Gifted Blackberries

This morning after church I was gifted with 3 gallons of blackberries from a fellow church member. This woman is incredible. She is 87 years old and is still out on her scooter picking blackberries, blueberries, etc. off her property. She also helps take care of her 65 year old daughter that has health problems at the moment. I once told her that she needed to write a book with all the knowledge she has of the old ways concerning foraging, baking, food preserving, gardening, etc. She has a recipe for anything. When I take her bucket back to her tomorrow I am going to talk to her about me and Grace going to her house maybe twice a month to learn things from her. Canning scares me! I have never made jam or jellies in my life nor know where to begin. I froze most of the blackberries but hubby wanted me to keep some out to add to his juices he has been preparing with our veggies. Does anyone out there have some good recipes for blackberries? If so please leave me a comment so I will know what to do with all of them.

Whirlwind of a Day

The day didn't start off exactly as planned with me over sleeping. Didn't get up until 9:30. I had some anxious chickens wanting out of their coop by that time. Jumped out of the bed and ran outside in my nightgown to let everyone out and feed them. Next had to wash two buckets of potatoes and some tomatoes and peppers. I needed to get the veggies ready for my sister and a member of my church. Made deviled eggs to get rid of some of the abundance of eggs we have at the moment. Meant to also make brownies but that will have to wait till tomorrow. Four loads of laundry accomplished. Hung two loads on the line but close to impossible to get dry because of the humidity. Clothes hung from 11:30 till 7:00 and the towels were still super damp and some of the shorts were also damp. Finally just had to bring in to put in the dryer to finish up because of threat of rain. I cleaned both bathrooms for the first time with baking soda and vinegar and it did a fab job. Went to dinner with my sister and now babysitting nephew. Very tired. Hubby called and will be home late.

Homemade Salsa

We made almost 5 pints of salsa last night. Our first two harvests of tomatoes had to many blemishes, etc. to scald and use. Finally yesterday Scott was able to harvest enough blemish free tomato to make the salsa. This was my first time ever doing this. It was an incredibly easy process. Believe it or not I had never even scalded and peeled tomatoes before. I wish we would have enough Roma's to make some pizza sauce but our Roma plants didn't do as well as the other tomatoes. The only ingredients needed for this salsa was Mrs. Wages Salsa Mix, 18 medium tomatoes, and 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar. Depending on the remainder of our tomato harvest I might have to make some more of this and freeze it in my mom's freezer. These would make great Christmas gifts. It keeps in the freezer for up to a year.

Gardening and Chicken Updates

Today is all about the garden. Scott has already brought up one load of bell peppers (20) and tomatoes (30-40 in various ripening stages). 18 of these tomatoes will be prepared tonight to make freezer salsa. He also came back with a load of red potatoes and carrots. The carrots will be refrigerated for carrot juice (did I mention hubby bought a juicer) and salad toppings. We do plan on drying some of these also, but right now the priority for drying is going to the potatoes.

Above is the finished playpen coop for baby chicks. At this point we will not be building a roosting area. The brooder box is turned on its side and is plenty big enough to house the two chicks at night with the fenced lid on for protection. Last night was there first night out and they did great. These two 5 1/2 week chicks were so much louder and obnoxious than the 6 Buffs we raised inside. The reason we decided to build a more permanent play area was in the Spring we will raise a few more chickens to add to the mix. The more eggs the better.

I haven't taken a picture of the Buffs in a while and wanted to show how much they have grown. They will be 15 weeks old this Saturday and already look like adults. The Buffs are so docile and friendly. When I go in to the cage to do anything they are very curious and want to be right under my feet.

Under Construction

Husband is busily building yet another chicken enclosure. Our baby chicks will be 6 weeks on Monday. Even though they seem to think they are all grown up and deserve to stay outside all the time, they are not big enough to go in with the mean old rooster or the very big Buffs. So next best option was to put together a permanent play area that was more secure than the one we have up now. This area is completely enclosed so predators can't get to the babies. Next spring I am sure we will let some eggs hatch again and will need this area at that time also. With a complete enclosure we can leave the house while they are outside and not have to worry about them. Husband is very good at building something out of almost nothing. The only item we needed to purchase was more chicken wire. Already had the wood and rocks.

A Side Benefit of Gardening

Together time as a family. Today I dried 9 trays of potatoes and once they finished we moved on to bell peppers. We created an assembly line. Scott washed and cored the peppers then handed off to me to slice in pieces. I placed all the pieces in a bowl and Grace placed them on the drying trays. We all assisted in planting during April and May but Scott has been mostly responsible for harvesting and maintenance. I think Scott would definitely be a farmer if we could pay the bills.

I Am So Behind

I have so much to get accomplished today. The weekend was kind of a bust about getting things around the house done. Saturday was a big grocery trip and a birthday party. Yesterday was an unplanned doctor's visit for Grace and then waiting on medication at the pharmacy. Grace gets swimmers ear sometimes twice a year. Very painful. Her ear canal gets so swollen that the drops won't fall down into the ear, this time had to go with oral antibiotics which will take longer to counteract the bacteria in the ear. Last night was hard because she was so fed up with the pain after the past couple of days she was in tears. So today is the push to really get some stuff done:

• Grace needs to get back to some school like stuff - spending way to much time on the computer. Today she will paint her volcanoes, read, hermit crab study and clean out the hermit crab cage.


• Hubby is building a small pen for the 5 week old chicks to stay outside. They are driving me crazy. Not quite big enough to go in with the buffs or the game fowl. They need a few more weeks on their own to gain some size to protect themselves if the pecking order becomes a problem, but they are too old to be kept inside even if it is only at night.


• In the kitchen I need to make some deviled eggs and chocolate chip cookies. We have some red potatoes from the garden that also needed to be sliced, blanched and put in the dehydrator for drying.


• Hubby needs to go down to the garden today and harvest lots of stuff. Which means I will have lots of time in the kitchen to clean it all and start getting it prepared for drying, or giving to friends and family.


• Some weekly cleaning needs to take place also, like: upstairs bathroom, washing clothes and hanging to dry, cleaning windows and doors, sweeping and mopping.


• I am currently go through alot of school papers that need to be sorted and filed as well as start planning our daily subject schedule for school. Believe it or not school will start in 4 weeks for us.