It's the little things...

Yes I finally got something I've been waiting a long time to get!  When you live on a farm with only one person "working out" the money tends to be tight.  Add some growing children and the money gets tighter.  There always seems to be something that needs repair, something that needs to be done to the fields, something that needs to be purchased for the livestock and of course there is always something that needs to be purchased for the wee ones.  So with that momma doesn't always get what momma wants. 

When the kids went to check on the cows at pasture the other day (which is just outside the nearest "town") they came home with a surprise.  A dehydrator!!!

It's the little things right?  I was so excited.  I got a bucket of apples right away and started slicing.  It took awhile to dehydrate them but after filling up the dehydrator I had 4 lovely jars of dehydrated apples to eat.

They look so yummy.  I also had another use for my mason jars with the glass lids since I can't find any rubber bands for them.

And to top it off this week there was a lovely harvest moon shining down on us.  This is the view from my front porch.

Pumpkins, Gourds and Corn Oh My!

I love Autumn decorating, the oranges, reds, yellows and browns are some of my favourite colours.  The problem with Autumn decorating is that I never seem to get it done on time.  With Thanksgiving right at the beginning of October, I never seem to remember about decorating for it until the beginning of October!  Then it's too late and I tell myself next year I will get on top of it early.  Did I mention I am also too cheap to buy pumpkins or gourds or corn for decorating also, because I am.  This year I decided to eliminate this problem and grow it all myself. 

I didn't even plant pumpkins this year thinking that we would get them from my mom and dad's garden.  I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed in amongst my gourds some pumpkins growing.  I received about 10 from my garden this year. 

The straw is from our farm and if you look closely there is ornimental corn on the straw as well.  I have cobs drying all over the house.  Our garage is open so the birds would get it (and probably the chickens too) and our basement is too damp for drying so every doorknob in the house has a couple cobs hanging off them.

Everyone seems to be enjoying the fall decorating and the best part is that it all came from the garden!  Now I just have to finish the other produce from the garden and I will start to feel on top of autumn. 

Canning

I have been trying to keep my kitchen under control these past few weeks but it doesn't seem to be working.  I tried for the first time to make dill pickles.  I am finding that like most things you do for the first time it is taking forever to can all this food.  I am not complaining though, I look forward to eating all this good, home grown food during the cold winter months when everything is covered in ice and snow. 

I think the dill pickles turned out rather well and am happy with them, next year there will be more for sure.

Even though we don't have hurricane's, tornado's or big earthquakes here in Canada the weather does seem to be getting a little fiercer.  We had our first tornado warning this past summer and of course that meant that everyone who had internet had to google what to do in case of tornado.  It was something we always took for granted.  The flip side is that in the winter we can get some wicked snow and ice storms that can take out hydro for a few days at a time and leaving roads unaccessible. 

The hurricanes that were hitting North America this past summer did have some lingering effects on our part of the world as well.  When we took a walk through the woods recently we saw the damage the high winds and rain has done.  There are many trees that are uprooted, snapped and even hanging midway all throughout the woods.  This also means a lot of work ahead of us to get the trees cut up and cleared out.  Luckily we have an outdoor furnace that we can keep going with these trees so they don't have to go to waste.

( I do have another reason to clear these out - they are blocking my cross country ski trails!)

This Moment ~ Finding a toy dinosaur when getting jars to make pickles.

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

Peek-A-Boo

We have a strange concept happening on the homestead.  Usually when a farm has free range birds it is the laying hens that have the opportunity and not the meat chickens.  We are the opposite here.  Our meat chickens can be seen all over the farm while our poor laying hens are kept in their coop.

There is logic behind this, I promise.  We received our meat birds from chicks and it was about 2 months before we received our laying hens.  I couldn't bear to keep them locked up in a coop for so long so we started free ranging them and they love it. 

Unfortunately these birds are scheduled to be killed on Monday morning.  A man has a trailer that he sets up and does it all quickly and very humane.  Then the laying hens can come out to play.

Project 2,996

There is a project that has been going on for some time now across blogs.  It is like a memorial for those that died during the September 11th terrorists attacks.  I remember being at University in a house with 3 other girls, waking up and getting ready for class when one of us turned on the tv.  We all stood around the tv in complete shock and confusion.  Could this really be happening so close to home, Ontario is not that far away, and why would someone wish for others to die not even knowing who they were.  That day 2, 996 people died, some being as young as 3 years old. 

