Thursday, July 9, 2026

 As I was thinking of what I wanted to include in this post and thinking about a title, I'm reminded what a jumbled word salad most of my post are. No main topic. Any post could be about cooking AND gardening AND dogs AND cross stitching. Since the blog name is "Diary of Judy L.", maybe I should just write about everything (within reason), like I did in my middle school diary. 

We'll see how that goes.

We went to Sam's Club this morning. Vince had told me yesterday that he needed a couple of things from there. Of course, one can never leave Sam's Club with a couple of things. When we were there on July 2 or 3, they had a three pack of Boursin cheese on sale so I wanted to get another one of those. I got the last one! Good timing, huh?

Here's something I didn't know. I have a big 64 oz. jug of soy sauce in my garage fridge. I keep re-filling a soy sauce bottle with that. The big jug is almost empty so I wanted to get another one. They didn't have them in the store so I figured . . it's been a while and they don't carry those any more. I bought a 2 pack of 20 oz. bottles. Then I got home and looked online and they do still have the big jugs but only to order. The two jars I bought in the store are .20/oz or $7.98. The big jug is .12/oz or $7.38 for the jug. Instead of $7.98, the at the jug price, the two bottles would have been $4.80 instead of $7.98. I need to shop smarter!

Did I already tell you we went to an Amish fruit and vegetable auction earlier this week (Tuesday)? I don't think I did so . . Vince needed to go to Lamar, a bit north of here, and a bit north of Lamar is an Amish fruit and veggie auction on Tuesdays and Fridays during gardening season. We've been wanting to go and the timing was right so we went. We ended up buying 100 pounds of tomatoes and maybe 15 pounds of peaches. Tuesday night I canned 40 pounds of tomatoes. Wednesday night after I got in from stitching with Debbie, I canned 20 pounds of tomatoes. To today I canned about 20 pounds and I should have about 20 pounds left to can tomorrow.

That's 35 quarts of tomatoes - just crushed tomatoes. I can use them for soups, stews, pasta sauce, pizza sauce. My goal is 60 quarts to get us through a year but we'll see. Water bath canning is slow because I can't can two layers at a time and still have at least 1" of water over the top of the jars. In my big canner, I can pressure can 15 quarts at one time but I can only do 7 quarts at a time with water bath canning.  And, since the food is cold packed, I have to either dump the water after each session or let it cool down almost completely before running another load. That big canner is super heavy and handling it when it's hot and full of hot water isn't a good idea. So . . 14 quarts is about all I can do in one evening.

I'm making good progress on Christmas Roads.

I'm trying to work my way to where I can start on the big, red house . . maybe tomorrow. I'm thinking before bed tonight, I might be able to make a few stitches on the red house!

GH 1857 - Cross Sttiching!

 This is kind of a funny story - at least I think it is! 

Sometimes it seems that there's a cross stitching chart that EVERYONE is working on and talking about on YouTube and Facebook. That's what I'm seeing with GH 1857.

In my opinion, this photo doesn't do it justice. There are many of them popping up on Instagram and on Facebook that are just gorgeous! I kept saying . . I have too many projects; it's too big and talking myself out of it but the more I see it, the more I want to stitch it . . or should I say  . . start it!

Last night while in the shower, for some reason, I remembered that I have the chart and I thought it was kitted and it might be in one of the storage ottomans that I haven't opened in probably a year. 

This morning Vince needed to run to a little town a bit north of here and asked me to go with him so while I was waiting to leave, I decided to check and see if Vikki Clayton has a "packet" of floss for this project. Yes, she does! It's here if anyone else wants it. How's that for enabling?

Before ordering the silk floss, I thought . . you'd better check that kit and (1) be sure you know where it is and (2) be sure you don't already have the silk floss from Vikki Clayton.

I got up, found the kit right where I thought it was. How does that happen when so many of the things I look for I never find? And, I had Vikki Clayton's packet of silks for it. AND I have linen which I'm probably not going to use. It's the called for linen but I think my piece is kinda dark and the house may not show up so I need to see what else I can find. It's big enough that I need either a sampler cut or a half yard and mostly I have fat quarters. I do have a few pieces that are larger so I'll check that out soon.

I looked back to see when I had ordered all of this - March, 2022. Yep, it's time to get that project out and get it stitched!

