Just Dropping In

I am still here. I have to report that I am listening to the Bible on YouTube lately. I am not as strong aurally as I am visually, so I’ve listened through 1 and 2 Kings a couple of times each. There are so many kings to keep track of, and I want to make sure I haven’t missed anything. Besides kings, there’s Elijah and Elisha, and Jezebel. Right? Extraordinary and amazing things took place. I know that my goal was to read through the Bible, not complete an in-depth study of each book. But the scriptures are so very rich and laden with layers of significance, I feel like I’m doing a “Bible Lite”. Instead of digging into the word and staying there awhile, I choose to let the quilt blocks propel me forward.

Actually, I don’t have a quilt block to show you today. The next block in the Bible Sampler Quilt comes from the book of Esther. I’ve got both the Chronicles and a couple of books of prophets to read before I arrive at the book of Esther. But I wanted to put up a post, so I’ll show you why I’m listening rather than reading. I hit “pause” on the iPad and snapped this shot:I need my eyes and hands free. I’m not keeping up with the garden stuff very well, so plugging in the headphones allows me to make headway.

Today I’m harvesting some nopales. It occurred to me that this might be of interest to those who don’t live in the semidesert. Do you eat nopalitos? I don’t care for them myself, but I use the greens for my daily green smoothies. Nopales are very good for your blood sugar and digestion. Best of all, it’s surprisingly easy to grow them and process them.

First, you wear thick gloves and cut them from the plant. There are always stickers that embed in your skin, but as a quilter, you’re no rookie when it comes to getting poked. I’ve stacked the cactus pads that I picked on the left. I scrape the spines off with the serrated edge of the knife, and trim around the edges. Those parts fall into the sink where a basket is waiting to take them back out to the yard for compost. The trimmed pads are placed in the sink, waiting to be rinsed and sliced. I let them sit there so the mucilaginous gel can drain awhile before I bag them up.

These bags are ready for the freezer. I stack single serving portions for future use in green smoothies.

While I’m doing this, the plants outside are growing more pads at a rate that will overwhelm me. I’ll be doing this over and over again until my freezer says, “Enough!” So I try to relax and enjoy the fact that I have put up plenty, which will get me through until next spring.

Well, that’s it for now. Next time, I may be posting from the kitchen sink again. There are lots of other things in the yard needing harvesting. I’ll try to listen through each book only once so that we can get on with the quilt blocks.