McGuire homestead

Easy low effort meals

2012-02-07T20:27:00.001-05:00

I like to cook, but dang once in a while ya just need a break from the stove. Ya really want something ya can stick in the oven and then go back later and take out a nice meal or at least main dish. So that is what I did tonight for supper. I make a dry rub that I like on pork ribs that is also great on chicken or beef. Its really good on any meat and can be varied with the type of braising liquid added. So below is the recipe for the dry rub.

Dry Rub

10 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon each of black pepper, cayenne pepper, old bay seasoning, thyme and onion powder

Mix all the dry ingredients together then rub thawed meat well with it. Put meat in oven bag or pan Let meat stand for at least 1 hour. For chicken I add about 1 cup of coke cola to the bag or pan, cover tight and put in 300 degree oven for 2 hours. If it cooks longer in oven bag the meat will still be tender and moist.
For pork ribs use the following braising liquid in the pan after the meat has set for an hour.
(I make several batches of this rub at once and store in fridge and use as needed.)

Braising liquid:

1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoons garlic minced

Mix ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Pour over ribs in pan and cover tightly with foil. Put in 300 degree oven for at least 3 hours for meaty thick ribs. If ribs are thinner they may be done in 2 hours. Drain glaze from the pan and put in sauce pan and simmer till it thickens and brush ribs with glaze and run under the broiler till hot and well glazed. Serve hot. So dang good.
This recipe works for pork, beef ribs, pork chops and chicken.
Enjoy!! Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Nothing to see here

2012-02-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

That's about the size of it here, absolutely nothing happening here. It is cold and wet out there and I don't do cold and wet. I let the chickens out today to forage and exercise. The momma hens took their lil babies out to scratch and teach them the ropes. Luna decided to charge thru the back yard barking and the hens detoured her real quick. It was funny to see her on the way back, she gave the hens a wide birth not wanting to get attacked again. Some of the lil ones were happy to follow their mom and eat all the treats. Some of em much preferred to stay in the building under their momma. They didn't stay out too long till they were cold and wanted to go back in.

I warned you, this was gonna be boring. But it don't take much to keep me occupied. I can watch lil chicks for hours and just relax.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Great weather to work outside

2012-02-02T23:08:00.000-05:00

It was probably 60 degrees outside today and sunny. Really a great day for working out in the yard. And that is exactly what I did. I managed to weed the strawberry bed that has not been touched since last fall. The plants are still green and growing. We really have not had winter so far to kill them back. I still need to find energy to clean up the onion and asparagus beds, but thas for later. I pulled the few weeds that were in the herbs in the old pyramid bed and pulled about half the weeds in the big herb bed in front of the house. My back cant do it all at once. I have a deer netting little fence around the herb bed to keep cats out and did some repair on the fence. It has been bumped into with car doors and had some tears in it. Its all fixed back and looks a lil better. Still got a good bit of work and cleaning to do in that bed tho. If we don't get rain tomorrow I may try to dig up a small space and sow some lettuce. It would be nice to have fresh lettuce to use along. Beats all to heck buying the stuff in the stores. If I grow my own at least I can choose varieties that have some nutritional value. Not long till it will be time to plant peas, carrots , onions, beets and those kind of cool weather crops.

After supper I made some cookie bars that were easy and quick to make for a snack. The fellows like them pretty well. So I will share the recipe with you.

Toffee Bars

* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
    * 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
    * 1 egg yolk
    * 2 cups all-purpose flour
    * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    * 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
    * 2/3 cup finely chopped nuts

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add egg yolk. Add flour and vanilla, and stir until well blended. Spread dough into a greased 15x10x1-inch jelly-roll pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips on top of crust. Allow chocolate to soften, and spread evenly. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and press nuts lightly into chocolate, using the bottom of a glass. Cool, then cut into squares.

I usually line the pan with parchment paper for easy of removal. The crust will be somewhat soft when they are done. No worries. Just put the chips on top and let em melt and spread em. Once the nuts are on and pressed into the chocolate I drag the parchment out of the pan onto the cutting board and let the chocolate set. Then use a pizza cutter to cut the cookies into bars. Simple and tasty.
Not much else happening here so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Nice weather for winter

2012-01-31T19:19:00.000-05:00

Our weather today was so nice, about 65 degrees and sunny. I let the chickens out to run around today and the setting hens with the little babies came out for a bit today so the lil ones could get some fresh grass. They did OK for a while till a lil breeze blew up and they got chilled and started complaining. The mommas took them back inside to get them warm. I find such relaxation watching chickens. Guess its just my hillbilly nature.
I had a doctors appointment yesterday and the doc changed some of my meds. The one I am taking now has a side effect of causing syncope or passing out upon standing. Just what I need when I have enough problems staying upright. And I am on antibiotics to fix a sinus infection that has lingered for probably 2 months. My arthritis meds suppress my immune system and I can have an infection in my body and not have a lot of symptoms which is what I was doing. Then finally the sinuses got really bad an then I knew. I do feel some better today. Dang being sick can really drain ya. Not that I had a world of energy to begin with. I want to get outside in this nice weather and get some weeding done in the herb and asparagus beds before the weeds get too big. I know its just wrong to be weeding this time of year but dang they are in there and growing. I walked out to the chicken house earlier today in my bare feet and it the end of January. Strange winter we have had for sure. I might get out in the yard tomorrow and piddle around if I still have good balance and feel better. Just have to wait and see what tomorrow holds.
Not much else happening around here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

At the grist mill today

2012-01-28T20:11:00.001-05:00

We got out kinda early this morning and went to get out income taxes done and out of the way. I got to visit with Pauline, a good friend who does taxes here. It was nice to see her and her hubby and both of them look great but are in bad health. With that finished up we had a noon appointment at the grist mill to get our cornmeal ground for the year. I had never been to that particular mill since the fellow got his building built and set up. It was really neat to see the old engine he uses to grind with. The mill is owned by Glenn and Kathy Kincaid here in our county. Really nice folks. Glenn is partially retired from the school system and farms some on the side. The grist mill is his hobby and he says he will try to make it a lil part time business after he gets retired completely. The mill runs on propane but to start the engine Glenn uses a crank on the wheel and turns it several times to get it going. This is the old way of grinding corn after the hand grinder. I have about a bushel of wheat and ask Glenn if he could grind it on the mill and he said he had never done wheat but sure would like too. So if its not really too cold this week I will winnow the wheat we have and take it to him next weekend to have it ground into flour. That should sure make some yummy bread.

Building that contains the grist mill.


The grist mill in operation grinding our corn.

We had almost 2 bushels of cornmeal ground today and Glenn only charges like $10. Not bad to have a year supply of cornmeal for us and some friends for that price as it don't cost much to raise enough for our use. The rest of the corn will be used for stock feed this summer. I do know the chickens love it in winter time. We brought the meal home and I put it in the freezer for about 2 weeks which kills any bug eggs in it and then vacuum bag it and store it in a barrel in the cellar.

It is so neat to hear and see the grist mill in operation. If this video will load I will share it with you as soon as I can get it downsized so it will upload in less than one day. Ugh! the pitfalls of satellite Internet. Speaking of Internet, ever since the solar flares occurred my Internet has been so very slow, far slower than normal. Not sure if that had some effect on it or not. If I were computer savvy I could probably re size it myself but since I am not I will have to contact my tech support (Jason) and get him to help me figure out how to do it.

After we got home this afternoon I let the laying hens out and left the hens with the babies in the building. The mommas are feeding and caring for the lil ones and the other chickens don't bother the babies so they are allowed to run together right now. I do have one extra rooster that I need to find a home for. I think our neighbor was wanting a rooster to crow at her house so I think I may call her and let him go live at her house. He is a bother to the hens. I think they are prejudice toward him and holler when he flirts with em and that upsets the buff roo and then a chase ensues. Not good for any party involved.
Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I am stuck in a rut!

2012-01-28T01:39:00.001-05:00

I am so stuck in a rut this winter. Gosh I usually use my down time to get things done inside the house as I sure don't spend much time inside in summer. In my mind I had big plans for some sewing projects and redecorating projects this year. And here it is late January and I have done very little. As most of ya know, I don't do "spring cleaning" like normal people do, I do all the major cleaning in winter time when I have more time. I have done some decluttering and cleaning this year but not enough to suit me. I did manage to clean out the closet in the guest bedroom so when we have overnight guest they can at least hang up their duds if they wish. I did get my own closet organized a lil better. Oh, I gotta tell ya, I love goodwill stores. OK laugh it up, yeah I shop at good will. That is the only place I have bought jeans in many years. How many time can ya go shopping and get 4 pairs of jeans for $12? Perfectly good jeans, no stains or tears, and they fit me. I was a happy camper. I got those early this week when we had to go to the big city for a dentist appointment. The appointment went well. I still got all my original equipment. Anywho, I really wanted to find a few flannel shirts to wear this spring when the weather is still chilly but no luck there. I think when folks have flannel shirts they wear em out. Thas what Rodger does with his. By time he is done with em, they don't even make good cleaning rags. Oh and we made our quarterly trip to Sam's club too so we could restock up on necessities. I got everything on my list and then some and still came in under budget. It was a good day. The price on some things went up and some things actually came down in price. Butter was one thing that had come down a bit. I usually get 12 or 16 lb of butter when we go to Sam's just because I refuse to pay $4 a lb here in our town when I can get it for less than $2 there. Don't mind supporting small businesses but dang I cant feed their habits at the expense of our dinner table. Oh well that was the extent of my exciting week.

My new chicks are doing good. They just had too many mommies. I had 3 lil hens taking care of 7 babies in a small section of the building. Two of the lil hens were a lil nervous in nature and kept stepping on the lil ones so I took them out and left one hen to raise the chicks. I think this will work better for the chicks. I have no problem butchering chickens, but I just cant stand the thoughts of lil ones getting injured or killed when they are lil and mostly defenseless. It just bothers me badly to think of them suffering. But that is just my nature I guess.

Our trip to the dentist took its tole on my body as it usually does this week. Every time we go out of town the ride makes me hurt really bad for several days. And on top of all that I think I have a lingering sinus infection. The meds I take for the arthritis suppresses my immune system some and if I get an infection of any sort by body don't know and it never gets full blown and shows many symptoms. But I know when things are not right. And my sinuses are not right. Any way I have to go see my family doc on Monday so I will tell him and see if I need to take antibiotics. I think I should but who the hell knows how doctors think these days.

Some of you may remember my post a bit ago when I mentioned starting a lil online shop of some sort. Just to update on that, I am a still a ponderin on it. Am still thinkin on start up funds and such. So maybe soon I can come up with something. I know I need to find something to "do" to keep my mind occupied. I know as I get older I will lose brain cells if I don't use em, and goodness knows I have none to spare. I just need to get out of this rut and do some thing constructive.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Another day in the life......

2012-01-22T19:34:00.000-05:00

It has been winter outside for too many days now. I am certainly ready for some warmer temps. Not to mention the storms we had late last week gave us plenty of water puddles around. Plus the river is backed up into the county road here for the umpteenth time. It came up really quick with all the heavy rainfall. We don't have flooding here that causes any problems just the annoyance of having to take the long way out if we had to go out.
It was a lil tiny bit warmer today than it has been so we got our bread corn out on the porch and winnowed it to remove some of the husk and dust. We just used a small portable fan outside on the porch and set it on a lil table to direct air flow over the top of a 5 gallon bucket. Then we slowly poured the corn into the bucket slowly in front of the fan and the husk just blew away like dust in the wind. Now we can take it to the fellow who has a grist mill in our town and have it ground.
I went out to check on the lil hens and babies to find 2 of the hens in one nest box baby sitting 8 lil chicks. So far the hens are being nice lil mommas so as long as they behave they can keep the babies. On suggestion of some friends of mine I think it appropriate to hang a calendar in the chicken house so the hens know its still winter and not be setting at this point. I will let ya know how that works out for me too. Not much else happening here on the farm this weekend. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I always make trouble for me

2012-01-20T21:40:00.002-05:00

I have this really bad habit of making more trouble and work for myself. And seems the older I get the more I tend to do that. I know, for a fact it is never a good idea to let hens set in winter. I have known this all my life. What the hell was I thinking to let not one hen but 3, count em, 3 hens set. Well in my last post I was so happy that I had one lil hen hatching and the lil babies are so cute. Then I had the next hen in line had 1 lil baby under her. So I thought she was hatching too. Nope she not hatching. The lil chicks are just visiting their mom's friends next door. If they get cold they just duck under the nearest warm spot no matter which hen it is. Now the second hen in line thinks she has kids and keeps getting off her eggs. Oh my!! At this point the lil chicks need to eat so their momma gets up to teach them to eat and all the neighbors come over and kid nap the kids. Next challenge was finding chick starter locally. I lucked out and the lady we had been getting our other feeds from had just one bag of starter left from fall and I took that for now. So the babies have feed and plenty of mommas to look after them. I really don't have a good spot to keep the hens and lil chicks so I had to take a piece of deer netting and kinda fence off a section of the brooder house where the laying hens are so the moms have so peace with the kids.

Well the rain moved back in late this evening again. It has been cold and just not good weather for us goobers that like to get outside. Now more rain. Needless to say I am ready for spring. On second thought, maybe I just need to relax and enjoy the down time. Cause when spring does get here there is not much down time to be had when the gardening starts. And that all starts in March with the green house.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I got babies, I got babies

2012-01-18T19:19:00.000-05:00

Well not everyone gets so excited about having new lil baby chicks. Especially in January with these cold temps outside. I have 3 of my young pullets that have went to nesting. At supper tonight I was asking Rodger what day it was and said to him, "I have one lil hen that should hatch any day now and I just don't want it to sneak up on me and the big chickens hurt the babies" After supper I went out to check on the chickens and let them out for a bit. And this is what I saw.........

Not sure how many lil babies this momma has but I counted 4 for sure. She is a very sweet momma so far.The white lady sitting next door should hatch in another few days. Then on down the hall is yet another lady that should hatch after that. Little baby chicks are so sweet and cuddly. Now if I can figure out how to house these lil families without too many scuffles taking place.

This little fellow was the only black one that I found under this momma. I am guessing these fellows hatched out sometime today. There is always food and water inside the building for the birds so I was in no hurry to check on them today. Didn't want to let them out with the weather being so dang cold and damp. Tomorrow I must fix a permanent place to the moms and babies so the lil ones will be safe from the other hens. I am sure they are gonna be a headache for me for a couple weeks. But they are so fun to watch.

I am still pondering the possibility of opening an online shop to sell vintage goodies. I have been looking around online at other shops and decorating websites and I think I can provide some really nice things for folks who can love and appreciate old things and enjoy them in their own home. I guess in a way those vintage things are just normal for me. As I look at those websites and look at my own house I see so many things that other folks use for decorative items are things I still use. So I think if I take on this project I will do my best to make sure things that I sell can still be used for their original intended purpose as well as ornate. So thas kinda where my mind has been for the past several days. I think I was born about 100 years too late.
Not much been happening here on the homestead with our crappy weather. I think all I do is cook and eat. You can bet that will be the downfall of me come spring. Although we did get out all our garden seeds over the weekend and went thru them to see if we needed to order anything and ya know for once I think I am good to go. Unless I come across some interesting new edible to try in the garden. I am so ready for spring.

So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I think winter is coming

2012-01-11T22:51:00.001-05:00

I think our weather is taking a turn for more winter like weather this week. It has rain most of the day, although light rain. But tonight it is supposed to change over to snow and we are to get a lil accumulation. Not to mention it is going to get very cold. My body don't do cold weather these days. It sure makes the arthritic joints hurt pretty bad. So if it gets cold I reckin I will just stay inside. I am hoping my perennial plants that are starting to sprout and get tender green buds don't get froze out. Last weekend I noticed the daylillies had lil green shoots coming up and the lilacs have tender buds. Such is life. I sure would hate to dig holes and plant over. Oh well.

My lil hens are sitting pretty on nests with eggs. Only problem is they are in the hen house with the other hens that still want to use the nest. I have one lil hen that will get off her eggs to eat and somebody else will go sit down to lay and when she is ready to go back on the eggs she just sits down in what ever nest box is empty. Bless her heart, I think if she is to raise a family she will need to adopt or chic nap her babies. I am sure this event is going to get interesting. I can see me hand raising babies in the house this winter. Oh my!!! Well sure wont be a first.

I like to search recipes online and get ideas to replicate things we enjoy. One of those things happens to be the biscuits from Red Lobster restaurant. Those things are to die for. I can really make a meal of the biscuits and a soda when we eat out. But I do like the coconut shrimp too. Any way I found a copycat recipe online that was pretty close to the one they use. I think I finally got it down by tweaking it a lil bit. So for the ones familiar with those biscuits I thought I would share the recipe I use now.

Cheddar Bay biscuits

2 1/2 cups baking mix(Bisquick)
5 tablespoons soft butter(real butter)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese(needs to be fairly fine)
1/2 teaspoon of parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cups milk or to make a medium dough(soft but not too soft)

With a pastry blender cut butter into baking mix till has pea size balls of butter. Stir in garlic powder and parsley. Mix cheese in evenly. Now add milk to make dough. (the dough should be a lil softer than regular biscuit dough that you would knead)

Now drop dough by Tablespoons full on a buttered cookie sheet.

Melt about 1/2 cup butter with 1 teas garlic powder, 1/2 teas salt, 1 teas fine parsley flakes. Stir well and brush on biscuits before baking them. now bake at 400 degrees till lightly browned. Remove from oven and brush again with the melted butter mixture. Serve hot. These are so dang good. Try these with a good soup or stew.

Hope you enjoy these with your family as much as we do. Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I'm back in business

2012-01-08T21:37:00.002-05:00

Well computer wise that it. I got my old Toshiba back from Jason and he put windows back on it and now I am good to go for now. I like this lil puter. It serves my needs just fine. If I can ever get my programs all installed and working again.
We had company all weekend. Josh came down and spent the weekend with us. He does that on occasion to get a break and just relax a bit from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We were glad to see have him here. He also came to get some of his pork to take home. I think he was taking his bacon home to smoke and get frozen. Probably next weekend I will get ours trimmed and sliced up and put in the freezer as well.
I was outside plundering in the yard looking at some of my ornamental plants. Some of my bushes have lil soft buds on them and its far too early for that. If we get some really cold winter like weather it may freeze them out. My strawberry plants are still green as can be. I don't even have mulch on them yet cause they never got killed back in the fall. We really have not had any really winter like weather here in east Kentucky. Still have some herbs that are green as well. Got 3 hens setting now. For goodness sake, they should know they don't need babies this time of year. When its nice outside I wanna go play in the dirt but I know its far too early. We had a wet fall and had a time getting it dry enough to pick corn. Then it was wet till now. Rodger never got the corn stalks bush hogged down or the big corn field turned under. We plan to plant corn this year in a field that is sod. So it really should have been plowed last fall. But not to worry, Rodger got it turned this weekend and here it is early January. If the weather stays dry this week I think he is taking some time off work to get the other ground turned as well. The place where we had corn this year will be planted in pink eye purple hull peas, sunflowers and sorghum. All of these will help rebuild the ground. We planted wheat on the garden plot we used last year. In spring half the wheat will get plowed under for a garden and the rest left to mature about July or so and harvested for grain and flour. I have went thru the seed catalogs and really don't need to order many seeds this year. I just need to find some odd food stuff to raise for fun. I try to grow at least one oddity every year but always try to have something we WILL use. Last year was the lil Mexican sour gherkin cukes and they made fun dill pickles. This year I am kinda leaning toward trying amaranth for greens and the seeds for flour.
Not much else happening on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Well it died!