The Garden

I figured no one cares what I'm doing 99.9% of the time but this is the "Diary of Judy L." so I'll just share what's interesting to me and I can guarantee it likely isn't something that's going to interest anyone else. Sorry!!

Last week I picked up my new glasses and there's something not right about them. After wearing them for an hour or so, I get a headache and it's a weird headache - not a sinus headache or any kind of headache I've had before so right off the bat we went back to get some adjustments made. Whatever they did, I don't think it solved the issue but I'll give it a few days before I go back. I say that but I'm back to wearing my old glasses.

We got home and Vince had to rush off to physical therapy. I headed out to the garden and this is what I got.

 There's a delicata squash in the back - I did not plant delicata so that's more seeds from the compost bin. I would have sworn that zero seeds went into my compost bin but I would be wrong.

That big gold cucumber was hiding and I will use it for the seeds that I will plant next year. There are more yellow zucchini, a couple more eggplant, giant Marconi peppers (my favorite), jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, a few tomatoes and more yellow zucchini. Tomorrow we have appointments and I probably won't have to pick anything out of the garden tomorrow.

I've mentioned before how much I love Mandy in the Making's YouTube videos. I'm pretty sure I also mentioned this particular video because I already made the Garlic Butter Lemon Chicken Thighs and they were delicious. Today, I was going to make the Crockpot Cheesy Marinara Meatballs. She doesn't even really list the recipe - just a very short list of ingredients. The recipe calls for frozen storebought meatballs but I can't bring myself to use storebought ground meat for several reasons. If you do use storebought ground meat . . don't ask me about my reasons! You're welcome!!  :)

I got out in the garden and started working and never took ground beef out of the freezer so I grabbed a jar of ground beef I had canned a while back. Quick and easy! While we were eating, I told Vince that it was canned ground beef, not knowing what he would say. Sometimes he asks questions about my canning and I don't know if (1) he's just trying to be nice or (2) he's concerned about whether I really know what I'm doing and we may die! But, when I told him, he said "WOW! You would never know!" One of the things I said was "We never have to worry about the power going out and losing our meat if it's in jars! Then he wanted to know how long it would last in the jars. I know there are rules/suggestions and most will say 2 years max but we're still working on taco soup that I canned in 2013. I'm not sure why I decided that 50+ quarts of taco soup was a good idea but I did.

The only change I made . . can you guess?? I added yellow zucchini! How else am I going to get rid of all that zucchini? A reader had posted that she adds zucchini to her spaghetti sauce so I did too and from now on, if I have zucchini, I'll probably add it to my sauce.

I really liked this recipe. Debbie suggested EVERYTHING is better with Boursin and that may be it. I'll definitely make this again. 

The last garden related thing I did was to cut back the basil. I put it all in the dehydrators. It will take two loads to get it all done. I am also dehydrating the stems and I will grind those and add them to salt to make basil salt.

Look at the size of those basil leaves! I was going to grab a coin for reference but my wallet was downstairs so I grabbed a butter knife. Hope that gives you an idea of the size of these leaves! I've made pesto for the freezer and will probably make more before the basil bolts. I don't think it's possible for me to save enough basil and pesto to get us through the year but I give it my best shot.

Last - the squash bugs. My squash is doing way better than it has in recent years but look at this . . 

Normally I find the eggs on the back sides of leaves. They can lay them anywhere but this is the first time I've seen so many eggs in random places. Here's some on a squash blossom and on the stem of a leaf. I could be wrong but I choose to believe we're doing good fighting them and they're frustrated and confused and maybe they won't come back next year because we've not had the welcome mat out for them! Right!!

It's 4:30 p.m. and I'm going back to my cross stitching!

Cross Stitching

 There's still a little cross stitching happening but what little I do has to get squeezed in between the garden and canning. And . . The finger! Ugh! It's frustrating. The finger is so much better, and I think it's still improving, but it's still a problem. If I bump it, or tap it against something or try to peel anything - potatoes, eggplant, apple .. it gets red and swollen again. It recovers within a day or so but it's been six weeks so I'm more than ready for it to be "normal".

I still cannot use the index finger to stitch unless it's just for a few stitches so I'm getting pretty good at using the thumb and middle finger.

