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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Garden in full production, Moms passing

Our garden is in full production right now. Although I did lose the last of my sweet corn. It was just not important last week. We had other sad things to endure. My mom passed away suddenly August 8th. She had been doing really well after her stroke in April and up till about 2 hours before she passed. I find comfort in the fact that she did not suffer at all. My suspicion is she had another stroke or threw a clot. We buried her beside daddy on Tuesday. The week prior we were planning on Amoy and Liam visiting for a week and were scheduled to pick them up on Saturday at the airport. Rob was not gonna be able to come home with them due to trying to save his vacation time for when our lil Zachary gets here. But as it happened mom passed on Friday night and when we let them know Rob got a flight out of Phoenix for Sunday morning an got home Sunday evening. I was sure happy to get to spend some time with the kids and especially that sweet lil Liam. He just melts our heart.

He just had a hard time getting thru the flowers to get to his momma. He would eventually make a good lil country boy. There is truly nothing greater than grand kids. He did get to walk barefoot in the grass, step in his share of chicken poop, play in a creek, and pick and eat maters right off the vine.

Liam and daddy picking and eating Blueberry tomatoes that I planted in the herb bed. My good friend Deb sent me the seed for the tomatoes. That is the odd thing I grew this year. They are blue to purple in color and get red if they are in the sun. Liam liked em.  Love that precious lil boy. And his momma and daddy too of course.

Our tomatoes in the garden have done great this year. Rob and Rodger picked about 2 1/2 bushels on Sunday and I finally got them worked up on Tuesday. It will be hot for several days then rain for several days and this is hell on tomatoes. It will make them split and crack. Then they rot before they get totally ripe. But we are still having a lot  I made about 15 pints of salsa, and about 8 quarts of mater juice. When I wash and prep the tomatoes to run thru the Squeezo strainer to make juice I squeeze the seed pockets out of them. When they are run thru the strainer the juice comes out almost as thick as tomato sauce. Next project is to make spaghetti sauce to can. Probably this weekend. We had planned on picking green beans and tomatoes this evening but it poured rain till nearly dark. So maybe Rodger can do that tomorrow evening for me. Jason should be able to help him.

 I have to be out of town for visitation Thursday evening and the funeral on Friday for my Uncle Charlie. He was mom's sister Carla(deceased) widower. He had surgery on Monday to remove a tumor in his lung and passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday morning. My cousins are just devastated as to be expected. Two of those cousins were here last week as pall bearers for my mom's funeral. Love them dearly and loved uncle Charlie to pieces. It has sure been a rough couple weeks here on the homestead. Life can change in the blink of an eye. So tell your loved ones you love them today, tomorrow may never come.

In the past month since my last post, I did manage to get all my carrots processed. Some sliced and frozen, chunked and frozen, others shredded and dried. So they are all done. Now if it will just stop raining long enough to get the potatoes dug before they start to sprout with all this rain. I will most likely can most of them this year. We can keep them in the cellar but they do tend to sprout and thus ya lose a lot to sprouting. So if they are in a jar they are good till you decide to use them. So far I have only had time to make one canning of veggie soup and can it. Need to do lots more. Its also time to get the venison we have left out of the freezer and used up before the hunting season starting in October. We don't have much left but its still good and will use it in veggie soup and chili. What ever roast are left I will just can for barbecue or venison and gravy. Nothing goes to waste around here. When I took Rob, Amoy and Liam to the airport Monday I made a run to Sam's club and picked up another 50 lbs of onions to dry and use in soup as I can it. I got more pinto beans too for canning bean soup. We eat lots of soups in winter especially. Just glad Josh was in town that day to go with me to Sam's and help load the car. He is such a good friend to Jason and all of us. It was nice to get to spend some time with him even though it was during moms funeral. Dana and Dalton were taking care of his parents while he was here with us. Just wonderful folks, all of them, that we love like family.

I had planned several weeks ago to get my herbs cut and dried and still don't have it done. They have grown like crazy with all the rain. Maybe next week. God willing it will happen. If not, oh well. We will make do with what we have on hand. We have been more than blessed with our garden this year so I wont complain.

Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

4 comments:

doubletrouble said...

Condolences & prayers on your loss, Stella.

Andrea said...

My deepest & most heartfelt sympathy upon the passing of your mother, Stella. May she rest in peace. Amen.

~Andrea
XOXOXO

Unknown said...

Hi, Stella. I stumbled upon (old-school stumbling) your blog yesterday while looking to verify some jam/jelly info. So nice to find I was right, and so delightful to find someone whose interests are so close to some of my own.

You seem like a delightful person who's getting to live the lifestyle we'd like to have and hopefully will have after my husband's retirement. I'm a professional writer, designer, producer/manager and on the side, supply several local restaurants with homemade products. These hats don't come with a retirement age, so I'll probably be writing and creating games until I die.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you better.

I was very sorry to hear about your mother's passing. I lost my father over 20 years ago, and sometimes the pain is still so strong and comes out of nowhere.

For me, initially, I was just plain numb. It took months to get all the legal and personal business sorted out right, and I operated more or less as an automaton during that time. I think it actually took me three years to reach the third stage of grief.

All of which is to say, simply, again, I'm very sorry for your loss, and I do understand what you're going through. Again, we don't know each other, and you seem to have a huge group of friends and family to lean on -- but sometimes you want to express thoughts and emotions you just really can't say to those people.

I offer myself as a safe haven for you if/when those times come. I'm assuming as moderator, you get my email address when I post, but if not, let me know and I'll send it and my phone # to you.

Losing a parent is one of the most difficult, life-rattling things we go through in our lives. I'm so very sorry you have this huge loss and adjustments to make.

Please don't forget to take care of yourself along the way. I know it's been a few weeks already, so please make sure you're eating the right things, drinking enough water, and getting as much good sleep as you can.

I'm sure that many of your members share my thoughts but just hadn't figured out how to express them at this time.

May God (the Universe, the Infinite Is, the Great Designer or other term you may or may not employ in your own spiritualism) bless you during this time of sorrow and may the pain and trials you may experience along the way only make you stronger.

Best regards,

Julie Anne

small farm girl said...

Sorry about your loss.