Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
* Someone on FB said she had 1 gallon of milk starting to taste sour. Someone else shared this: Our Favorite 11 Recipes That Use Sour Milk – The Kitchen Community Evidently sour milk is good for baking. So much so, that you can make your own sour milk: 1 TB apple cider vinegar or lemon juice and fill it up to the 1 cup line. Stir and let sit for 5 min. Recipes include soda bread, pancakes, muffins, spice cake, oatmeal cookies and more.
* I made Lentil Barley Stew for dinner on Tuesday (see last week’s recipes). It was good!!! And I got to thinking that it would be easy to seal in jars. I think it would fit in a pint jar, but not sure.
1/2 c. barley
3/4 c. lentils
Put in the bottom of the clean jar.
1/4 c. dehydrated, diced carrots
1/4 c. dehydrated diced potatoes (most of my potatoes are in slices, so I’d probably break them up a bit)
2 TB dehydrated minced onion
2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp vegetable or chicken bouillon
Seal the jar.
To cook, add 4 c. water. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 25 min until done.
We don’t eat a lot of vegetarian dishes, but this one was good, and we didn’t even notice the missing meat.
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
* I had some comments on applying DE. Annie says her mom would make a pouch with a few layers of cheesecloth and fasten it with a rubber band. Then she would shake it and it would fall out between the cracks. Sherri says she used a metal strainer and gently tapped it against her hand. She says she got rid of her Japanese beetles and Squash bugs completely with the DE.
* Here is another seed-saving chart I found:
* I’ve really been battling spider mites in the beans and aphids in the lettuce. Ugh. I spray one day and two days later they seem just as bad as before. I just read that spider mites thrive in hot, dry climates. Before I complain too much, I think there are worse bugs that thrive in hot, humid climates. LOL
Spider mite damage looks like this from the top.
And this is where leaves and stems meet:
According to the different products I have, Neem oil and Captain Jack’s should work. But, I have not been able to get them under control. I have a ton of beans that are still too small to pick. I just want to hang on until I get them picked, then, I just may rip out all the bean plants. Luckily, I have not seen them on anything else in the garden.
THIS WEEK’S PURCHASE: oats
Oats are available in both regular and quick varieties from the Church Distribution Center in Salt Lake.
Regular Oats | United States Store $36.50
Each case is six #10 cans at about 2.5 lbs each for about $6.10 each (must buy a whole case).
Now, if you buy a large container of oats from the store, it is about $3.50 (last I looked), and it is 3 pounds. So, much cheaper. This is what I do. I do NOT like the taste of the oats after they have been in the cans. In fact, I can’t get past the taste. I just store oats in cardboard cylinders. BUT….. cardboard is not waterproof, nor is it rodent proof. I have not had any problems with pantry moths, nor any other tiny thing. But if you get mice, you would be better off with the cans – or food-grade buckets. The recommended amount is 1/2 large cylinder per person per month.
The bran and germ are still intact in old-fashioned and quick-cooking oats. So both are considered a whole grain. Steel-cut oats are chewier and nuttier. The fiber in oats is especially healthy because it may help lower cholesterol.
MISC PURCHASE: duct tape
Time to buy an extra roll of duct tape. My new favorite quote comes from a movie starring Dwayne Johnson. “If you can’t fix it with duct tape, you haven’t used enough duct tape.” We bought some Gorilla Tape (It’s black). That stuff is SUPER sticky and tough!!!!
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES
One of the comments for this FaceBook post concerned the 1/2 c. of flour, wondering if it was enough. Other comments assured us that it is correct.
Oatmeal Pancakes
From Whole Grains, by Betty Crocker
(I made these for breakfast last week and they were really good. This recipe made six 4-inch pancakes. My husband ate 3 of them, and I ate about 1 ½. They were so filling. According to the recipe, it is supposed to make 6 servings, but that is only if they are really small and you only eat 2. So……. make more if you’re serving a family.)
1/2 c. old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. milk
1 TB sugar
2 TB vegetable oil
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
Mix everything together with mixer or wire whisk until smooth. For thinner pancakes stir in additional 2-4 TB milk.
For a special syrup, heat maple syrup and cranberry sauce 2:1 ratio. Yeah, I’m not going to open a whole can of cranberry sauce just for this. But it sounds cool. In fact, I may try this for breakfast tomorrow. I think I even have whole wheat flour hanging around somewhere.
Baked Apple Oatmeal
From Whole Grains, by Betty Crocker
This recipe calls for fresh apples. But, if you have dehydrated apples, I’ll bet you could rehydrate them by soaking them in water for 20 min or so. Because they are going to be baked, you shouldn’t notice a difference.
Also, because the recipe is sweet, this could be a dessert OR a breakfast.
2 2/3 c. oats
1/2 c. raisins
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
4 c. milk
2 medium apples, or pears, chopped to equal 2 cups
Put everything in a 2 quart casserole dish. Mix and bake at 350˚ uncovered 40-45 minutes or until most liquid is absorbed. Remove from oven and sprinkle with
1/2 c. chopped walnuts.
