Volunteering to do or not to do..50º

Many people make a full time job being a volunteer, a pleasant experience, where you put in your time, have little responsibility, and only do what you enjoy doing...Well Maybe...Since retiring 20 years ago my stints as a volunteer have included doing my civic duty as a sorority member, touting memberships for Airlife, and at the same time I shared the history of railroads in Wallowa County as I rode the Eagle Cap excursion train, where I perfected my smile and welcomed people aboard...I served lunches, sold t-shirts and other memorabilia and also took on the job of trying to keep their membership rolls up to date...Volunteering at Hells Canyon Mule Days came looking for me when my friend Pam called one day and said, "Can you and Herb fill in for a few hours."..Those few hours turned into four years of cleaning bathrooms, hauling trash, selling souvenirs and T-shirts and all the while I smiled.., until all at once the fun ceased and I found myself dreading the next shift, the ever present smile fading from my face... One by one I resigned from those volunteer positions ready to move on with my life...Did I move on with my life, well no, life is life...I love my home and my gardens...I worked at my writing, I love cooking and canning, once in awhile I get back into sewing, my computer gives me hours of gaming and reading, keeping in touch...I have friends, young and old, that fill a niche in my life...But is that enough to keep me happy?

My last foray into volunteering began four years ago when my friend and partner in crime, Pat, said, "Della lets get a team together and volunteer at the new Arts Center, we will come up with a name, get to see all the new shows, it will be fun, come on I know you will like it and people love your smile."...Pats enthusiasm carried me along and it lasted for awhile...The Josephy Center is growing and with the growth comes more responsibility for the Docents...Some of the docent jobs involve garbage, recycling, vacuuming, washing windows, dusting, cleaning (these are all jobs that I avoid at home) and now new things such as selling tshirt and art from the new "Art Shop." A new device called "The Cube" is in use where by we can ring up cash sales, slide a credit card, enter everything with a few swipes, Sorry but this makes me nervous...I've smiled my way through the years but the last year I have found myself dreading the next shift and my greeting and smile have grown dim...So I must with regret, resign from Team Monday...I do have one more volunteer job at the Wallowa County Museum...For the months of June, July, August and September I sit upstairs with the other relics and dummies, where I greet people, smile, make small talk and answer questions...So far I haven't been asked to empty the trash, dust, vacuum or sell a Tshirt...I have to admit it is incredibly boring but maybe this is the place for me, now if I could only find this kind of deal to keep me happy during the long Wallowa County winter!..But, this only brings up another question, what is happiness?...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Blood work...46º

Up early this morning and what a bummer, all we can have is water...I opted for hot water, Herb said "No," he will wait for coffee...Our yearly routine blood work at the hospital this morning, then Herb has an appointment at the dentist to get a new crown put on.

I have docenting at the Josephy Center this afternoon...We have leftovers for dinner.

Yesterday we watered the garden and made cinnamon rolls to take to the Botts Family...Bud Botts, our friend, died of a heart attack on Saturday morning...I will write more about Bud later, he was a special friend...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Roasting tomatoes, Rerun 8/15/15

I Think Roasting Tomatoes and Idella's Zucchini Casserole is worth a rerun...Don't get bogged down thinking this is too much work because it is really quite easy...The tomatoes are used all winter and the next summer and the Zucchini Casserole is an easy dish for family or potlucks!..Hug To All...OWAV:)

ROASTED TOMATOES

Roasting tomatoes brings out their flavor, and they can then be used to create tasty pasta sauces, bruschetta, added to soups or casseroles.  Use fresh, ripe, flavorful tomatoes for the best results.  

10 to 15 ripe tomatoes

2-4 cloves garlic, chopped (sometimes I add bell peppers and onion)

1-2 Tbl. chopped basil or dried

Salt & pepper (Optional, I like course salt)

Olive oil (optional)

           Preheat oven to 250-300 degrees. (I do the first ½ hour at 400 deg.)  Core & halve  the tomatoes, and place skin side down on a large baking sheet.  (If tomatoes are really large I slice them into 3 slices).  Sprinkle the tomatoes with garlic, basil and salt.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and place in the oven.  Bake for 3 hours until they have shriveled yet still remain moist.  Cool and use as desired or package in ziplock bags and freeze for winter sauces.   

