Tuesday

Overcast and pretty chilly, 44°. Slept in until 5 AM (late for me). We had a blessed l inch of rain overnight.

I went out to the milk parlor and bottled ½ gallon of yesterday's milk and brought the rest down to ripen for making cheese tomorrow morning. I started it with some leftover buttermilk after heating it up to around 85 degrees.

I took a walk back to what we call the Mitchell field (it adjoins his farm; he is now deceased). I took a few pictures but it was almost too dark a day for really good shots.
I will do a separate post with those pictures.

On the way back I noticed the hot wire coming out of the concrete building that fences my Orchard Garden was down. Who knows how these things happen....did DH really set it up correctly last time he took it down? Did some varmint hit it? Just fix it and go forward. These mysteries are never solved on our farm.

While inside the garden I checked my little turnip patch.....pulled several and took them down to the hydrant at the well to wash them off. They are now laying on the bench on the back patio area. I need to top them and put the turnips into the crisper. The internet is such a wonderful thing...I posted a picture of them on our local Ozark Forum on Garden Web and a lovely person told me I should cook the tops like they do in the south, with onions and pork fat. I will be trying that soon. I have never eaten them. Maybe Mom cooked them, but I didn't partake!

They are very high in nutrients.



Back in the warm kitchen..I had to change clothes. My pants were wet up to the knees, my garden gloves were soaked , sweatshirt had mud on front from carrying the turnips.....I often change two or three times a day. Living on a farm is not a clean life!

I have pizza dough on the rise for lunch and all the various stocks I found in the freezer in the Maslin Pan thawing. I think I may have two gallons.(I just had l gallon!)

From Harvest 2010

I may make up some soups and pressure can them. I have never done that before. The broth tastes pretty good just as is. I think one or two containers was hamburger soup. I see some red from the tomatoes and pieces of hamburger. I am very relaxed about labeling! I need to improve on that. I have two bags of mystery something that I think I will just thaw to see what it is and then give it to the chickens.

I did do the soup.

I added some potatoes and carrots and about two cups of cut up chicken to the stock and pressure canned 4 quarts. Be interesting to see how this does. I am not real adept with the pressure canner.
I haven't used one in years.

From Preserving

I have to get the book out every time. This took 1.5 hours at 10 lbs pressure so I just sat in my easy chair in the kitchen and read. I just had 4 quarts! I didn't guess that amount well.

I tried my long-rise method for the pizza crust again. I wanted to tell my son about it and be sure I was correct. I made the crust in the food processor and just left it to raise until I was ready to make it up. I started around 9:15 AM and let it raise 2 hours before punching it down and making the pizza. I rolled it out on a lightly floured board, then sprinkled my pizza peel with corn meal; transferred the rolled out crust and slipped it onto a very hot baking stone that had preheated to 500°. I pre-cooked the pizza about 4 minutes, pulled out the peel; topped the crust with what we like, and slid it back onto the stone. It just took about 10 minutes to finish baking.

From Food

This gives me a very crisp, hold alone, crust which we like.

I have two thoughts for my next posts: One I want to call my Aunt who is the only remaining relative on my Mother's side and visit with her about hog-butchering day at Grandma's. Granny J reminded me about how they rendered lard outside and made me remember those times at Grandma's.

Second I will just do a blog on the small tour of the farm with a few pictures. This isn't the prettiest time of year, but it is what it is and I love it.