I haven't canned/frozen this much in awhile! Well, at least since Alyssa's been born & now she's 3. I wish my camera wasn't broken, because there's so much beauty in a counter full of produce in jars!
So far I've :
Canned 4 bushels of tomatoes (crushed w/ garlic, fresh basil & oregano)
Froze TONS of green beans
Froze LOTS of corn (our own)
Made Ice Box Pickles and Bread & Butter Pickles
Froze 1/2 bushel of peaches (our first harvest from our own tree!)
Today I am making lacto-fermented dill pickles and rhubarb compote. My kids picked a whole bunch of elderberries yesterday evening, so I need to turn that into elderberry concentrate.
The really cool thing is that this past spring when I was dealing w/ health issues, a surprise pregnancy & then a miscarriage; I just wasn't able to get to the garden. I had had huge hopes for doing a big garden this year. The only thing I got planted was peppers & herbs. We gave our corn seed to a farmer friend & they planted it next to their cow corn.
But, for the last month, people have been totally blessing us with their extra produce!
That's why I'm doing pickles now because a neighbor pulled in the driveway with three 5 gallon buckets full of cucumbers :)
And, my rhubarb is still producing! Is that normal?
I thought my raspberries were a total loss-the tops had all wilted & there were no berries. Plus, we had a problem with japanese beetles. But, yesterday I noticed that many of the canes now have berries on them! They're not ripe yet, so I'm not counting my chickens yet :)
It was really really nice to have our first peaches this year, too...especially since we lost our 3 apple trees :( We got a few pears on our 2 trees. Only got 1 pear last year.
My asparagus & strawberries didn't do too well. I'm thinking of re-doing my strawberry beds. They keep spreading all over, but not producing much fruit. How do the u-pick places do it?? Such neat rows. I'm thinking that I someday need to work at one of those places so I can learn the secret.
My asparagus bed keeps getting attacked by wild morning glory vines. I can hardly keep up with those vines, but if I don't they choke everything.
Cow News: We had 3 healthy beefer calves born-2 boys, 1 girl! We have a steer ready to go to the butcher in October. We'll have 2 steers for next year & we've already sold 2 halves. People are constantly asking us if we'll sell them beef-but we just raise enough for us for the most part. Can't afford to get bigger with the cost of hay...that & the fact that those darn cows seem impervious to electricity & high tensile wire. grrr.
One of the mothers & her calf are going to the auction this fall-she's not a good mom & she's one of the escapees-she even leaves her calf in the pasture to wander off. The other 2 mamas won't leave their calves behind.
Horse News: We got a new horse-he's a Nakota pony, actually. He's just under horse size & is a 7 yr old gelding. A real sweetie & will be Susanna's when she outgrows Tootsie Toes (shetland). He knows how to do everything. Susanna is just riding him at a walk right now. Jonah can ride him, too. Nakotas are descended from Chief Sitting Bull's herd of horses. His Souix name is Lootah. It means red & that is what he's called. He's a strawberry road with a darker brown head & a wide white blaze. He has a silvery salt & pepper mane & tail.
We had to put Bonnie down 2 weeks ago. She was 30 yrs old & sick, lame & losing weight :(
Tootsie Toes: (the shetland) has an abscess in 1 of his feet, so is ouchy & can't be ridden right now. Susanna barrel raced with him for most of the summer (at a trot) & has won the most points for her class-she'll get some kind award at the end of year banquet.
Retro (25 yr old retired harness horse) just did something to his eye & today I have to call the vet :( Otherwise, he's fat & happy & shiny & went on a couple trail rides.
Slugger: (28 yr old retired harness horse) is doing much better! He's getting harder to keep weight on & came out of the winter skinny. He's looking great, has fire in his eyes & still doesn't like anyone to pass him on a trail ride-ever the competitive spirit ;)
Retro & Slugger had a rough few days after Bonnie died-they were very attached to her :(
Casey (6 yr old QH palomino gelding) did great this summer for drill team. He & Hannah spent a week at the county fair & they just got done at the State Fair. They were on our county's English drill team & Western drill team. English team placed 2nd. Western team placed 3rd.
