Cannin’ and such – The end of summer 2021

Here is a short list of things I don’t like:

Humidity
Oppressive heat
No rain
Wasps
Fleas
Stinkbugs in the garden
A summer cold

And here is a short list of things that always happen during Texas summers:

Humidity
Oppressive heat
No rain
Wasps
Fleas
Stinkbugs in the garden
A summer cold

At least I can say that summer 2021 DID have more rain, at least through early July. Plus, we didn’t have but a few days of 100+ degrees.

I was not inspired this year to do much in the garden. Last year, I grew stuff like there was no tomorrow (and frankly, who knew?). But this year was the summer of B.L.A.H. (Being Lazy And (probably) Hormones (because frankly, when do they NOT rule our lives?).

Even so, I did get some things accomplished.

I planted enough cucumbers to make almost a years’ worth of pickles. I made a few “spicy” jars this year.

We grew some apples! You don’t hear about Texas apples, do ya? But it can be done! Despite me running over the tree two years ago on the UTV, our tree survived!

Our muscadines produced really well, due to all of the rain we got this year. I still had about 21 pints of grape jelly from 2020, so I couldn’t figure out what do. Then, it hit me: JUICE. Who doesn’t love grape juice? Well, duh. So if you are into making jelly or juices the ONLY way to fly is to get a steam juicer. Throw the fruit in, add water to the bottom pot, heat, and POOF! You get beautiful juice that can be canned as is, or made into beautiful jellies. Don’t even touch the fruit on top; don’t squeeze it with a spatula or you get ugly jelly, like I did in 2020. It puts sediment into your juice and makes it cloudy.

This picture is when I was juicing “Carlos” bronze muscadines. They are amazingly sweet and remind me of those expensive “cotton candy” grapes.

On the left is the finished juice of the “Carlos” grape, and on the right is the finished jelly of “Noble” – a purple muscadine. See how clear the juice/jelly is? So easy with the steam canner. Worth every cent. (Mine is no longer available on Amazon. As of 9/23/21, they have a Roots & Branches brand for $69 that looks nice! It’s one quart smaller in capacity than what I have, but I paid over $125 for mine, thanks to the 2020 canning frenzy)

And in the Weird files, which, admittedly, are very thick over here on the farm, I had a mystery squash come up in my orchard along the fenceline. It grew all over my grapes and I just left it to see. Well…it was a spaghetti squash! What the heck! I could have planted a million of those seeds and probably never grew a vine as nice as this one. I think we got 6 squash from it and they are delicious. So I think I’ll plant some sketti squash next to my grapes on down the fence next spring. Why not? A little cabbage worm ate off some of the skin, which is what you see here, but it didn’t hurt the squash at all.

So maybe it wasn’t my most productive summer ever; oh well. Now I’m just ready for the rains to come to break the official spell of dryness that always hits us in September. Meanwhile, the insane amount of seedlings I have started for our fall garden are sprouting and growing. I have promised them that I’ll not fail them when it comes time to get them in the ground.

Goodbye, summer of B.L.A.H.! Here’s to a productive fall!

The Old Grey Mare…

It’s true. She AIN’T what she used to be. I’m mad at myself for not getting my rear on here and blogging. Irritated that I’m too lazy/tired to upload you some pics. But it’s spring, and on the farm, that’s super busy time. Please accept my apologies!

Well, life on the farm is back to its usual hectic pace. We bought 15 broiler chickens after the junior livestock show, and butchered and processed nine of them. Please be assured that it is the best tasting chicken EVER. And, they probably lived out the best week of their life here. If you are ever interested in processing your own birds, I highly suggest watching videos on Youtube by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. I did a mini refresher course before this batch of birds just so I didn’t forget anything.

I bought eight Broad Breasted White turkeys for butchering later this year. I plan to grind the breast and leg meat. I just bought 3 Narragansett turkey poults for breeding purposes. They are a ‘heritage’ breed of turkey, and can breed normally (broad breasted birds need AI to get the job done), and supposedly have a better flavor than the BB turkeys. Earlier this year, I was given a Showgirl rooster whom we named Ernie. Ernie is, without a doubt, the funniest chicken I have ever seen…he even ‘one ups’ the famed Wayward Jones. I knew he was gonna be a really special one when I gave him a bath with no chicken complaints and….he loves the blow dryer. Don’t ask me how these critters find me, but they do. Now I have 17 baby Silkies, hopefully at least some of which are females, who are destined to be Ernie’s ‘lady friends’. Yes, I want to make more of these odd looking chickens. On purpose.

Then, the other day, I was at a feed store when I saw the ugliest chick I’d ever seen. And so, ‘Poindexter’ came home with us for a whopping $1.79. He/she is a Naked Neck, and bless it’s heart, it’s not even normal. Its wings are deformed and it will never be able to fly. See…they find me, I swear it.

A few weeks ago, we bought a 250 pound (or so) Hampshire pig and had him sent off to the processor’s. We got back 145 pounds of meat. Fifty seven pounds of breakfast sausage, a ton of chops, 2 racks of ribs, soup bones, 2 roasts, and about 8 ham steaks. I can honestly tell you that the sausage is the best sausage EVER. Also, I know that this pig was raised in a pasture and not in a cramped, filthy cage somewhere a la Smithfield! (Take that, Paula Deen) It makes it taste that much better.

