a busy week again! but what an awesome saturday! fermented food and a whole pile of other stuff!

wow! it's been another busy week. jambaoney was at work from monday to wednesday, thursday he took the truck in to get one caliper fixed and a whole go-over from a special that includes an oil change and filter change at our dealer. also included was a tire rotation and an 80 point inspection. as it turned out - we needed a new brake cable too. our friend told us last fall to get the spark plugs replaced because this engine model has a tendency to have the spark plugs stick and break off. again, as it turned out, when they were replacing the spark plugs - one of them broke. so instead of a few hour job, it turned into a whole day. so thursday was a write-off. he was gone all day. then he had to go back to work on friday. no matter - it has been a crappy week for planting so i just spent my week tending to all of the things coming in the greenhouse and making dirt.

today, however, was spectacular. don't believe me? have a gander:



that's out front. here's out back:



what a gorgeous day and much was done on the Manor.

hang on, Pioneer Preppy is always requesting food posts! here's a delicious dinner, to share with your baby, and keep you working until the sun goes down!

nothing fancy - just some greek yoghurt with cumin, cayenne and turmeric. please include these 3 spices in as many meals as you can! some cucumber, some tomatoe, some sprouts, a few slices of homemade bread spread with 2 different pates, sauerkraut (more on that later) pepperocini's, and olives - yummeh!

want a delicious supper? how about wild rabbit, that your friend snared and cleaned for you, and you make it into a delicious stew with dough boys (that's what we call dumplings!). local, wild meat - you just can't beat it! 

it's sad to say - but it tastes even better the next day when you have it for dinner!

another of my friends, who i call "Rob, buddy", is always very concerned about our fashion sense here on the island. so for my buddy Rob, i present me making traditional kimchee, sauerkraut and radish kimchee out on the deck. wearing my sunday best - rolled up pants and a rolled up t-shirt. i think the fact that my hair is sticking up on end from it's bun really shows how fashion-conscious i am.

it's still a little chilly to be naked making kimchee. jambaloney likes to go half-naked at this time of year.

my friend Sweet Sandy recently did a post about sprouting the bottoms of celery in a bowl of water and then planting them in the ground. as i was making kimchee - i have a beautiful and organic nappa cabbage that i am now waiting to sprout so that i can transplant it in the garden. i have started several chinese cabbages from seed in the greenhouse, all of which are up as little seedlings, but this baby below might be providing me with nappa cabbage long before the others! thanks Sweet Sandy for the tip!

today, for me, was all about making probiotic foods for me and jam. below i am making sauerkraut! water, sauerkraut and sea salt people - that's all that's required! when you make your own fermented food, you include local, healthy, helpful microbes that are already in your air and house. nothing is better for you!

i also made some "kick-you-in-the-head-daikon-and-carrot" kimchi. trust me - a little of this goes a long way. and when you include fermented food in at least one meal daily - you are helping your metabolism and digestive system in ways that you can't even imagine. google it. learn about fermented food. and start making some to consume daily.

you can ferment any vegetable you like. but i looooove my kimchi. for my friend ed, here is a link to our food blog with the recipe for kimchi. i hope you enjoy it. i have several other recipes for various kimchis and if you are interested, ed, just let me know. oh and by the way, your bathroom is gorgeous!

jambaloney built us this pea bed from an old swing set that he found about 3yrs ago in the garbage! it makes an awesome pea bed! 12 tires of peas - can you imagine? and then he found all of these metal display racks being thrown out at home depot - so you can be sure that he grabbed them! and he made a fence out of them. can you believe the garbage that this man can find a use for? makes me proud, he does!

then he found a bunch of old wire, thrown out by people that own land around here that used to be farms, but now there are no animal farms in our area, and so people are throwing out all of this great wire. i know that Pioneer Preppy will appreciate that!

remember that weird box thingy that jambaloney was building? and we painted it with primer and 2 coats of mis-tinted exterior latex paint that he got for half-price. just look at what he built for our raised beds!

the lid comes off easily for weeding. all of it is wrapped in old chicken wire (to keep out the cats and birds. strangely, we have no problem with wild life eating our gardens!)

based on it's design, if we get a torrential downpour, we just throw a sheet of plastic on it and problem solved very quickly!

here's my beautiful pond...it's really just a sinkhole but i love it and salamanders and frogs and spring peepers love it too! make sure to notice my beautiful bench - the top of which was given to us by our step-dad...the legs of which jambaloney found and made!

i have some beautiful pussy willows growing in my pond - we are encouraging them to spread.

i know this was a long post and if you made it through all of it - i thank you. we ended the day at about 5pm...now we are just gonna hang out naked on the porch until the sun goes down...playing cards and planning our day for tomorrow. as soon as it gets a little cooler - we'll hop into the hottub.

and because i mentioned several of my blogger friends, i can't leave out my dear friend Harry Flashman - go visit his blog - you'll be glad that you did! and speaking of good blogger friends - hey check out our blogroll - i am sure that you will be impressed with the people we link to!

anyway, days like today makes us remember why we chose to to give up our jobs, leave the city, and move to this crazy little island. days like today are to be cherished....and we are so grateful to be here.

ok, this post is long enough and i haven't hit your blogs in a while. forgive me. it's been a really busy, fulfilling week. much love to all of you.