Just one serving of this oatmeal provides fiber, iron, calcium, folic acid and omega-3 fat.
Oatmeal-Blueberry Muffins
From Whole Grains, by Betty Crocker
In a small bowl, pour 1 c. buttermilk (or sour milk) over
1 c. old fashioned oats. Let sit.
In a large bowl, mix
1/3 c. oil
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 egg
Mix with a spoon. Stir in…
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
Stir just until moistened. Stir in oat mixture. Fold in…
1 c. fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) blueberries. Divide batter into greased muffin cups or paper baking muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes at 400˚ or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes before removing it from the pan. Serve warm.
—
Marti
beans I planted in early spring are working on a second crop. I’m just waiting for them to all fatten up a bit.
Storage containers for sugar should be opaque, airtight, and moisture-proof. The typical paper package you buy sugar in is unsuitable for long-term storage. Canning jars, Food-grade plastic buckets, mylar bags, and #10 cans are better. Honey is slightly acidic. It will cause rust in metal containers or on metal lids. Always use lined, food-grade metal containers or lids when storing any food, including honey.
too late in the morning, and it was too hot. I emptied all my squirt bottles and refilled them, and labeled them CAREFULLY. Note to self: Only spray early in the morning or in the evening when it cools off.
** Finally, here are my pumpkins. 
So, store what you can (at least 3 months – is better) and then plan for what to do next. You could install a bidet. OR you can cut up an old sheet or old towels into squares. I cut my sheet into 6 in X 6 in squares. To use them, get them wet, use as needed, then put them into a bucket with water and a little bleach. Let them soak until you get enough to wash. (This is how we did diapers back in the OLD days!!) Toilet paper as we know it today wasn’t introduced until 1890 and was not perfected until 1930. Before that, people died from diseases related to poor hygiene. For thousands of years, people survived without toilet paper. But it has been the cause of longer lives and healthier living conditions. 
if you just let them continue to grow, the potato plants will appear to die out, and then you can harvest the potatoes and they will be larger. In one of my potato containers, the pretty green potato stems just seemed to die away. So I decided to dump out the dirt and plant something else. I found potatoes!!! 
These are 25-pound buckets for $79. This works out to $3.16 per pound, almost twice as much. Look at it this way
and thought I’d try it. So I canned some back in 2018. And these small containers of butter have been sitting in my closet since then. I decided it was time to open one of the jars and “try” the butter. I toasted a bagel and spread on the butter. It was smooth and creamy and melted deliciously. Yep! It worked!!!! And I didn’t use a “canner”, I did it in the oven. With canning, it’s all about raising the temperature high enough not just to kill botulism, but any botulism spores. Of course, you probably know that when butter is melted, it separates. The trick is, after the butter is heated for a sufficient amount of time, the lids are put on and the jars seal, then as the butter continues to cool, there is a “sweet spot” of time where it will re-congeal as you shake it. 
found that it is NOT considered an antibiotic, but it does have some good health benefits. It helps prevent heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. It has anti-aging properties and helps fight against inflammation. It helps improve symptoms of depression and arthritis. So… there you go. My recipe says to mix 1 TB turmeric and 100 grams of organic honey in a small jar. On the FIRST day of flu symptoms, take 1/2 spoonful every hour. On day 2, take 1/2 spoonful every 2 hours. Day 3, 1/2 spoonful three times a day. NOTE: Let it melt in your mouth before swallowing.
I’ve had it for years and never taken it out of the box. Well………. I cooked my Sunday dinner in it last week. Roast, potatoes, and carrots. It turned out really well – delicious. Craig even ate the leftovers last night. 
also spraying Captain Jack to kill any worms twice a week as well.
Flea beetles maybe? Spider mites? Whatever it is, I’m hoping the twice-a-week spraying will help.
Right next door (literally touching the dying potato) is this———
This is what powdery mildew looks like. This was NOT the worst of the leaves, but typical of this plant. Nearly every leaf looked like this. Powdery mildew is a fungus. There are lots of natural remedies you can try – everything from hydrogen peroxide to baking soda. I happened to have some fungicide mixed up already and used that. Neem oil is what I used last year. I think this plant is getting too much shade and I need to move it so it gets more sun. Ugh. This is a constant battle for me all summer long.
There are three ways to cook beans. 
** I am beginning to reap the blessings of planting early. I already have tomatoes ripening! I’ve picked zucchini, basil, beans, and of course, lettuce. I want you to know that I pray over this garden every night! Maybe a better explanation is to say that I pray FOR my garden, it sounds less weird.
outside. I decided to just remove THESE leaves. Ugh. I found earwigs nesting inside the lettuce and all kinds of crawly things. I pulled off most of the leaves and killed the earwigs. (I hate those creepy things.) 
** Do you ever get these on your zucchini plants???
Solar Power Bank, 10,000mAh External Battery Pack: Cell Phones & Accessories
never know what you’re going to pull up. 