There is Frost on the Pumpkins

Quite literally!

This is the pumpkin patch this morning.



Life on the Farm

The fencing man who was supposed to show up Sunday and did not, finally did come  on Tuesday.  He finished trimming my broken  Red Maple and the other maple in the west yard.  He also  cut down the broken peach tree in the orchard and hauled off all the debris. He will be returning (no set time you understand) at some point to trim around the concrete building that is the orchard's west fence and to build a fence  around the orchard hydrant that has always been a weak link for the cattle.

I have lots of other things for him to do.........will add as he returns.  We make no firm plans knowing how these things go.

Daily chores continue.  The chickens are giving us 7 eggs consistently.  I am getting way ahead.  DH is checking cattle daily.  He also has rounded up and out three more calves that are ready to be weaned.  I can hear them bawling.  They will do that for a few days before settling down.

We are still not feeding hay to the herd.  We are feeding to the weaned group near the barn.  They are basically dry-lotted, meaning not grazing open pasture.

Cooking

I made orange marmalade.  The first time I tried using Ina Garten's recipe and it was a disaster.  The problem may be my candy thermometer is not correct.  I should have just used common sense and the cold plate test but tried to get the batch to the correct temp.  Never did and ended up with jars of rubberized or candied stuff.  I think I can redeem it in my next batch of mincemeat.

I had oranges left and they were not really of good eating quality so I made a smaller batch using Alton Brown's recipe.  However, I used the time element not the thermometer and also used the cold plate test.  I think it turned out OK.  We did have a small test this morning on a half English Muffin.



I am very wary of internet recipes..much safer to use ones from friends or sisters!

I have several things I want to get done before Thanksgiving:  paint two extra kitchen chairs; wash down the kitchen cabinets (DH will help me with that) and fasten the back porch shelving to the wall with very long screws we got yesterday.  I also will be  soap making again.  I would like to have several batches curing.  I may try a different recipe  or two.

First Week of September

Well, I did it again....got so busy  that I didn't take time to blog.
Weather-wise, the good news is we have had some very nice rains and things are greening up again.  Also we have had a few very cool days.

This is the strip between the house and the newly painted smokehouse after mowing and trimming.  I was almost dead before the rains.(clothes line across).

We have been so busy getting DH's mother moved that there wasn't much time for outside work or anything else.  She is settled and loving it.  The auction went better than we expected and once the closing is finished we can all breathe a sigh of relief.  I got her computer installed on the new stand we bought and she is enjoying her games again.

Speaking of stands, it actually went together easier than the recent shelving I did.  I made a change in the house shelving.....I  knew I would.  I moved the wooden ones to the back porch and put a black wire unit  in  its place in the kitchen.

The wooden ones fit well on the porch which is where I wanted them in the first place!  I have room for one more...if I can survive putting another set together.

I still have two plastic sets in the garage to do but they are simply a stacking job.  I want for the milk barn and DH needs another one for tools.

I hope to never have to put something together again!  It is never as simple as they make it sound.

We spent some time mowing yesterday afternoon but the tall grass in the orchard was too wet and will have to wait for a sunny day.  I did about an hour or more of weed whacking.  Now have the working area between the Milk Parlor and the east sheds where the gas tanks are done.  There is lots more to do. 


Farm
 
The milker wouldn't start this morning and I had to milk Willow by hand....wow, I am not up for that anymore.

I will put a call in for a technician in the morning.  I hope it is something simple (and cheap)!
I have my neighbor checking to find a calf to put on her....sure hope he can find one.  I understand they are now selling for $3-400 per calf.  That stunned me. 

Cows are Pregnant!

The heat continues.  We did get a 1/4 inch shower Tuesday evening.

The garden is pretty much history.  I finished canning tomatoes yesterday morning before the vet came to preg check the two milk cows.  My total is now 46 pints of canned tomatoes.  I am happy with that; it is the best from the current garden so far.

There may be a few more tomatoes but basically the garden is finished.  I am too!

I froze almost a bushel of sweet peppers.

These were not all flat like the cheese peppers I have grown before.  Don't know why.  I just washed, dried and bagged most of them.

Cows

The vet came to check Willow and Jewel.  He didn't even bother with Willow since she has started bagging up almost overnight.  He says around the first of October.  Time will tell.

Jewell is 75 days bred.  If I go from when I saw her in heat on June l, she should calve between March l and ll.  That is based on a 283 day gestation table.  Smaller breed can deliver l0 days earlier.

Farm

We  had a short power outage after the shower yesterday evening and the generator did not kick on!  I have a call for a serviceman this morning.  Somehow we must squeeze in a trip to town to see MIL who is moving this Friday.  I know she will need something done.  Friday will be reserved for overseeing the move.

House

We finally got the new shelving unit  put together and up.  It is the Swedish shelving sold by Williams Sonoma and was just as I expected.  I had intended to put it on the back porch but that required unloading and removing two very heavy pieces and we had MIL's situation to deal with, so "line of least resistance" and here is where I put it:

From House

Here is a close up: 

I could use another one of these....on the back porch this time (and I may have to move this one when my daughter gets a look at it in the kitchen!)  Between her and my "older" sis in Iowa, they don't let me get away with much........

I have already moved things around once and will probably do it a few more times before I get it the way I want it:

From House

First Day of Winter Storm

DH and I were both up very early.  The cold has arrived and with it 3-4 inches of very fine snow.  It is made worse with the wind.  Tonight will be ever colder....down around zero.  I know this must set a record for this early in the year.  It is currently 17°, snowing with 8mph wind.




I didn't milk yesterday but did this morning.  Willow was down a half gallon which is expected with the cold and wind. 

DH took all the clean canning jars out to the barn yesterday after noon.  We unloaded some attached  shelving that had leftover  things  from the  dairy that we just pitched.  I have shelf space left.  I will need to attach a plastic curtain over them to keep feed from filtering down from the attic where we store the bulk cattle feed.  We need to do some more cleaning and elimination of old paint and dairy things from another set of shelves and  then I will have even more space.

I am still  working on re-organizing the kitchen.  DH said he has already gotten used to the new setup for coffee (he is the coffee chef in my kitchen).  I did get the food pantry cleaned and organized.  Next I will do the center section  where I keep cooking things like cake and pie pans and small appliances.

Cooking

I took  time in between the cleaning to make a loaf of banana bread a small blackberry cobbler.   I have to eat to keep up my strength ........

I was not happy with my last bread.  I made two loaves of oatmeal using a Quaker Oatmeal recipe.....bad choice. I didn't even like it as French Toast this morning.  It wasn't  awful just not what I like, too heavy and dense and not sweet enough. It occurs to me I don't really need a recipe anymore....will give that a try next.

I need to put out birdseed today!  I see Cardinals and even a house wren flitting around the feeding area.  I know I still have seeds in the smokehouse.  They will need it tonight.