On the stitching front, I've framed a few pieces that had been sitting around for quite a while. One was from 2021. About time, huh? I'll get pictures when I get a couple more framed. I ordered two more frames last week

Now that the patriotic stitching is not my priority, but I do still have a couple of pieces to get finished, I want to start working on WIPs again and Christmas projects.

The Blooming Stitcher and Rushing Rabbit Studio are hosting a stitch along for Christmas Roads, which started July 1. I had bought the chart when The Blooming Stitcher first mentioned it so I started that.

I didn't have the green floss for the border and the trees but it should be here this week. I went ahead and started with the floss I have. I'm working to get to the house so I can stitch that but without the green for those trees, I'm afraid to trust my counting so I'll keep working on other areas til the green floss arrives, hopefully Tuesday. Markup tells me I'll finish it July 27 but Markup thinks I'm going to keep stitching without stopping and working on something else. Crazy app!  :)

My linen is more gold than the photos are indicating. I started at the top and almost all of the white oval has been stitched. There's a bit more fill in at the bottom to be done.

I thought maybe if I got the words stitched, I could count up from there and start the house but I'm not that brave. I didn't have the called for color of floss for the text either but I had one that's close enough. It's supposed to be a gray and this one is kinda grayish green. I like it! I actually have a green that might work for the outer border and trees so if my package doesn't arrive by Tuesday, I may go ahead and use that one if I'm ready to start stitching those things.

Garden & Canning

It's that time of year when the garden is keeping me busy. I've canned more potatoes, cowboy candy and LOTS of chicken broth, which obviously did not come out of the garden.

There's still a lot more chicken broth to make but the bones/chicken are all in the freezer so I'll work on that as I can. Actually, it's all in Debbie's freezer because I didn't have room in the freezer for them but I'll bring them home, make the broth, then get more til they're all gone.

I'm so happy with the "fix" Vince came up with for protecting the squash. I think I had mentioned that apparently squash seeds accidentally got added to the compost and the pepper bed has pretty much been taken over by squash. At first I thought it was all butternut but there's delicata squash in there too. Who can complain about all that coming up and producing when I didn't even plant it? I'm most excited that I'm going to get at least a few candy roasters this year.

I had to pick this candy roaster and it wasn't quite ready so I hope it will be good. It was about an inch from growing right under the greenhouse. Those vines are taking over the entire back yard. If I had left it to grow under the greenhouse, it would have died over there and hundreds of seeds would have produced and grown through the spaces in the wood floor in the greenhouse and it would have been a mess . . probably for years. The fines were attached to the rocks around the base of the greenhouse so I couldn't move the vine so . . I picked it and will probably cook it tomorrow.

We're getting lots of eggplants, peppers, still a bit of zucchini, and a few tomatoes. The tomatoes aren't doing great and neither is the okra. I may have to give up growing garlic so I can get the okra planted sooner since I harvest the garlic, amend the soil and plant the okra in the same bed. This year it was at least three weeks later than usual when the garlic was ready. We'll see but the okra is really behind. Garlic is fairly inexpensive to buy. Okra is rather expensive to buy so if I have to choose, I think we'll keep growing the okra. I may end up buying tomatoes for canning and if I can get good ones that aren't too expensive, I may not even grow tomatoes next year. 

Vince is NOT a gardener. He'll help me when I need help but he has zero interest in gardening. He's funny though . . we've been together for over 30 years and I've had a garden almost every year and he still seems shocked when I come in with a big basket full of goodies from the garden. Today I came in with a bunch of peppers and four big and beautiful eggplants. His eyes got big and he said "You grew those??"  He seems surprised that things grow in our garden!  :)

Medicinal Herbs

 Several of you have asked for more info about medicinal herbs/remedies. I'm not trying to be evasive and I would love to write for days about medicinal herbs but there's a very fine line between giving medical advice (which I am NOT qualified to do!) and sharing what I've learned through the years. There are so many online resources and I will list a few here and hope you can get enough info to get you started.

Probably the most common "concoctions" are tinctures and salves. I'm not much into tinctures. Many are very beneficial but, at least for now, we need salves way more than we've needed the benefit of tinctures. Salves can be used for itching, stings, bug bites - the things that happen daily around here.