In gardening news, I am trying a trellis method for my tomatoes this year. Thus far, it looks great. I am happy with it. I hate tomato cages! I also am experimenting with mulching right now. I am using newspaper and cardboard over the ground, then covering it with mulch on my new beds/garden plots. I HATE BERMUDA GRASS. I hope every piece of it dies in my yard, seriously. It is the bane of my existence!!! So, I am hoping that my lazy-man’s method of weed killing will work. So far, it seems to be doing well. We added 3 new ‘gardens’ to the front yard this year. I have planted a coupld of apple trees along our garden wire fence to try and create some espalier trees. We shall see. I noticed last week some huge inflorescence on my Champanel grape vine that I really whacked back in February. I am trying to train it along the fence, as well. I still have a ‘Carlos’ bronze muscadine to plant on the other side of the fence.

I ripped out the cabbages and (completely non-productive) Brussels sprouts today. Amazing how every year I discover a new insect that’s trying to eat what I want to eat. This year, the calico bugs were covering the cabbages and sprouts along with the dang cabbage worms. Sigh. Every year, I think: Are you freakin’ kidding me? Another cabbage pest??? I’ve already had it out with cabbage maggots, cabbage loopers, cabbage webworms, and now calico bugs? I’m surprised that cabbage isn’t worth its weight in gold. And, this year, for whatever reason, the cutworms were HORRIBLE. I lost more onions and tater plants to cutworms than ever. Ernie, however, was more than happy to provide the intruders with the famed “Death By Chicken” sentence handed down from me.

So, now to wrap up this boring update. Out to the greenhouse I go to water the plants again.

Just around the corner…

Wow, and to think last time I wrote to y’all, days were in the 100 degree mark and HUMID. Today, it’s misty and 72 degrees! So, now we know fall is just around the corner. This is my other favorite time of year, other than spring. I always love the transitional times of the year the most. The leaves are now beginning to turn; the sassafras is putting on its flame red foliage. We should have a beautiful autumn this year for two reasons; we have received over a week of rain, and the fall’s first cool front is due next week, which is atypically early for us. I’m excited! Well, I may not be so excited when we are experiencing an extremely cold winter, but for now…

We have had a LOT going on in the past month, mainly illnesses in my little farm family. Our youngest developed mesenteric lymphadenitis after a bout with gastroenteritis, and I have been on and off ill with a cold (flu? allergies?) for over a week now. I do have much more energy now, but I think that with all of this rain, I am reacting to the mold levels. In other news, we adopted 2 kittens, a brother and a sister, about 3 weeks ago. They are brother and sister, named Mr. Bobo and Ashley. Aren’t kittens just about the cutest thing to watch? Fran loves to chase them down and chew on their heads, but it’s all in good jest.

We also bought 2 white Plymouth Rock hens and we were graciously given 4 18 month old Leghorn hens, who are still laying big, white eggs. I am planning on buying some MORE chickens very soon. I also want to get some more Cayuga ducks. The duck eggs are WONDERFUL. I know most people balk at the mention of eating duck eggs, but I am telling you that the flavor and richness are unsurpassed by chicken eggs. They do not taste “eggy”; it is a very complex and delicious taste. Of course, our chicken eggs are also delicious. There is NO comparison between ‘grocery store’ eggs and eggs from hens that are allowed a more natural diet. I have the pictures to prove it! Unfortunately, my camera is angry with my computer and refuses to share pictures with it, but I will get them on here ASAP.

The newest additions are 4 guineas that I picked up at the feed store (and one that was hand-delivered…thanks, Rachel!). They are so funny to watch when they see a bug. I told Jason it was like watching a pit bull in a chick suit. They are extremely focused on movement and I have the feeling when I let them in my garden in a few weeks that they will do a great job of snapping up my pests.

Well, Jason finally finished a log splitter that he built out of spare parts at his shop. We already have about a 3/4 of a cord of wood from a fallen hickory in our woods. It sure makes short work of chopping wood! I can’t wait for more of our fireplace cookin’!

I can’t believe we have already been here almost a year. I can’t imagine being anywhere else! Still a LOT to do here…but we’re whipping things into shape slowly. The kitchen garden is ever-expanding and Jason finished several of the raised beds. Now I just need to fill them with compost. It’s also time for me to plant my winter garden. I did plant some winter squash, beans, and cucumbers. I am still harvesting lots of okra, tomatoes (Brandywines from spring), and tons of cherry tomatoes. Oh, and I do finally have peppers, lol. I didn’t do so great with my peppers this year. I’m not sure what happened there, but with the cooler temps and tons of rain, they are finally ‘makin'”.

I have also been putting up LOTS of muscadine and scuppernong grape jelly. We picked 32 pounds of muscadines at a farm, and I am slowly working on turning them into delicious jelly! I hope that soon myself and my MIL will get together (with our new food processors….NO MORE CHOPPING) and put up some more tomatoes/tomato products. You just can’t beat homegrown flavor…no doubt about it! I also got a lot of figs last month, and I’m planning on doing a strawberry-fig jam. I do have to wonder how many people in my age group can things? Hmmmm….I’m willing to bet not many. What a shame. Here’s a great LINK for making muscadine jelly, juice, or jam.

Today’s favorite thing:

Well, I am still on a budgeting kick! I had to update my ‘cash flow’ form last night and wanted to share this form with you. The idea is that NO dollar is unaccounted for. It is fairly self-explanatory, but it is also great to have the book, Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, which is currently on sale for under 10 dollars. Download this FORM. It is in PDF format. I use this form every month, and I also use 2 envelopes. One holds my receipts for anything that comes out of my checking account, and one holds receipts for anything that I pay cash for (that is NOT deducted out of my checking account). So, at the end of the month, I have a paper trail, and also keep up with where my cash goes. I NEVER have to ask myself, “Where did my money go?” because I KNOW. It is so liberating, trust me. This is a system that works wonders for me. I have been doing this since May 18th of this year. If you are in debt, I URGE (and beg and plead for) you to try this system and find freedom for yourself!!!!

Well, that is all that I have for today, plus my entire right arm is aching for some reason! :0)