2012-01-04T18:40:00.000-05:00

Well my new to me computer finally kicked the bucket. The video card has died and with it part of the mother board it is not a part that can be replaced. So the puter is shot. Damn it!! And just when I got adjusted to and started liking the puter really well. Such is my luck. I guess its a good thing I still have my old Toshiba laptop. I had gotten a virus on it at one time and instead of installing windows on it we opted to put Linux on as the operating system. It takes some getting used to again. Only problem is Linux wont run some of the odd programs that I use a lot. The most important being my cook book program that I have worked on for the past couple years. Oh well.
Our lil snow we got first of the week is mostly gone now. All be it still very cold and breezy. I took some pics of the snow and now I cant post them using this computer. Another damn it!
Not much happening around here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Our first snow of the winter

2012-01-02T21:33:00.001-05:00

Our weather took a turn for the colder yesterday evening and over night. The high today was less than 30 degrees with snow flurries early. It has snow showered off and on most of the day. We had enough wind yesterday evening to dry the ground a good deal so Rodger got the bright idea he would disc the sod ground where we are gonna plant corn this spring. It is just a 5 acre plot but it does take a while to disc. He stayed out in the cold on the tractor and got about half of it disc up. Thas a good start. But now we probably have about a half inch of snow on the ground here and its still snowing a lil bit. It supposed to clear off later in the week and if it does Rodger is gonna take a couple days off work to do some plowing. We really like to have our ground prepped in late fall but we had such a wet fall that didn't work out for us. So here we are in what seems to be winter season plowing. Oh well!
I don't do well when it gets really cold. My bones and joints hurt too much to stay our long. As matter of fact with the cold and wind today Rodger did some outside chores for me, Feeding the hens, gathering eggs and toting some stuff from the house to the summer kitchen and finally got the chicken stock I had canned last weekend in the cellar for storage. Seems so petty to leave all the toting chores for him to do but he fusses if I start carrying things and making my arms hurt more. So I guess my job for now is to stay inside and do what needs doing in here. So I am in the house doin lots of thinking.. I am debating starting an Etsy shop to market crafts, decorative items and antique or vintage items. I really want to make some things such as sachets with vintage fabric and homemade potpourri. Would also like to tinker with making scented candles and wax fragrance tarts for sale. I will be researching that a lil bit for a while to see what kinda plan I can come up with.
I have been looking at some other blogs and decor sites online for a few days and getting some ideas. In winter is the only time of year my creative mind works well enough to craft and decorate. A good place to start my decorating would probably be in my own living room right here. We shall see and I promise I will post pics when I get things in order.
I was reading some local news online a bit ago and in a neighboring county about 25 mile from here there has been a natural gas line explosion and officials are evacuating people within at least a 5 mile radius. I have to wonder if those folks were prepared to bug out on a moments notice. Do they have a bag packed with emergency clothes, meds, things that are essential to each persons well being? The weather being bad does not help those folks either. I think prayers are in order for those displaced and safety of the rescue workers out there.
Not much else happening here on a cold winter night. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I love to bake in winter when I have time

2011-12-30T23:31:00.001-05:00

In summer I don't have time to spend in the kitchen baking, kinda lucky to just get meals cooked. But in winter I do have more free time to bake goodies. So when I was in the summer kitchen other day making stock I got out my old country cooking magazines and was flippin thru them and found some recipes that I had made a long time ago. One was a recipe for an orange layer cake that was so dang good. So I thought I would share the recipe with you. This make 2 layers 9 inches and the filling is more than enough and the frosting recipe will leave you enough to taste test..........a lot..

Orange Layer Cake

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teas baking powder
1/4 teas baking soda
1/2 teas salt
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
4 stiffly beaten egg whites

Prepare 2 - 9 inch cakes pans by buttering and lining with parchment paper and butter the paper and set aside.

Beat sugar, soft butter and orange rind till creamy. In separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat dry ingredients alternately with orange juice and water till smooth. In separate bowl whip egg whites stiff and gently fold into batter. Pour evenly into the prepared pans and bake in preheated 350 degree oven about 25 to 35 minutes till cake test done. Remove and cool on rack till completely cool

Orange Filling

In medium saucepan combine 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange rind, 1/2 teaspoons salt. Gradually blend in 3/4 cup orange juice and 1/4 cup water and 2 slightly beaten egg yolks. Cook over medium heat till simmering and thickened stirring constantly. Cool filling before filling the cake.

Orange Butter cream frosting

In mixer bowl cream 6 tablespoons soft butter, add 1 lb or 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon grated orange peel and a dash of salt then add in 4 tablespoons orange juice. Beat well with mixer till smooth adding more orange juice till frosting is smooth and creamy.

Put one layer of cake on desired serving platter and put filling on top of this layer only. Put other layer on top of filling and then frost the cake. Slice and serve. This is a very pretty and refreshing cake. You would have to work really hard to mess this recipe up.

This is just about all I have done today. But dang it the cake was so good and worth it. Not much else happening on the homestead this week as we have rain again. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Keeping me occupied

2011-12-28T21:03:00.000-05:00

In winter when there is not much going on with gardens and such, I try to tie up loose ends and do little things that I really didn't have time for in the busy season. Like on Monday, I got some chicken wings out of the freezer that I had froze due to time constraint and made some good chicken stock to can. I got it strained and then canned it next morning. I had also cook down the bones and dark meat from our Christmas turkey to make some turkey stock. All total I ended up canning up 9 quarts and 1 pint of stock for later use. I do use a lot of stock in cooking. And it is healthy for you. I cooked the turkey and chicken for about 2 hours each with a lil added vinegar and the bones could be mashed up with fingers. The left over bones were frozen for Luna and the cats for later. The bones and fat are good for the animals in winter.
Tomorrow is my birthday and seems like a good day to drag out all my saved garden seeds to go thru and see if there is anything I need to order. A friend told me that Baker Creek has already sold out of lots of their popular seed varieties. I know I have plenty of all the basics that I NEED, its just the lil things that I WANT that they may be out of. But I need to check my stock first before any order is placed. I do really want to find some Jacobs cattle beans to raise. I have eaten those and they are with out a doubt the best flavored beans I have ever eaten. Very mild in flavor, creamy smooth, nice brown color when cooked. And easy to grow from what I have read. So they will be on my want list this year. Then I just need to look at the catalog to see what else is available that I haven't raised yet and try at least one new thing this coming summer.
Tomorrow when I go out to get the eggs from the chicken house I think I will just divide the eggs between the 2 lil hens that are determined to set and raise babies. I know the last thing I need in cold weather is lil baby chicks but dang they just so cute and cuddly. But if the hens hatch em the hens can raise em. I will let you know how this works out for me.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T22:06:00.000-05:00

Just thought I would post tonight just to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Hope you holiday is filled with goodness and blessings. No big plans here for Christmas tho. Rodger and I went to the city today for a few things. He actually was looking for some parts for our ancient corn planter that we use behind the tractor to plant corn. No luck tho, they haven't made the model we have in over 20 years so now he has to probably have the part fabricated. Today is Rodgers birthday so we did go out to eat while we were out of town. He had his usual steak and I had shrimp. Had to pick up a few things from Lowe's and Walmart too. I was surprised there were not too many people out shopping today. And the ones that were, were for the most part polite much to my surprise. Anyway we got our few things we needed and came back toward home. We did stop by Rodgers sisters house to drop off the sweet potatoes for his parents. We have had them since October and his parents just never find time to stop by and pick them up.
We got home and I decided to let my hens out for a bit. I usually gather the eggs when I let the hens out. I found 2 hens sitting in the nest boxes. Both of them wanting to set. Oh my, not this time of year. Don't know what brought this on but I sure don't need lil babies freezing to death in cold weather. So I will just let them sit on egg gourds and hope that makes em happy till they give up.

Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I like mastering new methods

2011-12-22T19:43:00.001-05:00

I guess you could say I am a self taught cook of sorts. The things I learned to cook from scratch I learned after I left home and was married. I did watch my mom from a distance when she cooked but she always shuttled me out of the kitchen when I was young. So as far as cooking with her and actually cooking at home I did not. But anyway, in the kitchen, I think even the best of methods can be improved upon. One is cheese cake. I have made cheese cake in the past and I know it is basically a custard that is baked. And if you bake a custard it must be at low temps. To keep this temp in control it is easiest to do it in a water bath. So the method to my cheese cake making now includes setting the pan in another pan that contains water about half way up the sides of the pan in which the cake actually resides. So I will share with you the recipe that I use and if ya follow the method I guarantee a great creamy smooth perfect cheesecake.

First I pan prep. I do use a spring form pan. Butter the bottom of the pan and cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom and butter it as well. Now cut strips of parchment to cover the sides of the pan and butter those as well. If using a spring form pan, set pan on a large piece of aluminum foil and bring it up the sides of the pan to prevent water from the bath from soaking into the crust. Set aside while you make the crust.

Cheesecake

Crust:
33 graham crackers crushed and left chunky
1 stick of butter melted
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix crushed graham crackers, butter and sugar till mixed well and press this into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and lower oven temp to 250 degrees.

Cake:
20 ounces cream cheese softened
    1 ¼ cups sour cream
    1 cup sugar
    1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    2 eggs
    3 yolks
    1/3 cup heavy cream

In large bowl beat sour cream for 10 seconds, add in cream cheese and sugar and beat smooth. Mix together eggs , yolks and heavy cream and vanilla. Add about half of this mixture to cheese mixture and beat well, stop and scrape bowl. Continue beating and add remainder of egg mixture. Beat till very smooth and creamy. Pour into pan over crust. Set prepared pan inside a pan that is a lil larger and add hot water to come half way up the side of the cake pan. Put in the 250 degree oven for 1 hour. After it bakes for 1 hour, turn off oven and let cake sit in oven for another whole hour. At this point it should be set but a lil soft. Remove from oven and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. After it has cooled for 6 hours you can run a sharp knife around the sides and remove them. The cake should be firm enough to turn upside down on a plate and remove the bottom of the pan and parchment. Then cake can be turned right side up and it is ready to serve.
Cheese cake does not come out well if you use low fat ingredients as the fats are what give it the great smooth consistency. I think what makes this work so well is you are cooking the custard like filling in a water bath to prevent drying and cracking the top of the cake.

Well if ya haven't figured it out yet we are not having a traditional holiday of any kind at our house. But I will fix a nice meal this weekend that we can eat on all weekend and cheesecake will be our dessert. That is unless Rodger eats all the dang thing in 2 evenings. I still might make myself a Rum cake tomorrow. Just because I like those and I only make them once a year. Not much planned for us so we get to spend the holiday at home just chilling out and relaxing.
To each and everyone of you I wish a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and have a blessed holiday how ever you choose to celebrate the season. Just remember the reason for the season.

Stella

I love winter and lazy days

2011-12-18T21:24:00.000-05:00

Ya know, I might just be able to get used to this cold weather after all. It is nice to have all the garden and farm chores done for the season. Nice to spend weekends just lounging around doing nothing. The only animals left to care for are the dogs, cats and laying hens and their 1 rooster. In winter Luna is allowed to sleep on the porch if she chooses because she will not under any circumstances get into an enclosed dog house. Although she comes in wet and the front porch looks pretty bad when its wet out. But ya know, shes my dog and its my porch. And I am not one to try to impress anyone. Even the cats will come up from who knows where and sleep on a couple of the chairs on the porch. And yep thas OK too. After all they do keep the mice and lil critters at bay and they are fed here so I think they earn their keep. The chickens get to run out in the afternoons after it warms up outside and they make their share of messes in the yard. They always run up to the porch when I go outside expecting to get treats. Its OK if they make some messes, they provide us with lots of eggs so they too earn their keep. So this time of year with no worries of mowing the yard and keeping the yard tidy the critters get free run. Now in spring it will be my turn to fill in holes they make and straighten up what damage if any they do in the yard.
I had raised lots of parsley in my herb bed this summer and dried a good bit and froze some. I thought the heavy frost we have had would have killed the last of it. But it is still green and pretty and still growing. I cut a bit bowl full today and brought it in, washed and chopped it up and froze it for garish and flavor in lots of things we cook. Jason had brought his truck around here today to have Rodger help him find the leak in his brakes and they worked on it for a few hours. In the end they finally had to take it to the garage where we get tires so they can put all new brake line on it. It was getting up toward afternoon so I decided to fix a late breakfast. We had homemade biscuits, homemade sausage, homemade deer ham, homegrown eggs and gravy for breakfast/lunch/supper. Rodger likes the deer ham. This is the first time we have made it. When they harvested deer I put the same salt/sugar cure on the deer hind quarters that I use on country pork hams. It really tastes a lot like pork country ham except it is leaner.
Our country hams and bacon are curing out nicely in the meat house. Maybe during the Christmas holiday while the guys are off work we can slice one of the sides of bacon. My favorite is the jowl bacon. It just has more flavor than side bacon. We really don't want to cut up to much of the cured meat right now. If ya cut into it ya have to freeze it and we don't have freezer room right now. We have half a beef that will be here in early February that will more than refill the freezers. I think I may end up canning a bit of the beef too. I know I will make so good rich nourishing stock with the beef bones. It will be nice knowing the meat is from an animal that has been well cared for and is healthy. The more I think about it, I think we eat pretty much organic here. All are veggies are home raised. We if ya exclude a few times they had to be sprayed to save the crop. Our chickens are all raised without steroids. Are hogs were raised without steroids and such. The hens get corn and forage for most of their food. The feed they do get has no antibiotics or steroids in it. Oh well, for us its just a way of life.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Beautiful weather in mid December

2011-12-14T19:42:00.000-05:00

Our weather today was more spring like than what we normally expect for the middle of December. Warm, sunny, really nice to be out. I went out to town today to the eye doc to order my contact lens. As it would be they did not have my prescription in stock for me to try so I go back next week to pick up a trial pair. Then I can order new ones. Maybe then I can see good. While I was out I went to check on mom at the nursing home. She ask me if I would go get her a pack of cookies to snack on so I did that. I actually got her a bunch of snacks and a new set of sheets for her bed and some other goodies. She actually liked them. I was surprised. She seems to be doing pretty good, a lil more pleasant these days than she normally is. She had fallen last week and got banged up a bit. I think they told her she had some stress fractures in her spine. Not sure if that was from the fall or osteoporosis.
I came home and went to check on the laying hens. I have one lil hen that will not lay in the nest box. She will hold it till I let them out in the evening and she makes a quick trip up the hill to the woods and a few minutes later announces she has laid an egg. She was standing at the door with her legs crossed nearly when I filled their feeders. But I didn't let them out so she has no choice but to use the next box. At least I hope!
Jason has been getting his gas heat hooked up the past few days. In the past the price of propane had prevented him from having a big tank set and filled. But we have a couple of the 100 lb cylinders so he is using them to run his heaters. Although the weather has not been too cold we think this will be a more economical way to heat.
Not much else happening on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Finally time to relax

2011-12-09T20:51:00.001-05:00

I think I may have got caught up on my sleep and rested a bit. Pheww its been a long week tho. Our weather turned cold, well cooler, in the 40's during the day and 20's at night. I think my thermometer lies tho as it was saying 55 today. It was warm enough that I got some things done outside. I keep rain barrels set under the downspouts of the brooder house in summer to catch rain water for the chickens. I had 2 full barrels that I had to dip the water out of, drain and store. I had to use a small bucket because my elbow is still a good bit sore. but mission accomplished. Then I thought it might be a good time to clean up the summer kitchen and mop the floor out there. I cleaned the counters and stove real good and took up the rubber mats and mopped the floor. It does look and smell better in there. As you know I let the guys hang deer in there to cool during the season with the AC on. Well the last deer drained a bit and must have leaked thru the tarp they put on the floor. The blood and water had seeped under the rubber mats in there and left a rank odor. So when I took the mats up some of them were stuck to the floor and pulled up some of the paint off the concrete. But now its all clean and disinfected. It will stay that way till I come up with something else to can and make a mess.
This weekend I hope I can enlist Rodgers help with getting the freezers organized a lil better. I cant get to the chicken, it is under 2 frozen turkeys and 2 butt end hams and some various packs of pork. The deer meat is under more layers of packs of pork. And the big freezer is a whole different animal. By the way I did go in the cellar to have a look see at the jars of lard from the weekend. When we made the lard and it was strained but still very very hot we ladled it into clean but used half gallon pickle jars. Put the lids on and when the lard cooled the jars sealed up nicely. It will keep stored in this manner for more than a year or until I use it up.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The souse is done and so am I

2011-12-07T18:20:00.001-05:00

On Monday I scrubbed the hogs head parts that had been soaking in salt water over night and got those all cooked to make souse. I left them in the pressure canner to cool over night so I could pick out the bones and chop the meat up. So on Tuesday that is what I did. I got an early start and got all the meat off the bones and into a pan to wait for seasoning. The bones I put in zip top bags and into the freezer for Luna and Delilah as they need em. Once the bones are out of the meat and the meat chopped. Add back to the meat some of the stock for the pot till the mixture is the thickness of mashed potatoes. Stir well and put into a heavy bottom kettle to cook. I used my enameled cast iron dutch oven.

I did mine in batches. Add salt, black pepper, and sage to taste. It should have a slight hint of garlic from garlic powder and a notable taste of sage. Stir the seasoning into the meat.

In this 2 gallon kettle half full of meat I added about 1 cup of fine ground plain cornmeal. Stir in and turn on the heat and stir often and let it bubble for about 20 minutes.

I pour the souse into cake pans once it has cooked to let it set. The meat will get firm and can be sliced. Today I went to the summer kitchen and cut the souse into small blocks and wrapped it in plastic wrap and into the freezer. Once it freezes I will vacuum seal it to make it last longer. The fat content being very high and a cooked food it will get rancid fairly quick.
So now if some gives you a fresh hogs head you will know what to do with it. Although this is not something that everyone will eat. It is sometimes called head cheese or scrapple and to us in appalachia it is souse.

We have had drizzle all day today and it has been cold. Was kinda nice to work in the summer kitchen and not need heat or AC. I let the hens out while I was outside but they didnt seem to care much for the cooler weather either. The young pullets are laying pretty good. I get 5 or 6 eggs per day. So I have lots of nice eggs for baking. So maybe tomorrow I can stay in and bake something good.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A long weekend left me very tired

2011-12-06T00:33:00.001-05:00

Gosh after all the hard work this past weekend butchering hogs. I had cut the hogs heads up to make souse and put them in a large container to soak in salt water overnight. I got up early cause I went to bed with the chickens last night and got the house cleaned up from the paddling in an out all weekend, laundry done and all. I headed to the summer kitchen to get the meat cooking to make the souse. I got the chunks of meat out of the salt water and washed it well and scrubbed it really good with a clean brush to get all the bone fragments off. Put all this in the pressure canner with about 4 quarts of water and set it to cook for about 3 hours. Got all the empty totes washed up and ready to store for winter. By then it was time to cook supper. After the fellers got home from work we ate supper and after I got all that mess cleaned up I went back outside to the summer kitchen and turned the pressure canner off so it could cool down over night. So tomorrow I get to stick my hands in the cooker and get out all the bones and chop all the meat up and finish the souse making. Souse is one of those things you either love it or hate it. Well most of em here hate it, so guess what? More for me. I do intend to make pickled pigs feet too as soon as I get done with the souse. And no one likes those either.
We are getting rain tonight and the temps are supposed to drop some and we are to get snow flurries tomorrow and later in the week. So I guess it is about time for me to hibernate. Or at least to take a break and try to get some rest. Yeah that sounds like a good plan. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The last butchering is done

2011-12-04T19:54:00.001-05:00

As I posted a few days ago this weekend was the end of the hogs. We got them both butchered on Saturday. The hams, shoulders, and middlings were all trimmed and had the cure on them before days end. We actually worked them up individually not killing them both and then doing all the trim work. So by dark-thirty we had the lard cut, tenderloin sliced, ribs cut, sausage meat ready to grind then loaded up an came back here to the summer kitchen. That is where we ground the sausage and got it packaged for the freezer. After we got all the stuff put in the freezer that needed to be except grinding the sausage we did get a lil break and had time to eat a sammich. It was not a long break and then we got after the sausage. Jason, Josh, Daniel and I finally got in the house for the night around midnight. That was a long day and we were worn out.
Just a few shots of the butchering process so look away if you have a weak stomach.

Saturday was a nice day to butcher, not hot but not freezing cold either. This is the first hog after we got him cleaned. They were a lot bigger than I thought they would be. The crane on the work truck was sure handy this weekend.

I got the camera as the guys get started gutting the animal. But sometimes only one person can work at a time.

Of course when we were cutting the hogs head up to make souse meat the fellers thought it was a good time to play. Kinda gory looking at best. Actually Daniel took some photos to send to his young daughter Gracie that would have loved to have been here to do this stuff her self.

This looks like one of the characters from the movie Ice Age. Some parts of the hog head don't get put in the souse.

Ah ain't Jeremiah cute with his lil hog hair mustache? I think we were all tired enough to be silly.

