Don’t you love the way he gracefully picks the plums from the tree? The trick to growing a good Italian Plum tree is so simple. Plant one or find one where it happens to be, and when the season arrives, pick the fruit. The birds will eat a few, but happily, bugs don’t seem to like them very much. We have found that the fruit is most easily preserved by drying it. A simple commercial dryer works great. This year we are experimenting with putting sliced fruit in the greenhouse on a piece of screening. On a hot day, the temperature in the greenhouse gets up above 120 degrees. The texture of the finished dried fruit is nicer than in the electric dryer.  Later in the year I will use the fruit in fruitcakes and breads, or just as a snack with nuts. I’m interested in more ways to use it. Sometimes I wish I had a cook living with us so I could just grow the garden and fruit trees, harvest and preserve the produce  and someone else would make delicious meals or treats with it.  Anyone interested??

Pops said he knows just what it feels like to be pregnant when he wears the pickin basket.  I appreciate that he tries to imagine what it must feel like.

I am on a quest to learn how to make bread. Since I was in our hometown of Entiat last week, and because I am excited to learn what I can in living a healthy, happy life, I took the opportunity to take a lesson from Mom and learn some of her sourdough techniques. There were a few bits of info that I hadn’t seen in my recipe book, that I hope to use for my next batches of bread. I will share them with you!

Mama keeps her starter in the ‘fridge in a mason jar with a handy plastic lid that screws on tight, but opens easily. She pours her entire starter into two bowls, and adds flour (some of which she grinds from whole grains), and water to both. She lets them both sit out and bubble, on top of the stove. She then stores one batch (the mother) back in her jar, and makes the dough with the other, (the baby).

We used part of our dough to make a delicious eggplant and roasted and home canned tomato pizza!

Hopefully later this summer, when the tomatoes and other fruits and veggies are ripe for harvesting, I’ll get a lesson on canning!

Hi! This is Ruthie posting. I am starting a blog for Mom, because she is amazing, talented and very skilled. I’ve learned so much from her, but there are still so many things I still would like to learn more about with and from her. Here are a few: How to make bread, how to grow vegetables and herbs, how to can veggies and fruit, how to stay as healthy as she is, how to make a welcoming home, how to train a baby…. there is so much!!! Please post what you would like to learn from Mom, or what you have already learned!!!