FARM Update...

Canning is winding down (thank goodness, but thank you, Lord, for all the bounty this year!).  I came up with 15 quart freezer bags of purple hull peas, 8 bags of pinto beans, 11 freezer bags of green beans, 3 gallon freezer bags of plum juice (to make more jelly later... I decided to make and sell some... my church friends are buying it up PRONTO!), one gallon bag of grape juice (which I'll probably start making that jelly this afternoon) and about 8 gallons of frozen tomatoes for soups,  sauces or more salsa AND 6 gallon freezer bags of fresh G-90 sweet corn.  I've got two dozen quarts of pickles, 3 dozen half pints of blackberry and plum jelly and 1 1/2 dozen pints of salsa.  I chopped onions and put in the freezer to get out later as needed, as well as bell peppers.  I've still got jalapenos out the wazoo (whoa - that would burn...  ;)    so I may be pickling them at some point...My freezer is full up!

OK, here's a question.  I told you about my rogue white ghost pumpkin vines that came up in the garden from the compost from last year.  Well, the vines are huge and taking over the rest of the garden and there are white pumpkins everywhere. They've grown into the corn stalks - it's impossible to get them out at this point.  I'm going to let the pumpkins stay there and grow til September.  OK, really - here's the question:

Will the pumpkins last til September or October?  If I leave them on the vine, will they?  Because if they're going to ruin and rot on the ground before using them for decoration in the fall, then I want to go ahead and pull those babies up and get rid of them.  Need help on this people!  Guess I could call one of the nurseries or get on the internet.  Hey Kathleen, don't you raise pumpkins?  I need to get ahold of her...

Well, summer in Texas is here.  We've begun our 100+ days now with almost no breeze, but we were blessed with milder temps for most of May and June.  At least we got most of the garden in before the heat wave hit. Another blessing! The humidity levels are almost as bad as the temps right now, and you can walk outside for a few minutes and feel the sweat immediately cover your upper lip and forehead.  If you stay for a moment more, you start to feel it trickle down your back (and beyond and behind) and any longer than that, you are drenched in sweat from head to toe.  I've had to take 2-3 showers a day if I venture outside at all.

The chickens are doing good. I've heard that they tolerate cold better than heat, so I've been trying to be innovative in keeping them cool.  I'm going to freeze some milk jugs of water and put in a big shallow dish so they'll have cool water most of the day.  Who knew (except the chicken people) - They LOVE for me to spray water in their run and cool the dirt off so they can dig a hole and lay in it - just like the dogs! So, I go out from time to time and spray their run and make them some puddles. I also save them cold watermelon rind and such.  It's going to be a long summer for those birds.

My dog, Gypsy, is staying close to the pond right now - she hates for me to spray her down with water or try to give her a bath, but she'll go swimming in the pond with no problem. I've got several clean water containers out for her and put cool water in them 3-4 times a day.  Going to start putting freezing jugs in her water dishes too - especially on the two days a week that I have to go to work and won't be home all day.  I put water in her big holes in the yard that she's dug under the trees. I'm not even going to worry about those holes until it cools off.  She's staying wet, nasty, and muddy right now, but if she's cool, then it's okay by me.

Speaking of chickens, I did go take my two roosters, the Brahma and the Buff, back to where I got one of them.  The lady let me take another Black Star pullet in  their place.  Do not want any roosters right now.  I want eggs only at this point.  I'd have to have another pen for broody hens and baby chicks and I don't care to add any more chores to my list right now.  My other pullets are beginning to lay now - how fun!  I am still excited to go outside and check the nests to see what we got every day!  About 4 eggs a day now!

See above the Buff on the left?  He's one of the roosters.  He's standing here oogling Puffy and Fluffy the Ameracaunas - they are both "bearded ladies" - maybe the Buff is kinda kinky or something...

I've begun hearing more and more about eggs not increasing one's cholesterol like was once thought.  I'm not sure how that all works scientifically, but we love eggs around here and I wanna be able to eat our eggs.  I've always thought to do "everything in moderation", and so that's how I'm going to look at eating eggs, too.  Any thoughts on that from you guys?  Here's my nest boxes... don't think I ever showed you those...

From the outside...

From the inside...

We put golf balls in the nests so they'd know where to lay - it's working!

See this silly Brahma roo?  He was bugging my barred rock hen while she was sitting on the nest trying to lay an egg and I was trying to take her picture.  I shoo-ed him away... 

Dad and I cut a hole in the side of the coop and hinged a little door on it so I could gather eggs from the outside and not have to get poop on my shoes unnecessarily.  It's funny to open the egg door at night and shine the flashlight into the coop and see the startled, sleepy silly hens sitting on their roost.  Is that considered chicken torture?  It's just fun to go look at them at night from time to time.   :)

My Barred Rock hen laying her egg...she's giving me the stink-eye for spying on her and taking her picture!

My Black Austrolorp is trying to get in the nest with her, too.  They all like the furthest nest in the corner!