Lovely Roma's

Taking the chance that my readers won't care if I sound like a broken record, once again I will expound on roasting and freezing tomatoes instead of canning them...USDA wants you to add acid (vinegar or lemon juice) to tomatoes, increase the processing time or even pressure cook them...I want to be safe but I also prefer that my tomatoes taste like tomatoes not lemons or vinegar...A favorite when I was growing up was a bowl of tomatoes fresh from the jar with a slice of Mom's homemade bread and butter.

Step l - I'm using romas but any tomato will work they will just have more juice...Wash tomatoes, then core slice in half and place in a cookie sheet, skin side down.

Sliced Roma's

Step 2- Drizzle with a good quality oil, sprinkle with fresh garlic, basil (dried will also work) and coarse salt...Three of these sheets will fit in my oven, each sheet holds about 4# of tomatoes...I set the oven on 200º and roast for 3 to 5 hours depending on the tomatoes and how dry you want them...

Ready for the oven.

If I am in the house I will switch the pans around in the oven periodically but if I'm outside working in the garden they roast fine all on their own...I do have a convection oven.

Tomatoes done roasting

Step 3 - First thing I do is slurp a couple of these tasty morsel, using my fingers, right into my mouth, then I toast a slice of homemade sourdough bread, slide a couple more onto the bread and see if they still taste like I remembered from a year ago...AAAhhhh that concentrated sweet tomato with a burst of garlicky goodness and just a hint of sour from the bread...Are you salivating YET?

Tomatoes ready for the freezer

Step 4 - If there are any tomatoes left on the tray after cooling :)... I slide them into ziplock sandwich bags...The tomatoes concentrate down to less than half of what they were in the raw state...I squish the bags, pushing out all of the air possible, then to double bag these I put 4 of these bags into a gallon ziplock for their final storage in the freezer...They are flat and stack nicely, they are simple to take one or more bags at a time for soups, sauces or casseroles...Of course for a large family you can use a larger bag to start with and I do recommend double bagging them...Happy tomato roasting...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE

Grate one large zucchini (approximately 10 inches long.) I use a very course grater...Mix in with a fork 4 to 6 eggs…place large spoonfuls of the mixture  and cook on a griddle like you would pancakes, browning on one side and flipping to the other…Barely cover the bottom of a casserole dish with roasted tomatoes, layer zucchini patties on top of the tomatoes, then a layer of mozzarella cheese... keep layering, with tomatoes, zucchini and cheese until casserole dish is full…Bake in a 325° oven for about 30 minutes…Don't overcook…I serve it warm or cold, eat it for dinner or breakfast…Just love it anytime…It works well with the frozen roasted tomatoes…

NOTE*  Since none of you will have roasted tomatoes, I think you can use a recipe for marinara sauce or a good quality marinara sauce from the store should work…Maybe add a little more garlic, basil, onion or herbs of your choice.  Eat and enjoy, Idella

Below are photo's of start to finish casserole. I grate zucchini, mix, fry and assemble casserole as i'm frying patties so a large casserole can be made and ready for the oven in about 30 minutes...In the first photo I have one large zucchini grated...Break eggs over top and start stirring with a large fork until egg coats all of the grated zucchini.

Keep stirring until all is covered

Have the grill with oil and butter heating

Zucchini Patties almost cooked

Bottom of pan covered lightly with roasted tomatoes and starting to layer the patties.

Starting on the second layer, don't overdo the tomatoes or you will end up with soup!

Ready for the oven

Out of the oven, let rest before cutting, ENJOY

Busy Day...60º

Worked outside spreading chips, cleaned three bundles of garlic (30 bulbs,) cleaned up to go to lunch at the Community Bank appreciation day...(We have banked there for 43 years)...Back home and a brief rest before my afternoon of volunteering at the Wallowa County Museum...Met nice and interesting people from Oregon's West side and others from Utah...All here for the beautiful scenery and peace and quiet...5pm found us again at the Gazebo for the weekly music...It was a beautiful, warm evening listening to music, while visiting with friends...I certainly didn't have any trouble falling asleep last night!...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...Smoke fills our valley with fires all around...So far none that are close to us.