I picked a woman on the list of victims that was only 23 years old.  Her name was Alysia Burton Basmajian.  She was a wife, mother, daughter, granddaughter and friend.  She had many struggles in life but perservered.   While in college she became pregnant and had a daughter, Kaela, who was 2 years old at the time of her mothers death.  She finished college, got married and moved to New York to work at the Trade Center on the 101st floor as an accountant with Cantor and Fitzgerald. 

My thoughts today are with her family and friends who still love and miss her today.  Her daughter will be 12 years old and starting her teens years where a mother is so important. 

Such a loss was had on this day 10 years ago. 

Remember.

~ this moment ~ walking in the woods

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

Eggsellent!

The farm is growing here.  We have 35 meat chickens and now we have 10 laying hens.  The laying hens are completely different from the meat chickens.  Laying hens are pretty, clean and don't go nutso for their food.  They graciously leave their eggs for us each morning and only ask for clean water and some food in return.  It's funny because I thought our family used a lot of eggs, it seemed like every time we ate them we would use at least a dozen.  Now that we are getting SEVEN a day I don't think we use that many eggs!!  Right now our fridge has 2 cartons of eggs, a bowl full of approximately 20 eggs and have just started another bowl with 7 eggs in it. 

The eggs are beautiful, just like the chickens.  Seth says that the chickens "poop out the eggs".  Right now I am becoming very familiar with any possible recipe that calls for a lot of eggs, quiche, french toast, egg salad sandwiches, devilled eggs etc.

Here is the flock.  I haven't named them, maybe once the meat chickens "leave" and I have more time to focus on the laying hens they will start to have names!

I wonder what these two ladies are talking about, maybe wondering why I am taking pictures of them and not giving them their food.

I am so thankful for these 10 ladies and the fresh eggs that they provide for us. 

Brrr, it's cold in here...

These Fall days are starting to get colder and colder.  I have finally admitted defeat against the colder days and decided that we won't go swimming in our pool again this year.  We are packing up our shorts.  The garden is beginning it's decline.  So what would make this all better?  Homemade soup from the garden of course!

I started with anything I could get out of my garden.  This consisted of potatoes, well actually one, it was HUGE!

I started by adding the pepper, zucchini, leeks, and celery to a pot with some extra virgin olive oil.  I cooked that for a few minutes then added my chives, parsley and basil from the garden also.  I added approximately 8 cups of chicken broth.



I got the wee ones to help for the first time using knives.  It was risky but we managed without any major fingers lost.  They actually surprised me with how well they chopped and how careful they were.  Good job guys!

After the broth was added I put in the carrots, potatoes and added some noodles.  Then I let in simmer with the lid on for 45 minutes.  It was so good and the kids ate lots and were so proud to tell everyone that they made the soup.  It's that easy.  I can't believe that I use to only eat soup from a can, never again!

What is your favourite soup to make?

Butterflies

The wee ones have been obsessed this summer.  Obsessed with butterflies, once one is spotted watch out because the wee ones are on the move trying to catch it.  When visiting my parents farm it is fun to watch them because their puppy also is obsessed with chasing butterflies.  So when one shows up it has a 3 year old, 4 year old and 8 month old puppy hot on it's wings.
Needless to say the wee ones were extremely thrilled to find a beautiful butterfly that couldn't fly very well due to a damaged wing.  They were "looking after it" all afternoon.

Tomatoes

Today was a drizzly, wet day on the homestead.  Luckily yesterday was not and I was able to get out to my garden and pick all my ripened tomatoes.  I have been saving them, trying to get enough to can and I did it!  The simple joys right? 

So we did 23 cans of tomatoes  that will be put away in the basement to use over the cold winter months for dishes such as spaghetti, macaroni, or casseroles.  

This year we also planted an orange tomatoe.  I'm not sure if you can really tell by this picture but these are the orange ones.  We haven't canned them yet, that's tomorrows job.  These are really low acid so if you suffer from cankers a lot then these are the tomatoes for you.  They also have a bit sweeter taste to them than the beef steak ones.  I really enjoyed them and will definitely be planting them again next year.

What have you been harvesting?