Being disabled, I spend a lot of time online. Email, Facebook, Yahoo messenger, Skype/MSN messenger. I even have a free google phone to make long distance calls, in Canada & the US.

You can learn a lot of interesting things online. Recipes, new ways of doing just about anything. Recently, I saw a couple of posts on Facebook about growing food from scraps. Seems like a very eco-friendly, environmentally friendly idea. But how practical is it & does it really work? I don't see growing green onions from the white bulb end, because to me, it's the best tasting part! I have grown them from dried bulbs, there's a little Indian vegetable market that carries them in the spring. So I decided to try celery. This won't work if you buy loose stocks or pre-cut celery.
You start with a full bunch of celery, still attached. Cut off about1" - 2" from the bottom. Place it in a plant pot, water it every day or 2, still it next to a window, so it gets some sunshine.

In about a week, this should be what you see:

Saturday, September  14, 2013

Update: I forgot to water the celery every day & it died. I may try again next year,

I don't know. I think I am about done for this year.

Canning season is here & I have been a busy little bumblebee. I am sure having a lot of fun!
Have you ever wondered what 100 pounds of tomatoes would look like, when it was finished being canned? Well, now you don't need to wonder, because you can see for yourself. I added up all the tomatoes we've bought in the last 3 weeks (I also get some freebies from the Salvation Army, due to the wonderful generosity of local gardeners, farmers & other folks. And several jars went straight into the fridge & got eaten up). Plus I am not quite finished the box we picked up yesterday. So I did the math & this roughly 100 pounds of tomatoes:

It was a lot of fun, but I am glad my canning season is nearly over.

Darn it, I am craving a Frosty's hat right now!

I just ran out of St. Ives' Vanilla skin crème. Actually, that's not completely accurate. It would more accurate to say that what was left was no longer accessible. The way it is designed, when there is about 1 & 1/2 inches left, it can no longer reach the bottom of the tube attached to the squirt top mechanism, which is frustrating. It's very thick, so even trying to leave it upside-down overnight in another container didn't work very well. Also, because of the container's shape, it is very difficult to clean out, so the plastic can be recycled. Here is what I ended up having to do:

I had to cut the top off the container, and use a tiny spoon, to get the remaining crème out of the container, so it wouldn't be wasted. It was too thick to even use the funnel. Seriously, there really should be an easier way to package this, to ensure there isn't a lot of wasted product & to make it easier to recycle the plastic container. I read somewhere that plastics may take up to 1,000 years to bio-degrade! That's horrible. I re-cycle a lot, but I wish that companies, would help us out & make it easier for us to do.

I canned 30 pounds of tomatoes last week & another 30 pounds yesterday (Wednesday) morning. Lots of work, but it is also a lot of fun!! Here is what slightly less than 60 pounds of tomatoes looks like after:

The reason I said almost 60 pounds, is that I made 2 jars that went straight into the fridge.