Garden Menu...60º

We have set up a watering schedule for lawn, flowerbeds and veggie garden, using metered city water...The forecast for the next 15 days is in the 80's...We have gotten spoiled with the ditch water, using it whenever the mood strikes or we see something drooping or if the ground seems really dry, when I'm deadheading and digging...Hopefully a regular schedule will keep everything alive and looking decent and won't cost us a fortune to use chlorinated, filtered water!

Yesterday I was watering the garden, gathering the days produce and planned to spread more chips in the cool of the morning, but I was just getting started when the insurance company called to get my info on the "fender bender" of last Saturday...Since I was back in the house and had the paperwork out I decided to quickly make a copy of the estimate that had arrived by email....Printer would not work, said it wasn't connected and my laptop was searching...Grrrrr, it worked the last time I used it!..Finally when I was ready to scream, I gave up, found the number for Canon and was soon talking to "Hazel," a kind, patient lady at tech support...She talked me through the steps to get a printout of what the problem was...Long story short, when our kids installed our new router about a month ago, no one thought about the wireless printer and that it needed to be included...It took maybe 10 minutes and the printer was spitting out all the info that I needed, but by then it was too hot outside to do chips...I had my timer set for two hour intervals to change water and since it is a drip system, I didn't mind watering in the heat of the day.

We had a perfect summer dinner yesterday, parsley, dill, garlic "new" potatoes, zucchini/egg patties with small chunks of sausage in them, cucumber and cherry tomatoes...All fresh from the garden to our table...Soooo Good!...It is almost 7am and if I get moving I can spread chips before the day gets hot...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Zucchini, egg, sausage patties 

(cooking and will be flipped over.)

Garden Produce

Last nights sunset through a smoky haze.

Summer Returns...59º

Summer returned to Wallowa County as the temperature hovered in the mid 90's by late afternoon...My morning was spent at the JC with the Write People, then home for a short time before driving to Enterprise, meeting up with fellow gardeners and a jaunt to Lostine...Jay's Worm Farm was our destination...Jay rents an old "hog barn" for his worm business...He started it about 4 years ago, thinking his son would use it for a senior project, when that didn't pan out, he now runs it as a small family business...His only advertizement is a "Worms" sign on highway 82 and flyers that have been distributed around the county...His sales are local and he doesn't seem interested in sales via the internet...Large bins made of pressed board fill the building and are the home for thousands of "Red Wigglers...In these bins the worms spend their time eating, pooping and reproducing..." Gardeners love Red Wigglers, as they compost all kinds of garden trimmings, food scraps (veggies and fruit) newspapers and manure into rich, ready to use compost for gardens of all kinds.

He packages the finished product in ziplock bags and also sell a concentrated fertilizer tea in gallon milk jugs...Both of these are for sale at the worm farm...Worms, by the pound, are also for sale...As gardeners are always looking for new easy to use fertilizers (other than chemicals) we left the worm farm with bags of worm castings to try on our own gardens...It was tempting to buy worms but common sense told me that I have Red Wigglers, already at work in my gardens and I probably wouldn't go to the extra work of grinding and heating my garden trimmings for them to digest more easily...They will just have to do it the old fashion way...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Red Wigglers at work.

Routine...52º

Sunday wasn't totally lazy as Herb dug overgrown daylilies and a rhubarb plant, one that has defied me for the last 10 years...I have tried to get rid of it but it alway reappears...As he did the digging I cleaned dirt off the roots, cut down other plants and unloaded fresh dirt and chips that he hauled for me...The cool morning was rapidly turning humid, after a couple of hours we called it quits.

Lamb ribs were cooking on the Traeger...I picked a handful of fresh green beans, another zucchini and a patty pan squash for our dinner...Cherry tomatoes turning red, fell into my hands as I moved the jungle of tangled vines, trying to get to the bottom of them...I love having fresh food, in the backyard, just waiting to be picked.

Today will be more of the same...I better finish this and get moving before the day warms up...We have leftover spaghetti for dinner and I have house cleaning to do, when it is too hot to work outside...Hugs To All...OWAV:)