When I make a salve, I start with herbs, mostly dried herbs. They can be dried on a towel on a hot sunny day or in a dehydrator. I usually dry mine below 100 degrees for about 20 hours.

The herbs/weeds/medicinal plants I make sure we ALWAYS have are:

• Mullein
• Comfrey
• Elderberry
• Turmeric
• Tulsi
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Dead Nettle
• Plantain
• Sumac
• Burnweed
• Dock
• Callendula
• Echinacea
• Self-Heal
• American Beauty Berry
• Yarrow
• Chamomile
• Wild Lettuce

There are so many! There are more than what I've listed - just am not remembering them all now. I don't grow them all every year. The mullein pops up every year, some years there's more than other years. Because we've changed what we had growing in some areas, we've had to add add mullein plants but in a few years, we'll be pulling up more than we leave in the ground.

We have comfrey, elderberry, self-heal, echinacea, American Beauty Berry, yarrow and sumac that we've planted and they come back every year. Mullein, for the most part, burnweed, wild lettuce, dock, plantain, dead nettle and dandelions are weeds that come back uninvited every year.

I plant turmeric, Tulsi, garlic, turmeric, ginger, chamomile, and calendular every year. Of course, ginger, garlic and turmeric get used in the kitchen all year.

Of course, you do not have to have all of these plants, and there may be others you want to grow but this will give you some things to think about.

Here are some useful links:

Barbara O'Neill is the one person who has had the biggest influence on my desire to learn about herbs/weeds as medicine. She has excellent books and videos.

Top 10 Medicinal Plants

10 Edible and Medicinal Weeds

Medicinal Herbs

NOTES:  PLEASE READ

1.  If you are taking Rx meds, be very careful about adding anything new without speaking with your prescribing physician. Some herbs are quite powerful and can cause problems with adverse interactions with other meds.

2.  I feel like everyone needs comfrey but one type is very invasive. I think it's some kind of Russian comfrey that is NOT invasive but I was checking to see what kind to recommend and some say there are types of Russian comfrey that IS invasive. The comfrey we have does not spread. Yes, it may grow from being a small plant to being a larger plant each year but it doesn't pop up here, there and yonder.

3. If  you are not in a position to grow your own or you just don't want to do it, I've always had good results with Mountain Rose Herbs. They can be a bit slow to ship. I've also used Frontier Coop and Azure has a few dried herbs that are medicinal.

Speaking of Frontier Coop, I LOVE hibiscus tea and this recipe is so refreshing! It has helped me quite a bit in kicking the Dr. Pepper habit.

One last thing:  Making a salve couldn't be easier. I dry the herbs. Then put them in a jar, pour in enough olive oil to cover the herbs. Let it sit in a cool, dark place for 2 - 6 months (some take longer, sometimes I just don't have time and they sit longer). Strain out the herbs. Gently heat the olive oil, adding in enough bees wax to the olive oil so that it thickens and gets a bit hard. I use a 1:4 ration (1 part bees wax to 4 parts olive oil) and I'm not exact with my measurements. I do store the unopened containers in the fridge until I need them. I try to make enough to use and share for one year. I have no idea what the "shelf life" is but I enjoy making it so I never mind having to make more.

I store my salves in the 4 oz. Ball jelly jars. You can buy fancy, cute jars . . I just use what's easy to get and fairly inexpensive.

Hope this helps and I hope no one thinks I'm being to evasive/unhelpful.

Foraging!

 Is it really "foraging" if it's in my back yard and I know it's there, even if I didn't plant it? In my mind, foraging is going out looking for something you may or may not find but . . foraging sounds more "back to nature" than picking a weed out of the back yard.

I see pretty, well manicured yards but we will never have that kind of yard and I'm sure my neighbors wish we would do better but I have wild lettuce, curly dock, mullein, burnweed and plantain. We also have American Beauty Berries and comfrey that we planted.

Above is dock. Below is burnweed.

I have the burnweed, dock, mullein (shown below) and comfrey in the dehydrators. I will use those leaves to make three different salves.

Soon I will use some of the American Beauty Berry leaves to make various insect repellent and skin conditioners.

It's hard to believe we're already at the end of June and by mid to late July, most of these leaves will be starting to get dry so I wanted to harvest and use them while they're still healthy.