Wednesday, August 20, 2014

the tale of the horrific spider bite....and lots of harvests, food and the river's backed up!

we have been having some beautiful days this past week.



now before we begin the tale of my taking down a venomous cobra - let's go back to last wednesday, shall we? it was a beautiful river day! saw this gorgeous butterfly on the way down.



the river was backed up as it always is this time of the year!



jam had found some platforms in someone's garbage and snagged them for us!



now we have a pretty awesome set up for suntanning and swimming at river, as i am sure you will agree - bahahahaha!



we noticed a strange object out floating in the river - hmmmmm - what can it be? we were hoping for a barrel full of cash....



nope - just a junky plastic barrel full of water!




after enjoying many dips and suntanning, the sky clouded over. no worries - we had to get back to water the garden and greenhouse and get ready for our vfd meeting that evening.



this has been our daily haul for the past few weeks!



we are loading up on peas, beans, squash, zuchhini, and tiny little kymber tomatoes! (our cherry tomatoes always come in first. but we have also gotten several romas and a few regular tomatoes! we're hoping for a glut!)

here's another great haul!



and some delicious meals made with most of our produce!



a little cabrese salad.



cucumber, tomatoe, basil and feta - yummeh!



this pea and mint salad with feta is sooooo delicious! i will put the recipe on our recipe blog pronto! and my famous scalloped potatoes - when you grow your own potatoes you really notice the difference! we love potatoes!



here's some lemon balm leaves that i harvest every day, some for fresh lemonade and some to dry for delicious tea over the winter.



here's some of the fresh lemonade made with the lemon balm - deelish!



of course life would not be worth living without some delicious home-made tempura!


 anyway, let's get back to last wednesday, shall we? i know that you are all dying to hear about the spider bite which i swear was a venomous cobra! well, first off, i never felt the bite. once we got back from the river and i was taking off my flip-flops, i noticed 2 red bite marks. i immediately thought i had been bitten by a venomous cobra...except we don't have any here on the island. jam and i looked up some stuff on the internet but the puncture site was clean and unswollen, i didn't have a fever so i put some of my homemade comfrey salve on it.

i started getting wobbly when we went out to get in the truck for the vfd meeting. i don't remember driving there (about a 12 minute drive), i don't remember the meeting and i don't remember going to our friends' house afterwards!!!! jam took me home and put me in bed and on thursday morning i woke up in incredible pain with my foot swollen to the size of a soccer ball! it was horrendous and i couldn't walk on it at all.

jam went to the internet to do some more research and i called 2 of my friends who are emt trained. my one friend recommended that i might need a tetanus shot, and told us to call the Nova Scotia Nurse's Hotline. jam got the number and called the nurse and she took him through a series of at least 150 questions, diagnosed that i was simply reacting to the spider venom, told me to take one benadryl a day, keep off the foot and keep it raised, and to ice it for 10 mins, 4 times a day. she provided her name, told us to call if we had any questions and that if i got a fever to take me to emergency. i have said this many times but we are just sometimes blown away at the services that we receive here!!!!

anyway, i should have taken a pic of my foot on the first day - but let's just say it wasn't on the top of my list as i was moaning and groaning for over a week about being attacked by a venomous cobra!!!! a little melodramatic but it really hurt!

here's a pic of my foot yesterday. almost one full week later. the puncture wounds from the bite are smack dab in the middle of my foot. the blisters on the left are from my shoes.


you can see that the foot and ankle swelled up big time - this pic is the best my foot has looked all week. the swelling has almost all gone down and i am able to walk on it now, but it hurts to be upright for too long.

anyway - if you want to read an excellent article about benadryl and why you should have a ton of it stocked in your preps - see my friend Jane's excellent article here. i had no idea of the many uses for benadryl!!!

well my foot is better, jam is working on the outboard motor, and here's some delicious, creamy mushroom and bacon pasta that we love!


jam went fishing last night and the river is even more backed up!!!!


our breakfast this morning - fresh caught trouts, peas, a tomatey and some soup that i made from home-made bone and veg stock that i added fresh veggies from the garden to! that broth really picked me up last night and this morn.


here's some heal-all (self-heal) salve that i made this morning - i wish i had have had it on hand when i got the bite!


and here's some bone and veg stock that i am making.


we normally freeze our stock but this year we are going to can it - woohoo! i use home-made stock in just about everything, and by canning it, we'll free up room in the freezer for all of peas, beans, peppers, etc.

sorry for not getting to most of your blogs in over a week, but i will catch up! until then, be good to yourselves, read Jane's post, stock up on some benadryl, enjoy your gardens and your harvests and be happy!