We made lard today. I had my jars ready and after straining out the cracklings I had Jason just ladle the hot lard into clean half gallon jars and we put the lids on em. As they cool they will seal and this keeps the lard fresh for much longer.
All this activity took place at Jason's house and I could not resist giving his dog Dehlia the pigs tail when we got it cut off. She was in her pen and after we gave her the pig tail she started whining. And when Jason went to check on her she had the tail in her mouth. He opened her pen and let her out and she made a beeline to the woods to bury the pigs tail. She didn't have a good place inside her pen to bury her goodies so she was begging to get out. She is a sweet girl.
As of now the meat is all taken care of except the souse making process. That might take place tomorrow if I can move once I get out of bed. All this hard work has been really hard on my body. Maybe a good nights rest will help some. Not much else happening around here right now, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Not quite time for hibernation yet, not long tho

2011-12-02T18:12:00.001-05:00

We are almost done with the fall butchering and chores here and not too long I can finally hibernate for winter. I guess thas the one reason I like winter time so much is that there is not a lot to things to be done out side and I can stay in and do things I really want to do. Not having to rush around doing the things that need to be done. But in the meantime, this weekend is hog butchering time for us. We have 2 to do this year. One for us and one for Josh and his family. We are trading one for half a beef that we just found out we cant get slaughtered till sometime in February. But thas OK, it will just give us time to use some of the other meat used out of the freezers. I spent most of today getting my tools in shape and ready for tomorrow. I got the knives sharpened, all my tubs and totes cleaned up and ready, the salt cure mix is mixed and ready. The jars are ready to put the lard in the following day. I got the wrapping paper, and zip top bags ready for the meat that will go in the freezers. Rodger got us a nice meat grinder so we don't have to use the hand crank one to do prolly 50 lb or more of sausage. All the herbs and seasoning is ready to season the sausage tomorrow. The batteries are charging for the reciprocating saw that we use to cut the hog up or at least cut thru the bones that need cut. It takes a good bit of time to work up the meat from a big hog. All the lean trimmings will get cut into sausage meat and then ground, the lard will need to be cut, pork chops, tenderloin all cut up, and ribs cut and packaged for the freezer. Then it will take most of Sunday to render the lard. Monday is the day I will take to make the souse meat or head cheese or scrapple, depending on where ya from. Love the stuff but I am the only one.
Well Mom was finally released from the hospital last night and she got to come back to the nursing home here in town. She is doing better but still quite sore. She was in pretty good spirits today when I went to see her tho, which was good for a change. She still has some congestion and pneumonia and still has to take antibiotics for several more days but that is improving as well. Thanks for all the concern and prayers.

I got the nicest surprise in the mail today.

This is a handy tote bag made from burlap and lined with cotton fabric. Hand made by a blogger friend in Georgia. Thanks so much G, I love it. It will hold all my odds and ends when I travel. And I will take it with me when I travel. lol Merry Christmas to you and your mom, thanks so much for the lovely bag and a big hug for ya both. God bless.

As I was outside the other day plundering around I noticed these strange looking things growing at the base of the bird feeder post. Yeah I know I will try to grow most anything but I DID NOT plant crabs in an attempt to grow crab meat. These things feel much like softened rubber and are hollow. Anybody know what they are?

Strange looking specimens to say the least and I have never seen anything like them. Gremlins, aliens maybe? So far the frost has not killed em. Not many exciting things happening around here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Too wet to plow and we cant dance

2011-11-27T21:37:00.001-05:00

We have had rain today and its kinda cool out there. Sure does make the joints hurt a good bit. I think traveling in a vehicle makes me hurt more than standing or walking these days. Jason and I had to go to Lexington yesterday afternoon to check on mom. The nursing home here had failed to notify me that she had been sent out and admitted to the hospital with a gall bladder attack. Did I mention how pissed I am over that? They will hear from me in the morning and probably wont like it. Mom had surgery this morning and the doc said all went well with the surgery. I am sure it will be a rather long recovery for her with her being so uncooperative and all. Just pray she don't get pneumonia or other complications. I will be back down there tomorrow to check on her again.
As for things here on the farm. Rodger did get the rest of the corn picked yesterday while Jason and I were gone. We will have plenty of corn for cornmeal and what ever else we decide to do with it. We already have a good amount shelled for the chickens this winter so they will be happy when it gets cold. They eat more corn as the weather gets colder. The starch helps them produce body heat and they stay warmer and lay better too.
Yesterday while we were out of town and in the big city Jason bought me an enameled cast iron dutch oven that I had wanted for a long time. They are great for browning roasts and such and then can go straight to the oven with fear of unseasoned a regular cast iron dutch oven. I tried it out today and made a venison roast for a late lunch. It turned out great, moist, tender and tasty. I also made homemade rolls. Yeah I cheat and use the bread machine to knead the dough then I shape them and let them proof and bake. The 3 of us ate 18 large rolls.
Not much else happening here right now on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Home at last!

2011-11-24T20:53:00.001-05:00

After 2 weeks of cooking at the hunting lodge for deer hunters I am back home to the organized chaos here at home. I did enjoy cooking for the guys and they seemed to enjoy the homemade meals as well. But we didn't have hunters scheduled for the last weekend of the hunting season so I decided to head on home. I left my aunts on Wednesday morning and intended to stop off and see my friend Rosie and her family. I called several times and didn't get an answer so I had to assume they maybe were away for the day. So I will go back sometime in December and visit with them for a day or so. I made it to my house about 5:30 last evening. I was worn out from driving 350 miles straight. Long trips are really hard on my body with all this arthritis. It is nice to be home. I vaguely remember laying down in bed last night till I was out like a light.
We had Thanksgiving dinner with Rodgers family today. I took homemade rolls to dinner. I talked to Rob yesterday and he and Amoy were cooking a turkey today too. This evening he said it was great, the first one they had cooked at their house on their own. Sure would have been nice to have them here with us for the holiday. Miss my kids a bunch.
When I got home Rodger and Jason had already processed the deer they had and all the meat was in the freezer. So I didn't have to do that when I got here. Next weekend we are killing hogs and some of that meat goes in the freezer. Then I think in mid December we get half a beef for the freezer. So we should be pretty well set for meat for the year. When I was at deer camp a fellow from North Carolina gave me a nice big deer. He just wanted the horns and not the meat and gave it to me. I am salt curing the hams or hind quarters off the deer. It should end up very much like country ham. I just mixed equal parts Kosher salt and brown sugar and lots of black pepper, cayenne pepper and rubbed it liberally into the deer meat while it still had some body heat left. It looks like it is curing well. So will let you know how it tastes. I sliced the back strap and froze that for steaks for us.
Rodger is hoping to get our corn picked this weekend. He was planning on doing that last weekend but we got tons of rain here. But it should be dry enough by Saturday to get it in. I am hoping. Then after the hog killing next weekend I can hibernate for the winter.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Up to date and now out of town

2011-11-09T21:11:00.000-05:00

I think maybe over the weekend I finally got some things caught up on the homestead and ready for the winter. Well with exception of the things that have not been killed back by frost. In our area down on the river we have not had a good killing frost yet this fall. My strawberry plants are still green and making runners like crazy. Really don't want to put mulch on those till they get killed back or they will freeze out when it gets cold because they try to keep living under the mulch and don't go dormant. Same with the asparagus bed. I did get the herb bed dead-headed and all the junk raked off it last weekend. It does look better and not so much like a jungle in the yard. It will get a layer of mulch as soon as we get a good frost.
I had an eye doctor appointment this morning and then left town to come to west Ky to help Aunt Ann with her hunting lodge and cook for the deer hunters. I will likely be here till after Thanksgiving.. Most likely leave the Monday after Thanksgiving and head over to central Ky to visit my friend Rosie and spend the night then on home the next day. I will only get a couple days to rest up then we butcher hogs. Maybe I can take a long break after the second week of December. All that kinda depends on whether or not Rodger gets our corn picked this week. If it is dry enough he is going to get the corn in and if not that will get put off till later. Deer season for modern fire arms opens this coming weekend here in Ky and every male I know is heading out somewhere to hunt. Rodger will be hunting with Josh the first weekend of season and then Jason will hunt with Josh the second weekend. Hopefully they will get a few deer for meat for the freezer. It cost a small amount to travel to hunt but is cheap as compared to buying the same amount of meat from the grocery and much more healthy for you. If they get more than a couple I know I will have to can some of the meat as we wont have freezer space. It will be close with some hog meat that needs to be frozen and then a half a beef in early December. But we will be set for the year. With that in mind, I may not get to rest when I get back home from working out here. I may be busy as a cat covering it up canning venison. But that's a good thing.
Will up date as the week progresses here and try to keep you all abreast of what is happening on the homestead too.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead on the road.

Stella

Butchering, canning cushaw, prepping for winter

2011-10-30T20:54:00.000-04:00

Our weather turned colder this weekend after a couple days of rain. The rain is always needed but I could live without the cold weather. After the sun came out yesterday it wasn't too bad. Rodger and I got out and got the 2 deer skinned out and the meat processed for the freezer. I takes a while to skin, de-bone and cut up the meat and grind the burger. So now we have a good bit of meat in the freezer. The deer had been hanging for about 2 weeks in the summer kitchen with the air conditioner running to keep it cool. That method seemed to work well. I had some other projects that needed to be done. One of which was butcher off the 3 excess roosters we had. So the plan was we butcher them today. Last evening 2 of the buff roosters didn't come back to roost. I guess they went across the road and it got dark and they couldn't find their way back up here. Needless to say something made a meal of one of them. But we still got the other 2 butchered and I made the stock and got that canned up this after noon and Rodger cleaned the building and put down fresh straw for the pullets. He moved the nest box in the building for them as well. They all will need it soon hopefully. One hen is already laying. While I waited on the stock to cook down I figured I may as well make use of the time I had out in the summer kitchen. I cut up and peeled 2 of the big cushaws and got those ready to can. So they were all cubed up, I washed them, packed them into quart jars, covered with water, put the lids on and pressure canned them for 40 minutes. By time the chicken stock was done the cushaw only liked a few minutes. I still had time to chop the green tomatoes that I had picked last evening before they got frosted on. I had 8 bags of those to freeze for fried green tomatoes later on. We also chopped a quart zip top bag of bell peppers to freeze. I am sure my joints will hate me tomorrow for using my hands all day. But for now I think the preserving is caught up. At least till the first weekend in December when we butcher hogs. That will be a killer big job. That will be a lot of meat to process. The hogs will both be killed the same day, then the lard rendered the second day. But if the fellers get more deer during modern gun season we will have those to process as well. Plus the half of beef we are getting too. I may can some of the deer meat for sure this year. With the beef I really don't think I will have any freezer space. But that is a good thing. We just know we will have a good supply of meat on hand to do us till next fall.
It has been a long day for sure. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Homesteaders convention, first egg

2011-10-27T20:19:00.000-04:00

At the request of some friends I will share with you all some of the pictures from the homesteaders convention or meet-up last weekend.

Above left to right: Deb Todd, Tony (whtdrgn), Tonys wife Karen, Rick(KyHome), Randy(rwwoodcock).

Deb and Mark in the chicken plucking competition. Great job to all participants. Now Rosie has some chickens in the freezer and hopefully some folks learned a few tips on butchering and cutting up birds.

Randy and I decapitating chickens getting ready for the chicken plucking competition.

Rosie and Sam plucking their chicken while I coach and Sheryl (dachsmom) looks on.

Rick holding a dead nekkid bird. Not sure if he is happy about this task or not. But he did a great job.

Not sure if Randy is going up or coming down. lol Actually he is demonstrating how to set snares for catching small game .

Above left to right: Sheryl (dachsmom), Don (12v), Mark and the back side of Rosie.

Above left to right: Mark Todd, Deb Todd (hippiechick), Sam and Rosie, the host for the homesteader get together.

Randy, myself and Danny (dgr's hubby) looking for the handle to the iron skillet we had burned out in the bonfire the night before. One skillet cracked and lost a handle, the other 2 came out fine. They are in the process of being re seasoned.

Back on the farm. Rodger took feed out to the chicken house for me this evening and found this in the chicken house. This is the first egg from my young pullets. So I know I have at least 1 Easter egger out there. The other pullets should follow suit shortly as they are all about the same age.

Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Time to start putting things to bed

2011-10-26T22:39:00.000-04:00

Its time for us to start putting some thing in the gardens to bed for winter. The weather was really nice today so I got out and got started weeding and cleaning out some of the beds here at the house.I had planted herbs in what used to be my strawberry pyramid and had 1 huge tomato plant in there as well. The chickens kept eating the tomatoes so I pulled the vine out. I had no idea that tomato plants had roots that large. I used my lil gardening fork to get out all the weeds and stir up the soil a bit. It looked much neater when I got finished. I secured the netting around the bed to keep the chickens from digging all the soil out or making a dust bath in there. Then I got the asparagus bed dead-headed. I still need to get the lil weeds out of there and get mulch put in for winter. But somehow I got sidetracked like I am known to do and moved on to the big herb bed out front. I had made the mistake of planting a couple castor bean plants out there and they were far too big to pull out. I had Rodger cut them down with a hatchet and disposed of them finally. I got the spent basil pulled out and off the compost. The seed from the basil had dried on the plants and fallen to the ground. So next year they will come up and hopefully I wont have to start basil plants. Basil is an annual but will reseed itself if left the mature in place. I found a couple tiny lil Mexican sour gherkin plants in the herb bed as well. I guess I missed a few lil cukes at harvest time and they sprouted and came back up. For the most part the new section of the herb bed is done and waiting mulch. I still need to get the mints deadheaded and ready to mulch in. Rodger was going to help me do that this evening but it started to rain right after he helped get the castor bean plants out. We are supposed to have rain for a couple days and the temps will drop to around 30 at night an high of 50 in the daytime. I have been really lazy this week when I should have gotten my chicken house cleaned out and fresh bedding put in for the pullets. They should start laying real soon. It will be nice to have my own eggs again. My friend Deb brought me enough to last us for a couple weeks till mine get busy.
Our plan for the weekend is to get the 2 deer skinned out and the meat processed this weekend. It will be nice to have extra meat in the freezer again. In the past year we may have purchased 20 lb of meat total. We raise all our own veggies and have our own meat here on the farm. I know it is healthier for us and we know how the meat was handled.
Not much else happening here on the farm right now. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Visiting new friends, fall chores

2011-10-25T20:33:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I went to central Ky to meet some new friends that I have talked to online for a couple years. All of them homesteaders like us. I really enjoyed meeting these nice folks and learned some things along the way. Don and Sheryl came down from Ohio, they live totally off-grid on solar power. Don is a genuis when it comes to all things solar. He brought along some solar panels and set those up to charge batteries so he could show a movie on Saturday evening. Really neat. My friend Deb and her hubby Danny came up from Mississippi and brought their camper. I slept in their camper over the weekend and as usual Deb and I sat up late talking and visiting. She brought a bunch of 2 and 5 gallon food grade buckets to share with folks that could use them. She gets them for free in her town. I was tickled pink to have buckets. They are great for storing dry goods in the cellar. Things such as flour, sugar, cornmeal, bags of pasta and such. We cant get buckets near us and if you do they cost $5 each. Randy came to the homesteaders convention. He only lives a short piece from Rosie. Randy demonstrated setting snares to catch small game for food. My good friends Rosie and Sam hosted the event at their place. Tony and Karen came to visit and sit around the bon fire with us and make smores. Rick lives about an hour from Rosie and he drove down on Saturday to spend the day with us. Deb and Mark live nearby and are good friends with Rosie and Sam. They both spent the weekend with us. I had met Deb before and it was nice to spend some time with her and get to know her. She brought her spinning wheel and demonstrated spinning wool. As for me, I got talked into butchering some chickens to demonstrate how to do it efficiently. So hopefully now every one can feel a lil more confident in their butchering skills. Deb did a video of the chicken butchering process. I think she is goin to upload it to youtube and when she does I will post the link here for you all to see if you wish. There was plenty of good food all weekend. And lots of good times visiting with friends. Rosie made a primitive cooker to cook a stew in on Friday night. It was made by putting a large stock pot in a large box. Pack hay or straw around the cooker. Remove the cooker and cover the straw with a sheet leaving the empty spot for the cooker to go back in later. Start the stew of your choice in the pot and bring to a boil. Set the pot back in the space you made in the straw inside the box, put a lid on and cover that with a heavy blanket. Let cook for 5 to 6 hours or till ready to eat. They stew will continue to cook inside the pot with heat held by the straw. A really neat idea to conserve fuel in times of shortage. I think we all left on Sunday looking forward to the next get-together.
I came home from the weekend very tired. Although we had a great time, I was exhausted. I got home on Sunday and unloaded most of the stuff in my truck. Monday I think I slept most of the day. I had a bunch of buckets in my truck that needed to be thoroughly cleaned so I can use them to store my flour, sugar and such in the cellar. Now I need to get the 50 lbs of flour out on the freezer and let it come to room temperature and get it in those buckets. I did manage to get my pantry here in the kitchen organized a lil better today too. All my jars of home dried herbs had labels on the lid but to find what ya need you had to take all the jars out to read the label. Now I have labels on the sides as well so they are easier to see. Maybe that will save some time when I am baking or cooking. If it dont rain tomorrow I hope to get my herb bed cleaned up and ready for winter. The asparagus bed and onion/strawberry beds also need to be put to bed for winter. Our weather is supposed to turn colder and wet later this week. I am just not ready for winter. I love the pleasant mild weather of fall most of all. At least it comes around once a year to be enjoyed.
Till mext time ,blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Photos of fall around here

2011-10-15T23:07:00.000-04:00

Today as I was outside just walking around checking on the herb bed and different planting here I did take some photos. For this late time in fall lots of things are still green and growing. My friend Sheri sent me seeds for Red House Free Standing tomato. It amazes me at how green and healthy the plant is after all the others are gone.

I even had a couple of tomatoes on this plant that were ripe. In the background of this photo is the parsley I planted this year that has done great and still growing.
The Castor beans are huge. These plants make risin in the soil to deter moles. I cant say we have even had moles in the whole yard this summer.

I am thinking I will have plenty of Castor bean seeds for next year. Folks around here call them "dog ticks" as that is what the seeds look like. We have not had any moles in our yard or my herb bed all summer and had bunches of them last year when I didn't have Castor beans. So maybe they work.

The photo above is my stevia plants. They are supposed to get sweeter with cooler weather in fall so they are still out. Just have to make sure they don't get frost bit.
Not a lot happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Typical Fall Week

2011-10-13T23:02:00.002-04:00

The weather has been great this week, just typical fall weather. Not too hot, not too cool. Most of my week has been spent trying to recover from jet lag. Today I went to visit Mom and got back home around noon. We had rain yesterday and again today. With the gentle rain lots of the leaves have come down as well. Still lots of color and beauty around tho. Ah, my favorite season. As fall approaches and winter is close it only means for me a short time of rest. But before that there is still lots to do. The fellows are gonna be deer hunting this weekend. They have all their stuff together to hunt this weekend and I guess my job is to provide the food to keep em happy. I made 2 loaves of bread and some chocolate chip cookies this evening for them. I guess tomorrow they will decide what else they want to eat. They will hunt Saturday and Sunday then back to work on Monday. Next weekend some friends from BHM forum are getting together in central Kentucky for the weekend. I am so looking forward to that meet up. Should be a busy fun weekend for all of us.
After that weekend outing I should be able to be home for almost 3 weeks then its off the cook for a bunch of deer hunters in west Kentucky. That should be fun. I helped my aunt with that project last year and it was nice. That should keep me busy till the Monday after Thanksgiving and then I will be home for good hopefully. I really need to get busy and do my part of planning the menu for the hunting camp or my aunt Ann might get a lil nervous not having a plan. And she surely don't need more stress in her world. With the fellows out of the house this weekend maybe I can sit still and think and get a plan together.
I still don't have my cushaws canned yet. Rodger did put them in the cellar for me while I was away so they are OK. I would just like to have them all canned and ready to use. I think I will be taking some of them with me to the BHM meet up and some butternut squash as well to share with some friends there. Good thing I started a list of thing I need to take with me to that event.
Not much else happening here. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Home on the homestead again

2011-10-10T23:01:00.000-04:00

I am back home at last on the farm. I had a wonderful week visiting with my son Rob and daughter-in-law Amoy last week in Nevada. When I got there the weather was really nice and warm, then by mid week it got cold and snowed a bit. There weather changes more than Kentucky weather I do think. Good thing I had taken my long johns with me.
They picked me up on Friday night in Salt Lake City, we had a late dinner and then drove on the Elko and finally got the their house about 3 AM on Saturday morning. I think we all slept in on Saturday and then they took me for a drive to the mountains. It is hard to believe there was still snow on some of the higher mountains in Nevada after all the hot weather we all had this past summer. But here is proof.

You can still see the white snow on top of the mountains in the distance. And it was warm enough at this distance up the canyon for short sleeves. When we got to the end it was cold enough for a sweat shirt.

Somebody is pregnant! Guess who? Yes we are expecting our first grandchild in April. Cant wait to be a Grammy. But that don't mean the lil grand dog will get replaced tho.

It was a really nice drive and the weather was good that day. Later in the week, well not so much. This is the view from Rob and Amoy's back door. I was not ready for snow and winter weather on my vacation.

I am sure the yard will look different in spring after they get the landscaping done and have actual grass instead of tumble weeds. In the mean time its a nice sandbox for the dog.

When I got home to the farm it was short sleeve weather here but we are to get some rain later in the week along with cooler temps. While I was away Rodger got our garden turned under and its ready to seed down. Jason had bought some hard red winter wheat to sow for a cover crop. The plan is to only plow under part of the wheat next spring for a garden spot and let the rest of the wheat mature and harvest it for grinding. Rodger also picked the last of the bell peppers before he plowed and I got those all sliced up and in the freezer today. They also got all our potatoes put in crates and in the cellar. The sweet potatoes are still in the barn curing before they get put away.Rodger also stored my butternut squash and cushaws in the cellar for me too. Tomorrow I really need to spend some time cleaning up my herb bed and getting it ready for winter. And its time to sow onion seeds too. So that will be on my list for tomorrow as well before the rain comes on Wednesday or Thursday.

