Pest Control

I have been pretty thrilled with some of the things I've been
harvesting from my garden.  As I expanded my growing space
this year, I've been able to try to grow lots of new things.
Look at this beautiful head of cauliflower.

My swiss chard is growing like crazy and I'll be eating it soon.

I see Caesar and Greek salad in this week's menus as the romaine 

lettuce is ready.

The cabbage is coming along nicely although it will be a while

before the heads are big enough to cut.

One of the reasons I wanted to expand my growing space was so

I could grow potatoes and they are growing well.

I even have a few that are blossoming and I think are quiet pretty.

This is a red potato and the blossom is pink.  Will the different 

variety of potatoes I planted have different color blossoms?  

Time will tell.

I've been vigilant about watching for bugs and this week, they appeared.

I'm trying to grow my food organically.  Given the choice of

eating food that has been grown naturally as compared to food

grown conventionally with the use of chemical pesticides -

well, to me it's a no brainer.  So rather than pulling out the 

Sevin dust, I'm giving it my best effort to try and fight off these

bugs with more natural methods.  I am not going to say that I won't

use pesticides - because I may have to resort to it in the end, but only

after I've tried everything else, will I pull out the white flag and 

surrender.  So I picked some of these bugs off and put them in

a plastic bag, headed back to the house and started researching.

It appears that what I have munching happily away on my potato 

leaves are the nymph stage of the Colorado Potato Beetle.  Hey! 

Go back to Colorado!!  My strategy is to pick off all the bugs to

start with.  I don't have that many plants so I think this is doable. 

Then I will spray with Neem Oil.  We'll see how that works. 

At first, I was a little grossed out by handling all the bugs, but I quickly

got used to it. It took some time to check each plant though.  The bugs

like to hide on the back sides of the leaves.

And they can do a lot of damage in no time. 

So, I will keep you posted as to how this all turns out.  Each day I 

have been out to check on them and there are noticeably fewer bugs

each time.  I take ten minutes and walk through the rows picking off 

any bugs I see.  According to my research, they also like tomatoes and

eggplant, so I have to get rid of them before they move on to the rest 

of the garden.  Anyone else had experience with the Colorado Potato

Beetle?  I welcome advice.

*Goal #18- Work on monthly storage and preparedness goals

* Goal #43 - Expand my vegetable garden

Biscuits and Gravy

It has been observed that biscuits and gravy in Colorado are
not the same as biscuits and gravy in North Carolina.  My
boys and I were having a conversation about this with some
of their friends and they thought I should make a good old
"Christmas" breakfast for them while they were here for a visit.
They call this a "Christmas" breakfast, for the obvious reason
that this is our traditional Christmas morning meal.  It was
what my mom made for us when I was growing up and now
my siblings and I all make it for our families.  It's not the healthiest
way to start off your day, but it is mighty tasty and having it every
so often isn't going to hurt anyone.  Moderation is the key word.
My Nana (you can read more about her here)  made the best biscuits
ever.  My kids will agree and this is one of the things that she is
remembered for in our family - biscuits and fried apple pies.  She made
a pan of biscuits almost every day.  I've often wondered how many
biscuits that woman made in her lifetime.  She is the one who taught
me how to make biscuits and whenever I make them, I am right back
in Nana's kitchen. Although I never saw her measure a thing, I use the
recipe on the back of the White Lily Self Rising Flour bag and I think
it is pretty close. She was partial to White Lily and said it made the
lightest biscuits.  I use King Arthur flour for almost all of my baking,
but when I make biscuits I always use White Lily.  Nana would be proud.

She also used shortening and I follow suit.  I think shortening is a

little on the disgusting side, I mean, what is the stuff anyway?  There

is no arguing that it makes biscuits and pie crusts tender and flaky. 

This is the" real deal" biscuits and gravy meal and I'm not trying to

lighten it up. 

First thing I do is take the shortening and add it to the flour.

Cut it in with a pastry blender or a fork until it is blended and the shortening is

completely mixed into the flour.

  Then add buttermilk and stir with a fork until the dough is nice and sticky.

Put some flour on the surface you are going to be rolling your biscuits out on.

I use an old, cotton,  feed sack that was my grandmothers for this.  

Scrape all of the dough out of the bowl.  Can you see that it is sticky? 

