I'm a cheater

OK so I made about 9 big jars of pickles today with the cucumbers from the garden. I recycled some old glass jars from sauce and such. Just washed and sanitized them. Sliced the cucumber into spears & packed into jars. I used 1 package of kosher dill pickle mix, 3 cups vinegar, 7 cups water, heat until dissolved. Poor into packed jars. Process in canner for 5 to 10 minutes. (i use a big pot of boiling water). I always let my canned goods cool upside down on a wire rack, then after it's cool, flip them over, and the bump on the lid will suck in so you know it's sealed good. If you end up with one or two that don't seal, just stick them in the fridge and eat them first. Can't wait to eat my cheater pickles :)

zhu.ki.ni

every time I pick my first pick of the season on any plant, I just get excited. Picked the first zucchini from the garden today. It's from the earth :)

money saving tip

we just hung curtains all upstairs today. Instant change in temperature, long term savings on heat and air!!

the master plan

we have ideas for the farm flowing out the ears!! Tonight I made 2 blank maps of the property and both of us are going to sketch out our ideas and we will put them together to make a master plan. What can we not live without???

buds

just noticed that "guido" has a horn bud.

yum yum yum

I'm picking sooooo many squash everyday! Which has lead me to find new and exciting recipes ... Omg these were awesome, and my kids gobbled them up. They kinda reminded me of a cross between a hush puppy and a potato pancake.

4 med squash
1 med onion
2 eggs
box of corn muffin mix
1 t baking powder
2/3 c flour
1/2 t salt
oil for frying

boil squash til soft (about 10 min). Drain then mash. You should have about 2 cups. Grate the onion. Mix everything together. At this point you may need to adjust your batter so it's like a little thinner than drop biscuits, but thicker than a waffle batter. Scoop out balls and fry in hot oil til golden brown. Mine looked more like a thick pancake than balls, but they were delish. I think my 3 year old ate 6!! Enjoy.

mealy bugs

yesterday I found tiny white fuzzy bugs all over my watermelon vines. The vines we turning yellow and dying. After some research, I discovered I had a mealy bug infestation!! So sadly I had to pull out several vines, then I sprayed the garden with a solution of 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol, 2 tablespoons of dish soap, and 2 quarts of water. They seemed to die instantly when I sprayed them, so hopefully I can get them under control before they destroy my beautiful garden! I'm thinking I'll spray again tomorrow for good measure.

where are all the guineas gone

yesterday there was one less guenia fowl in the coop when I let them in for the night. Tonight there was another missing. No feathers. No body. Just gone.

time for two

the calves fight so much over their bottle, I think it takes twice as long to feed them. I may run to the feed store in the morning and pick up a second bottle.

pickles

going to try my hand at canning some pickles this week. We are picking lots of cucumber from the garden. The hard part will be waiting a few months before the pickles are ready. Anyone have a good pickle recipe?

looking good

one of the old farmers in town mentioned how wonderful my garden looks to his son. What a complement!! It does look pretty darn good though ;)

running of the bulls

we let the bulls run around in the pasture for a few minutes this evening. They were so cute charging around with their heads down. I just needed a red scarf & I would have felt like a matador.

Eh...Yo... We're from Jersey

we named our jersey calves "Guido" and "The Situation" ... Hoof pump hoof pump !! The situation is, the situation wouldn't take his bottle this morning. Hoping he just got a belly ache from too much milk last night, and not something serious. That could be a real situation.

hey now brown cow

my husband just drove 100 miles home with 2 jersey bull calves in the back seat of his truck. He said his truck reeks, but I think it did before the cows were in it. LOL They are so cute, and only a few days old. They were starved when he finally got here & I warmed them up a warm bottle of milk. They were bucking me and each other fighting for that nipple. And I was so sweaty, they were licking my legs with a little nibble here and there. Overall my first experience feeding a calf was SO fun!!

teas

since we moved out here I have had this strong urge to start an herbal tea garden. For some reason I just think herbal tea is about to take off.?.? Specialty teas, designed for your particular health needs or desires...??? On the subject of tea, but not the drinkable kind. With the more people aware of how harmful pesticides and fertilizers are I also see a huge growth in garden teas. For example specialty manure teas, nettle "fertilizer" tea, tobacco "pesticide" tea, and several other varieties of garden teas. I'll think more on this subject... May be a business idea I may want to pro sue in the future.

gallon o squash

sliced and flash steamed a gallon size baggie of squash today!! A wonderful start on our way to self sustainability!!

butternut

just noticed we have several small butternut squash on the vine. Can't wait to harvest them all!!

organic pest control spray

I boiled a concoction of garlic and hot peppers with a little veggie oil. Strained and put it my sprayer. Smelled like a Chinese buffet for sure. But I'm afraid to report, it didn't seem to deter the grasshoppers at all. An old man in town said he uses tobacco to keep the hoppers off his crops... I'm trying that next.

scarecrow

pieced together a scarecrow from some reclaimed things today. I used a tomato cage for the main structure, that way I can easily move it around the garden from week to week. I put and old shirt over the cage and put a bamboo pole through the arms as the arms. I stuffed a knee high stocking with the hair from our brushes and some used up bars of soap. I strung it up from one of the scarecrow's arms. I strung up several empty soda cans from the other arm to make noise in the wind. We stuffed a paper sack w/ plastic bags for the head, and I stapled one of my husbands stinky hats to it. After we tied several metallic ribbons to it, it is now in the garden. For some added human smell protection, I placed 4 stinky old shoes randomly around the plants. I think I added every element in my garden book... Hopefully it will keep the deer and rabbits at bay.

squash is in!

I've picked squash every night for the past few days. They are SO yellow and tender. My kiddos have never been huge squash fans, but they have gobbled this fresh stuff up! With what I pick tonight, I will have enough to start freezing for the winter! The other garden veggies are growing fast and big. Blooms cover everything, can't wait for it all to be ready to be picked.

"come back"

our guinea fowls are now able to free range safely. They are following around the big rooster like he's mama. Which is funny, because I was worried about protecting them from him. They are able to fly and roost up high in a tree, but they all make it back to the coop at night. I've been told the only way to tell if you have hens or cocks are by the sounds they make. They have just been cheeping up until a few days ago. Now you can hear "come back, come back" from the hens.