks behave differently from the hens we used to have years ago. They lay eggs in the winter, which is a new thing, but are very nervous. I am wondering if they are being bred to lay more eggs but have developed personality disorders as a side-effect….
Some of the new girls.
We are approaching the one-year anniversary of Rachel’s passing, and our hearts and minds have been occupied with thoughts of the events of last year. Thanksgiving will be quite different this year, but God is good and we have much to be thankful for.
Today’s Pickings. I told someone the other day that I thought I might get at least
a laundry basket-full of potatoes. That turned out to be overly optimistic!
There’s plenty of potatoes, but they are mostly on the small side. Most of them
are still in the ground so we’ll see! The berries are starting to fade but it was a great year for them. The hens are getting old so only one egg this morning although I think there will be at least one more before the day is out. Time to grow up some chicks. There’s lots of lettuce and string beans but so far, the zucchini is not producing well. There’s lots of big leaves but the squash don’t make it to good size without going bad.
This is how it looked a few weeks ago. Now the plants are probably 3x bigger.
There’s pumpkins, grapes, corn, potatoes, spearmint and string beans.
Daisy is not much of a farm dog, but she will help dig holes. Terrorizes the hens, though. She is wearing her birthday necklace.
Mr. Noodles.
Here’s our Pascha table. We didn’t have Pascha at Church this year, because of the Quarantine. We watched a church service on the Internet, and while it was very restful, it was not the same. The pussy willows are left over from previous years, as we missed Psalm Sunday, too. The bleary yellowish blob in the lower left corner is actually an extremely delish lemon cake. The kulich came from the ROCOR monastery in West Virginia. We had lamb for dinner, at home alone, and not at Father G’s home as usual. What a year!
I have opened a small Etsy shop. So far, it’s just winter hats but I plan to add dog sweaters and other small hand-knitted goods, in keeping with my modest abilities.
This is the time of year (it’s New Year’s Eve, 2019) when we think about the events of the past year and look ahead to the next, usually with hopes of making some improvements.
2019:
The birthday of Jack, our newest grandson, who is over the top adorable. 🙂
I got more or less halfway through my masters program.
I went to the Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo all by myself without mishap.
I more or or less figured out what I should and should not eat to help my chronic ailments.
I quit driving almost entirely and I’ve been riding the bus, which I enjoy.
We are mourning the loss of an old friend who died heroically recently. Memory eternal, friend Paul.
Ideas for 2020:
Some spiritual goals I won’t mention here…
Keep in better touch with the fam.
Visit at least *one* monastery. (St. Herman’s of Alaska is my top choice).
Finish Wheelock’s Latin, in all its parts and appendages.
Get into good enough shape to go on hikes again, like I used to.
Make some serious progress on the Arthuriana spreadsheet.
Read the Spanish New Testament.
Get the yards in better shape.
Finish my two half-completed novels.
Keep up w/ all my blogs.
Get out of the house more? Leave my study? Naw, forget that one.
Xenia's Garden 