It all runs downhill

Finally, the tomatoes are getting some color.  Still not enough to preserve yet, but hopefully soon… .  At least enough to eat all we want.
 
My daughter is now old enough to do some preserving on her own, and she gets real interested if it’s something she actually grew.  Sometimes I pay attention, sometimes [...]

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Vegetable tour - progess and notes

This post contains many pictures - dial-up beware! 
Here’s what the gardens look like now in mid-August.  The heat has been 102* for the last three days - I guess maybe it’s time for that mean, ol’ dry land gardener to drag out the sprinklers and soaker hoses!
We’re just been busy keeping everybody (except us) in [...]

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Apricot Jam recipe

Here it is, Tansy, in all it’s runny glory.  Be forewarned I don’t follow every rule or recipe. 
So I made this one up.  We rarely eat bread, and most of the “jam” I make, ends up in yogurt or on ice cream, or in apricot bars.  We favor taste, over concrete-like jam.  Maybe I should [...]

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I’ve been tagged! Six Random Things

Kim at Achorn Farm has tagged me.  She’s letting me off easy, since I’m short on time.  I might tag 6 people when the canning season winds down, so be prepared, but in the meantime here are 6 Random Things about me.
1)  I don’t mind bugs, or bats, but I’m petrified of snakes.  Which is silly, [...]

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Hay, hardware disease, and how to be a good hay customer

We’re in the thick of our hay season right now, so I thought this would be a good time to post about hardware disease, and how it’s changed in my lifetime.  When I say hardware disease I don’t mean when DH wants to drag home buy another truck, or when he gets that vacuous look and starts foaming [...]

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A little more ordnance and a little less ordinance!

Want to have a bang up 4th of July? 
Another old postcard, ca 1912, from my aunt to her brother, my dad.
Dear brother, wanted  to send a card while I had one.
Your sister
 
 
A little winter fun.
 
 Resident wheelwright and his pride and joy - I was hoping he would restore my spring wagon, instead this is what [...]

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Trying to avoid chore time burnout

Chores on the farm can seem never ending.  Trying to decide where to take shortcuts involves many factors, depending on what the task is.  Joel Salatin says to try to keep daily chores per person to less than 4 hours.  That is hard to do - but that 4 hours does seem like the magic [...]

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It looks like summer to me

When I see my first snake doctor (dragon fly), I think summer has finally arrived.  I saw one today while I was building fence.  No camera.   Here are some other signs.

Barn swallow on the chicken pen dolly waiting for gnats.

New knife sections for the haybine.

Installing the knife sections.

Riveting the knife sections.

 
Distinct grazing lines in the paddocks.

Paddocks [...]

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Some gardening, finally…

Sometimes I forget I why I garden.  When someone says to me they garden, I automatically assume that they mean vegetables.  Most of the time before this latest feeding frenzy brought on by current issues that I won’t go into in this post, they would mean flowers mostly.  My gardening has evolved from 2/3 vegetables, [...]

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some gardening, some canning

In spite of the weather, which is uncomfortable and aggravating but by no means as serious as the weather in the Midwest and East, the garden is slowly emerging.
Harris Model OP parsnips, roots for the dairy cow and for seed saving.

It’s hard to believe these little guys will be here feeding us, and the milk [...]

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Biting off more than I can …

chew, weed, can, freeze - fill in the blank.
About this time of year, I get impatient.  When I’m on the tractor tilling the garden, it looks too small.  When I’m planting seeds, or weeding it looks way TOO big.  I change my mind about things about 10 times a day at least.  It always gets [...]

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Trying not to be wasteful

I always feel guilty if I waste food.  Whether from over planting, or being over zealous in my harvesting.  I try to ask myself, “Is this better on the vine, in the ground, … , OR in the refrigerator?”  The refrigerator is usually the most wasteful place for me, it costs money to run, and [...]

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For Father’s Day

 
I just wanted to share a few recipes that keep the father here, in a good mood. 
Here is a recipe for Rhubarb Sherbet that utilizes a base that can be frozen during times of abundance and then made up as needed.  This is a popular recipe at our house, on Father’s Day. 
RHUBARB SHERBET from Cooking [...]

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One more promise

Jetta told me this morning if I didn’t wear this to the barn, she would try to have her calf tonight. 
I guess since I don’t wear much jewelry anyway, I can promise this.

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While waiting

Cajoling Jetta has become a weekly chore.  I have tried new lead ropes, made by DH especially for her in her favorite color.  New bridge washers on her cross ties, so she won’t hurt me herself fighting me as I try to milk her for the first time, etc.  Nothing has worked.  News today from [...]

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Meat and potatoes

That is what our garden is - just your basic old vegetable garden.  Full of workhorses and not too many gourmet delicacies.  It feeds us year-round though, but you won’t find low performers in our garden more than a year, or two at most.
Before the rain on Tuesday, we planted 50# of potatoes.  I plant the [...]

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Insurance for when you assume…

Calf story - but nothing to do with Jetta.  Sorry…
Remember that frozen colostrum I showed last week?  I have frozen colostrum every year since getting my first milk cow, and have rarely needed it.  After calving season, it becomes part of the pig treats that we find in the freezer.  We have loaned colostrum to neighbors [...]

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