Got Neighbor Drama?

I do. Have neighbor drama, that is. And it sucks.

I live in a small town, not 100 yards from President Grant's birthplace. Everyone keeps their yards picked up, their homes in reasonable repair, and are friendly to one another. Except that one neighbor. And it hurts my soul because we are so blessed to be in this little historical setting - also the oldest settlement in our county. I feel that since we have so many people and school groups come into our town to tour Grant's Birthplace, we should take even more pride in our area. And we all do, except that one neighbor. 

And it's more than that. We're talking biting dogs, barking dogs, dogs attacking our chickens and cats, property line disputes, their kids bullying ours, chopping down a shrub by our mailbox because they just didn't like it, putting nasty letters in just about everyone's mailboxes, and erecting small fences in the right of way between our properties so we couldn't mow behind our mailbox - and then lying to the township zoning office saying they did it because we mow all the way to their driveway, 66 feet away, which was a complete fabrication. My teenager mows, and it's chore enough to get him to mow OUR lawn. He certainly isn't mowing an additional 66 feet! When the township removed the little fence, they filed a police report saying we stole their fence. When they found that to not be the case, they trespassed onto my property to hang no trespassig signs on their fence - including the line about violators wil be prosecuted (and another hand written line stating "so will fence/sign stealers"). Then they went so far as to walk back onto my property and photograph my home without my knowledge - while my children were home alone. 

That was the final straw. The sheriff referred me to the prosecutor's office then. We go for mediation next week. That is, if they show up. I'm not sure what it will show, except that we want to put an end to these silly games they play, while still behaving as adults. I'm not hopeful they'll keep their end to any agreement we may come to. It's hard to reason with unreasonable, entitled people. 

I keep praying for peace on the matter. My faith tells me to love my neighbor, but I find myself wondering if some people are unlovable, and how that would impact my faith. Would I be a bad person? Would I earn an eternity in hell because I just could NOT love my neighbor? And what if mediation fails? What then? Do I have to move? Why should I be the one that moves? My husband's family has owned this house 1992; they've only lived here 6 years. I love this area. I love that my home was built on the original foundation of Grant's birthplace in the 1890's, and moved to the little hill where it now sits in 1936. Why should I give that up for people who just cannot be reasoned with? 

It's even harder when you have kids. Even when their kids are calling mine "gay" or "liars" - I have to teach mine to be polite, always. My girls have learned a lot about life not being fair thanks to my neighbors. I would've wanted them to be a bit older than 5 and 6 before that lesson needed taught.

So...have you had neighbor drama? What did you do when ignoring the situation didn't make it go away? How do you find a happy place where everyone compromises and can live peacefully next to each other? Is that even a realistic expectation? I'd love to hear your advice! 

So You Want to Can...

It's about that time of year for us gardeners. We have bumper crops and if we ate just one more tomato...well, let's just not have another tomato, shall we?

My spring/summer never really got scorching hot, so my hopes and dreams of a bumper crop didn't happen. But for some with more space to garden, and more direct sun, THEY have more than they know what to do with. Which is how my neighbor ended up with a crazy amount of tomatoes, green beans, bell peppers, jalapenos, and cucumbers. Naturally, she decided to can her windfall so her family of five would have fresh veggies, salsa and pasta sauces for winter. She was lucky enough to have a mother-in-law that already had all the canning supplies she needed, she just had to find out HOW to can. 

That's where the wonderful internet comes into play. My neighbor found the site for the National Center for Home Food Preservation. It is a fantastic site to get you started. She learned everything from how to use her pressure cooker, to what foods can be water bathed, to recipes. Sweet, right?! 

The most important things to know is that you have to clean and sterilize your jars, wash your foods thoroughly, and make sure you listen for the lids to pop when they seal! Canning is a great way to store this season's harvests for later, but you want to make sure you're doing so safely! The NCHFP has great info on methods to follow.

I won't lie - it took all day in a hot kitchen to can up all the veggies her best friend's father gifted to her from his large garden, but it was totally worth it! She ended up with pasta sauces, Bloody Mary mix, green beans, salsa, and jalapeno relish.

My garden is running a bit behind, but I'll be canning up pasta sauces from my roma tomatoes soon, along with pickling some peppers, and making a bruschetta from cherry tomatoes too. With the large garden expansion we are planning next year, I fully expect to spend at least a couple days in a hot kitchen, prepping for winter. Let's face it: once you've had fresh veggies from a local, organic garden, what you can buy at the the grocery is inferior. My neighbor gets to enjoy that freshness this winter, and she didn't find it all that difficult after reading over the amazing info from the NCHFP. I encourage you to visit a farmer's market if you're not already growing your own food, and take a day to do some canning - winter will be so much tastier! 