Copper (8 yr old QH gelding) & Hannah have done really well at barrel racing & pole bending this summer. They're fastest time so far for barrels is 18 seconds. They are finally placing where we compete-they've gone 2 yrs learning together & not placing, so it's been a rewarding summer. Where we compete, there's a lot of NBHA racers, so it's a challenging place to win. So, just placing there is a huge thing. They're mostly getting 4ths, but have gotten a first(can race) and a second(bleeding heart), and a couple thirds(barrels & poles). They're increasing speed & skill with the poles, too-those are really hard, especially for our pacman pony, who doesn't like to slow down for the poles-he just wants to eat them & keep running! LOL
Copper & Hannah are going to the State Fair this weekend-they qualified for the gymkhana games there (barrels, poles & 4 other gaming events).
The Fowl: We lost all of our ducks, which was very sad. They belonged to Susanna & she loved them like they were her babies :( We've lost about 15 chickens. There are 4 left. We couldn't figure out what was going on. We have a good & tight henhouse, but something was getting in there somehow. We lost the rooster in the middle of the day in the cow pasture. Every single bird has been left without their heads. We think we lost some of the ducks to foxes-there was a fox family spotted near the pond & some of the ducks did disappear. But, all the other birds were found headless.
THEN...last week in the early morning I heard the remaining chickens making a racket & saw the strangest looking animal chasing (more like loping) after them. I'd never seen this animal before. It looked like a small dog, but with the shape of an otter & a long bushy tail. I scared it away by yelling & clapping from a distance. Called my husband to describe it to him. It was a fisher! I didn't know we had those things around here! It was 30 feet from the house!
Don't know what to do about it-it's a pretty vicious animal. I'm a little worried about the kids & dogs. Pat is talking to a trapper that goes after fishers.
Once these 4 hens are gone, we're taking a break from fowl. Thankfully, we have a friend we can buy eggs from for 2 dollars/dozen.
Dogs: Pixie (the guide dog puppy) has been very challenging. She's our 4th one & is very sweet, but cannot be trusted. She runs off as soon as no one's looking (usually they stay with us if we're outside) and chews things up...she even has chew toys-but she doesn't like those. She also happens to like chewing holes in the kitchen wall. And, she doesn't get left alone-she's in the house when we're in & she's outside when we're out. Alyssa went to the ER this past winter & got staples in her head because of Pixie also. I cannot wait until they take her back. Seriously. The other 3 labs we hated to see them go, but this one can't leave fast enough. Not only that, but she rolled in a dead animal & just out luck, got mange...and now our German shepherd has it, too. They're been getting shots every week for it. It's not fun. With everything that's been going on this summer (I haven't posted it all), this is the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything. SO thankful that our vet is only charging us for the cost of the meds & is sending Pixie's bill to the guide dog assoc we deal with.
We're also taking a break from raising guide dogs after Pixie leaves-a long break. We did find out that our 3rd guide dog (Fletcher) passed with flying colors & is now a guide dog for a man in New Jersey who is a businessman, travels a lot & is running for mayor :) The other 2 dogs made it, too. One's in Massachusetts & another one is New Jersey also.
Kittens: We got 2 kittens from a neighboring farm. We have become overrun with mice, chipmunks & squirrels since our last cat, Reggie, died. They are adorable. One of their grandparents was a siamese & you can tell. They're mom was a light brown tiger, so they look siamese with tiger markings on their legs, brown ears, brown tails. They are so sweet & they're Susanna's to help her get over losing her ducks. She carries them around all the time. They'll be inside/outside cats, just like Reggie was.
So, that's the short story (yes, it could be longer-LOL). We're trying to get our firewood in, keep up with the mowing & weed-wacking & dealing with fence issues. And, keeping up with the kids, who are all doing well. Everyone's happy & so far there's been no ER visits...praying it stays that way.
Alyssa(3) started gymkhana on the little pony (leadline) and spent a lot of time in the sandbox this summer. My dh made a big sandpit for her.
