Haybaling

This was my view for most of the afternoon on Saturday. We were following the haybaler in the field, picking up bales. We got 4 wagonloads of bales. Half of two of the loads were lost on the way up the hill - just tipped off the wagon and fell! First time I remember losing that many bales. We came back and got them later. 

Then when we went to put the bales in the barnloft, the track that the hayfork travels on broke loose from the ceiling. We had to manually unload a wagon into the barnloft so we could pick up the last load from the field. 

Tweet

Freddy

Last week, my brother and I took Freddy with us to the recycling center, and then stopped to get ice cream afterward. Freddy typically only rides in vehicles when he is visiting the Vet to get shots. He doesn't like riding in vehicles - shakes the entire time - and doesn't like the Vet either. We thought if we took him on more car trips, he might like riding in vehicles more.

He has to warm up to the idea. When he first gets in the car, he curls up in a ball on the passenger floor board, shaking. But after we get going, he stands up on his hind legs and looks out the window. And eventually stands on my lap and looks out the window. When my brother and Freddy first arrived at my house, Freddy was sitting on the passenger seat looking out the window.

 I have a lot of love for this pooch. I never knew I could love a dog like this, and I know I'll say that again when I have kids.

These are his "I'm out of ice cream; can I have yours" faces. (And no he couldn't have mine because it was chocolate.)

Tweet

Making Memories (and Pears)

This weekend, while the men-folk were working on the slab for the Hubs' new shop, Grandma and I peeled and processed pears. We started with the red bucket (fourth photo) full of pears and ended up with 8 processed quarts of quartered and cored pears. 

This is on top of the 11 pints of pear butter and 6 pints of pear sauce, and 3 trays of pear leather I dehydrated. Oh, and the fifth of pear vodka I made. (Recipes to come later)

Grandma peeling pears

 I've decided that standard stove tops were not designed for canning. There is not enough room on a standard stove for a canner, a small pot for lids, and then pots of whatever the item is that's being canned.

Aren't they so pretty?

This weekend, I also pulled up the rest of the garden and removed the electric fence. To make way for the load of cow manure that hopefully will arrive from the farm soon. I pulled up at least 5 gallons of carrots. My plans for them? Blanch, slice and freeze to add to stews and roasts over winter. 

A tray of pear leather, before it was dried.

Some of the pear sauce and pear butter

I think I need to buy stock in Ball and Kerr canning supplies.

It's easy to talk with Grandma about her childhood when we are peeling away. Last weekend she told me about how her and Grandpa first met. Our neighbors were cousins of Grandpa's, and they told Grandpa about Grandma. He just stopped by one day and introduced himself, and then they started "dating". Dating meant attending church dinners and movies. Grandma said they used to have a brownish-red dog at the farm, and on the night that Grandpa first introduced himself the dog disappeared. Does that mean that Grandpa scared the dog away, or that he accidentally ran over the dog and disposed of him? We'll never know!

Tweet

Feeding the garden

Today I harvested a cuke, an acorn squash, and lots of tomatoes.

I also gave a fertilizer spike to each fruit and nut tree, fertilized around the blueberries, cherry bushes, blackberries and raspberry. You read correctly, the blackberries (4 out of 5) and one golden raspberry are finally growing. I have 3 red and 3 golden raspberries in the ground which have already been replaced by Burgess once. I think I'll call the rest a loss and look for potted raspberries at the end of this season or early next year. (Or if anyone knows where I can get raspberries free for the taking...?) For more blackberries, I'm going to transplant some from the farm.

The North Star cherry tree (sour cherry) is officially dead. I started snapping branches to see if any were alive and green, and they all snapped off dead... I'm going to attempt to replace it at Sunny Hill, since I still have the receipt from last October, but I'm not expecting them to replace it. Turns out, there is a 5 year myke warranty tag on the tree. I don't remember being offered that warranty, which requires the purchase of a package of mycorrhizae, otherwise I would have purchased it. (I was offered that warranty when I bought our Christmas tree and bought it.)

I checked on the pear tree that came with the property today, and the pears are still hard as rocks. I'm not sure what variety the pear is, but it looks similar to Red Barlett, D'Anjou and Seckel on wikipedia: green with a red blush. The pears are smaller than Bartletts I've seen.

Tweet

Garden Report 8.25.13

Sorry for the blurry picture, but at least I remembered to photograph!

Yesterday morning I harvested green and yellow beans, cucumbers, a yellow squash, tomatoes, tomatillos, beets, peppers and the last of the onions. I'd say it was a pretty successful harvesting. I think I'm going to make another cherry tomato pie, but maybe with mozzarella instead of chevre.

Tweet

Garden Report 8.19.13

I've fallen a little behind with the garden report.... Not because there's not anything coming out of the garden, but I've had other things to do...

 Last week we made tacos with chorizo from the Butcher Block, pico with tomatoes, onion and cilatro from the garden, and fiesta corn made with onions from the garden, corn from the farmer's market.

 There's been a steady stream of green beans.

And tons of tomatoes. Not enough to can, but almost too many to eat fresh.

We got 1-3/4" of rain yesterday afternoon and evening, so it will be awhile before I get back in the garden again. There are tons of tomatoes and peppers ready again!

Tweet

Last 2 weeks of harvest + Looking forward

 Tomatillos, black cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, red zebra tomatoes, romas, green beans, soybeans, and a cucumber

 Peaches, bell pepper, onion, shallots, parsnips and carrots

Tomatillos, cucumber and green beans

With these tomatillos, I made a sauce served over chicken thighs and brown rice with sliced avocado and sour cream. 

 Yesterday I was driving up the driveway and looked off to the left and out of nowhere, there is a pear tree loaded with pears. Not a pear I planted, but one that came with the property. I guess we didn't notice it last year because it was so dry? I also noticed 2 more persimmon trees, which gives me 4 total persimmon trees. MMMmmm. Can hardly wait for fall!

Tweet