Archive for the ‘canning’ Category

October – Out Like a Lion

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

I had heard we may get a freak snow storm over the weekend, and to expect 4 – 8 inches of snow, and even though it started snowing at 8PM Friday night, I really refused to believe it.

Until we woke up Saturday morning to this……

Photobucket

I don’t think the goats chose to believe it either…..

Photobucket

And Dolly definitely chose to ignore it…..

Photobucket

The chickens and turkeys totally ignored it and stayed inside their coops all day long.

Bernie got a nice fire going in the wood stove.

Photobucket

Diesel called dibs on his spot right in front of the wood stove.

Photobucket

And then we lost electricity.

*sigh*

I couldn’t let that stop me, though. I had a bunch of peppers to get ready for canning. And I ended up with several bowls of very pretty peppers.

Like these jalapenos.

Photobucket

And these assorted hot peppers.

Photobucket

And these wonderful pepperoncini.

Photobucket

But, with snow steadily falling, and no electricity, canning them had to wait. And this is where the peppers waited it out….

Photobucket

And here…..

Photobucket

And when Bernie shoveled the deck, he left me a little cooler for my wine.

Photobucket

That made me very happy.

When it started to get dark, I got to use my wine bottle lamp, with my nifty rooster wick holder.

Photobucket

And we lit the house with oil lamps.

Photobucket

Photobucket

And enjoyed the pups by candle light.

Photobucket

We heated up leftover hamburgers on the wood burner, and warmed water to wash with, but I didn’t get pictures of that. I must say, those were some of the best hamburgers I think I’ve ever eaten though.

And when we woke up this morning, we had electricity.

Which is nice.

And we celebrated by canning those peppers on the deck.

Photobucket

How odd to be canning with snow in the background.

But the peppers look so pretty.

Photobucket

October is going out like a Lion.

I’m just a little afraid of what November may bring………

Tags: ,
Posted in canning | 16 Comments »

Just a Little of This and a Little of That

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

As a couple of you have seen fit to remind me in emails, I haven’t been very good at updating the blog lately. We’ve been busy as ever on the homestead, but it seems the past few weeks have been filled with not much more than simply the day-to-day business of keeping on top of things around here. That doesn’t make for very interesting blog fodder. But that has never stopped me before, so I decided to go ahead and post a blog entry anyway.

Since our return from a week in the Great Plains, Bernie has stayed occupied welding fencing on the gates, chipping pine for the chicken coop, mowing, and taking vehicles to the shop for recall repairs and things of that nature. My in-laws sent us home with a bunch of zucchini from their garden, and I’ve been busy shredding it and making Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Cake, Zucchini Soup, and anything else Zucchini I can think of. We managed to put up 5 quarts and 7 pints of dill pickles from our cucumbers and have been eating tomatoes and peppers at every meal. I got a late start putting beans in this year, but they’ll be ready to pick and can in the coming week or so.

Big news – at least for me…… my mother is now on-line! She got a fancy schmancy computer and hooked it up with high speed internet. The reason this is important to me is that it means I am no longer the sole blogger on the planet whose own mother doesn’t read her breath taking, riveting drivel. It also means I now have to watch what I say about her.

My mealy worms are becoming pupals! I’m pretty sure that excites me more than it excites you. It means that soon I will have little beetles that will breed and lay eggs that will become larva and start the whole process over again – providing my chickens with tasty little snacks and making them love me, or at least pretend to love me so that I’ll bring them more snacks. And yes, it really is this easy to make me happy.

The chickens will be five months old in October. That’s roughly the magic number for expecting eggs. It’s also roughly the magic number for some romantic tendencies on the part of chickens. I do have some concerns about this milestone. Duke is clearly twice the size of the hens. If you’ve ever seen chickens mate, you may understand my concern. If you haven’t, well let’s just say that roosters tend to be very aggressive during the process and it’s not uncommon for hens to get a little battered. I’m hoping Duke’s gentle side comes through with his romantic tendencies.

I’ve been a little surprised at the number of people who have written to tell me they think I am a little crazy for loving my chickens as pets. Seriously. So, in an effort to make myself appear less crazy by comparison, I offer you this set of videos on YouTube. It’s called “The Natural History of the Chicken” and was originally a PBS film, but someone (posting as Ghostmonters) was kind enough to upload it to YouTube in six parts. I actually found it to be very interesting and fun. And after watching some of the people featured in it, I feel certain you will rethink your position on my craziness – at least with regard to my chickens.

We’re all fine on the homestead and staying busy. We’ve got a few projects planned for the following weeks, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on them. I’ve been remiss in boring you with chicken pictures and videos as promised, so I’ll get on top of that too – along with the updates to the website. I hope that will make you love me, or at least pretend to love me. We’ve established how happy that makes me.

Bee Free,
Penny


Posted in canning, chickens, homestead, homesteading | 2 Comments »

Cock-a-Doodle – huh??????

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

Between four and five weeks old, Duke starting doing this weird thing where he would raise his head high and move his beak in a distinctively cock-a-doodle-do sort of way – but nothing would come out. He would move his beak, but not a sound would escape. Bernie swore he was practicing crowing. At that early age, I had my doubts.

This morning I went and picked some raspberries while Bernie finished putting in his last corner posts for the fence. We finished about the same time, and decided to sit on the front steps and cool off with some ice water. We were watching the chickens peck around, and Bernie said “Did you see that? Duke just tried to crow again.” I rolled my eyes, and at exactly that moment, Duke stuck his head high in the air and let out a loud, distinct, and crystal clear “COCK-A-DOODLE….” – and scared the bird poop out of all the hens and himself. They all took off screaming, flying, and running to the other end of the coop. I’m not sure who looked more terrified – the hens or Duke.

I couldn’t believe it. His crow was beautiful! It wasn’t at all the scratchy, crackling, strangling noise I expected. It wasn’t quite a full crow, but he sure nailed the first part of it. Within a just a few moments, he let out another. And then another. COCK-A-DOODLE……

I ran in to get the small camcorder I ordered and received this week. I followed Duke for at least 20 minutes, determined to capture the next crow for you. But he strutted around and pecked around and was as quiet as a church mouse the entire time.

We haven’t heard him crow again today. But I have to tell you, those three little crows changed his life. He’s been strutting around all day long. And he’s been challenging the hens and Bobby Lee more than ever. He is really quite proud of himself. It seems to me the girls are paying a lot more attention to him as well.

As silly as it sounds, Bernie and I are really proud of Duke. The boy is crowing at six weeks old! And he’s so dad gum handsome and sweet. He is honestly everything I could have hoped for in a rooster – at least at this young age.

I’ll get some pictures of all the chicks posted in the next couple of days. I was going to wait to write about this until I had the pictures ready, but I am so excited, I just had to let y’all know.

By the way, I’m working on adding some canning information and pictures on the Back to Basic Living Website. I hope to have the pages up within the next week. I’ve water bath canned several jars of Raspberry Jam and Raspberry Syrup – and I took some pictures of the process to share on the website.

I’ll write more in the next day or so. I hope to capture Duke crowing on the camcorder so I can share it with you. I’m just certain you’ll be as impressed with the boy as I am.

Bee Free,
Penny


Posted in basic living, canning, chicken coop, chicken coop deville, chickens, chicks, crow, raspberries, rooster | 4 Comments »