Here's some photos I took of my neighbor's efforts after everything was canned:

Isn't it all so pretty?! I have to admit, I'm a little envious! I'll be doing my own canning soon when my roma tomatoes finally all ripen. Yes, it's going to cost some money upfront to get the supplies you need (unless you're lucky enough to find someone who will lend you their pressure cooker and supplies), but the money you'll save when you're not purchasing from the grocery will more than make up for the cost of the supplies. You'll also be able to reuse the jars, so next year you'll only need to invest in new lids/rings, and possibly more vinegar and seasonings (if you didn't already grow those seasonings too!). 

I'll have some step-by-step photos and recipes for my pasta sauces when it's time! But for now, I'll simply invite you to read up on the process, and get started with some locally grown produce!

Fresh Ingredient Pot Roast and a Day Off

Finally...a day off without a ton of errands to run! I took advantage of the Lowe's Labor Day sale today and rescued some discounted plants too, so I guess that's technically an errand. 

I also made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up a pot roast for dinner tonight. One of my faves, and it is so easy in a crock pot too!

I'll share the recipe, but remember, I'm not a measurer so most of this is "to taste". 

First, I use a carton of beef broth, add a packet of beef stew seasoning and a can of cream of celery soup and start that, along with the roast in the crock pot. Then, I chop up lots of carrots and potatoes and add those. I also add about a half an onion, a couple cloves of garlic and a small stalk of celery (I use the leaves on the celery too!) and toss that in. Finally, I add in salt, tri-colored peppercorns, and some fresh herbs like rosemary, basil, summer savory and thyme. The very last step is to sprinkle in some Worcestershire sauce and let it all summer on low in the crock pot for about 6-7 hours or until the roast is fork tender. 

Here's mine when it started a couple hours ago - my house smells amazing right now!

A Meager Garden and a Lesson in Hope

I'm a gardener. Not a great gardener, but an okay one. I didn't start out that way. My mom could grow anything. Her green thumb was prolific. Me, I hated the outdoors. I hate creepy crawlies and I prefer to not sweat. I hated getting dirty.

Somewhere along in my late twenties, we had a house without any real landscaping. So I bought some annuals and they grew. Big, and beautiful. Flourished. I made mixed containers of different annuals and they were dazzling. And I was hooked. My mom is probably smiling down from heaven, getting a good laugh at how far I've come from the teenager who didn't like to mow the yard on a riding lawn mower, let alone grow plants! 

Every year, my garden gets bigger and bigger. My interests get more complex, more varied. I subscribed to probably a million blogs and magazines, watch all the gardening shows and plot my next project. 

My husband is an enabler. And even though he doesn't LOVE to dig holes and build rock walls and divide and transplant, he goes along with all my schemes. He even bought me a beautiful garden journal for my birthday, to enable me further. He also lets me drag home every little half dead plant from the clearance shelf at Lowe's so I can try to save it. Bless his heart, he loves me!

I'm even hoping to take the Master Gardener course at my local extension office this fall. I want to volunteer and help others have beautiful gardens and maybe even help start a community garden. It's serious stuff, people! 

This year I had a hard time shaking off the winter blahs to get off on a strong foot. I didn't plan as well as I should have, spring took forever to get here, then it rained a ton, and finally it's almost September and we are just now in the 90's temp wise. It's not been a good year for veggies at my house. Everything has taken forever to produce fruit or bloom, and now it's so hot and dry, the plants just aren't performing the way they have before. I'm a bit bummed to have small, meager harvests, but I'm hopeful too. Next year is right around the corner. Yes, my gardens are winding down for this year, but with next year comes a new layout, new seeds, new plans, and hope for better weather, bigger blooms, more fruits and veggies. I'm convinced gardening is a lesson in hope. I like it that way. I may have a meager little harvest this year, but I love the potential for next year. My garden takes a LOT of work, even if it doesn't do very well sometimes, like this year, but every moment I spend in it molds me into an optimist, always hoping. 

What does your garden do for you?

Today's little harvest of tomatoes, okra, and peppers. 

I thought of pulling all my struggling tomatoes, but instead I had hope they'd fruit. And they have. Now I just wait for them to ripen. 

A small harvest from a few weeks ago - this year was better than last year for zucchini. I just know next year will be even better!

Our garden at the beginning of the season. We've come a long way already!

Just a normal Sunday

Today was the last Sunday before I start my new work schedule. Next Sunday I will be at work during the day. I don't relish the idea, but I have a house to buy, a son to put through driver's ed and a car to buy for him once he has his license. 

Today was a great day though. We were up at the crack of dawn to put a brisket on the smoker. I bought my husband a new grill this spring (has both a charcoal and a propane side, along with an offset fire box to smoke meats) and I pretty much won Wife of the Year thanks to that one purchase. Anyway, brisket takes forever to smoke so by 6:30, we were up and had the grill going. 

I did some errands, oversaw a chicken coop clean out, made breakfast and lunch, baked some cookies, swapped some recipes with friends and did a little gardening. 

We also had a little impromptu church service in our living room. With the brisket going, we were pretty much house bound but the girls really wanted to have church. So they gathered up all their Bibles and books about God, some of their favorite stuffed animals, and had their youth pastor Daddy pull up some songs on YouTube to have a worship service. 

