Maggie Turner: Page by Page

Hot! Humid! This is not a day where I spend time on the back porch! It is comfortable here inside, thanks to the ground source heat pump. Most of our vegetable scraps are saved for making Vegetable Broth. Peels, cores, seeds, stems, all kinds of vegetative bits, that we don’t eat in our food, are placed in plastic bags in the freezer. When about 10 plastic bags of vegetable scraps have accumulated, it is time to make Vegetable Broth. With the garden going great guns, we have lots of scraps, and yesterday they were processed into broth in the Steam Juicer. But the freezer is still stuffed to the point where things fall out the door when it is opened. There were quite a few containers of Vegetable Broth frozen in there, time to do something about the overcrowding. I fetched the 16 quart stock pot from the basement (yes, I could find it!), as it was needed to hold all the new broth, and all of the frozen broth. Every bit of broth was put in the pot and brought to a boil for 10 minutes, then canned in 1 litre jars. Already there is one new bag of … Continue reading →

Saturday, August 8, 2020: 10 a.m. Yesterday Attila took a day off so that we could visit the Camp. It has been some time since we were last there, the heat wave lasted all of July, making it unpleasant to be outdoors. I had been quite concerned about the bucket mouse trap in the trailer. A dead mouse, in the heat wave, would be quite odoriferous, and not much fun to deal with. But we were in for a great surprise, no mice in the trap! Thank goodness. I really wish they would not come into the trailer at all. We have done everything we can think of to discourage them, but they are still finding their way in. The burn ban was lifted for the area, so we had a campfire. Where our Camp is located a fire permit is required to have a campfire. Every year I obtaina fire permit. A great bonus is that the municipality actually telephones permit holders to notify them of burn bans, and again when the burn bans are lifted. It is a great program! We are very careful about our campfires. Our fire pit is build to regulation specifications, and we keep … Continue reading →

We moved here almost five years ago, funnelling the belongings that filled an 1800 square foot house into about 640 square feet. We have been renovating here at Mist Cottage since we moved in, and for five years before we moved in. The only contracted work was to dig up around the foundation to install a drainage system and a water guard, new window installation, and attic insulation. Otherwise all of the labour for our renovations has been done by us. I provide all of the administrative, financial, research, and development aspects of the renovations, as well as all of the domestic necessities, basically keeping the boat afloat while Attila is focused on physical projects. All of the serious structural issues with the house have been addressed as well as they can be, with the exception of the wiring and plumbing, which still need replacement, or at the very least tweaking. There is a lot of work remaining, in the realm of the cosmetic: gutting the exterior walls on the main floor, wire, insulate, drywall; new back door; new back porch and deck; new flooring in all but kitchen and bathroom; paint walls and ceiling; new kitchen cabinets; new stairs … Continue reading →

I have been self-isolating since February, 5 months. Then last week I had to have an ultrasound, it was not a good experience. It was my first foray into the world in a long time. Today I had to go into a retail outlet to purchase the wheat for my bread. It was my second foray into the world in less than a week, and it was not a good experience. Since I’ve only had two experiences in the last five months, I can’t tell whether I’ve just had very bad luck, or if the world out there is getting a great deal nastier than it already was. The company that sells Canadian Wheat at a price we can afford is in Toronto. They will not ship, and will not allow pre-order, and prepayment, before pickup. I HAD to go into the store. They warned me on the phone, that there might be other customers in the store, they were not monitoring that. So after the long drive to Toronto, I wore a big shirt and long pants over my clothes, donned my mask and face shield, and entered the store. It was awful. There were four people ahead of … Continue reading →

Who Knew! You probably did know, but I didn’t. This morning, as we were sitting chatting on the back porch, Attila rose from his chair and wandered into the garden. I watched him with some interest, as he leaned into the garden area by the fence, and pulled out a huge plant. What was it? I could not tell, it was not familiar to me. I thought it might be a big weed, as unlikely as that would be, a huge weed in Attila’s garden. But Attila, after removing dirt from the roots, walked toward the porch, prize in hand. It was a purple Kohlrabi! It is a Heritage Variety, Early Purple Vienna, the seeds were purchased from the Baker Creek seed company. It was about 5 inches in diameter, with an impressive three foot array of leaves. And that was my morning, learning about Kohlrabi, then putting putting that knowledge to practical use. Nutritionally, Kohlrabi is a great food, related to Kale and Cabbage and other Brassicas. Not only is it tasty, it is low in calories and carbohydrates, and high in nutrients you want in your diet. One cup (135 grams) of raw kohlrabi provides: Calories 37% Daily … Continue reading →