baby, it's cold out there

I'm up in the wee hours. Mom's All-Night-Dine-In is officially closed for the day and Ward can snuggle with his dad now while Mom gets a break. It is C.O.L.D. 23 degrees here. I've got my plants covered with a light garden fabric though I don't know if that will be enough to save the tender lettuces. We'll see when this cold snap ends.

I've spent the past few weeks really taking it easy in the gardening world. A little fall clean-up has happened but there is more to be done. At this point, most of the spent plants are yanked out and composted and I've even run the tiller up and down a few rows (my first time using the tiller and wow, it's not as easy as it looks). I actually canceled my gardening date with Lisa yesterday because I knew Ward would not tolerate an hour or more out there at 35 degrees. This super cold won't last forever and when it ends, I'll get back out there.

Meanwhile, I've been cooking. Remember all those green romas I harvested? At the time, I wondered if they'd ever ripen. They did! I gave a lot of them away to Fellowship, Blake, Lisa. The ones I kept I made spaghetti sauce with. I still have one small bowl left that I'll probably make some salsa with tonight.


I also stewed one of the chickens. My intention had been to do so right away, but life got in the way, then we were blessed with a lot of venison, and then it was so close to Thanksgiving and I knew I'd be doing all that stock making, etc with the turkey remains. So, finally, this past weekend I spent an afternoon slowly simmering one while we decorated for Christmas. I have to admit that while I was cooking it, I did REALLY think about what it was I was doing. It was not some abstract food that had no connection to me. I was fully aware that I was cooking this animal I'd cared for and taken hot oatmeal out to on cold mornings. Fortunately, I married the man I did, and he kept the mood light by coming in and re-enacting the whole chicken killing experience.

I made chicken and rice that night and then last night used the remaining chicken to make a pot pie. I followed Evelyn's recipe and man, it was perfect. I've always tried to wing it on the filling before and have never gotten it quite right. Last night's pot-pie was perfect. So from one chicken, I froze roughly 5 containers of stock for making soup later this winter and made two dinners from which there will be leftovers for lunches for several days. Pretty good.


While I was stewing the chicken and decorating, it snowed. A December NC snow. It was perfect. The girls were over the moon with excitement. The holiday spirit is thriving in this house. Life is good.