Saturday, March 17, 2012

Magnesium, smart friends,midnight paranoia,skyrocketing grocery bill

My friends are so smart!  When you don't have medical insurance you need your savvy friends.  This move has jimmy and I both screeching owwwww on a regular basis.  I very recently had the pleasure of getting together with old (as in  known them a long time) friends.  As I was listing off  the  physical maladies I was suffering, my friends ...pretty much in unison all said "you need a magnesium supplement".  This does not surprise me as this move has really disrupted   the Frankie & Jimmy  slow  food diet.  I started taking  a magnesium horse pill  5 days ago and I do feel significantly better.  I gave Jimmy his first one last night.  He has been out of town on a  job since the advice was handed to me so he's a little behind on the  'feel better'.  I think it also helped that I went on a detox lite regimen.  I spent the week he was gone  sipping  detox tea, eating the best vegetable soup ever (twice a day) munching on fruit and snacking on jello. I had planned on keeping to the 'no meat no carbs' cleanse for a full week but Feral Jane  blew that one for me.  She came to keep me company for a couple of days while Jimmy was gone, cuz we haven't been here long enough for me to recognise all the noises our new house makes and at three am I am sitting  in the living room  with a cup of herbal tea and a  historical romance......and  every weapon in the house  within arms reach, ready to do battle with whatever  goblin appears.   My paranoia  in these  situations is down right funny.  So, if you think it would be a great joke  to knock on my window at 3 am when  Jimmy is gone..... be prepared  to be  shot, stabbed , hit in the head with a fireplace poker, maced, garroted, chemically burned and  then buried in a hole in the back yard which I have already dug..... just in case.   Feral Jane  showed up with her pajamas and toothbrush to protect  the unsuspecting  midnight marauder....not me.  But back to the detox diet.  The first lunch we sat down to together,  Feral Jane  sliced herself a huge slab of bread and slathered it with butter.   I fought the urge to follow suit ( good lord she made that bread and butter look good)  I lost the battle after about 6 hours and  decided I was detoxed enough to reward myself.  That evening FJ and I enjoyed  fresh bread  with a cup of hot chocolate in front of a fire,  indulging in girl talk.  I didn't fall completely off the wagon but I did  add carbs  and dairy back in on day three.  I definitely feel better. The arms and hands are improving a bit too.  I just might be in good enough shape to start prepping  this years garden in a couple of weeks.  I really miss my old garden.  Even in its 'only a few winter vegetables'  state, it was still better than grocery store produce.  I actually had to BUY carrots from safeway for my vegetable soup.  The difference in carrots that are only  a few minutes out of the ground compared to carrots that have been treated and sitting in cold storage for  weeks is  flooring.  I have to admit I was surprised at how much our grocery bill skyrocketed  during this move.  Our winter garden only had carrots, onions,broccoli, brussel sprouts,spinach  and collard  greens. But until the kitchen aid was unpacked I was also buying  bread.  The  disruption of the move and the cold winter stopped the girls from laying so I was buying eggs.  The other fat price tag I encountered  was flour, sugar and cooking oil.   I gotta tell ya..... living like other people is expensive!  But this too shall pass.  In a few short weeks  the new gardens will go in, new chickens will be added and  storage will be figured out.  In the mean time I will grit my teeth  and avert my eyes from the bright marketing gimmicks and   traverse the treacherous aisles of the local safeway.
P.S. I still cant find my camera.      

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Still unpacking, bazzillion blackberries, hazelnut tree!

I've pretty much been spending my time  figuring out how to fix things.  We thought we had a plumbing issue . Turns out it wasn't the plumbing ... We have guests in the ceiling.  So,  there's a mess to be cleaned up.  Still unpacking and still cant find  anything that I'm looking for. We have  taken breaks in between unpacking to do a little garden work.  Jimmy  started clearing the area for  garden bed  'alpha'.  By  'clearing' I mean chopping out the miles of overgrown black berry bushes.  The former owner  had a lovely fenced off,  terraced vegetable garden....that hasn't seen a  head of lettuce or a carrot in at least 10 years.  She planted a lot of bulbs (not sure what they are for yet  cuz they are just now showing signs of life.) in spaces that are divinely suited to growing food.  So, I will be digging all of those up  for some time to come.  I like flowers as much as the next girl..... But I like  acorn squash better.  Our lovely herbs that we dug up and brought with us still don't have a home.  The ideal place for them may not exist in a few weeks because  the expanded driveway might  be  there.  I was all excited  to get down to our local nursery  and  get some cool new  stuff like bay laurel  plants, elderberry  bushes and  a gazzillion other things I wanted to grow.  But Jimmy grabbed me by the back of the collar and said we should wait until we see exactly what is already growing on the property first.  I confess... I pouted ... But he was right.  There is all kinds of  great stuff popping up and starting to bud as spring grows closer.   It appears we have a giant hazelnut tree.  I cant wait til I can make my own hazelnut butter. I have been researching how to can it myself. The USDA recommends that nut butters NOT be canned at home......But I guess they don't know about Granny's pressure cooker!
I took a  bunch of pictures to post today .... but I cant find the camera this morning!  So, when I do find it I'll  edit this  and re post with visual aids.  

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