16 comments:

  1. Ouch - that looks nasty - I'm glad you're on the mend. Not sure if we have Benadryl here - if we do I'll certainly follow yours and Jane's advice.

    Take care of yourself - and rest that foot, y'hear!

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  2. Is that your foot? It must be an odd angle or the swelling must be really bad cause it looks more like someone is shooting a pic of a pig's back from above and cutting off the tail and head end. I am not trying to be cute or funny either it just doesn't look like a foot lol.

    Hooray for Kymber Tomatoes :)

    Things are looking good up there (except your foot) looks like we are in for a scorcher of a week this week though.

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  3. I think that we all should pitch in and send Jam bubble wrap to wrap you up in so you stay safe. PLEASE be careful outside and in.

    I sent you an email I think like two weeks ago i don't remember. Food looks great as always.

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  4. Kymber,
    As always, the food makes my mouth water !

    The foot on the other hand, really looks nasty ! I am glad you have Benadryl and that you got some medical advice, because that certainly is a nasty bite, and a nasty reaction to it, as well.
    It's unfortunate that there are so many crawlies in all the places I love so much on the planet. It always seems that the prettier the place, the more abundant the biting creepy crawlies are !
    Love to you and to Jam,

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  5. That really did sound like a snake of some kind. I wear boots and lots of clothes when I am out around the bugs and snakes around here. YES I know, it is more fun your way. But you survived to have all those neat vegetables.

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  6. What about the spider???? what happened to that poor little spider??????

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  7. Ouch! Insect bites you can't feel are always the worst. Around the estate we have fire ants. I was weed eating a couple of weeks ago and stepped right in a mound....so I do feel your pain. I hope you feel better.....

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  8. Sweet Kymber,

    That was one d oozy of a bite. Good thing you had Benadryl on hand. Did you pack your ankle with ice?
    Spider bites can be bad, we have all kinds of spiders down this way. We always spray to make sure they don't come in the house.

    Jambaloney is always finding great items people are getting rid of. Great idea for using those platforms. It will keep you off of the grass/ground............therefore, no possible spider bites while laying down capturing the sun.

    Yummy harvest from your garden, makes for great veggie meals. It's just awesome being able to eat food from your garden.....cooked or raw (right off the plant).
    My favorite snack or meal is cabrese salad. Your salad with feta looks really good too. We've been trying to find unique salads so we don't get bored eating the same type of salad, I'll keep this one in mind.

    Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery with your foot.
    Sending hugs and love to you both.
    Your Friend,
    Sandy
    P.S. put some of your homemade salve on your foot!!!

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  9. Take care of that foot and play it for all it's worth by having Jam wait on you 'hand and foot' ! :-)
    Maybe that spider came free with the free platforms Jam brought home?

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  10. Oh my, owwwwww. My husband is very allergic to bugs, he used to work in the produce yards, and things came in from other countries. He got bit by something g in bananas and his arm looked like Popeyes arms. I always have benadryl on hand, but need to stock up on it. Dontcha just love goo g to the garden to decide dinner!!
    Glad your back!!!

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  11. Ouch! That's why I hate spiders! Hope it heals up quickly.

    Your garden haul looks great! We're still waiting on tomatoes and beans here.

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  12. As much nakedness that happens down by the river, it is just lucky you got bitten on your foot instead of somewhere else!

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  13. I haven't done a survey, but I am betting that there aren't many posts out there about spider bites that feature such a large food content. If your feeding the spiders they probably are as big as cobras, or at least scorpions.

    My guess is that you had a bit of an allergic reaction to the bites. Diphenhydramine (Dramamine) is awesome for that type of thing, and I have found to be somewhat helpful with poison ivy and mosquito bites. Topical Hydrocortisone can sometimes work as well.

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  14. I tend to react badly to stings and bites too so I am always a little anxious every time I feel a tickling feeling. Glad that the results of your bite were not even worse. I prefer to loook at your beautiful produce and imagine you eating it! Lovely ! i am envious.

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  15. I am glad you are on the mend! (And I love tempura!)

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