Rosh Chodesh, Birthdays & Joy

 

61

    It's not every day a lady turns 61. My beautiful daughter went to so much trouble to make it special for me - thank you Mellie, and thank you to the others in the photo too, it wouldn't have been special without you.

    The planned main course was fettuccine, but thanks to BCM and load-shedding, there was no electricity to cook - but the pizzas were very tasty, made more so by the company. It's always nice to be remembered and celebrated. Thank you my offspring💖

    Of course, the story doesn't start there, so let me back up a bit.

    The biggest joy is that my mom is now out of  ICU, hospital and step-down. She is back home at Fairlands and we are all very grateful that HaShem has given her back to us so completely for yet another set of years. I for one will make the most of them. Tomorrow is never guaranteed and we all need to appreciate our loved ones while they are here with us.

    My lady friends and I are still continuing with our usual prayer meetings and Torah learning, and in addition, in my personal capacity, I have started a new course with an amazing Rabbi. We had our Rosh Chodesh Shevat gathering a few days ago and Tubishvat is coming up next week. Abba does not want us to get bored! I am grateful!

    My veggie garden is going along nicely, but it does need some tender loving care from me. It's just that by the time I finish reading the daily aliyah it is already hot. It gets hotter and hotter and by the time the cool of the evening comes around, I am too pooped to go and do gardening. That's if it isn't raining. As we speak, right now there is a thunder and lightning storm arising - will I have to pop my laptop in the cupboard soon?😔

    I received some lovely veggies from the local organic farm a few days ago, including 2 huge cucumbers. I made chips with the one, but I was multi-tasking and I didn't keep a close eye on the slices, so half of them are just underdone and some of them are inedible charcoal. I think I will save the second one for Shabbat and just eat it raw!

    I had to peel the second cucumber as the skin was unchewable, but oh boy, it was tasty! And the seeds just fell out as I was slicing it! So many seeds! HaShem definitely created a perfect system in His world!

    I spent the afternoon yesterday processing the organic celery and carrot greens for the freezer - what a big job! And what a mess! But  I am grateful for the store of food I now have in the freezer. It was getting a bit empty, except of course for all the greens I had in it - Spinach, Kale, Dill, Celery, Mint - these had been there for months and they were taking up so much space that it looked as if my freezer was well stocked. So I hauled them all out and put the lot into my huge stock pot and made vegetable stock out of them. I don't know why, but the pot and utensils I used are all so greasy! But they're cleaned now - Shjoe!

    I planted some Nigella Satvia and also some Chillies to take with to PE as a gift for Juan-Dre's dad. My Heirloom organic seed supplier gave me a free packet recently, but I do not eat Chillies at all, so I plant them in little pots and give them away. Can't let them go to waste.

    I plan to clean out my Pea Planter - which has now been taken over by Dandelions, which I will harvest and use on a pizza - and plant some new peas. I ate my first Yacon leaf yesterday - I used it as a wrap for some chicken and veg - but parts of the leaf were completely unchewable. (Maybe it was just my less-than-perfect false teeth?) There are three main veins in each leaf, which I will have to remove in the future. But it held the filling nicely, it didn't leak at all.

    I have some Thistle tea in the teapot which I will drink shortly. It amazes me how the weeds are somehow more nutritious and beneficial to the body than the stuff you buy in the shops!

    I am looking forward to next Thursday when Bhatya, Lee and I will be driving down to PE for our beloved Juan-Dre's 10th birthday. A friend helped me get some Lego for him and she also helped me to craft a beautiful birthday card for him. I won't put a picture here just in case he somehow sees it before his actual birthday. I, the author, wrote nearly the entire Mishnah inside his card (!) but I couldn't do anything about the front of it - my artistic skills are close to Zero! Fortunately for me, I know an artist!

    I have planted 15 Commando potatoes, which will hopefully keep me in spuds all winter long. I should also soon start harvesting my Black Cherry Tomatoes, Yayness! My Garlic, Red Onions, Kaleidoscope Swiss Chard and - wait for it - Ancient Peas! - are also arriving soon. Apparently, they get beautiful pastel-coloured flowers of different colours - I'm not sure if the peas are green or the same colour as the flowers, but I will let you know!

    The aim is to feed myself mainly from my garden. Who knows what is to come? I eat very simply and I'm not sure most people would go for the food I bring to my table, but it nourishes me and it is all a wonderful blessing from HaShem for which I am very, very grateful. He gives me such good ideas for putting together a meal using what I have in the house, that I am more often than not astounded! I can scarce believe that I had all that delicious fare in my house! 

    I'm very blessed to have found a local organic farm - Kidlinks. Greensleeves has now also started growing and selling organic veg, and I have had some of their onions, and they were delicious. I will support Kidlinks because I can get all my organic food requirements from them - Free Range eggs, organic herbs and veg and flowers too. I love their microgreens with eggs on toast! My latest order included Mint, Rosemary, baby Celery, Carrots, Green Beans, baby  Butternuts and baby Cucumbers, which looked more like large adults!

    Here is the link to their FaceBook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ksfi2020

    We've had a lot of thunder and lightning storms around this time each day during the last week. I hope there is no repeat tonight, as I will shortly be taking my Zoom class on the inner aspect of the Torah, which I hate to miss!

May HaShem be your Portion, now and forever. Erev tov!