Not much else happening here right now, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Blogging from across the country

2011-10-03T14:51:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I last posted here. Gosh I am so slacking. But just to update a little bit. Last Friday September 30th I flew out of Lexington headed to Nevada to see Rob and Amoy and spend some time with my kids. Should be back on the farm about October 9th. They picked me up in SLC airport on Friday night and we had a late dinner and drove on to their home in Elko Nevada. Kinda made for a long night for them not to mention me jumping time zones. But we arrived home late and went to bed. I vaguely remember laying down. We have had really nice weather so far. On Saturday we drove up to Lamoile canyon just sight seeing. It was a nice drive. It always amazes me to see snow still on some of the mountain tops after the hot summer we have had. It is a nice change of pace to see different places of beauty that God has created.
I am happy to know the kids have bought a really nice home in what seems to be a good quiet neighborhood. It is good that they have bought a home because now there is to be a lil one in April of next year. Might not be hard to figure out that I am gonna be a Grammy. Oh my!! I have the lil granddog Abby and now a real lil baby. I do feel so blessed.
Not much happening out here this week, this gram will just relax and enjoy my vacation. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead on the road.

Stella

Butchering and canning

2011-09-25T21:31:00.001-04:00

We have been busy this weekend. We did manage to get the fryers butchered off. So now we have about 12 pullets left and 1 rooster and meat in the freezer. I made stock of the boney part and canned that. I think I ended up with about 5 gallon in various size jars. The thigh meat was de-boned and cut in bite size pieces and canned as teriyaki chicken. Some really tasty stuff. I got the recipe from SheChef's blog here. It is simple to make as well for a quick meal.
Yesterday after we finished butchering for the day Jason left to go pick up feed for the hogs. The lady that runs the lil feed store where we all buy feed gave him about 3/4 of a bushel of nectarines. He came back and ask me if I liked em. Well heck yeah I do. So he brought in the box and no way we could eat that many fresh so I canned those while the chicken was cooking to make stock. I had 12 pints and 3 quarts of nectarines. They are really pretty as they make the liquid blush pink when they are cooked.
After we finished butchering today Rodger went to the garden and dug into the sweet potatoes to see how they might turn out. Oh my, they are big and there is several in each hill. I think we planted over 100 plants. I somehow think we are going to have too many sweet taters too. Hopefully we can sell the excess. We can use maybe 2 bushels in a year. It is the time of year we need to keep a check on the weather for frost. If it frost on the sweet potato vines it makes the taters rot in storage. Don't need that for sure as they have to be stored in the house.
Not much else happening around here for now. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Ooops!!

2011-09-20T20:46:00.003-04:00

Yep I had a oops week. I did really good not smoking till we went to the grocery store on Saturday. Dang its hard to believe that grocery shopping could be that stressful. So I have had a few smokes. But NOTHING like I was doing. Rodger has done well too. He is only smoking a few a day instead of his usual 2 or 3 packs. He does have a rather stressful job. If I had his job I would probably be a drunk too. Anyway, back on the wagon now and feeling better.
Not much happening here on the homestead. I still have a bunch of chickens that need butchered. Most of those will meet their fate this coming weekend. So lots less for the fellers to feed an look after when I leave the 30th for Nevada to see Rob and Amoy for a week. Once I come back home the guys will be deer hunting after that cause by then deer season will be in full swing. Somewhere in all this we still need to dig sweet taters and get those in. We most likely will have frost before I get home from my trip and they don't need to get frost bit. We still have watermelons in the garden too. Not sure what the heck I can do with about 15 watermelons. Maybe freeze some for sorbet or something.
I got in the cellar over the weekend and straightened it up a lil to make room for all the crates that will hold our potatoes. I think we may try to get those in the cellar sometime this weekend as well. After they are in there I have no idea where I will store my cushaws and butternut squash.
The tomato plants that I had planted around here in the beds near the house to save for seed are blooming again and have little tomatoes on them. I am gonna try to cobble up some kind of shelter of plastic to keep the frost off and maybe we can have a few more ripe tomatoes this fall. Before I leave for Nevada I would like to get some mustard and turnips sown and rutabagas as well. Then once I get home I guess it will be time to sow onion seed too. For this I will use the old flower bed near the driveway. I put black plastic over the bare soil to kill weeds and any remains of flowers that are in there. It is narrow enough that I can make a tunnel of PVC pipe and cover it over with plastic if I choose to.
Thas about it for an update on whats not happening here. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I am gonna be a quitter

2011-09-13T21:21:00.000-04:00

As of about 7 pm this evening it has been a whole 12 hours of not smoking. Yea I know that don't seem like much to most people. But when you have smoked for 30 years, anywhere from 1 to 3 packs a day, 12 hours with no cigarette is a big deal. Rodger is quitting also and that makes it so much easier for me. But good grief, not sure how much of this chewing gum my jaws can stand. I have cleaned some today and did some laundry to try to eliminate the smell of smoke in the house. Its hard to believe how much more sensitive my nose is after not smoking for 12 hours. I'm sure in a few days food will taste better too. AND that just might become another problem. Well the weather is still nice so I can get outside and not eat all the time.
Not much else happening here today, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Squash and cushaw harvest

2011-09-10T21:57:00.000-04:00

We got out this afternoon and went to the garden to get a ripe watermelon. I had already eaten the 2 we picked a couple weeks ago. We got 3 watermelons and I told Rodger we should probably go ahead and harvest the squash and cushaw. We pulled probably 30 winter squash and about 10 or so huge cushaws. We didn't load them in the truck because it would involve toting them a good bit so he said he would go back tomorrow with the tractor and bucket and get them. Will probably take most of the cushaws to Jason's house so he can feed them to the hogs. They sure do like those. I am hoping we can also get them to eat some of the winter squash as we have far more than we can use or give away. I had also ordered some sorghum seed to raise for the seed heads as chicken feed and we cut those while we were in the garden. A nice lil bunch to save seed and plant more next year as chicken feed.
I really miss not having fruit to can this year. I never did get any peaches to put up. But I do still have enough to last us till next summer. Our pear tree has very few pears this year so not sure about them yet. No one near us had apples this year so no apples to freeze for frying. I think I still have enough of those from last year as well. I guess thas why when we can get lots of fruits I do put up far too many and it can last us thru years when we don't have any. Harvesting is about finished here for this year. We still will need to pick corn but that will be another month or so. The sweet taters will need to be dug before frost and that's it for us.
I brought my herbs in from the summer kitchen that I had dried this year and I think we have more than enough of those to supply us and another family or 3. So I got to toss out last seasons dried herbs and replace them with fresh ones.
In our supplies I had made sure to stock plenty of bread flour for making homemade bread. My wrist don't cooperate enough now to allow me to knead bread by hand but I still have a bread machine. It only takes about 3 cups or so of bread flour to make a loaf of bread. I started with 25 lbs of flour and there is 3 1/2 cups of flour per lb. So from that one bag I can make about 25 loaves of bread. Including yeast, powdered milk, sugar, butter and the flour I figure I can make a loaf of bread much cheaper. The 25 lb of flour sells for about $9 at Sam's club. So I dragged out the ole bread machine and have been making bread the past couple weeks. In our town we have a very limited selection of breads to choose from but if I make them myself I can make any kind I like. And the up-side is I don't make my joints hurt more. Nothing like a hot loaf of fresh bread after a long cool day of working outside.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

It feels like fall outside

2011-09-07T19:09:00.000-04:00

Gosh I am slacking. I haven't posted in over a week now. But then again not much happening here right now. Last weekend we did butcher off our old laying flock and got the breast canned, stock made and the dark meat canned up. We only had 10 total to butcher so that didn't take long. Jason had to do all the cutting up of the birds as I have been having lots of problems with my wrist of late. It all started when I was working up all the tomatoes a couple weeks back. Not sure if its just arthritis or if I have carpal tunnel syndrome. Either way I know it hurts like hell. Rodger did pick up wrist splints for me and I use those all night and during the day if I don't have my hands in water or am cooking. I am sure this too will pass, just hope it hurries.
Over the weekend we discovered what may be stealing my chickens. I think we have a bobcat den down the hill from the house in the woods. It has grown up in weeds and there are some old fallen trees that are partially covered that we think it hides under. Then when I let the chickens out to run in the yard it lays waiting till one gets near the weeds, grabs it and takes off. Luna wont go in after it. As most dogs will not go to fight with a bobcat anyway. Although she patrols the yard and barks, I guess the cat is just hungry enough that it does not feel threatened by her. I am keeping the chickens in the building this week till the weekend and then we are going to bait the critter. Put a chicken in a cage near where it has got the others and see what kinda animal comes out. Then take appropriate action. Oh the hassles of raising critters on the farm.
This past week with our cooler temps and it seems like soup weather I had the big idea to make homemade bread. Well not with these hands will I be kneading tho. So I dragged out my bread machine that I have had for prolly 20 years and fired it up. It makes great bread too. Now I just have to make a point of having plenty of bread flour and yeast on hand. As I type this I have a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread started and it should be done in time for a bedtime snack tonight. I love fall with soup weather and home made bread weather. We have had lots of rain here and our day time temps are staying in the 60's. Nice weather for just relaxing for me. This time of year is when I get inspired to make large meals. Just when we really don't need em cause we wont be getting out to work the calories off. Oh well we should be nice and fluffy come next spring.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Reflecting on planting methods

2011-08-30T21:19:00.000-04:00

Well here I am with probably too much time on my hands and plenty of time to think. I was thinking today about how our garden did and things I learned and things to do a lil different. Maybe for simplicity sake I will just list them.
First- We planted tomatoes with no intention of staking them. It turned out just as well. We used 19-19-19 fertilizer on them when they were transplanted. Most folks say too much nitrogen will make all plant and no fruit. But with dense foliage on the plants it did prevent sun scald on the tomatoes. Thas a plus. If you are to have fruit you must first have a sturdy healthy plant. We transplanted as soon as we could get the ground dry enough to get in and for most people it was early and the plants made good deep strong roots to withstand dry spells. So I will do the same with tomatoes next time. Again we don't mulch or stake our plants. Might be a lil tough picking them sometimes but I had plenty of tomatoes. In fall in our area most tomatoes will produce more bloom and fruit, albeit small, once the weather starts to cool at night. So if you have a light crop, don't pull the plants. You might still get a few more later in fall.
Second-Potatoes need well drained soil that is slightly acidic. So wont be liming the area where taters are to be planted. We also used the 19-19-19 fertilizer on the taters. One section of the tater rows this year had all rotten taters. As we were digging I did notice that the soil had a different feel to it. It was heavier and had more moisture, thus the taters rotted. The best method for controlling Colorado potato beetles is the mash them with your fingers every 3 or 4 days till the plants are big enough they wont suffer damage. When our tater plants were too big to effectively be able to find the tater bugs then I sprayed with a bug poison. Success, we had a great tater crop for a change.
Third- Weed control is a must in a damp season. We let the weeds get ahead of us this year and with the rain we did have and all the weeds held too much moisture around the peppers and blight got those. Garden plants need air circulation or it does create a breeding ground for nasty disease.
Fourth- If you plant pole beans, stick the dang things. We planted some running beans and for some reason we never got the stakes put in for them to climb on and they crawled on the ground. Then add the morning glory and weed problem and the beans were losty in the all the mess. I prefer bush beans anyway. Personally prefer the Ky Wonder bush bean, good tender bean that fills out nicely and no strings to deal with.
Fifth- Watermelons need heat and light to ripen well and be sweet. It wont happen if they get over grown with morning glories and weeds either. I will be saving my coffee cans this next year. When I plant melons and they bloom and start making melons, I intend to fruit prune the plants and also cut the ends off the vines so each vine has no more than 2 melons. Each melon then will be elevated up on one of the empty coffee cans so it can do its thing. Our plan for melons, cushaws, and pumpkins next year is to put down black plastic and make a hole where ya want a plant so weeds cant take over and the melons will have the heat they need. Although in the weeds the cantaloupes did really well. We have eaten the last of those and now wait on the watermelons. Once the vines die back the cushaws will be ready to harvest and store. That is when the skins are mature on them and they will keep all winter in the cellar.Same with butternut squash.
Sixth- Cukes and peas must be trellised or ya never find them to harvest. Peas are really hard to see on the vines on a good day and add to that them laying on the ground. May as well not plant them. This we have learned. Cukes are the same way. You always miss a few and they turn yellow and ripen on the plant so the plant stops producing because it has accomplished its mission of making seeds and reproducing. That is the goal of all plants to reproduce and make seed, once that is done the plant is pretty much done too. So it is best to harvest ripe fruits as they are ready to keep the plants producing.
Seventh- If you raise heirloom varieties in your garden, by all means save your own seed. They will do better as time goes on as they will be acclimated to your soil conditions. As I was growing up we saved a lot of our own seeds and found this to be true. We have saved a lot of seeds this year from our garden so we wont need to buy seeds next year.
Hope this lil bit of info helps someone along the way. Just like to share things I have learned here at the school of hard knocks. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Harvesting potatoes

2011-08-27T21:46:00.000-04:00

The weather did cooperate here today with no rain. Beautiful weather here, not like the east coast with the hurricane. God bless those folks in the path of hurricane Irene. Much destruction from what the news is showing. But we got an early start and got our potatoes dug. I think we all here were pleasantly surprised with how well they did. We only planted 2 rows of Kennebecs about 150 ft long and 1 row about 75 ft of Red Pontiacs. I was very happy with the fact that they were all really big, in all total maybe a half bushel was considered small and would be a pain to peel if ya chose to. I plan to serve more taters with the peel on as that retains more of the nutrients that lay just under the skin. We got 15 bushels total. About 12 of the Kennebecs and 3 of the Red Pontiacs. A bushel of potatoes weigh 60 lb per bushel so we had roughly 900 lb of taters and cash out lay was maybe $35. Not bad at all in my way of thinking. We have a special plow that goes on the tractor 3 point hitch to dig the taters with which beats all to hell the old way of using a tater fork and lots of back breaking work. The tractor drives up the row and IF the driver is watching his stuff the plow will be in the middle of the row and break it open and taters can be picked up behind the tractor. This is the way we did it. There are places in the one end of the garden where the taters were that I noticed the ground was very heavy clay like soil and ALL the taters in that lil section of the row had rotted. Maybe a 6 ft section. This is the place where my dad alas had his tater patch and raised a lot of taters. We did go back to the old original way of planting this year too. It was Jason's idea. For some reason we had got to putting in the fertilizer and mixing it in the bottom of the row by dragging a chain thru the row. Then drop the potato pieces and cover it all over with dirt. This year we dropped the taters about 1 ft apart in the trench we made with the tiller, I dropped about 3 tablespoons full of 19-19-19 fertilizer between each hill of taters and covered them over as usual. This method seemed to have resulted in more good size taters for us. Some times the old ways are still the best. So from now on I think this is how we will plant taters. After we got them dug we took them to Jason's house and poured them out on the floor of an outbuilding to dry for a few weeks till the weather cools and then they will be put in our bins and stored in the cellar. I am so thankful we have enough taters to keep us supplied well till next summer. I couldn't help but make a big kettle of potato soup fer lunch today after we got them all dug. Really tasty with red taters, peel left on cubed up with lots of onion and garlic in there. Yummy!
My big plans were to get my old laying flock butchered off tomorrow but I really don't think that is going to happen. My arthritis is flaring really bad, especially in my wrist. I really don't think I could pluck a chicken if I was real hungry. Jason had agreed to do all the cutting up of the chickens if we could pluck em. Hopefully next weekend my joints will feel better. I think I will dig out my splint for my arm and just splint my right wrist (its the worst) and give em a rest for a few days and see if that will help some. I think maybe the past 6 weeks or so of all the prepping stuff and canning has caught up with my body.
I need to brag just a lil bit. My youngest son Rob is now a proud home owner. He bought his first house in Elko Nevada this past week and he and Amoy are moving in this weekend. They are beyond excited. And we are so happy for them. We are really proud of his accomplishments this past year. After college he landed a good job, already got a promotion, and now at the age of 25 has a house of his own, all in less than a year. We sure do wish them lots of success and happiness in the years to come. Kinda makes me a proud momma.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Nice weather but fall is in the air

2011-08-24T21:53:00.000-04:00

The past few days have been so nice, not really too hot, cools down nice in the evenings. Perfect weather for working outside and getting things in order for fall and winter. But dang it does seem early. None the less, we managed to get the plastic from around the green house and cleaned up down there and got my bench covered to protect it from wet weather. We took a huge trash bag to the trash bin after all that. Then Rodger got the tractor and bucket and hauled some dirt to fill in a low spot in the yard on top of the sewer drain lines. The dirt settled and we are just not getting to put more dirt in to level it up. If only the chickens don't find the fresh dirt and make a mess of it. He also hauled away all the dead plants and debris that I had pulled out of the herb bed and had scattered about. I hope tomorrow I can get more of the ground cherries picked up and husked out to dry. I had some that I put in the dehydrator this morning and they are drying nicely. They have a wonderful sweet flavor dried. They will look like lil golden raisins. A good addition to oatmeal or cold cereal. If we don't get more rain this week and its dry this weekend we plan to dig our taters on Saturday and then if we have the energy left I want to butcher off the old laying flock on Sunday. That will give me all day Monday to can up the meat. They are older and will only be good for soups, dumplins and if I can the breast separate those can be used for salad or sandwiches. Not much else happening here for now. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The garden is all but done

2011-08-22T21:38:00.000-04:00

This summer has seemed to be so short or maybe it is just me. Seems like only yesterday we were plowing and hoeing in the garden and now it is all but done. Not much left in there except the okra, melons, cushaws, and some winter squash. The potatoes will be dug this weekend if we don't get rain. The sweet potatoes will go till late September as well as the pepper plants. Today I spent in the summer kitchen slicing and loading the dehydrators for drying into onions flakes. I have about 2 quarts already done and both dryers loaded again. I have a few tomatoes to eat on for a few more days then they are all gone for the season. The rest of the day I have been cleaning up and dead heading the plants in the herb bed. Still need to get in there with the weed eater and cut the mints back. As soon as the onions are dry in the dehydrators I want to dry more herbs. I also got the onion bed in back weeded as well as the asparagus and new strawberries. My leeks are in the bed with the new strawberry plants and they look great. I do need to take m friend Rosie's advice and mulch the leeks deep to make nice white stalks. I was so happy to see Rosie and her hubby Sam last Friday when they stopped by on their way home from visiting his mom in a neighboring county. We invited them to spend the night but they kinda wanted to get home as they had promised their daughter who was taking care of things on their farm while they got a couple days away. But was really nice to get to see them.
We had rain this past weekend so we didn't do much outside. Seems kinda odd to be able to just stay inside on weekends. Not much happening here to write about at this time. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

It never ends, just slows down

2011-08-17T21:12:00.000-04:00

Seems the to-do list never ends. On the farm there is always things that need attention, sometimes all at once. I had a break today from tomatoes and went to the doc for script refills. Got home in time to fix supper, eat and head to the garden. We picked another couple buckets of tomatoes, I cut some okra, Rodger dug some taters, we picked another ripe cantaloupe, pulled some squash off to feed to the hogs. While I was picking tomatoes I pulled some that had just blushed and were mostly green to chop and freeze to use as fried green tomatoes this winter. Got back to the house and got the green maters chopped and in the freezer. The okra is washed and ready to be sliced. The cantaloupe is perfectly ripe and so sweet.

When I finally got this melon cut up it filled a large lidded bowl and will keep us happy all week. More seeds saved too. When I am in the summer kitchen the chickens think they are due treats and peels from what ever I am doing at the time.So they hang out with me.

This is just a small part of the flock, the rest are occupied with something else. Soon or later chickens find all your hiding places that you have planted tasty plants in too. They have wondered as far as the other end of the house to the driveway where I had a tomato plant for seed. Lucky for me I had already gotten the ones off that I wanted to save seed from. They have discovered the corn crib at the far end of the drive too. They know that they can find treats there. For me chickens are so relaxing to watch. They stay so busy exploring and eating. Not to mention they do fertilize the grass as they go. Guess thas the downside to letting em run loose.
I think tomorrow my day will be filled with chopping and drying onions and slicing and drying tomatoes. I'm sure I will find other things to do to fill in my spare time.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Making it easy on myself for a while

2011-08-14T19:56:00.000-04:00

I am getting a lil bored with doing tomato products now. I have been at it for near 2 weeks. Still got a ways to go tho. I went to the nursing home to visit mom for a while today and took her some fresh maters and cantaloupe that I had cut last night. Gosh it was so dang good. This is what it looked like before we cut it. Not to mention I have 3 more at the house just like it.