I adored it. The girls were answering questions about God, who He is, and what He means to them. They sang "Deep and Wide" with gusto and then sang "Awesome God" and "How He Loves" with huge smiles on their faces. At the end, they chose SonicFlood's version of "Open the Eye of My Heart" (they call it "Holy, Holy, Holy") and dance around to the music. 

When dinner came they gobbled up the food and thanked me for making it. They told me I was the best baker for the cookies made for dessert.

It's days like this I will think of to get me through days I'm away from them for work. Simple, ordinary days where, to an outsider, nothing special happened, but to me, everything perfect happened. 

These are the days I will cherish. My girls singing praise to God, good food and great one-liner jokes from my teen boy.

School starts in a few days. There won't be many more of these simple days left this summer. I'm so happy I got this one. 

I hope you all have the opportunity to have a day like this every now and then. I think it's perfect food for the soul! 

Macklemore and an epic quote

So Macklemore (you know, the rapper? "I'm gonna pop some tags...") has this song, and it makes my heart hurt and sing and hope all at the same time. It's called "Same Love" and it is pure poetry. Which in my case just means it speaks to me. 

First let me say, I consider myself a Christian. I'm also what most would call an Independent. I vote for the person who will do the best job for my family, and not a party affiliation. I support causes from both "sides of the aisle." As a Christian woman, I am also finding it difficult to ignore those using religion as a basis to deny legal rights to same sex couples. I have this need to ask, "Does it make you less heterosexual? Is your own marriage any less legal because someone else's can be recognized as legal as well?" Of course the answer to both questions is a resounding NO! 

This country, founded by wealthy white men on the basis of freedom from religious persecution, quite frankly, persecuted a lot of people on basis of gender and race for a long time. This summer's Supreme Court ruling took us as a country away from denying civil rights to same sex spouses, as it should be. The legal definition of marriage is a state issue. It is up to voters.

The morality of same sex relationships is up to no one on this Earth. Let me say it again: it is up to no one on this Earth. The Bible absolutely frowns on homosexuality but it also tells me it is not up to me to cast stones, and that I am not God. 

Morality and legality is not the same thing and the Bible, while relied on by men who founded this country to help guide them to a more fair system, is not the legal document that holds this country together. That's the Constitution and it demands a separation between Church and State.

And that's why I love Macklemore's song. Here's my favorite part:

When I was at church they taught me something else

If you preach hate at the service those words aren't anointed

That holy water that you soak in has been poisoned

It literally breaks my heart when I hear this line, because so many Christians do this.  We preach against that which is different than us, and say it is God's word. It is not. God's word is love. His teachings point us to love one another, "the least of these", to lift Him up in praise. And to let Him decide who goes to Heaven and who is damned to Hell. And furthermore, those words aren't just about marriage equality. It's about everyday life. If we are holding someone down because of who they are, what they look like, who or what they worship, how they dress, their race, their financial status or who they love, we are not living God's word. 

So can we stop now? Can we move forward? You don't have to accept or condone marriage equality to see that everyone has the right to love. And if you find someone who loves you, is kind and patient and generous with their time, and wants to make a life with you, who am I to deny you the same benefits I have, just because I have a spouse who is of opposite gender? I'm just a 30's something mom in area code 513. I'm just someone who loves the truth in a song about love. 

(And in case you've never heard of Macklemore or his song "Same Love", here's a link to a recent performance on the Ellen show - which I also love, by the way! http://bit.ly/Stw0tO )

Yummy Zucchini Bread

Even before I liked eating zucchini as a veggie side on my dinner plate, I loved zucchini bread. A few years ago I found a fantastic recipe on Tasty Kitchen that has been a favorite around here - even my picky teenage son eats it! I got a hankering for some today, and thought I'd share the recipe with you!

Here's what you'll need:

3 Eggs (my chickens happily provide these!) 

2 cups sugar (I use raw sugar)

1 cup Wesson Oil

1 tablespoon vanilla (I do just a few drops more than a tablespoon; I should try this with actual vanilla beans sometime!)

2 cups loosely packed, grated zucchini, unpeeled (I use zucchini from my garden and grate very fine)

2 cups flour 

1 tablespoon cinnamon (I usually do about 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon, then just a smidge of nutmeg)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (although I've been known to use pecans too)

First, beat the eggs well. Add in the sugar, oil, and vanilla. Beat until thick and frothy. Stir in the zucchini and mix well. Once that's all nice and combined, sift and add in your other ingredients. 

Pour the batter into two floured loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. The toothpick test will tell you when it's really done. Cool in the pan about 10-15 mins then turn out to a cooling rack until its completely cool. 

I've also been known to eat it still a bit warm, with some French vanilla ice cream. I'm known for a sweet tooth, is what I'm saying!

Here's some shots of this afternoon's yummy bread! Now go make some of your own and enjoy!!