The dough needs to be moist, so your biscuits aren't dried out.

No one wants a hard, dry biscuit.

Gather the dough into a ball using the flour on the cloth to make a

firmer dough that can be rolled out.  Handle the dough very carefully

and as little as possible. Over working the dough causes the biscuits 

to be tough.

Put a little flour on your rolling pan and gently roll the dough out,

until it is about an inch or so thick.

Now you are ready to cut in to biscuits.  I use a small biscuit cutter.

The reason I do this is because I always had the dilemma of wanting

gravy with my biscuits and jelly with my biscuits.  When Nana made

them, I used to break open the biscuit and have one side with  gravy 

and the other with jelly.  That worked fine, but having smaller biscuits

means I can have two (or three)  and satisfy both my gravy and jelly side. 

Homemade biscuits really do need to be enjoyed with a little homemade 

jam or jelly.  

Cut the biscuits out, cutting straight up and down with the cutter -

don't twist.  I'm not sure of the science behind this, but this is the

way I was taught and this is what I do.  I'm told it helps make the

biscuits more tender.   Carefully re-roll the dough until you have 

used it all up, except for a few little scraps.  When I was a child, I 

loved to eat some of the dough, unbaked.  That might sound bad

to you, but I loved the way it tasted and Nana always left some

scraps for me to eat.  In her honor, I still pop a piece of dough 

in my mouth whenever I make biscuits.

When placing them on the pan, I place the edges of the biscuits

 so they are barely touching each other.  I like the way they look

 and how soft the edges are when they come out of the oven.

These are ready to put into a very hot oven,  and then don't 

forget to watch them closely so they don't burn!

While the biscuits are baking, cook your sausage in a skillet

over medium heat.  This isn't the time to experiment with low

fat sausage.  You need the fat for the gravy.

When the sausage is done, take it out and drain on a paper towel. 

Add flour to the pan and stir.  I can't tell you how much to add,

because this is the part of the recipe that you have to learn by experience. 

It depends on how much fat you have in the pan, as to how much flour 

you add.  I add a couple of spoons at a time and stir constantly.  You

don't want to add so much flour that it becomes dry, but you want a

nice thick consistency.  Make sure it is still a liquid and stir , stir.

Once it has cooked a few minutes, and turned a light brown, you will

begin to add your milk, whisking constantly to avoid having lumpy gravy.

How much milk do you add?  Again, this comes from experience. 

The gravy will begin to thicken quickly, so add milk until it is the 

consistency that you like.  Go slow with the milk.  It is much easier to

add more milk to thick gravy than it is to try and thicken gravy that you

have made too thin.  If you aren't ready to eat it  immediately, you will

probably have to keep adding a little milk, because it will continue to

thicken.

Crumble up the sausage and add it to the gravy.  Season with salt and 

lots of pepper.

By now the biscuits should be done and it's time to eat.

Served up with scrambled eggs and grits, this is a meal that makes

my family smile and the only breakfast I know that will coerce sleepy

heads out of bed.  I've noticed that there are two schools of thought on

how to eat your gravy and biscuits.  Some people like to open the biscuit up

and pour gravy on both sides.

This is my preferred method - more gravy to biscuit ratio.

Others prefer to just pour the gravy right on top of the biscuit.  It was

explained to me that this gives you more room on your plate for more

food.  Notice there are two biscuits on this plate, where there is only

one on the above plate.

No matter how you eat your biscuits and gravy, it is sure to be a tasty

meal and one thing about eating a meal like this - you won't have to eat 

again all day.  

My boys may be a little biased, but they think there are no biscuits

and gravy as good as the one's from North Carolina.  I believe my 

Nana is smiling down from heaven.

High Adventure - Part 2

Backpacking 101 Course continues....

