Olives

I went to Southern California this past weekend with the boys to visit my parents. They live just north of LA in a little tiny town that feels a million miles away from a big city. It's really strange because they are only 42 miles from LAX, but it is completely in the country. There is only one stop sign in the town, the closest gas station is 12 miles away, and no chain anything. They have a general store, two small restaurants, a hardware store and a couple of small stores have popped up recently.

This is where I grew up. When I was little, we had horses, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and the occasional lamb. My mom milked the goats twice a day for milk, and we raised our animals for meat. Every year we had a huge garden and I know this is where I get my own homesteading desires from - even though I didn't know that's what we were doing.

My parents have two olive trees that are at least 35 years old. They have never picked the olives, just let the birds and chickens eat them. My mom said her mother cured olives - once. I have wanted to pick some for years, but never have. Life always seemed to get in the way. I really want to pick all of them and press them for oil, but with only two trees I don't know where I could take them to be pressed and doing it myself is definitely not an option.

So, I will try my hand at curing olives this next month. My mom gave me an antique crock she has had for years that is just like the one her mother used to use...

Preservation

I spent most of Sunday making strawberry jam. I stopped by the fruit stand next to my house after church, and they had day-old strawberries - a huge box for $8. Score!!! Although after completely filling up my big pot - I started to wonder if this was such a good idea.

I also made strawberry ice cream and dried the rest of them for use in other goodies. It's kind of disheartening however, when three full trays in the dehydrator, only make a very small child's bowl of dried fruit!

And since I already had the dehydrator going, Max and I made some plum fruit leather. The way everything gets eaten so quickly around here, make me wonder how people with large family can preserve enough stuff to actually make it through the winter. And we don't really even have winter here! We live in a valley where we grow food year round. The farmer's market never closes and they are still harvesting strawberries. I would have to be preserving everyday, all day long to store up enough stuff to keep my kids from just devouring everything in site!

I'm not complaining that my kids are good eaters...just thinking how hard it would be to grow and preserve enough food to live on...and they aren't even teenagers yet!!

My kids LOVE pickles. Actually, I'm not sure that word in strong enough. They will go through a huge jar from Sam's Club in a week if I let them. So, I picked up a couple bags of cucumbers and made pickles too. Knowing my kids, this wont last long, so maybe I should pick up some more...

I didn't make my own pickling liquid, but picked up a packet at the store. not sure it was such a good idea, since when I mixed it all together, it was this bright yellow color that completely stained my sink...

Feeding the Soul

I know that this most likely falls under the column of procrastination, but I have been cooking. A lot. Not just your average everyday, cooking for my family to survive cooking, but COOKING. I have been baking bread from scratch. (A wonderful, rustic, no-knead bread that is awesome with soup!) I have been making soup, making my own cheese, preserving things (my very generous mother, got us a Food Saver), and generally feeding my family really well. But more than that, I have been feeding my soul. There is something about cooking for me that makes me feel connected to what I'm eating and feel that is more nourishing to me than just opening up a package or stopping on the way home for take out. 

Since I am on a month of no buying, both of those options are severely limited for me. However, this whole cooking thing has been going on for a couple of months now. There is something about it that is self care and makes me happy.

I currently have bread rising in the oven (because with the heater turned down, it is too cold in my house) of a new recipe that I hope will be awesome! I have been looking for a great sandwhich loaf of bread. If you haven't noticed, bread is really expensive, especially semi-good bread. And then, it's really not that great. So, I would like to find a recipe that gives me really good, homemade bread that you just want to slather with butter and eat straight, or will make just about any sandwhich wonderful... Is that too much to ask? I hope not!