Susanna(6) plays with Alyssa so well & is a great big sister. She helps with the animal chores & dealt with a lot of animal death, unfortunately-the ducks & Bonnie was her fave horse. She also continued with reading lessons thru the summer. So excited that we were able to go to Enchanted Forest for the little girls' first time finally-they LOVED it! (water rides & amusement park)
Jonah: showed, but got bucked off Casey twice (due to a saddle fitting problem) and lost some confidence. Hoping to build that back up with him back on the old horses & Red & Casey. He joined youth group at church & loves it. He worked for a neighbor quite a bit this summer. With what he saved last summer from building fence & this one(plus selling his old dirtbike that was too small), he earned enough to buy himself a used dirtbike. That's his thing, but it scares the tar out of me. He's also getting ready to take the bow course next month. He took the Hunter Safety course for guns in the Spring. He's so excited that our state lowered the age for bow season for deer to 13 so he can hunt with Dad!
Hannah: she's been a horse showing fool & very busy with 4H. She won fair queen at county fair. And, she got her first real job! She's doing cashier at a farm market. It's owned by people who go to our church & asked her if she'd apply...the day she prayed about getting a job. She loves it & I'm very pleased about that being a first job experience with good people that we know. They apparently prefer to hire homeschoolers :)
She's also been helping out every week at our horse trainer's place. He even told her that he thinks she's finally getting to know enough to where he'd like to hire her to help him train horses next summer...instead of her wasting her time selling fruit (his words-lol). She has learned so much from him. He's an amazing trainer who I couldn't possibly respect more. As a result, she's learning to communicate with horses in a way they can understand. She has friends asking her all the time to help them with problems they're having with their horses.
My newest favorite saying of Don's (the trainer) is this: There was a girl there riding a horse in circles. For some reason it wasn't going well. Don never gets upset or impatient & he says to her, " Gwen, you're trying too hard...a circle is just a straight line, with a curve in it." LOL
Wow. It sounds busy as always. Farm stuff is always too busy, I think. Predators and challenges... We've had several Momma cows we had to get rid of because they were skittery and they made the rest of the cattle that way. I think Jon's fine-tuned the fences over the years so they work better...grounded them better, found products that work better so they don't get grounded out and they shock them better, two wires at places, better corners, that kind of thing. He has like four other properties he borrows to run cattle on and sets up electric fences on them all. I frequently want him to reign it in though. He makes a decent amount on the cattle, but not compared to our business and I moved to the country for him, I want him to be able to put time into the business and our future. Anyhow, I guess, we're going to pare down our Momma cows because Jon says that's what takes him the most time. Plus, we put up LOTS of hay for them and he takes lots of days off work to buck the hay and the cost of the hay too that could go to a permanent home for us. That won't be till next Summer though.
ReplyDeleteWe have a calf now that I'm bottle feeding. I like him and he's really sweet, but Jon wanted me to do the work with him and even though it's not much, it feels like a lot after homeschooling, cleaning, giving attention to the baby and the preschooler. I don't think I'll do it again, at least not until we don't have little littles, and I'm not so sure about getting my daughter a goat either. I need her to do her school work and her regular chores. I just can't take on more. You know? I know you do.
Too bad on the puppy. It seems like it's gone a lot better for you in the past. Kittens are a lot easier though. My sister did this thing where she took in kittens for the humane society that weren't ready to be adopted yet and bottle fed them, etc. until they were old enough.
Yum (I think I've never tried it but it sounds good) on the lacto-pickles. I so want to get more into all of that. Do you guys do raw milk? Or do you just use whey from store bought? It's too expensive, but I've thought of JUST doing the raw milk thing for me and see if it helped my allergies, etc. They've been getting worse. And poor Josiah, his allergies are bad already at a year, and I wonder if I did things differently, if nursing would have helped him more. I don't know, maybe it's genetic, but it seems like that how your genes interact with modern food preparation thing is very interesting.
It's amazing how God provides with the vegetables and everything else too!