With the 3 inch rain we got a couple of weeks ago, the hay took OFF.  We've got half our pastures in Tifton horse hay and the other half in coastal.  Our hay man square-baled the Tifton and rolled the coastal.  Of course, my allergies have been acting up with all the hay mowing, etc......

Square bales ready to be hauled to the barn...

My oldest son, Adam, from the 'Ville, is here for a few days.  He and Tony have been busy with the chain saw, the tractor, the brush hog, etc., doing guy stuff that needed doing around the farm.  Adam loves to come home and get away from Music City and relax and do regular hard work. Helps him unwind and clear his head.  Of course, I love for him to come home, too.  He butters me up and wants mom's home-cooked meals, too.  That's what us moms like to hear!  And it's so nice to hear him pick up his guitar and play songs and do some writing while he's here, too...

Well, take care my friends - I'm off to visit Kathleen and see what she says about pumpkins!

Keep yer dress down.

California Dreamin'...

I'm joining Vee today at her Wednesday Note Card Party.  Hope I can figure out how to do the Linky thing. 

Was going through my pictures and I decided to show a few pics from the coast of California.  My husband and I went out there last September - one of our best trips!  We absolutely loved it!  It was hard to choose just 4!  Enjoy!

 Southern California...  sigh...

 Above is Morro Bay...

And, last, Saucelito.  So pretty!  Hope we can re-visit that beautiful place again soon!   Thanks for lookin'!

Have a wonderful week!

Goin's On...

Continuing the canning and putting things in the freezer around here on Sand Flat Farm.  My freezer is about full.  I guess I need to learn to can veggies.  I've been a bit leery about it.  I need a pressure cooker, for sure.
Not much else is happening around here.  We've been blessed with several rain showers this spring and the temps have not reached the 100's yet, so my garden has done the best it's ever done since we've been here. How nice!

We've been enjoying plum jelly on homemade bread AND blackberry.  I can't ever decide which is my favorite!

Back up... I'm so sorry I haven't been around much.  I have been SO busy.  It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged.  I've read a few of your posts, but not commented much.  I miss you all!  Surely this will let up soon!  Also, this summer has been the summer for weddings that we have to attend. Friends at church whose kids are getting married, friends of my kids, and of course we have to go.  A funeral, a birthday party for an 80 year old mother of my dear friend, baby showers, wedding showers - it's been non-stop since the beginning of May.

In other news, my Kiwi Kids - Josh & Lindsey - have made the decision to come home to Texas from New Zealand!  Lindsey's mom and I are elated!  We have missed them SO much.  They moved over their way back at the beginning of November. I don't know what their plans are - I'm not sure THEY know yet - but they are coming home! I think they are a little bit homesick...   Can't wait to see them.  They will be home in July!  Their church is going to miss them I know.  I'm sure they were hoping Josh & Lindsey were going to stay there in Wellington for a long time.  They were becoming a vital part of that congregation.

Kathy over at Spot on Cedar Pond raises Jacob Sheep.  Most of you who are my friends know her.  Well, let me show you what she sent me in the mail...

FOUR of these felted balls that she made from her sheep wool - you throw them in the dryer and they keep the clothes from getting all wadded up.  A cute chicken candle (she knows what I like) and another little fuzzy chick!  Wasn't that the nicest thing!  I love these felted balls - she said you could use them for a kitty toy, too, but since I don't have a cat right now, guess they'll just have to go in the dryer.  I'd hate to give them to a cat anyway!  OR, you could put them in a bowl for decoration, too! Thank you again, Kathy!  SO nice of you!  I love them - I actually have something that an artisan shepherd made from her wool!


We had an attack of horn worms on the tomatoes, but the chickens helped us end that little problem.  They fought over those nasty things.  Last year, Tony picked them off the bushes and let them stay in a metal pan in the sun.  He said, "There, take that!"  Worm cruelty I guess...  You think worms would rather have a sun tan or get eaten by the chickens and pulled apart into different sections?

 

BUT the tomatoes have managed to survive!

Below, I got my first eggs from my young pullets that I've had since they were 3 mos old.  They were small - I think the New Hampshire Red laid both of them and I missed the first one.  See the one with the crack?  It was very thin-shelled.  They were laying on the floor of the coop and I only looked in the egg boxes yesterday, so probably one yesterday and one today.  YEA!  Anyway, don't know exactly when they were laid, so I cooked them and gave them to Gypsy.  She smiled and said Thank You...  :)  I will be watching tomorrow to see if I can spy who is now laying.  By the process of elimination, I think the NHR is the one.

Speaking of the chickens - I think I may have a rooster or two.  My Buff Orp has little spur nubs and has been exhibiting rooster behavior.  Hasn't crowed yet.  But she's big and heavy and has very thick legs.  My hubby and I both saw "Hazel" doing the rooster thing this evening when I let them out.  Also, my Brahma, BB, is acting weird, too.  They are both approaching 6 months.  Nobody's crowing.  Do hens act like this, too?  Hmmmm.... OK, you chicken people, look at this Buff and tell me what you think?