When I climbed out of my tent, the sun was beginning to rise.
Icewater Springs shelter is said to be one of the prettiest places
to watch the sun rise.  Sadly, this was a cloudy morning and we
didn't have the sunrise we were hoping for.  The sky did turn all
kinds of lovely shades of pink and purple.  We sat on a log and
worked on breakfast, while the new day approached.  Jantzen
heated up that amazing little cookstove of his and we had some
great instant oatmeal with pecans and brown sugar.  I'm not usually
a fan of instant oatmeal.  That pasty consistency is a turn off for me.
But I picked this up at Fresh Market and it was above average!  I've
also found that most food tastes better when you are eating it outdoors.
Don't know why that is the case, but anyway breakfast was great!
We discussed whether we should go ahead with our plans to hike
to Mt. LeConte today.  This was to be our big hiking day and we didn't
want to be doing it in the rain.   As we broke camp, it seemed to be clearing
off a little and we decided to go for it.  I brought a change of clothes, but
what I had on seemed to be working fine, so I wore them again.  I didn't
even brush my hair, just pulled it up in a bandana.  I did brush my teeth.
Only so much grubbiness can be tolerated.   First thing we had to do, was
refill our water.  This is the water source we used.

A steady stream of water coming right out of the mountain.   We washed

our breakfast dishes and refilled our water bladders for the hike.  Jantzen

used Aquamira to purify the water -  two little bottles of chemicals that are

mixed together and then you wait 20 minutes for them to do their magic. 

I drank this water all day and I couldn't tell it had been treated.  It tasted fine. 

I leaned how important it is to stay hydrated while you are hiking.  The key

is to drink little and often.  Don't wait until you are thirsty to drink water.  In

other words, sip some water constantly  as you hike, rather than drinking lots

at one time.  As we hiked, Jantzen would ask, "you drinking water?"  and I 

appreciated the reminder.  One thing I noticed is that when you drink small

amounts often, your body is able to utilize it better.   When you gulp down

lots of water,  you just have to go to the bathroom. (which as you already

know, I was trying to avoid)   With our packs loaded, we started hiking before

8:00.  The forest was beautiful early in the morning.  I loved hearing the

birds.  At one point, it was so loud, I felt like I was in an aviary,  then I

realized I was, only this one was the real thing.  The spiderwebs across 

the trail were an indication that we were the first to head down the path. 

I appreciated Jantzen leading the way and clearing out all the spiderwebs.

Today I was doing some serious climbing and was grateful for Dillon's

trekking poles.  This was my first experience using these and once I got

my rhythm down pat, I loved them. They take so much pressure off of

your knees and help tremendously with climbing.  

We departed the Appalachian Trail and took the Boulevard Trail to 

Mt. Leconte.  This was one of the prettiest hikes I have ever taken. 

Obviously, there was a lot of climbing, but it was gentle climbing and

absolutely beautiful views for miles and miles.  It was 5.7 miles to the

summit of Mt. Leconte.

We went through lush green forests.

 Did you know this part of the Appalachians are a

 deciduous rain forest?  I didn't.

We passed lots of large uprooted trees and Jantzen said they called these

zombie nests.  At times we had to walk under them and they do look creepy.

I took pictures of beautiful wildflowers to come home and try to identify.

I loved how these grew on the rocks.

This was the first purple trillium I had ever seen.

I also saw a number of different varieties of white trillium.

I'm not sure about these other things.  I thought I 

had a pretty good field guide, but I can't figure

out what any of these are.

If anyone recognizes them, please let me know.

One thing Jantzen made sure I learned on this trip was the principle of

Leave No Trace, referred to by those in the know as LNT.  When you 

are hiking, you leave everything as you find it, unless what you find is

someone else's trash.  This would really upset  Jantzen.  I saw him bend

over and pick up gum wrappers and put them in this pocket.  Once he

went down the hill to pick up a water bottle that someone had  dropped. 

By his example, he taught me well.

Everything you pack in - you pack out.  

We had a little rain shower on the way up the mountain.  I was so glad I 

had on those fancy, quick dry pants and we had pack covers to go over

our packs to keep everything dry.  After we had been hiking for several

hours, sometimes in stretches of silence, the thought occurred to me that 

at this point we were a long way from our car.  It's a good thing that I was 

committed to this hike.  What else could you do except keep walking?

In some sections on the trail, there were wire handrails to hold onto.  

The trail was narrow, wet, and dropped off on one side.   What am I 

looking at?

Just views like this and this.  Even in the rain and clouds, this was the most

beautiful sight I've seen in a long time. 

It reminded me of a Relief Society class I was in once, when the teacher

was telling about a trip she had taken to a beautiful place ( I think it just 

might have been this same area).  She said something that I have always 

remembered.  Excuse me Emily, because I will probably slaughter your

quote, but I remember  it like this. 

