Monday Musings, August 2
Well, here we are! August has rolled in and before we know it we will be inundated with Pumpkin Spice everything, football, and Christmas preparations! Yikes. This quickly-marching calendar made me pause and look at my 2021 goals and how I’m doing towards reaching them.
And while I had hoped to have completed more on my promised how-to-knit series, I’m pleased that we have completed most of the home projects we had planned. Well, in truth, I have no more money in my ‘home improvements’ budget, so I guess I actually am finished for the year!
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Many of these National Day Of… days seem rather arbitrary. But with the dog days of summer, it makes perfect sense that today is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day! Celebrate the day with these Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches, and then set some cookies aside to celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie day this Wednesday!
This Thursday is National Oyster Day. After you have enjoyed your oysters, save the shells (and maybe grab a bit more) to make an Oyster Shell Mirror or an Oyster Cluster.
I’ve mentioned Tamar Adler’s book An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace before. I read this book two years ago, but keep her guidance in the back of my mind as I endeavor to waste less in my kitchen. I wrote this post on Reducing Food Waste a year ago and go back through it from time to time to re-energize my efforts. Yesterday I made a corn salad that required me to cut the fresh kernels off of the cobs. As opposed to trashing the cobs, I tossed them in some water with a cut onion already in my fridge and a stalk of celery and now I have a delightful corn cob broth. I will use the broth as a vegetable stock or as the liquid in my next batch of polenta or grits.
And then, once I was finished cooking them for the stock, I tossed them into our compost bin…ZERO WASTE! I’ve got to be truthful, I love the challenge of keeping my kitchen waste reduced.
Save your eggshells to help your garden as well.
Speaking of our garden, it seems the local bunnies mistook our beans for their own Golden Corral All-You-Can-Eat buffet. We planted more seeds this weekend, with the anticipation that we will be picking beans again in 7 weeks. 🤞🏼 We used to put bird netting all around the garden to keep the bunnies, birds, and raccoons out, but after killing one and rescuing 2 garden snakes from the netting, we decided we would rather try different deterrents or just sacrifice some of our produce to the local wildlife.
Will you be knitting Christmas gifts this year? This Half-Linen Stitch and Faux Fur blanket knits up quickly and makes a very welcome and unique gift.
Even experienced knitters might learn something new in these All About Yarn and All About Knitting Needles posts. I gathered a few new nuggets in researching and writing them.
Well, my friends. I am off to work in the garden for a bit. It really got out of hand with my recent recuperations. We made a big dent in it this weekend, but there is still more to do.
Wishing you a wonderful week until we chat next Monday!
Hugs,
