September 25, 2018
Liz Writes Life
Garden
Tomatoes seem to be getting ripe all at once, which is normal.
It is officially autumn! I need to make several batches of Green Tomato Sweet
Relish, while there are still green tomatoes. It doesn’t take very many to
grind-up eight cups to go with four cups of ground-up bell peppers (several red
ones) and four cups of yellow onions. My brine recipe came from my
sister-in-law, Darlene, who said it was “Aunt Lil’s Bread n Butter” pickle
recipe. I used four cups of apple cider vinegar, four cups of white sugar, two
tablespoons of pickling salt, two heaping tablespoons mustard seed and the
secret ingredient of two teaspoons of turmeric. It’s the basic Bread n Butter recipe.
Heat until it almost boils and put in hot jars. Because I give so many away and
want it to be safe, I hot water bath the jars for 20 minutes.
Then, I decided to make some Italian tomato sauce. After
dipping them in boiling water, then cold and taking off the skins, I cooked the
tomatoes down almost to half. Then, I added my homegrown herbs of oregano
(lots), basil, apple cider vinegar, several teaspoons of salt and several
tablespoons of sugar. Oops, I just realized that I forgot to put in parsley.
Because every tomato had splits in the top, I cut off the top
part of the tomato. I really don’t like this variety and I don’t recall the
name. I want to go back to using the Medford variety and may have to start the
plants from seed in February or early March. Um, that will make me have to plan
ahead – a lot better than I did this year, for sure.
I checked the local weather and it is supposed to get pretty
hot this week. Ugh! I remember many past years, when there have already been
some good freezes by now. Guess, I am ready for fall and to reduce the amount of
irrigation I need to do. The cooler 40-degree nights do help hold the water in
the soil.
Oh, I did find a soaker hose that correctly leaked throughout
the entire 50-feet of hose. It was the brand of Black and Decker. I hope to put
out a lot more soaker hoses next year and get back to using timers, so I don’t
have to hand irrigate so much.
POW
Let’s see if I can catch you up on information from our last
Scott Valley Protect Our Water meeting on Aug. 30th. Several weeks
ago, I shared what Mark Baird had explained about the Citizens for Fair
Representation lawsuit and Erin Ryan discussing Congressman Doug LaMalfa
meeting with U.S. Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke and U.S. Ag. Secretary Sonny
Perdue. So, I’ll re-visit my notes and share some of what our Dist. 5 Siskiyou
Co. Supervisor, Ray Haupt, told us.
Ray said a decision has been made regarding the jail, even
though it wasn’t easy. The county will retro-fit the Charlie Byrd Juvenile
Detention Center and is in the process of obtaining final cost estimates with a
ground-breaking planned for 2020.
Ray, then, explained some of the issues for those affected by
the July Klamathon Fire in Hornbrook. In order to rebuild, all properties must
be cleaned-up from any contaminates. The State of California must certify each
site. The county is working closely with Cal-Recycle, which is the state agency
in charge and is providing a program, where Hazardous Teams will clean-up
private property for free. Some homeowners may have insurance that will cover
the hazardous waste removal, but for anyone who does not, Ray hopes they will
use the program.
Also, he said an Emergency Ordinance had been written that
will allow property owners to camp on their property, if they lost their home
to a natural disaster. The supervisors were to vote on the ordinance at the
next board meeting. Sorry, I don’t know the vote, but I bet it passed.
J-H Ranch
This summer, Ray received complaints that leaders from the JH
Ranch were chasing people out of Shackleford Falls – a local swimming hole –
claiming JH had jurisdiction. Ray dived into the situation. JH Ranch does not
own Shackleford Falls area. He talked to the company, Ecotrust Forest
Management, Inc., that owns the area and learned JH does not have a permit or
any claim of authority over Shackleford Falls. So, any dictator-type of
attitude by JH leaders should be reported to Ray and the county.
JH Ranch Adventures continues to expand its programs in
Siskiyou County and into foreign countries. Neighbors are frustrated with its
much-expanded populations of youth and adults in the little mountain pasture up
French Creek. Traffic on French Creek Road is much higher than it was 30 years
ago.
I remember when the Johnston family first purchased the ranch
in the late 1970s and began its program in the early 1980s. Zoning was
established in 1980 with the Scott Valley Area Plan, but I don’t know what kind
of permit was needed for this kind of business back then. Permits, regulations and
the JH business has certainly evolved since the last century, when Johnstons
obtained a “development” permit from the county. Currently, JH has brought a
lawsuit against Cal-Fire regarding expansion. To say the least, the situation
is complex and a legal wrestling match.
The next Scott Valley Protect Our Water meeting will be this
Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Fort Jones Community Center. Ray will be there to
share more info on county issues, including Klamath dams and water decisions in
the Klamath basin.
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and
farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County
and lives near Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515. Check out her blog at:
LizWritesLife.blogspot.com
# # #
No comments:
Post a Comment