You may not remember, but I posted previously that we had some rogue volunteer pumpkin vines come up this year amongst the corn and in other random places.  Well, they have pumpkins on them, now - those ghostly white ones!  Do you think they'll last til September?  I'll bet we have 6 or 8 of those things right now. It would be cool if they lasted and I could use them this fall!  I'm just going to leave them on the ground and let them continue to grow.  One of the vines has attached itself to many of the corn stalks, so I guess I'll just leave them.  I'm scared that I'll break the vines if I try to take them off - they tend to put down new roots wherever they touch the ground.  Wish there were some orange ones, too, but I think they are all white...  I'll have to buy a couple of orange ones.

There are several watermelons, too - still small but they're there.  I hope Gypsy will keep the coyotes away so we can enjoy them!  In the past years, the coyotes seem to know when they get ripe, and they drag them off and eat them before we can get to them.  I hope Gypsy doesn't like watermelon!

Well, I guess that's about all right now.  Just gardening and chickens and such.   I hope things are going well for you all this summer.  I miss you!  I'll be back when I can.  Hopefully, things will slow down before too long - I know of 3 other weddings that will have to be attended.  Young folks are still falling in love!

*Speaking of falling in love - Josh &  Lindsey have 3 new posts over at their blog... See their button link on my left sidebar if you're interested!  They spent their first anniversary trip in Auckland and at in the Sky Tower, went to a volcano, through lava caves, went to a multi-cultural event!  Lindsey is an amazing story-teller - I love all her little nuances into their sweet married life!  She's a peach!

Gardening, Canning, etc.....

Sunday morning early - about 6:00 a.m. last weekend....  It was beautiful.... I was outside with my camera before breakfast, before getting ready for church...

What's been going on on the farm this week?  Well, the garden is progressing and moving forward quickly.  I think EVERYTHING is going to be ready to pick and put up, freeze or can THIS week.  Good grief - poor planning on my part?  I don't know, but it's always this way it seems.  We have tons of tomatoes this year as opposed to last year.  We've had  a few good rains and no blossom end rot to deal with - just hornworms, but the chickens got to eat all of those!  Salsa is going to be a MUST this summer!

I've been saving up cucumbers and put a dozen of Mamaw's spicy sweet dills, I guess you'd call 'em. They are THE BEST pickles I've ever eaten!  That's about all we make.  Tony doesn't want anything else.  I probably will do some relish with some of the too-big cucumbers.  I imagine we'll put up at least 5-6 dozen quarts of pickles for the family and close friends.  Thanks, Mamaw, for teaching me to can and for leaving me this recipe!!  My sister is coming Friday and we are going to can pickles and plum jelly all day.  

This past Friday, my dear sweet young friend, K, came over and spent the day with me.  We always do jelly together and this year was no exception.  She went home with 2 dozen 1/2-pint jars of beautiful plum jelly.  I think she REALLY enjoyed it  and we just had a great time, had lunch and then she wanted to sit out in the backyard with our lime-ade and watch the chickens!  I think we covered just about every subject under the sun!  AND solved several world problems, too!

Tony and I worked outside in the garden most of today.  We picked four quarts of pintos, seen here in the freezer. I think the rest of the plants I'm going to leave until they dry up so I can store the pintos in the pantry instead of taking up room in the freezer.  Don't you think?

We picked a second batch of green beans and they wound up filling three quart bags for the freezer after I blanched them.  We LOVE green beans.  I found some from Ferry*Morse that do really good, and claim to be stringless.  I've used them about 3 years in a row.  Of course, if you leave them on the bush too long, they'll get tough, but so far, we've been able to pick them at the right time...

  A mild winter, more rain and an earlier planting season has put us a bit ahead this year.  Kinda nice.  I'm liking my raised bed garden boxes.  They've done well, I've got watermelons in one, tomatoes in another, purple hulls peas and more green beans.  I put my onions in one, too, but I think they prefer the sandy hot soil that they're used to around here.  

Hey, what's going on at your place?  How's your garden growing?  

Hay cutting season, too... Another foggy morning that I was out early.  You know, I always heard older people can't or don't sleep later.  I wake up at daybreak - 'round here it's beginning to get light around 5:30. I'm usually up and at'em by 6.  It's so nice outside early so I usually head outside with Bug, and we let the chickens out, I check the garden, water a few flowers, and let Bug get her business done.  Sometimes, I carry my camera with me.  Gypsy meets up with us - she's usually covered with burrs in her fur OR she's soaking wet after taking a dip in the pond.  We stroll around the yard and the garden and I mentally make a note of what needs to be done.  

Couple more shots for you and I guess I'll close.  Tomorrow's Sunday and we'll be worshiping with the saints at our church.  I hope you all have a wonderful Lord's day and let's all remember to keep it holy and reverent...and ALWAYS be thankful!  May He bless you richly with His grace!

Memorial Day!

Whatever you do, wherever you are, spending time with your family, working, vacationing...

Remember today especially those men and women who've given ALL for you and me and all of us, who've protected us, who've defended our borders and tried to help make our world safe.  Thank you is just not adequate.  But thank you anyway...

MEMORIAL DAY