This thing was 12 inches long, really ripe and sweet. I think I will try freezing a few containers of cantaloupe again this year to enjoy this winter. Easy to do, just peel melon and pack in freezer box or container and cover with light sugar syrup. Freeze and when ready to serve allow to only partially thaw out. Really good.
I haven't done anything with tomatoes today. I worked a lil bit in my herb bed and got the sage cut again and in the dehydrator. Then cut the ground cherry plants back some so I could pick the ripe ones up off the ground. I got a 2 gallon bucket full of them in the husk. I finally got them husked out and ready to make ground cherry and orange jam. There are still thousands of them still on the ground that I may get later and try dehydrating some to see how they are. I'm sure they would be good in bread or muffins, or even in cereal.
When I went to visit mom I stopped by the dollar store to pick up some jar flats all to be told they didn't have any and would not be getting any more this season. Dang it! So I stopped at the grocery store and paid double for 3 dozen cause I need them badly. They also had Mrs Wages pizza sauce mix and I picked up 2 packs of that and one for salsa. I can make pizza sauce from scratch but with all the tomatoes I have to do this will save me a good deal of time and standing in the summer kitchen on my feet. The older I get the more I appreciate being able to cut corners anywhere I can. So pizza sauce and salsa will be my projects for tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow evening I can get the ground cherry and orange jam made. If I can remember to ask Rodger to bring home 3 oranges.
Last evening when we picked tomatoes we picked off all our sweet corn that we had left on the stalks to dry for seed. So those are neatly hanging in the outbuilding to dry real good and then get shelled off and put in the freezer. After we found the cayenne pepper plants I picked those off as well and have them in one of my drying boxes to dry and then grind em up to use as seasoning. It will take a good deal of hot pepper flakes to make all the sausage this fall when we butcher hogs.
Nothing else happening here so I need to go do laundry so we all got clean drawers this week again. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Still up to my ears in tomatoes

2011-08-11T18:42:00.000-04:00

I still have more tomatoes than I know what to do with. Monday was spaghetti sauce, Tuesday was 8 quarts of barbecue sauce, Wednesday was 15 pints of taco sauce, today I made 15 pints of diced tomatoes and canned those. And still have tomatoes waiting to be made into something and more tomatoes in the garden. I was so happy today when I went in the cellar and found a big crate of canning jars that I didn't know I had. So now I can can more mater stuff. This evening I have okra to slice and freeze to fry or use in gumbo or soup later. I think maybe tomorrow I will take some time off tomatoes and get some sage cut for drying and some other herbs that I am low on. With this arthritis my hands and wrist are giving me fits. I'm sure its not from over use or anything like that.
It is hard to believe how nice the weather has been today. The sun was shining and it was actually pleasant outside. Not too hot and its supposed to get down around 56 tonight. Now that I can handle. The weekend is going to be nice as well. So maybe I can get some things done that have been put off with all the canning. My herb bed is an overgrown mess right now. All the plants in there need to be dead headed and raked up. Some herbs are still producing and those I will be cutting to dry. My lil Mexican cukes are still producing and they need to be picked as well. So many things to do and seems so lil time. Still think I need to clone me.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Life's lil ups and downs, making spaghetti sauce

2011-08-08T22:46:00.000-04:00

And goodness knows I have my share of ups and downs this time of year. Woke up far too early this morning. Didn't sleep well last night. I cant drink coffee late like I used to. I guess that is because I haven't had Mt Dew in the house in nearly a month now. And I drink my 2 cups of coffee in the mornings and then drink water, Gatorade or lemonade the rest of the day till bedtime. I drank a cup of coffee last evening while we were working up the rest of those tomatoes and just was restless last night. Makes ya feel like crap the next day too. But none the less I got up early and had to get started in on the pasta sauce I had cooking down in the crock pot. Went out to check on that and it still seemed watery. I decided to take another approach in making sketti sauce. We had made 2 huge stock pots of tomato puree last evening and I was intending to drain the excess water off top the puree to make it quicker to cook down. But to my surprise there was not any on there. I did a lil experiment when we did the last tomatoes. I usually wash them well, core, cut in chunks then run thru the Squeezo strainer for juice or puree. Most of the clear liquid in homemade tomato juice come from the liquid in the seed pockets. So when I cut the tomatoes up last evening I squeezed them a lil after I cut off the tops and got most of the seeds out. This made for a much thicker juice and took a lot less time to cook down to a good consistency for sauce. This is my "recipe" for spaghetti sauce or more like method to my madness. Remove about 1 quart of puree from the container you are using to use later. I use the puree that is thick and add finely chopped onions to suit me, finely chopped bell peppers, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano and basil so the puree taste lightly seasoned. Note I say lightly seasoned because the herbs and such sometimes increase in potency when processed in a pressure canner. Let this mix simmer for a few minutes and taste. If it has a strong acid bite, add a lil brown sugar and taste as you add. Once the sauce taste like you want it too let it simmer while you make the thickening. At this point I added the sauce I had cooked in the crock pot to the kettle of puree and just mixed it in. I almost swear tomatoes vary from one season to the next depending on rainfall, heat and all kinds of things. So I cheat and add a lil cornstarch to the mix so it tightens the sauce up but not make it thick. Use the quart of puree you reserved (this depends on the size of kettle you are using)(I was making 20 plus quarts of sauce) and add cornstarch in the amount you think it would take to thicken you kettle of sauce and then slowly add a small amount of this slurry to the simmering puree. When the sauce has tightened up a good bit and is a consistency you like let it simmer while you brown your burger to add in. I used 5 lb of deer and beef burger for the 22 quarts of sauce I made today. Once the burger is brown add it to the puree. Now that you have the sauce made you can ladle it into jar, put lids on and process in pressure canner. (refer to the ball blue book for processing times for your area). I finally got done with all this about 3:30 this evening. Had a total of 21 quarts of canned spaghetti sauce and 1 quart for supper. It was really good.
This afternoon we got a good thunderstorm here. No damage , just plenty of rain. My poor Luna is so scared of storms. She was right beside me when I was outside before the rain came and when I opened the door to go in the summer kitchen she darted in beside me, which she never does, and went to the back corner and laid down. Her pitiful eyes begging me not to make her go out. Needless to say she stayed right there till the storm was over and then she willingly went out the door and on about her business.
It was far to muddy to pick tomatoes this evening so that is a task for tomorrow. Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

These late nights are tough

2011-08-07T22:42:00.000-04:00

We have been keeping late night for a week or so now and it sure do get old. It takes a while to go thru 10 bushels of tomatoes and knowing there is more waiting to be picked is getting kinda depressing. Well not really, I do enjoy lots of tomato products. We just came in the house from running about 4 gallons of juice with the tomatoes that have been picked for a few days. I will let it sit overnight and let the clear liquid come to the top of the kettles and drain that off. That should make it faster to cook down into spaghetti sauce. We use a bunch of spaghetti sauce over the year so I hope to be able to make a good deal of it. With a few additions the sauce can also be used in lasagna. I want to make some salsa this year also. I made some a few years ago and it was good. It is just a lil more time consuming to make than juice due to the fact you need to peel the tomatoes and chop them then add other ingredients and cook and jar it up. So maybe in a couple days I can do that.
I have been letting my young chickens run out during the day and they are out back of the summer kitchen. I have a big pan out there where I can put tomato peels and such for them to enjoy. I didn't have any treats for them in the pan earlier to day and they took it upon themselves to enjoy my Brandywine tomatoes that were growing out back near the house. So up goes another temporary fence. Sneaky lil varmints. I was really surprised to find that when it got dark they had all went back into the chicken house with me having to chase them in there. As long as they behave they will be allowed to run out. So far so good, but I do know chickens get brave and wonder farther from their house every day.
Not much else happening here right now. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Seeing red!

2011-08-04T23:18:00.000-04:00

No I'm not mad, just seeing lots of red in the tomato patch this year. We picked 7 - 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes this evening and only picked about 2/3 of the patch. We will get the rest tomorrow. I ran out of containers. I see lots of spaghetti sauce in my future. And maybe some salsa, tomato sauce, juice and no telling what else. I think this will be a good year for us and tomatoes. So I am a happy lil camper up to my eyeballs in maters.
Just thought ya might like to see a pic of some of our heirloom variety cantaloupes we have this year. I sure do hope they ripen and don't rot. They are huge melons.

There are several of them in the patch too. I do hope to save more seed from these melons cause they are a variety that i was tole originated here locally, cant be certain on that tho. None the less, they are wonderful sweet melons and enough to feed the whole party. Not much else happening here. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Another day on the homestead

2011-08-02T21:58:00.000-04:00

Another hot day here on the farm. I got an early start on working up the tomatoes that we picked last night. I decided to make juice with the really ripe ones and then turn that into veggie soup to can. I ended up canning 10 quarts and 1 pint of wonderful vegetable soup. Rodger likes to have veggie soup if I'm gone so he don't have to cook much. And if I am home in winter we usually heat up a jar of soup on Saturday and eat on it all weekend. At least we get our veggies in that way. I think now I have enough canned to last till next season. Dang it is hard to believe we are this far along in summer and headed into fall. Seems like only yesterday I started getting stuff from the garden to can. We went thru the sweet corn last night and picked off the last of it and Rodger mowed it down. That will make it easier to get in and pick tomatoes too. My green beans are almost done producing now and I did get lots canned to do us. The tomatoes are just starting to ripen in large numbers. We picked 3 - 5 gallon buckets last night. We gave some to the fellow that came to get the rest of the sweet corn. I made several phone calls while I was waiting on Rodger to get back with the tractor trying to find someone who could come get corn and finally after about half hour an lots of calls found a taker. So he got a bonus bucket of tomatoes too. Sad when you cant give garden produce away. But its all done now.
This evening after work we got a chance to finish the landscaping stuff I had started over the weekend. We got the weed barrier down where the flower bed in back of the house was and got the gravel put on it. It does look neater back there but I know I will miss my flowers blooming in summer. We got plastic put over the soil in the bed near the drive that I am gonna use for fall garden stuff. It is black plastic and should produce enough heat to kill out most of the flower roots and weed seeds left behind. It might make it a lil easier to keep weeded. I guess my next project will be to dead-head the herb beds. The different mints have bloomed and fallen over and look pretty shabby right now. I should have some free time tomorrow and get more herbs cut and dried for later use. Probably next tomatoes will be turned into pasta sauce and canned and I will need the basil and some others from the bed. Will cut herbs if it don't rain, but they are predicting rain for tomorrow. We shall see.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

If I build it, you can bet I will tear it out later

2011-07-31T22:52:00.000-04:00

Several years ago when we got out moved into our house I had the big idea to build several flower beds up here. One was near the driveway, one on the west end and a small one near the front sidewalk. I had planted all perennial plants in them. They actually looked pretty good till maybe 2 years ago. With my physical limitations I could not keep all the weeds out of em. So needless to say they looked kinda shabby at best. I had got out a couple weeks ago and pulled the weeds to no avail. They still looked crappy. So I tole Rodger I was gonna pull all the plants out and move em to a place near the end of the driveway and re-do the bed areas. So that is what I have done this weekend. The one small one by the front sidewalk I replanted with a row of Lariope (monkey grass) that wont take over the sidewalk. So now when the monkey grass gets taken off at least it wont cover the sidewalk lights at night. So that one is done for now. The bed near the drive I took all the plants out except the one tomato plant that I had in there to save seed from. I am gonna put down a layer of black plastic and let it sit for a couple weeks and that is where I will plant some fall garden crops. It is narrow enough I could make a tunnel with pipe and plastic and maybe have a couple tomato plants in there most of the winter. I will plant some late cabbage, maybe rutabagas, and lettuce in there as well. So that one is planned. The biggest bed on the west end of the house is all out and dirt put back to fill in the low spots where we used the tractor to scoop out the plants and soil. This left low spots that would not drain well so we filled em in and leveled the area off. Now a layer of weed barrier goes down and then landscape gravel or maybe, just maybe pavers to make a patio like area. After all it is near the summer kitchen and we could make a shaded area to do green beans and other veggies that make a mess if done on the porch. But am sure gravel will go in tomorrow, then maybe later pavers of some sort.
After we finish the landscaping stuff tomorrow evening we must pick beans and tomatoes again as well as cukes and zucchini. Later in the week I am planning on getting my carrots pulled out and canned up. We had a lil break in the garden produce this weekend is the only reason I had time to tackle the landscaping projects. Gosh it seems like this has been a really short summer for some reason. Maybe its cause we went from winter to hot summer and now its is August already and it will start to cool down in the evenings now. That will be such a nice change. I love summer and all its busy-ness but the heat is hard on me now days. Love the gardening and canning and growing things. I did finally get my late cabbage seed sown today. So I know they will be late and thas OK cause I will have them in the former flower bed and can cover them if need be to protect them from hard freezes. I think maybe tomorrow I will clone some tomato plants to plant in that bed as well and see just how long I can keep fresh maters into fall and winter. Be fun just to try. Never know, I might succeed.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Canning frenzy

2011-07-29T23:24:00.000-04:00

It happens every year, same time, all the garden stuff gets ready at one time. We finally got all the corn taken care of that we need to do us for the year. Last evening Rodger and I went and picked more of the Ky Wonder green beans and got those broke and ready to can. I finally got able to walk this morning and got started on those. Had a rough time when I first got up with a really sore toe. I think I broke my toe yesterday when I fell UP the steps on the porch. Yeah ya heard me right, I fell up the steps. Anyway it took a while to walk the soreness out so I could make it to the summer kitchen. Got the beans all washed and in jars and canned up. Decided to make another batch of veggie soup to can. Ended up with about 10 quarts of soup. I had a good deal of red tomatoes that would have spoiled before we could eat them and made juice with those. Not a bad day at all. But by time I was done, my body was done. Maybe tomorrow I can get back to the garden and dig the carrots and get those canned. I think I may also pull the Tobacco Worm bean vines up and pick the beans off those and call them done. We have decided we will not grow climbing beans any more because we never seem to have time to get them staked and they do not do well left to trail on the ground. I am sure I have plenty of okra to cut and put in the freezer too. I really need more bell peppers to freeze and dry but not sure I have planted enough. I had a really hard time getting those to germinate for some reason. But tomorrow is another day. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Still knee-deep in the garden

2011-07-27T21:31:00.000-04:00

It has been a busy long weekend and week here. I think my days all ran together. With the passing of my aunt Geraldine, dads last sister living, and trying to visit with family during that time and take care of garden stuff it was a rough go. But even with all the goings on we managed to pick a total of 35 feed bags full of corn and I now have more in the freezer than I really need I hope. Still there will be more in a couple days as it don't all get ready at the very same time. I just had to take it a lil easy today, didn't really feel well at all. Very fatigued and sore of course. After Rodger got the mower fixed and mowed the yard I racked up a pile of grass clippings to feed the chickens and they loved it. Then I picked my lil tiny Mexican cukes and made another pint and a half of lil dill pickles. Also picked more ground cherries and when I get enough I will make more Ground Cherry and Orange jam (recipe in older post). That stuff was so dang good. Tomorrow evening after the fellers get home from work and we have supper I think the green beans will need picked again. So either tomorrow night or next morning I will be canning green beans. Maybe this weekend I will get time to get the carrots out and get those canned up. I use a lot of carrots in winter making soup and stews and such. Cant put them in the freezer cause the big freezer is already full and deer season (bow season) opens here September 3rd. Got to have a place to put meat. Not to mention I will have more chickens to butcher later on. On the farm there is alas something that needs attention.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A hot busy weekend

2011-07-24T23:26:00.000-04:00

The weather here is so dang hot especially if you need to work outside. The humidity is high along with the heat makes for some tough garden harvesting. But none the less we have picked sweet corn everyday this weekend and been cutting it off the cob and freezing it. On Saturday we picked 14 of the 50 lb feed bags full of corn. We cleaned 4 bags and cut that off for us to freeze and sent the other 10 bags home with Josh for him and his parents. I still have more corn than I know what to do with. Rodger and I pulled 6 more feed bags full and brought it to the house. Got 3 bags cleaned, cut off and froze. The other 3 bags will need to be done early in the morning and its all up to me on those. We did pick a few tomatoes this evening and enough cukes to make 4 pints of dill pickle spears. Tomorrow evening we will be going to visitation for my aunt Geraldine (dads youngest sister, last one living) that passed away on Friday afternoon at the age of 89. I did get time in all this canning frenzy to visit with family a bit. Her funeral will be on Tuesday morning and she will be laid to rest in the cemetery where my dad is buried. As I was picking corn on Saturday I had to reflect and remember that I am a lot like aunt Geraldine with my gardening and canning. She always had a huge garden and canned everything she could every year. Her root cellar still sits with all her jars of canned stuff lining the shelves. It has been there for several years now and is probably not good. Most likely with the door not insulated the jars have frozen and thawed and probably unsealed. But her place sits as it always has. She loved pretty things and kept everything people gave her. And her lil house reflects this. Rest in peace Auntie,. You surely will be missed.
Probably on Tuesday afternoon I will be picking green beans again. I think we will only be planting 1 variety next year. It will likely be the Ky Wonder bush beans. No staking needed, they produce well and are really good tasting beans. I do still have some Tobacco worm beans and they are good also but we never got time to trellis them and they are a mess to try and pick. I think next time I pick those I will just pull the vines out and pick off all the beans and let that be it. I might leave a few plants and let them go to seed just to keep the seed as they are an old heirloom variety. Will also need to leave some sweet corn on the stalks to mature for seed for next year as well. I really do need to get cabbage seed sown soon or there will be no late cabbage on this farm. So much to do and the season is quickly passing like life itself.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Canning season is in full swing

2011-07-21T23:32:00.000-04:00

The canning season for us is in full swing now. Rodger went to work, came home again to help me pick a bushel of green beans this morning and he went back to work. I sat on the front porch till around noon stringing beans. Then off to the summer kitchen to break them up and get em canned. That got finished around 4 this evening. I had more tomatoes than we could eat and we decided to make and can a batch of veggie soup. So while the beans were processing I put the veggie soup together and got it in the jars. I went ahead and put them in the pressure canner but didn't turn the flame on till after we went to the garden again and picked a bunch of sweet corn. We picked half way down 2 rows and got 2 big feed bags full of corn. Keep in mind I have 10 rows of sweet corn. We came back to the house and shucked and cleaned the corn and I got it all cut off the cob and ready for the freezer. I did remember to turn the stove on and process the veggie soup while we cleaned corn tho. We got the corn put in zip top bags and in the freezer about the time the soup got done. Rodger put the bags of corn in the freezer on his way in the house and I stayed in the kitchen to let the pressure drop on the canner. While I waited on the canner I checked my last batch of kraut and it was ready to be packed in jars and put in the cellar. So I did that and emptied the soup out of the canner and called it a day and night. Dang my body is tired. I suspect I probably wont be able to move too well tomorrow. But no matter it will be off to the garden again to pick more corn and get it put away.
Not much else happening here on the homestead today, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Planted grape vines, more rain

2011-07-19T21:53:00.000-04:00

This evening after supper I had the guys plant the new grape vines I had started from cutting off the seedless Concords we have out back. I had 9 really nice healthy specimens to plant. They are planted in a row perpendicular to the strawberries in the field. We did space these correctly and put them 10 ft apart.

Somebody got the row crooked. Not mentioning no names here. But thas ok, dad alas said you could get more plants in a crooked row. After we got the grape vines planted we had thunderstorms and torrential rains. So the plants got plenty of water.
This morning I got in the herb bed and harvested the lil Mexican sour gherkin cukes. I had enough to make 2 half pints of lil dill pickles.

I think they look like tiny lil watermelons. Kinda neat looking, and be nice on relish tray. Will give them a few days and then see how they taste. There will me many many more on the plants.
Not much else happening here today other than the intense heat. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Its time to get busy!

2011-07-18T22:09:00.000-04:00

The last several days have kept me hopping here. Our beans are ready to be picked, the corn is almost ready, as in probably later this week. The tomatoes are getting ripe. Not long till I will have those to can as well. Still need to plant more cukes and no I have not done that yet. I have made a few jars of kosher dill pickles, not nearly enough tho. In the past 2 days I have canned 38 quarts of green beans. Still have about 170 or so to go to meet my goal. We have had a good bit of rain for about a week or so. Even then I still needed to weed the herb bed. I did finally get that done as well as the onion bed. I pulled all the lil sets off the walking onions and will replant those when I get time to work some compost into the soil in that bed.

This is part of the new herb bed. The big tomato plant is here so it doesn't cross pollinate with anything else and I will be able to save seed from it as it is the heirloom variety Brandywine.
On the other side of this bed I planted some Mexican sour gherkin cukes. I did it more for the novelty than anything but my goodness they have take off. The lil vines look so fragile and the cukes are cute as can be. Imagine serving these on a salad. But I am thinking I will make dill pickles with them.