"If God created it, then we should be able to see God in it."  

I love that and I believe it to be true.  If we look closely, we should be

able to see God in all his creations.  I felt like I was seeing God in all 

his glory on this day and I said silent prayers of thanksgiving often.

As we neared the summit of Mt. Leconte,  it started to look like this

in places.  I hate to see the dead trees.  Mt. Leconte is the third highest 

peak in the Smokies.  However, from its immediate base to its highest

peak it is the tallest mountain in Tennessee.

I made it to the summit and added my rock to the cairn.  At this

point I am at 6593 feet elevation and feeling pretty proud of myself.

The views from Cliff Tops were amazing.

I love this picture of Jantzen.

We met some nice folks who took a few pics of us.

It was pretty chilly up here.  The wind was whipping around and at

one point I was wishing I had brought a pair of gloves along.  After

checking out the views and spending the last four hours in what felt

like complete wilderness, we came upon the LeConte Lodge.

The only way to reach this lodge is by hiking.  I love the little cabins

that you can stay in. I peeked in the windows and they are so cute! I 

saw bunk beds and a little table with an oil lamp on it.  No tv here folks.

I think these would be so fun to stay in.  The word on the trail is, they 

feed you really well too.  After the hike you have to take to get here,

 I bet that food tastes like the best thing on earth.

The llamas are used to bring supplies up the mountain

for the guests.

Eventually, what goes up, must come down and it was time for us to

start down the mountain.   For lunch, we snacked on apples, trail mix, 

nuts, granola bars and chocolate.  It was delicious.

It was five, hard miles going down the Alum Trail.  You might think

it is easier to go down a mountain than up, but it is hard on the knees. 

The trekking poles help a lot with that and Jantzen and I both slipped

and almost fell a number of times, but we caught ourselves with the poles.

There are so many rocks and wet places on the trail that it would have

been really dangerous without the aid of the trekking poles.  I'm completely

sold on them.  The views continued all the way down the mountain.

The water coming off the rocks.

The Alum Caves were pretty awesome.  They are so large I couldn't

get a picture that really showed a true representation.

As we neared the end of the trail, we hiked by a beautiful stream for a few miles.

It was a bitter sweet moment when we reached the end of the trail.

I was tired and happy to have made it.  I was sad that it was over.  

I had the most wonderful time with Jantzen.  He was in his element,

and I loved being a part of that.  I had spent two days in the woods,

and had seen some of the most beautiful scenery ever,  had challenged 

myself to do something hard and had accomplished my goal! That felt

good. I had one more thing to experience though.  We had parked our

car at Newfound Gap and we were now at Alum Cave Trailhead parking

area.  Ideally, you would have two cars and leave one at each end of the

trail.  We weren't able to do that, so Jantzen said we would hitch a ride

to our car.  Hmmmmm.   I've never hitched before and it always made

me nervous when the boys did it on the trail. But I guess it is just a part

of being a hiker. 

Jantzen said it wouldn't take long at all for us to find a ride.  He said, 

"People won't be afraid to stop for us, with you along.  When your my 

age, it helps to have an old lady with you.  You know mom , you look 

so respectable.  They might be afraid to pick up a young guy like me, 

but not when he is with his mom."   Yes, he did. He called me an 

"old lady", but he also said I was a good hiker and was capable of

section hiking the AT  with no problems.  What a compliment! (Maybe

that should be a goal for 51)   Well, he was right about the ride.  It took, 

maybe ten minutes and a couple of local boys who were headed out on a

hike of their own, stopped and picked us up. They were very nice, but I

have to tell you I was way out of my comfort zone.  It was a short ride

back to the car.  What had taken us days to hike,  had just made a big

loop. I thanked our drivers for making my first hitching experience a

pleasant one.

When we arrived back at our car I was ready to sit down and take

off my shoes,  and you guessed it, go to the bathroom - one with

flushing toilets!   This "old lady" had hiked 16.7 miles, learned a 

lot about backpacking, had seen the backwoods of the Great Smoky

Mountains and most importantly had experienced an amazing

adventure with her son.   I was happy and ready to go home and 

take a shower! 

*Goal #1 - Take 50 hikes

*Goal #8 - Take a backpacking trip.