They look like lil tiny watermelons.But talk about a pain in the azz to pick. Yeah like I need another piddly project. I may have to get out there early in the morning and pick those. When the sun comes up it is far too hot to be out. Our weather today has been nearly unbearable. Guess it was good I got the green beans canned earlier before the heat.
Over the weekend I was really happy to get to visit with some cousins I had not seen in forever. My cousin Judy, her hubby Gary and daughter Tracy were in town visiting. I was so glad to see them but not under the circumstances of visiting my aunt who has been given a short time to live. Tracy has taken a canning class in her town and is really interested in learning to can her own food. So as you all know that is right up my alley. Sure would be nice if she lived closer and we could spend some time in the kitchen together. Who knows how things may work out.
So I guess its off the bed for me very soon so I can get up and beat the heat tomorrow and get a few things done. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The rain shot my plans

2011-07-15T23:24:00.000-04:00

I got up early, well earlier than normal fer me with big plans to get lots done today. I got started cutting herbs to dry and finished one basket full and then started pulling weeds in the herb bed. The new bed has taken off and done really well. Got lots of weeds pulled out and in a big pile.

With a big pile of weeds in the middle it started to pour rain on me so I got my basket of cut herbs and headed for the summer kitchen. I did get those herbs which happen to be summer savory cleaned, stripped, washed an in the dehydrator. My intention was to go back and finish up weeding and cut more when the rain let up but it rained the rest of the afternoon till late. So I came in to cook supper. We had fresh green beans, new potatoes, fried corn, fresh tomatoes and cornbread, all homegrown stuff. I had sliced cucumbers and onions in salt water with mine tho. A meal that cant be beat for a hillbilly. Later this evening I made a blackberry cobbler from the wild picked blackberries I had canned.
I went out later to check on my chickens in the brooder house. I have far too many in there, a total of about 63 and all really pretty birds. So kinda unique in color and feather.

Really nice bunch of lil birds. They love getting veggie scraps and grass clippings. I hope this weekend if we don't get too much more rain I can put up a temporary fence in the back of the brooder house so they can get out and eat green stuff at will. But for now they thoroughly enjoy shredded cukes and zucchini. Both of which we are kinda short on this season. The rain kinda hampered my cucumber planting this weekend too. Not to mention I did not pick beans this evening in the mud too. They must be picked tomorrow rain or shine. In the meantime I will be trying to finish weeding herbs then onion beds. As you can see my ambitions far exceed my energy and physical ability.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Two steps forward, three back

2011-07-12T21:26:00.000-04:00

Don't ya just hate those days when ya seem to go forward and find out ya just are not getting anywhere? Well today has been one of those. I had put off picking the blackberries out the back drive because it was so unbearably hot. I finally mustered up the nerve to get out there this evening and don't ya know, the power company contractors have been cleaning right of way and destroyed the nice patch of berries. Really made me mad. So now maybe tomorrow evening I can go back to the big river bottom and see if there are more ripe down there. On the up side I do still have a good bit canned from last year and plenty of jam and jelly. I just wanted these for juice this year. Rumor has it the juice is very healthy for ya, but what the hell do I know.
So after supper Rodger and I went off to the garden to check on the cukes and zucchini and picked those. Damn it, I am gonna have to plant more cukes and zucchini cause I didn't plant enough the first time around. We did pick a few partially ripe tomatoes tho and those should ripen in a few days. About the time I need to pick green beans again so I can fix green beans, taters and fresh maters for the fellers. That should make em happy as a pig in slop.
We made our way up to the strawberry patch and raspberries. OMG the morning glories have nearly taken the place. I had mulched the strawberries and raspberries and there is a space between the rows of berries that we intended to keep plowed and keep the weeds down. Well the morning glories came up in that area and have trailed all over the top of the strawberry plants. Talk about a job cleaning those out. So tomorrow evening we are going back and take the weed eater and mow the strips in between the plants and then rake the debris off the berry plants. Tomorrow is another herb drying day so it shouldn't be too much trouble staying cool just doing that. That is if I get out early and cut em and get em in the dehydrator before it gets too hot. These days when it is really hot and in the 100's I just cringe at the thought of going outside to work but if I don't we wont eat. My walking onions have made sets and I really need to gather some of the sets to share with some friends as the bed is getting a lil too thick with onions. Maybe I can take some pics tomorrow so you can see my success and failures. Trust me I do have flubs like everyone else.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Updates from the farm

2011-07-11T20:53:00.000-04:00

Dang I sure didn't think it had been that long since I had posted. But any who been preoccupied fora while. Rob came home from Nevada and got here on July 2nd. They drove from Elko Nevada to home here in Ky. A total of 36 hours on the road. Arrived about 7 am on Saturday and spent the week here. Such a short week, seems like I didn't even get to visit with Rob while he was here. But they had to be gone doing various things during the week. We met them in Richmond on Friday night for dinner before they left this past Saturday. I did get a text message that they arrived back in Elko about 8:30 my time on Sunday evening. Just thankful for a safe uneventful trip for them.
Over the weekend we had to get started on the garden stuff. I have canned 19 quarts of green beans so far and that is just picking the ones off that are big enough to encourage the plants to keep blooming and extend the harvest. I had started kraut a week or so ago and it was finished. I did put that in the jars yesterday and sealed up and stored in the cellar. Dang it is good too. I had 21 pints and 7 quarts of kraut. And still got more in the crock working that was started today. Several gallon bags of chopped cabbage in the freezer to use when I make and can veggies soup later on. Also have several quart bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer for zucchini bread when the weather is cooler for baking. I have made about 8 quarts of dill pickle spears so far too. Most likely in the next couple weeks the sweet corn will be in the freezer too. As usual I planted far too much corn, again. The tomatoes are starting to ripen. I am so happy this is the first year in many that we have had potatoes. If they do as well as the ones that we have dug for fresh eating we should have a good supply to store for winter. So far we have been blessed with a really good garden this year.
Our weather has been too hot for man or beast the past few days. The temps were in the low 100's today and for the next few days. We have high humidity this time of year and thru the month of August as well. I made the mistake of trying to pick green beans yesterday evening around 4 while Rodger ran the weed eater around the watermelon vines and it was far too hot. Had to come back in the house and go back after the sun went down and finish up. I was in the summer kitchen all day today canning the green beans and chopping more cabbage and zucchini. Am thankful now for the AC out there. I will probably end up buying more jars this year to can all the things I want to get canned. While we were out of town last Friday having dinner with Rob and Amoy we made a stop at Walmart. I looked at canning jars and notice the Main Stays brand that was there. We looked closely at the jars, they are so thin and on the bottom stamped "made in china". NO THANKS I would rather take my chances with the re-used miracle whip jars in the pressure canner than those cheap ones from China. The miracle whip jars are much thicker glass and I would rather trust those. I sure hope folks that are kinda new to canning don't go for the 20cent savings and buy those cheap Chinese made jars. I surely do not think they would last more than 1 or 2 seasons. Now my mission is to buy all the older brands and used canning jars that I can find. Am thinking not long till they will no longer be available. Kinda scary all the things that have been quality staples in our lives are slowly being replaced with cheap foreign made junk. OK enough of my rant for today.
I dang near missed blackberry season here. We have managed to pick about 3 gallon of berries so far. I usually like to have about 5 gallon minimum to make juice, jelly and such from. So probably tomorrow I will be chigger bait again and pick more berries. I think I would like to pick several wild fruits and make some mixed fruit juice to can. We have blackberries, elderberries, passion fruit all growing wild here. And I am inclined to think wild fruit juice would be very nutritious. We shall see how my time goes and how much hot weather I can take to harvest these things.
I still have a lot of herbs to dry between harvesting things from the garden. Kinda nice to have you own herbs to flavor dishes with and not have to buy them and wonder what they have been sprayed with. Not to mention the expense.
This week I will be starting more cabbage plants for the fall crop. Although it is hard to get them started here in summer due to the heat and having to remember to water most time twice a day. I would like to be able to store some cabbage in the cellar for winter use. After the potatoes are out of the garden that lil area will be plowed up and mustard, turnips and rutabagas will be sown in there. All of which do well in cooler weather of fall. So much to do and we are on the tail end of summer here almost.
Enough of my rambling for this post. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A close call, cleaning the cellar

2011-06-30T22:49:00.000-04:00

I think I might have mentioned on here a few times about how I don't like snakes. Well yesterday evening I was weeding the flower bed near the cellar and dead-heading the hollyhocks that had finished blooming. I got in there with the pruning shears and cut the stalks down and tossed them to the other side of the side walk so I could dispose of them. I then proceeded to pull the weeds our of the bed, the few that there was. I had put a large section of a post in there to keep Luna from sleeping there when the plants were lil. Got to the last handful of weeds and started to reach for another weed and THERE it was . A copperhead, coiled an ready to strike. And my hand was about 6 inches away from the dang thing. I screamed, Rodger came running with the shovel and killed it. My guardian angel was working overtime last night. I had been walking around that dang thing for probably a half hour or more. So blessed that I didn't get bit. Doing some serious thinking about digging out all the flower beds when I have experiences like that.
The weather was nice here today, a lil hot but still you could work outside without burning up. I did get my outbuilding straightened up again before it got too hot to work in there. I thought it was about time to clean the cellar out and mop the floor and get it ready to put more canned stuff in there.I had a crate of fresh onions in there that I had got last fall and some of them had started to sprout. Took those to the summer kitchen and sliced those and they are now drying in the dehydrator. Should be done tomorrow so they can be crushed for onion flakes. I had a few jars of food to empty out that had changed color and a few had unsealed. Got all that out and the jars washed an ready to be re-filled. After supper I finished weeding the herb bed. The weeds sure grow fast in there where I didn't get mulch put down. But its clean now so maybe that will hold it for a week or so. My lil tiny Mexican sour gherkin vines are so pretty, but tiny and fragile looking. I guess they are supposed to look that way. I did see a few blooms on them too. Tomorrow I will need to check on the cukes in the big garden to see if I can make some pickles. Yuck! I still have 2 rows of strawberries over there to weed as well. Rodger has been trying to get the mowing done so he don't have to worry with that over the holiday weekend. We are hoping to have a family get-together on Sunday for Rodgers family so they can see Rob and Amoy. Yeas! my lil boy will be home this weekend. I cant wait to see them. Its been a long time since Thanksgiving. Rob called earlier this evening to say they were leaving Elko about 6 pm their time. They will arrive here in the wee hours Saturday. Please say a prayer for their safe travel. A 30 hour road trip can be kinda tiring.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

So happy, finally got kraut started

2011-06-29T00:26:00.001-04:00

I have been wanting kraut for a couple weeks now and finally got some of my cabbage cut and shredded this evening. I raised red and green cabbage. I had to use my wine making bucket (6 gal. capacity) to hole the green cabbage when I got it shredded. I ended up with about 3 1/2 gallons of kraut making in the bucket. I use a lid to weigh the cabbage down and keep it under the liquid with a jar filled with water to hold that down. Then the lid on the bucket with an airlock in it to keep out nasties. The red cabbage was shredded an put in the German fermenting crock. It was about 1/2 full. I use about 1 tablespoon of kosher or canning salt per average cabbage head shredded. This usually come out perfect without being too salty. You should be able to taste the saltiness in the liquid once the cabbage starts to give up its liquid. The salt acts as a preservative to kill off back bacteria till the good bacteria from the cabbage cant take over and make lactic acid. Kraut made in this fashion contains lots of good flora for the intestines and can actually wipe out yeast infections, thrush and such caused by antibiotic use. Also kraut adds some good acids to the stomach that aid digestion as well, especially helpful in digesting meat. Never heat kraut you are wanting the goodness from, heat will kill off the probiotics. Fermented food it said to help the body heal from most any illness caused by bad intestinal flora and poor digestion. A wonderful book to have on the shelf to read is the Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. The info in the book is based on studies done by Dr. Weston A. Price.
Not much else going on here. I have really been under the weather the past couple weeks. I had to see the doc on Monday due to a knot in the right side of my neck. Think I probably had some infection in there cause by some dental work done. Needless to say taking antibiotics can sure make the body feel pretty crappy. Thanks to my friend Deb I do have Kefir grains and have Kefir to help put back some probiotics so the antibiotics don't upset my system too bad. Kefir is really a soothing drink for the body. It has a more varieties of live cultures than does yogurt. What ever I have going on sure drains my energy pretty fast. So till I get thru the antibiotics I think I am gonna try to take it easy. I got to get better soon, I will have green beans to pick before long and sweet corn too.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The canning season has begun

2011-06-25T22:58:00.000-04:00

The canning season has begun for us finally. Went to the garden today and pulled the beets. I had about a bushel an a half of em to work up. Got those all washed and if ya ever washed beets you know they need many washings to get all the sand off. Finally got them in the 2 big water bath canners to cook. It really don't take lone to get them done but my body just don't hold up like it used to. Got those 2 cookers done an had to clean one canner of em so I could re-load it with more beets to cook. I had raised 3 different varieties of beet this year, cylindrical, Detroit dark red and some golden beet seeds in the mix. And a few were totally white. Not even sure where those came from. I did learn the cylindrical beets are firmer and take longer to cook. IF and when I ever order beet seed again (got a 1/4 lb) I will be getting all Detroit dark red. They are not fibrous, easy to cook an dark in color. Any way I ended up with 12 quarts and 9 pints of beet pickles. So yummy. And my body knows I have been on my feet all day too. Dang how do I get thru this canning season. I should have a ton of green beans in a couple weeks. The Ky wonders and the tobacco worm beans are both blooming really well. The tomatoes have green tomatoes setting on and they are getting big. Hard to believe the sweet corn is tasseling. We did dig a mess of new potatoes today after we pulled the beets. It is early yet but if the ones we got today were any indication we should have nice size potatoes when we dig them. I cut some of the broccoli that was ready and pulled a few carrots to have some fresh veggies and dip with my creamed new potatoes for supper. Rodger had green beans and new taters. My plan is to cut the cabbage tomorrow evening or Monday and get the kraut made. I have a lot of nice big heads that are ready. I am really wanting some good kraut, my belly just needs it. Crock made sauerkraut has lots of good probiotics in it that are very beneficial to the human body and aids in digestion. My kraut has all the good stuff in it because I do not heat treat the kraut at any point. So I am really looking forward to packing my German fermenting crock full of shredded cabbage.OK enough of the good food stuff.
Last evening I was outside for longer than expected cause Jason thought I was in the house taking a nap when he left an locked me out of the house. I sat out with the lil chickens and was entertained by them for a good while. I found a few earth worms for them to peck at and they were so funny. Once they decided they must be edible the chase was on. I picked the Japanese beetles off the grapevines and gave those to the chicks too. Those bugs will stick to anything and one bug got on one of the chicks wing feathers. Kinda reminded me of me when I see a snake. Lots of hollerin an dancin around. Guess it don't take much to keep me occupied.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

More rain sure makes weeds grow

2011-06-23T22:55:00.000-04:00

We have had rain every day for the past week or so. The garden is mud and we did have some low areas of standing water in the sweet corn till today. After supper Rodger got the lil tractor cause its 4 wheel drive an took a plow and cut a trench from the low areas toward the river to help drain the standing water. So maybe my sweet corn wont need to swim now. Not much of it was waterlogged but I just hate to lose any at all once I work that hard to grow it. We had another rain shower this evening after he got done. I got more herbs cut an dried today. Now I have a good bit of oregano and tarragon dried. I cut some parsley also and chopped it an put it in the freezer. Sometimes I like to use fresh parsley in dishes but other times dried works just fine. Sometimes a dish just needs the freshness of raw parsley. Same with the borage. Both herbs just add a fresh flavor to many soups. I still have many more varieties to harvest an dry yet. I have had both dehydrators loaded today. So tomorrow I will do more. I am far behind on cutting the tea herbs this year. Not sure what the heck I been doin but it ain't been cuttin tea herbs.
My lil chickens are doing great. The oldest are barely 3 weeks old an already are looking for places to perch. There is a perch in their brooder house but they are not ready to fly the 18 inches or so it takes to get up on those. So they line up an perch on the board that sits across the doorway to keep bedding from falling out when ya open the door. Lazy lil critters they are. The lil fellows that I hatched in the incubator are growing like weeds. I love summer time and all the babies. I did get a couple pics of Jason's kittens the other night when we went to feed the hogs. They look like a den of lil tiny bears and already are opening their eyes.

Daisy and Delilah are growing and they are such sweet lil girls. Jason is going to work on leash training them soon. They are quite young and want no part of a leash right now, but they will learn. Right now they are only concerned with food and water an playing in the pool when its hot.
In the midst of all the harvesting herbs today I got around to saving a lot of seed from my hollyhocks. Those things were so pretty this year. See I plant stuff an it grows, does well and only then do I do some research on the plants to see the nature of them. I learned that if you plant them right now they will grow and make pretty plants this year and bloom early next summer. I started mine last year, transplanted them in early summer and got the blooms this year. But the fact that they re-seed themselves is a big plus. But I surely do not want all those seedlings growing in that particular area. I pulled about a half gallon of seed pods off the spent plants today to share with friends who might want them. The hardest thing I find to start and grow is lavender. The germination rate on lavender seed is very low at best. If I am lucky I may end up with 2 or 3 new plants each year. I do love the scent of lavender when its in bloom. If I had a large bed of it I think I would plop a lounge chair right in the middle and just sit there inhaling the sweetness. But thas just me dreaming again.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I slept thru the storm

2011-06-20T20:43:00.000-04:00

We obviously had a pretty bad storm this morning and be dang I slept right thru it. I finally woke up (ahem) about 10 this morning and glanced at the security monitor and it looked like "stuff" all over the porch and deck. I got up and pulled the curtains back off the patio door and the deck was covered with debris, leaves, twigs and stuff. I kinda scratched my head and wondered just how much I missed. Rodger called from work to see if I was OK after it cleared off. But it was really dark at 10 this morning. We do have some trees and big limbs down on our road but no damage to buildings or anything like that thankfully. Our yard looks like a hurricane went thru with a bag of green tree leaves and just sprinkled em all over the place.

In the second picture to the right is the front door and there were wet green leaves stuck on the wall near the door. Am thinking the wind was doing some sideways stuff. I ask Rodger if we got hail and he said they didn't at his work but I think we did here. I could see some damage to some of the plants in my herb bed. They looked beat. Not to mention most of the leaves on the porch and deck looked shredded. We did go check on the garden and it is just soggy in the field. We have a couple low areas over there that have standing water in them. My sweet corn is leaning a good bit but not totally on the ground so hopefully it will straighten back up some as it dries out. My strawberry plants in the big garden are blooming again and the raspberries had some ripe ones on the plants so we got to taste those. They wont produce much this year but should do well next season. I pulled a cabbage head to make slaw tomorrow and a broccoli head. The cabbage is nice and sweet because we have not had much really hot weather so far. I will probably make kraut in a couple weeks. This is the first year also that we have not had a problem with worms on the cabbage and broccoli and they have not been sprayed. I must pull the beets next week and get those worked up as they are getting really big. I prefer them golf ball size but most of these will need to be sliced to make pickled beets.
I had to feed the hogs this evening as Jason will be working late. They have finally started eating really good after the shock of moving them wore off. They had been kinda picky and not wanting the pellets and corn as they were used to eating crushed feed but as of now they are eating all we put in there. I did save the outer cabbage leaves for them for tomorrow night. When I start harvesting things from the garden they should be happy with veggie peelings and scraps.
My baby chicks are so fun to watch and goodness they are growing and changing every day. They are so many different colors and breeds its really hard to say who is the cutest. I think I will have to fence off my flower beds and grape vines before long so the lil chicks can go outside during the day. There are enough of them to make a disaster out of the flower beds in one day if they get in there. Luna should enjoy baby sitting the chickens when they are big enough to roam about.
Not much else happening around the homestead this week. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Uhoh! Its been a while

2011-06-16T21:07:00.000-04:00

Well if you are a faithful reader, ya know its been a while since I have posted. So I will try to give ya an update on what lil I have been doing. I will just have to use the terms "the other day" cause I sure cant remember what day I did what.
But for starters last weekend we got the garden worked out and hoed for probably the last time as the plants are really too big to plow thru again. Then we got rain an things really grew. I had lil tomatoes setting on and cabbage starting to head up. I sprayed the taters for those dang bugs last weekend and within 4 hours it poured rain and that was all gone. I went back a few days later when it wasnt raining and sprayed again with a different chemical as the first one did no good. I think the first spray was viagra cause next time there was an awful lot of lil bugs to contend with. Anyway as most intelligent people know, use caution with pesticides. I was using the garden pressure sprayer, the kind ya pump up and spray. Well I used 1 gallon of spray and was empty and ready to refill. To release the pressure and get all the pressure out of the tank you turn them upside down and hold the nozzel down till then stop hissing and nothing is coming out, right? I did and it stopped hissing. Little did I know that with some pressure in the tank the nozzle clogged. So I proceeded to unscrew the top to refill and the pressure sprayed the chemical on me, down my arm, and on the side of my face. I did have enough forethought to turn my head to the side. I am certain I absorbed a good deal of the chemical thru the skin cause next day and night I was too sick to die. If it made the bugs half as sick as it did me they are dead as much as they got. Anyway I finished spraying the taters that night and came to the house and got a shower. But for about 2 or 3 days I felt like I had been melted an poured out. The being sick dehydrated me really bad. As of today I do feel much better. Better enough to get out of the house and make a trip to town to get supplies. Ya know the cleaning stuff, soap, shampoo, that kinda shopping. Dang it took me 3 hours to get done so we are stocked back up on necessities. I like the dollar store for lil grocery items too. I picked up crackers, chunked ham for sandwiches for me, speghetti sauce (out of homecanned), dog treats, bleach, dish soap, paper towels and a few other things that we use that are kinda necessary. Then on to the grocery store. OMG things sure change when ya dont get out any more than I do. Prices have gone outa sight. Not to mention, for example, in frozen foods, I looked at salmon fillets, Packaged In CHINA for goodness sake. Hamburger was runnin $2.99 a lb and looked like it was 50/50. Thas a tough one when you are use to having deer burger than is 99% lean. So a package of that will be mixed with deer burger for grilling later. Any way I got my 6 month dose of sticker shock and came home.
The last few days I have been working on getting my herbs cut and some dried and some frozen. My new herb bed is looking really good. The plants are growing really well. Even the Stevia that I started from seed is big enough to start harvesting. But the past few days I have also been researching the herbs that I raise and uses and that sort of thing. Stevia is best left till late fall to harvest as it gets sweeter with the cool days and nights of fall. So good thing I havent taken the scissors to it. So far I have cut sage, marjoram, summer savory and dried those. I cut a lot of borage and sliced it in julienne strips and froze that. Borage has a cucumber flavor and just adds "something" to soups. It is best added after the soup is cooked for a fresh flavor and the frozen will do better for that than dried. I do intend to dry some as well for medicinal tea. I still have a bunch of things to cut an dry as we go along.
This week the eggs in my incubator hatched. Not a good hatch rate, 13 out of 43, but the chicks were healthy and vigorous. They were eating within the first 24 hours. They have been in a container here in the house till they were strong enough to go live in the brooder house with their cousins. I have the impression cross-bred chicks just have better instincts than pure bred birds.

Aren't they cute? They were really quiet lil fellows too. Didnt make a lot of noise whern I had them in here. These lil birds hatched on Tuesday (aha, I remembered) and I just got the 50 others 2 weeks ago tomorrow. There is a good bit of size difference in them but the bigger chicks are terrified of the lil bitty ones. So funny, the big bullies ran off to the corner scared outa their wits. Well maybe to them they thought I had put a bunch of mice in there with em.
I went to Jason's house this evening and got to see the lil kittens he has. His cat had babies this past weekend, 5 of em, all black too.
Not much else been happenin here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Its hot again, a few task accomplished

2011-06-12T19:14:00.000-04:00

Didn't get much done today, just a few minor task. We got about a bushel of corn shelled for the hogs this morning. That should do them for a couple weeks. They have been eating crushed and mixed feed so they are not sure about the scraps and pellets we are feeding. They will figure it out in a day or so and eat better. In the meantime they do like to root out holes and fill them in again.
I went to help Jason give the puppies a bath today with flea shampoo. They like water but are not the least bit thrilled with taking a bath. But we got em done. Really not much dog under all that fur when ya get em wet.

I guess if you are a puppy and get a bath in the sun you can still shiver. But hopefully this will rid them of the fleas they have picked up somewhere. But giving these puppies a bath has convinced me NOT to try giving Luna a bath.
When I got back to my house I did get some stakes put up and tied up some tomato plants that are here near the house in various beds. The ones I will save seed from. The hard rain last evening pounded some of my lil herbs out of sight. So guess those 2 will just be gone for this year as it is a lil too late to get them going good this year anyway. Herbs need to be started really early in our area so they can be put outside after the last frost and get established before the summer heat gets here. Otherwise they usually wont survive. I guess it would help if I could remember to water them every day.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The pigs are finally here

2011-06-11T20:54:00.000-04:00

Well actually they are well beyond pigs. Weighing in at 220 and 230 lbs, they are not small. These are some of the nicest looking shoats that I have seen in a good while. They are plenty fat already but we intend to grow them till probably early December before butchering them.

Nice lil pigs eh? We got a ton a rain today as the fellers were bringing the hogs home. So they had to be taken to the barn in the mud. These hogs have lived their life on a concrete floor and don't know how to walk on dirt. These animals came from the private christian school's hog farm where my boys graduated, Oneida Baptist Institute. When Jason was in high school he worked on their summer program one year and his job was on the hog farm. This is where he learned to castrate pigs and do it right. They do raise some nice hogs there. I would so love to have a setup like they have for raising hogs. The hogs they raise are raised for meat and cross bred to achieve a good meat hog. They are a cross between a Landrace, Duroc, Hampshire, and Yorkshire. I have seen the brood sows and I am certain they will hit well over 600 lbs.
While I was at Jason's house I went to see the girls. The lil girls have been playin in the mud.

Can we say "dirty lil girls". I think they have a bath lined up and new collars. They got some fleas on them from being in the grass. Giving those 2 a bath will be an experience.

Rodger got in the garden about 7 this morning and got the hoeing done and then ran the tiller to get rid of the weeds that had started. I went over a lil later and sprayed the taters and maters. The Colorado potato beetles were eatin on both of them. The garden looked so nice. Then this afternoon it came a downpour. So there went my spray medicine I guess. It did stay on for several hours, but not sure if that was long enough to kill the bugs or not. Guess we will see in a few days. The tomatoes do have lil maters setting on, the cabbage is starting to head up, beets are bigger than a large egg which is about the size I like to make pickled beets. This rain should make things grow really well tho.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Its hot and the rain missed us

2011-06-09T21:37:00.000-04:00

Our temps have been in the 90's here for several days and the humidity is awful. This afternoon it clouded over an made a lot of noise but no significant rain. It barely dampened the deck. But it did cool off a lil bit. The gardens are growing really good in spite of not having rain. We are hoping to get the garden worked out this weekend and that too will help. It serves 2 purposes, aerates the soil and gets rid of any weeds and grass that have come up since last time. The tobacco worm beans need to be trellised as they have runners on them now. They should be blooming before too long. Its hard to believe we are well into June and the gardens are small yet. We should have had fresh tomatoes and beans by July 4th but I sure don't think that is gonna happen. I know the tomatoes wont be ripe by then. I may have the beets canned by then tho as they are the earliest thing in the garden so far. Oh well, what is to be will be.
I should have a load of wood chips for mulch tomorrow. The contract crew that is cleaning the power company right of way said they would dump as many loads as I want on our property and be happy to do so. They need a place to dump them and I surely can use a bunch of those to mulch ornamental with as well as the herb bed. I know the trees have not been sprayed as all the chips will be off my property. It will just be a matter of getting them hauled to the places I need them. That probably will involve a fork and 4 wheeler with the wagon. Not a job that can be done in the mid-day heat tho.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Daisy and Delilah

2011-06-05T22:08:00.001-04:00

The puppies now have names, Daisy and Delilah. I think Daisy is all white and Delilah has dark ears. They are so cute. Jason said he was playing with em this morning and took some pics. Dont they have cute lil smiles?

The lil girls sitting beside their pool. They will get in the water when they get hot and this will make a nice place for them to cool off. Luna don't know they live in the neighborhood yet and I think when she finds out she will be guilty of puppynappin.
I had some minor chores to get done today. Got more homemade laundry detergent made so I can do laundry tomorrow. I did go to the garden and put the fertilizer on the melons and pumpkins that are finally up. The potatoes look pretty good for a change.

These look better and have kept their leaves longer than any potatoes we have had in the past few years.

The beets will be ready to harvest in a couple weeks I think. And the beans beside them are doing really good. They are the heirloom variety Kentucky wonder bush bean that we ordered from Baker Creek seeds this year. ALL our garden veggies are heirloom now and we can save our own seed.

Where the grass is we have trees planted there, That is the new orchard we started last spring. The trees are small and young yet but they will grow. They have grown a good deal just since last year.

I am standing near the row of raspberry plants with the orchard behind me looking west. Just beyond the strawberries that have been mulched was just disc again today and Ladino clover planted there. Toward the front of the truck is the main garden and to the rear is the corn field. We had so much rain for a while that I am kinda afraid to say we need rain. But it would make things take off and grow better. Gentle summer rains make plants grow by leaps and bounds. Although the gardens here will be able to get water being so close to the river.
This has been the extent of my day. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Babies and getting more babies

2011-06-03T22:20:00.000-04:00

I got the early morning call today to come pick up my lil babies at the post office. I got up and got some coffee so I could see and walk and then went an picked up the lil chicks. Oh my they are so cute. All colors and some even came with lil feather boots. They are adorable.

It sure don't take long for these lil critters to be running all over the place. I also noticed that some of them had lil side-burns poofed out. Made em look like chipmunks. Anyway only lost 1 in shipment and one was pretty weak from being mashed. I sat with the weak one for about an hour this morning and kept giving him drinks of water with vitamin supplement in it and it finally got enough strength to get around good so I left em be. This evening the lil fellow was doing good considering he was on the verge of death.
Tomorrow I am meeting my friend Rosie and her hubby Sam at a nearby state park to pick up the 2 great Pyrenees puppies that Jason is getting. He will be busy finishing up his puppy pen. I cant wait to see these lil things. I know how sweet Luna is and she is grown, I can imagine lil puppies like her.
Not much happening here on the homestead today other than Rodger getting new tires for his old rototiller. The tires were past worn out. After all they are 28 years old. So he got the new ones put on and plowed out the 2 rows of beans that were too lil to plow last weekend. Then he too the tractor and cultivators out and plowed the other corn field that was planted a lil later. He says it has come up really good.
I hope to get some pics tomorrow of the new puppies and the garden to post.
Till then, blessing from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The strawberries are mulched

2011-06-01T22:08:00.000-04:00

Finally, the strawberries have mulch around them. Before it has always been too wet to get in the patch so it got put off. Then we had priorities, getting the main garden worked out. Then my help abandoned me last evening to help Jason build a pen for his puppies that will be here this weekend. This evening after we ate supper we finally got in there and Rodger tilled and Jason and I spread the straw. The plants are kinda small yet but we did get a good layer of straw around them. They will grow taller because of the straw surrounding them. Maybe this fall when they bloom again we can get a few berries. They do look so much better and well kept.

Ya have to agree it does look better. I love being in fresh plowed ground with bare feet. Nothing in the world like it. I'm sure that wont last long as there is a row of raspberry plants to the right of the strawberries.

As soon as these things get big enough to drop thorns on the ground there will be no more barefoot stuff in the berry patch. Some of the raspberries do have lil berries on them. So I will at least get to sample them this year and hope to be blessed with lots next years. These are surrounded with rotted straw and compost from the chicken houses. That should make em grow.
The berry patch is about the extent of our accomplishments today. The fellers worked and I had to stay in out of the heat. But I cant complain, at least its not raining everyday.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The hot weather is here to stay

2011-05-31T22:16:00.000-04:00

I know, we were complaining a week ago about the cool damp weather with all the rain we have had. OK I am done with this hot stuff for a while now. It has been in the mid 90's today and pose to be all week with intermittent showers. The humidity is about too much and its just the end of May. I can not imagine how bad it will be in July and August. None the less I did get a few minor things accomplished today in spite of the heat. I went and got the truck load of straw to mulch the strawberries with. I used 1 bale in the brooder house to get it ready for the lil chicks that will be here this week. ALL 50 of em. Yeah I am a lil crazy at times. But the building is all set up waiting their arrival. When they get big enough to let out they will be allowed to free range some. Well most likely until they find my flower beds and then they will get confined to a pen. Anyway still have the straw on my truck. Rodger intends to till the area between the rows of berry plants before I mulch to loosen up the soil. So maybe we can do that tomorrow. He got kinda busy this evening helping Jason set post to build a pen for his puppies that will be here this weekend. My friend Rosie's Great Pyrenees had puppies and Jason is getting 2 of em. My aunt is taking 1 also and we will have all 3 here this weekend. I can only imagine how cute they are. They do make beautiful dogs. I will post pics for ya to see when we get them. Luna is gonna love this. She wont know what to do with 3 lil girls like her. Jason is building a pen for his so Luna don't go visit an dognap the puppies.
I finally got my greenhouse shut down for the spring season. I had a good deal of leftover plants, some I am planting and some giving away. A co-worker of Jason's is taking all the sweet potato plants, and probably most of the other stuff too. I keep hearing threats toward my greenhouse around here. I think I may have went a lil overboard planting this year. But dang by now they should know that's how I do things.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Busy holiday weekend

2011-05-30T22:42:00.000-04:00

With this being Memorial Day weekend the guys were off work for a 3 day weekend. So we did manage to get a lot done this weekend. But first off I would like to take a minute to thank all our heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can all go about life as usual. So Thank You from the bottom of my heart.
We were privileged to carry on as usual here as well. Rodger got the corn plowed out on Sunday as it was still a lil too wet on Saturday to do most anything in the garden or field. On Sunday morning we had planned on being in the garden fairly early to beat the heat with forecast in the 90's. Well that didn't happen but we did get there all be it later in the morning. We hoed most of the garden out and finally decided to come to the house and take a break from the mid-day heat. He went back on the tractor a bit later an did plow the corn while I finished hoeing thru the remainder of the garden. It was after sundown before we both finally finished. Oh my goodness the skeeters were hungry and ate well I might add. ON me. Being near the river does have a few drawbacks. Thas is one of em. Rodger said I didn't need to be in the garden this morning and that he would go in there early and run the rototiller. So that he did. The garden looks so nice now that its been plowed out. My dad alas said stuff just grew better when ya plow and work it out. This evening after the sun started going down we started moving the compost and rotted straw from last fall and spreading that around the raspberries. Got those done FINALLY! We had a good bit of rotted straw left and put the rest around the fruit trees in the orchard. The rotted straw stinks and I didn't like the idea of putting that around strawberries where they might come in direct contact with it. Got most of the trees mulched in till we ran out of rotted straw. Tomorrow I am going to pick up a load of straw to mulch the strawberries with and a lil extra for the brooder house. Hopefully I can mulch the strawberries tomorrow evening while Rodger gets the yard mowed, again. I must get the brooder house ready as well for the new babies that will be here end of this week. I ordered a bunch of 50 heavy breed assorted chickens so I can keep some layers and butcher the rest before raising my final batch of Cornish cross this fall. So as you can tell there is never the lack of something to do here on the homestead. I can keep myself occupied 7 days a week here and stay busy. Well except when it gets really hot. Then you most likely will find me in the house. My meds are making me wimpy.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Trying to see the pretty things

2011-05-26T20:25:00.000-04:00

Dang with all this rain and storms we have had since I don't remember when, I guess I am blessed to have anything left to bloom and look pretty. We have had several pretty good rain showers today and after it stopped I got out and took a few pics here around the house. The big plus with the pretty stuff is I can see it and think of the wonderful friends who have shared seeds and plants with me.

This is the beautiful hollyhocks that Rosie gave me the seed for and they were planted last year. They are just starting to bloom. In the foreground is fever few that she also shared with me. Later on in summer it has beautiful white daisy like lil flowers on it.

The flower border at the back of the house is filled in with plants from my friend Madeline. The old porch rocker is one I sat in as a lil child on the porch of the old home place. It is more for sentimental value than sitting as it is about rotted down. Maybe a few more years left in its life.

The grapevines are loaded with lil grape clusters again this year. They got pruned heavily this spring and are still sprawling.

The border to the left is Lariope (monkey grass) that my aunt Ann had given me last spring. It will thrive almost anywhere and makes a nice edging for drives and such. The herb bed has a lil fence around it now to keep some animals from walking thru it. The new herbs in there are starting to take off now and grow. Still have more young ones to plant in there too.

This is the new bed extension in back of the house. It is planted with leeks and the new strawberry plants from my friends Gretchen and Carl. I am still short 1 bag of mulch to even this one out and eliminate the bare dirt spot.

This is the banana pup that my friend Deb sent me from Mississippi last week. This is the musa basjoo variety. This banana tree is grown for fiber and not the fruit. It has gotten 2 new leaves on it just since I got it. I think they are capable of growing up to 2 ft per week in the warmer summer months. It will also flower when it has 35 leaves or reaches 10 ft tall. I am thinking in a few years it can be moved to a place where I can put a hammock chair under it and have shade.
Anyway not much going on here today will the rain. All I have succeeded in doing is getting my hair cut and just stayed inside. The cool rainy weather does a number on my joints.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A little at a time

2011-05-25T21:40:00.000-04:00

A little at a time we are getting the rest of the garden planted. We didn't have rain today and this evening after supper Rodger ran the disc and Jason and I planted the melons, watermelons, cantaloupes, punkins and cushaws. They are raising nine kinds of hell because I want to go ahead an plant the rest of the tomatoes and sweet potatoes that are in the greenhouse. Its plant them and let em make what they will or just toss em out to empty the greenhouse and shut it down. Seems to me the common sense thing would be to plant them and not spend too much time working in them, its sure better than the waste of tossin em out. Any way I guess later I can say I told ya so.
I went today to visit a friend of mine who has greenhouses and sells plants for local gardeners and their gardens. She has had a terrible season this year with all the wet weather. No one has gardens out. It has just been too wet. She still has seed potatoes that she has not sold. She has 3 huge greenhouses full of beautiful tomatoes and peppers, cabbage and lots of flowers and no one buying. This season has hurt all the farms and gardens here locally. I just hope we can have a decent garden and get enough to stock up our cellar.
I did pick up some rosemary plants while I was there and a few flowers just for pretty. I usually don't sow flower seeds as I mostly try to grow edibles in our green house.
We are forecast for more storms tonight so that should water my melon seeds in and get them started sprouting and hopefully off to a good start. The okra, eggplant and cukes I had planted are up and look great. The peas are blooming, beets are doing good. I guess the next dry spell we get it will be time to plow the garden and start the hoe work. But that is all part of it.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A true statement

2011-05-22T20:07:00.000-04:00

If there ever was a true statement this is it, if ya don't like Kentucky weather, jus hang around it will change in a lil bit. We got all the things done yesterday that we thought needed doin while the weather was nice. Well because we had more rain in the forecast for today. So kinda had my mind set on just hangin out here at the house knowing couldnt get anything done outside with rain. Well as life would have it, got up this morning and no rain. A nice sunny day, not too hot, just right for doing a few things outside. So out I go. Got my jars of chicken stock and canned chicken all washed off and ready to go to the cellar. Set those aside, an you know how scatterbrained I can be. I wondered off and decided it might be a good time to get the raspberries worked out and the rotted straw and compost put around them. I ran into Rodger on his way back from the orchard. He mowed the orchard yesterday and went to weed whack around all the trees this morning. All's well, cept he told me he chewed up one of my apricot trees. I knew it, he don't like apricots. But I know it was an accident. IF it don't make it I can get another one. So he says he will go help me with the berries. So hoes in hand we go to the field. He hoed out the raspberries while I picked the ripe strawberries off the new plants. And we hoed those out as well. On the drive back to the house I tole him to let me out so I could walk thru the garden to see if my beans I had to replant had popped up yet. They haven't yet and I'm a lil disappointed. But I do have some of em up which is better than none. Everything looks surprisingly good in the garden in spite of all the torrents of rain we have had this spring and summer. The tomatoes look good and healthy but I saw some of the Colorado potato beetles on them, I decided to go back to the end of the rows and start mashing bugs. Yeas I have come to the conclusion that is the best way to control them. Gosh I mashed a bunch of em and clusters of eggs too. Rodger suggested we do another walk thru the taters to see if the bugs were still bothering them. Yes they are but not bad. So down on m knees again mashin bugs. I really need a hobby. Here is a few things I have learned about the bugs. If you find just one bug on a plant, look for the egg clusters. That means they have already mated and one is still living to lay eggs. And 99% of the time there will be one bug already dead under the plant. Then if you find 2 bugs mating on a plant, you will not find an egg cluster. Just this lil bit of info helps speed the search along. This makes I think the 3rd time we have went thru the taters mashin bugs. AND this is the first time in years the plants have gotten this big without being stripped of their leaves. NONE of the medicine I have sprayed with in the past has worked. So as long as we can stand it I think this will be our best bet for tater bug control, mash em. So far, so good. Well after all this crap and now I can walk right cause my feet and hands keep getting tingly and feel funny. Not sure if its my blood pressure meds, sugar, just dunno. But we came to the house to get something to drink. We had planned on going back to the garden with the wagon and taking the rotted straw and compost for the raspberries. To beat all I was ordered to stay the heck in the house. Who do he think he is anyway? We got a snack and something to drink and were getting ready to head out to get the compost and straw and it started to rain. Just big drops at first, then heavy rain. Then slowed to only showers and I went to the summer kitchen to wash the strawberries and tote my chicken stock and chicken to the cellar. Then came the downpours of rain. We both were in the summer kitchen and ya would think someone had tossed a hand full of marbles on the tin roof. Made a bad racket for a while. We got HAIL! Not often we get hail for some reason, but today we did. Some of it small pea size and some the size of a good size marble. Not one of those quick lil bit of hails and over with. This went on for about 10 minutes or so. We were blessed it didn't destroy the greenhouse or hurt any plants here at the house. I doubt it hurt the garden either as the plants there are small enough to not be huge targets. So now we are walking on a sponge again. I guess the rain lasted an hour at most but it did soak everything. I finally got my canned stuff put away in the cellar and came in to fix supper.
I had soaked some shuck beans this morning and put those on to cook. It was just the 2 of us eatin, Jason is out somewhere. We had shuck beans with potatoes, fried cornbread, an hard boiled eggs for supper. So now am stuffed and am thinking serious about a nap.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I hate chicken and I need a nap

2011-05-21T17:40:00.000-04:00

I bet ya never thought you would hear me say that. Well I don't really hate chicken I jus don't like chicken much right now. I have been at it since about 9 am first butchering chickens and now am sitting here in the summer kitchen cooking the bony pieces down for stock in the pressure canner. Then it all has to be strained and put in jars and processed. I have a bowl in the fridge that has the boneless thighs in it. Those will get raw packed in jars, covered with the strained stock and processed as well. Not hard to do at all , just boring time consuming stuff. The weather here has been really nice today. High in upper 80's, kinda hot when ya have to stand still and cut up chickens. Jason had to work today and that left Rodger and I to do all the butchering. If Jason had been here he would have had the task of cutting the chickens up. Ended up with 18 total in the freezer. I sure could think of better things to do than sit here and listen to the pressure canner. Things such as take a nap, mulch strawberries and raspberries, ya know, stuff like that. But it is all in a days work I guess. This means we will have lots of stock and canned chicken for different things this summer. I will be ordering more chickens this coming week to raise for butchering later. I think I am gonna order a batch of the frying pan specials, heavy meat birds, from Marti Poultry farms and that way I can keep what ever pullets I want out of the bunch and butcher the rest. I have convinced myself that mixed breed hens just lay better than pure bred stock. The laying flock I have now will be butchered off this fall when I have some replacements ready to take their place. But thats another day. Oh, if the world doesn't end this evening. Ok I was tryin to make a funny.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Fried green tomatoes

2011-05-20T22:06:00.000-04:00

As I write this I am eating a plate of fried green tomatoes. But no they did not come out of the garden this summer already. I was digging around in the freezer today and stumbled on a bag that I had chopped an frozen last summer. I was happy as a pig in slop. So I decided to fry them up for a snack tonight after I got in from outside stuff. And boy howdy are they good. Good Lord willing this summer I am gonna put more baggies of chopped green maters in there. I like em when they just have a slight blush to em but not red ripe. Well if I cant have a fresh one from garden right now this will suffice. Here's how I do my fried green tomatoes.

About 2 cups of chopped green tomatoes with just a lil blush of color, sprinkle with about 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1/4 cup flour, salt and pepper and mix up really well. It will be a crumbly mix. Heat fat, preferably lard in a skillet till very hot but not smoking. Add the coated tomatoes and fry till they are brown. I stir mine so they end up for the most part in pieces. Plate em up and enjoy.
Hope this whets your appetite for fresh garden veggies. Now I am waiting on fresh ripe maters.
Not much happening here right now, still a lil wet for now. We didn't have rain today and the temps were nice. Suppose to be in the low 80's tomorrow so good weather to get some things done. Rodger and Jason got the yards mowed this evening and all the trimming done. So that is one job out of the way and the yard looks so much better. Tomorrow is chicken killing day so we will be rather busy. I have my table set up and all my implements ready to do the job and make stock. Rodger wont be tied up with the chicken killing project long but I will probably be out there most all day and half the night. It does take a long time to make stock and then can it and some of the meat. But this will be the first canning project of the new season. But tomorrow night I know my joints will hurt like the dickens. They alas do when I over use em. But I keep plugging along.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The changes from day to day

2011-05-19T21:13:00.000-04:00

It amazes me how the weather can change from one day to the next. Yesterday I had the heat on and couldnt seem to get warm and today I had to turn the A/C on for a bit. It is starting to warm up a bit and I am so thankful for that. Cold and wet weather does not do tender garden stuff one bit of good. The corn has a pale look to it from the cool and it also encourages flea beetles to eat on the new tender growth. But today was rather nice even tho we did have some sprinkles earlier today it warmed up nicely. I am telling you I am a wimp. I didnt get out to do much till it was warmer this afternoon. I did transplant some of the stevia plants to the herb bed and kept 2 in a big pot in the greenhouse for safe keeping. Just to make sure some of them make it. I moved the thyme to the herb bed as well and planted some of the different varieties of tomatoes that I want to keep secluded for seed. I had a few pots of flowers that I had started and now have those in pots to bring on the deck a lil later. The hyacinth peas are planted in 2 big pots that will sure need a trellis. Tomorrow I will need to get all my butchering stuff together to butcher on Saturday. I think this time I am cutting all the chicken up for frying and just canning the stock alone in jars. I made a rotisseri chicken for supper and decided to fine tune the chicken rice recipe that I had been using. We do like the rice a roni mix stuff and I can make it much cheaper. It is rather simple if you have your own good chicken stock. So I am sharing the recipe. This will make enough for 4 hearty appetites.

Rice O Roni My Way

1 cup long grain rice (long cooking)
1 cup angel hair pasta broken in 1/2 inch pieces
5 tablespoons butter
3 cups good chicken stock
3 bouillon cubes crushed
1/4 cup onion flakes
4 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon marjoram
salt to taste
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
!/2 teaspoon garlic powder

In skillet or heavy cooker brown the rice and pasta pieces in the butter till lightly browned stirring often. Watch this because it can burn rather quickly. Add chicken stock and remaining ingredients and simmer till the rice is done. If it gets a lil too dry before the rice is done add more chicken stock or water.
Serve with your choice of chicken, fried, baked, or roasted.

You can substitute chicken soup base for bouillon if so desired. Or even add a lil bit the the dish to enhance the flavor. Enjoy! (This is very very close to the box rice a roni mix stuff only with more flavor an less salt.)

Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Odd jobs done

2011-05-18T20:41:00.000-04:00

Still too wet to do much in the garden. But at least we are finally getting some odd jobs done around here. After I got my herb bed extension done I was needing to get some kind of fence around it to keep the dog and cats from walking in there. Really hated to use any kind of heavy fence as it would make the place a lil unsightly. We still had a lot of the nylon deer netting left so we nailed short stakes/post around the bed and put a strip of the deer netting around. It is thin enough that it is nearly invisible from any distance yet it will be a barrier to keep the animals out. I would have used the same method in this bed as I do the others with exception this one is much larger and I don't have any woven fence wire to put on the ground over the plants. None the less it is secure and still looks ok.
According to the local weather the rain is due to end by tomorrow and it is gonna start getting warmer. I am so dang tired of being cold and wet. It hard to think of wearing a jacket on Memorial day. So am hoping that just maybe things will dry out a bit so we can plant melons and get the other field of corn planted. Not to mention the fact that I still need to mulch my strawberries. Not sure how much of that stuff will get done this weekend as I plan to butcher chickens on Saturday. They are huge and need to be in the freezer.
Not much else happening here on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Too cold to garden

2011-05-17T22:15:00.000-04:00

Our weather has went to chit, it is far too cold for anything to grow IF you can brave the mud to plant. I think we are in the midst of what we call "blackberry winter". It is no higher than 50 degrees during the day and low 40's at night and all with rain showers. Even with all the rain the garden stuff we have planted does look rather good. The corn came up pretty evenly, the green beans are up and doing good. The tomatoes, sweet potatoes and peppers that we transplanted last week look good. Rodger was in the field last evening and said it seems there are not any tater bugs on the taters right now. But I am sure they are laying down there under the soil just waiting for the sun to shine so they can chow down. As for garden stuff we have all the really important stuff planted. Still need to plant watermelons and cantaloupe and probably pumpkins and cushaws.
I was sitting here today and decided it might be a good idea to kinda draw a plan of where all the different herbs are planted in the herb bed. As it is I have 26 different varieties of herbs planted, either plants and/or seeds sown.

chives-plants and seeds
parsley-plants and seeds
dill-plants and volunteer seeds
basil-plants
cumin-seeds
lovage-seeds
caraway-plants and seeds
calendula-seeds
sage-plants
savory-plants
marjoram-plants
lemon mint-plants
spearmint-plants
chamomile-plants
tarragon-plants
oregano-plants
bergomont-plants
echinecae-plants
borage-plants
horseradish-plants
thyme-plants
fever few-plants
stevia-plants
lavender-plants
stinging nettle-plants
comfrey-plants

I do think I pretty much have the seasoning part of cooking supplied for now. Unless I find something else that I can grow to use. Some of the herbs are first timers for me, most I have raised for years. The fever few and lavender are the ones that are not in the herb bed, as well as stinging nettle and comfrey. Herbs do sort of cover 2 aspects of gardening for me. They are really pretty plants, most of them flower in summer and for culinary use as well. Keeps me in the clear when hubby tells me I don't need any more flowers. "But hunny these are herbs". Cant help it they are pretty as well.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Too wet to plant..........again

2011-05-14T23:09:00.000-04:00

It was kinda cool this morning and had rained a lil bit over night. Still over cast but not raining about noon and Rodger had went out to get another bag of mulch. I thought 1 would be enough to finish the project that I had started. I got the mulch spread on the bed in back of the house and still came up a lil short. Probably 1 more bag will finish the leeks. Maybe get to that on Monday. Then it started to rain again. We got some pretty heavy rain but didn't last long. Just enough to settle in the seeds that I had planted on Friday evening and give the new strawberry plants a nice boost. My online friends Carl and Gretchen sent me some beautiful strawberry plants, a different variety than the ones I already had. Jason and I got those planted on Friday evening and fertilizer put near them so they should grow by leaps and bounds. Everything has been side dressed at this point so now we wait and hope the garden grows well and produces good.
It had rained too much this morning to get the other field of corn planted so that will have to wait till next week also. Only planting another half acre or so but it needs to be in to have plenty of time to mature. It is a long season heirloom variety that we can use for cornmeal or stock feed.
With the cool weather today I thought a kettle of tater soup was in order. It was so good. I love potato soup with lots of onions and garlic and I sprinkle my bowl of soup with finely chopped dill. So yummy for the tummy.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Finally making progress

2011-05-13T16:18:00.000-04:00

Well the railroad company finally got our crossing fixed so we could get to the garden last evening. We got about 300 tomato plants transplanted, 100 sweet potatoes, and about 50 or so peppers of various varieties. The corn and beans we planted a couple weeks ago are up and look really good. The potatoes are coming up as well. AND the Colorado potato beetles are eatin on them as they come out of the ground. I think the tater bugs are holding on to the plant and riding it out of the ground. Each plant that was emerging had no less than 4 bugs on it. It was pitiful, Rodger and I went up the rows mashing the bugs. So we killed round one of bugs.

The taters have barley emerged and the bugs have already attacked.

3 long rows of tomatoes and 1 row of sweet potatoes transplanted to the big garden.

Rodger has a good start clearing the hill in front of the house. We can actually see the garden from the front porch.

The front herb bed and the new extension that we finally got added on. Most of it is planted. Some are transplants and some places I have sown seeds.

Flowers on the front side walk are blooming.

My peonies bloomed for the first time this year and do they ever smell heavenly.

How the heck long does it take hollyhocks to bloom? These things are huge and have buds where the flowers will be but no blooms yet.

The onion bed extension to the right in the back yard. As you notice it is kinda nice to live near railroad tracks sometimes. They do leave ties around about ever 2 or 3 years.

I was hoping to get the small seeds planted in the garden this evening but we have Had a lil rain this afternoon with more expected. But this will sure help the tomatoes and things we set out last evening tho. Ah, all in a days work.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Just one of those days

2011-05-10T21:36:00.000-04:00

Do ya ever have those days when you just don't even want to get out of bed? One of those days you feel like crap but not really sick? Well I think I had one of em today. Or maybe the 2 days work prior had caught up with me. Dunno, but I have not managed to get a thing done today. But on Sunday I did get my herbs planted in the new herb bed extension that I wanted to do. The plants are small yet but will grow this summer and fill in nicely. But in the meantime it does look kinda bare. Also got the leeks planted in the bed out back. I still have some other things I want to plant in the herb bed but just sure didn't feel like doing it today. Then after the guys got home from work and we ate supper Jason went with me to get a load of mulch for the ornamental and some of the herb bed. I use free wood chips to mulch with. The do help keep in moisture and keep down weeds in the pretty stuff. As most of the chips were hardwood chips I didn't mind using them on the herbs that I had just planted as well. That was a hard job for both of us. Jason loaded the mulch into the truck and then loaded it into the wheelbarrow so I could put it around the plants. By bedtime last night I was done. And it was near dark when I finally got done with all the lil projects. We have had some 80 plus degree days and even a few with no rain. Not sure if 2 days of working outside in the heat did me in or what. The heat is great for the plants in the greenhouse but not so much for the chickens in the brooder house. The Cornish do get really hot during the day. They have a fan in there but they have such fast metabolism and produce so much body heat that they can die from heat exhaustion pretty quick. So till butchering time that will be a full time chore trying to keep them cool. Not sure but may go ahead and butcher them at 5 weeks so they don't suffer in the heat. Kinda depends on the weather later this week.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The herb bed extension is done

2011-05-07T22:37:00.000-04:00

We got the timbers laid last evening for the herb bed extension and the timbers in place for the bed extension out back on the end of the onion bed. Rodger hauled some dirt last evening for the herb bed. Today he finished it up. Dang that is a big area to plant. But thas OK, I can fill it. He also got the dirt put in the bed our back. Jason and I used the rack to level all the dirt off and make it nice an pretty. I was going to try to get some stuff planted today but it started to rain a lil bit and I decided against planting in the rain. We just got enough rain to make a lil layer of mud on top of the soil. If we don't get more rain over night or tomorrow I might get them planted. The rain stopped pretty soon and I did get the used bedding out of the brooder house and fresh straw put down for the Cornish cross. The old used straw is piled to compost for a while and then it gets used to put around the raspberry plants to mulch and add nutrients to them. I do like to try and keep the Cornish dry and clean. If their bedding gets soiled they do get pretty nasty at butchering time. All they do is eat, drink and sit down. They are quite big for 4 week old chickens. Just a couple more weeks and they will be in the freezer.
When we were finishing up the herb bed, I was needing some weed barrier to put down under the dirt to keep weeds and grass from the yard from coming up thru my plantings. When I started out I was using shredded junk mail that I shred all year long and save just for this kinda stuff. Then I ran out and used paper feed bags that we had saved. Just split those open and put them on the ground over the grass and hose em down and cover with soil. I soon ran out of those and had to resort to the plastic weave feed bags that chicken feed and such come in. Those are split and laid on the grass too just like the paper one. Water will go thru but weeds wont come up thru them. They will eventually rot under the soil but they are free so who can complain. I still have a LOT of those plastic weave feed bags left to use as a weed barrier around the fruit trees in the orchard. I guess the next project will be hauling mulch to mulch in the planting in the beds. When I get them planted. Maybe tomorrow if we don't get more rain. Guess we wait and see what tomorrow holds.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Another day without rain

2011-05-06T22:22:00.000-04:00

We had another day without rain here today. The ground is drying out nicely but dang it we cant get in the garden. The railroad company has taken out the crossing and it wont be put back till next week. This would have been a great time to get the rest of my garden planted and the plants transplanted that are in the greenhouse. But at least Rodger and Jason got started on my herb bed extension in the front yard this evening. We might get that done tomorrow and ready to plant. The extension is actually bigger than I had anticipated. But that is good too. Just more room to add plants. The bed started out about 22 ft long by 8 ft wide. It will be 8 ft longer on one end, and we added another 8 ft to the width on the side. So total space is about 30 by 16 ft. Rodger got started this evening moving the dirt into the new bed too. Its gonna take a lot of trips with the lil tractor bucket to fill all that area in. In the morning I need to round up more stuff to use for weed barrier. I used shredded paper this evening for what we got done. Guess I need to raid the building and dig out all the old card board that we have around. Last resort will be paper feed bags. But I really want to save those to mulch around the fruit trees in the orchard. Not sure how much we can get done this weekend beings we are forecast for 20% chance of rain till next Thursday. Maybe it will miss us. I can only hope. The wild blackberries are in full bloom now so as soon as they start losing their bloom we usually get several days of cool rainy weather. We surely have to get all the planting done in the next week or so. We will be butchering chickens the weekend of May 21st. They will be 6 weeks old then and huge. On my to-do list for tomorrow is to get the brooder house cleaned out. The new herb bed will be a good place to put the fresh manure from there. It will have time to rot before the lil plants put roots down to get into it. And it means I wont have to move the compost twice.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A nice day even if its wet

2011-05-02T21:33:00.000-04:00

The weather here was fairly nice today. We did have some sunshine and a breeze blowing to help dry things out. The ground is still quite soggy but I did manage to plant some roses in spite of the mud. Rosie had given me some Rugosa rose starts when I was at her place earlier this year. I had them in a paper box sitting in the greenhouse. I kept them watered and they had leaves and were starting to grow in there. I got out today and dug a trench, added some good soil and planted them. That did free up a good deal of space in the greenhouse too. I had talked to her today on the phone and we were talking about old fashioned roses. I knew where some were growing at the old house site and told her I would get one dug up and potted to bring to her when I come to get Jason's puppy. So I have a rose bush in a pot and got an extra one to plant here at the house. I planted it near the old farm equipment in the lower end of the yard. I got about 10 total rose plants planted and only got 1 rose thorn prick the whole time. I did good. Normally I get tore all to pieces.
The other day I found a good recipe in a magazine for filled cookies that I want to try. They sound easy enough, even tho made with a box cake mix. I didn't have a piece of paper to write the recipe on so I put it in my phone.

Filled chocolate cookies

4 whole eggs
2 18 oz boxes of devils food cake mix
2/3 cup oil

Filling

1 8ox pk cream cheese
1/2 cup butter softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In large bowl mix cake mix, eggs and oil, the batter will be stiff. Pinch off pieces and roll into about 1 inch balls. Place on paper lined baking sheet and flatten. Bake till light brown and still slightly soft in the center.
Let cool on pan for a few minutes then move to rack to finish cooling.
Fill and enjoy

To make the filling:
Beat cream cheese and butter till light, add vanilla beating well, add in powdered sugar and beat till smooth. IF filling is a lil too soft, chill for a few minutes to stiffen.
Spread filling on half the cookies, and top with other cookie halves.

Enjoy with a cup o coffee or glass of cold milk.

I might just make some of these tomorrow if I cant get outside to work in the gardens. But I think I might use yellow cake mix instead. Pretty sure these guys here will prefer them made with chocolate cake mix tho.

So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Dang it rained again

2011-05-01T20:52:00.001-04:00

At some point last night it rained. I know this cause all was wet and soggy this morning. Jason said it stormed really bad last night. By dang I was too tired to hear it. I slept right thru the storms. So needless to say there was no working in the berries today. Am pretty sure it was mud over in the garden. So we have not done much here today. I did clean up the house, took care of the chicks and started some more tomatoes. Yep, more maters. My friend Sheri from up in Missouri sent me some seeds for Tumbling tom (red and yellow) tomatoes that she says are best grown in a hanging pot. Also some Red House Free standing (heirloom) tomatoes that she said needs very lil staking, and some Juliet grape tomatoes. See I am alas up to trying new things. It should be warm enough now for the greenhouse to stay warm enough for the tomatoes to come up pretty quick and do well. I have a lot of tomatoes in the greenhouse that need to go to the garden and that will happen the next few dry days we get so we can work in there again.
Here at the house I finally got my sun shades made for the front porch. I had the burlap cut and had Rodger cut 2 strips of lumber for me to tack the burlap to. It is mounted under the ceiling on the west end of the porch. I am sure it will help keep the front porch much cooler this summer. Should keep the sun from beating in on the front of the house too. I love sitting on the front porch but when the sun shines in there in the evening it can get unbearably hot. Now it would be nice if I could get the stain and sealer put on the porch and railing out there to protect it better. Still am thinking of planting the 2 wisteria vines I bought on the south side of the porch and let them grow up the railing to shade the south side a bit in summer too. Plus they do smell pretty too.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The garden is planted!

2011-04-30T23:10:00.000-04:00

The weather turned in our favor today, no rain, sunny, almost hot, and the ground was dry enough to plant the garden. We got started early this morning with Rodger running the disc in the corn ground again to get it ready. I had to make the run to get fertilizer while Jason was using the other tractor to plow the place for planting potatoes. I went to Jason's house to get the seed potatoes cut up and ready while Rodger left to go for more diesel fuel. As I was getting done cutting up taters Rodger called. He had gotten the fuel pumped and had left his wallet at home. So off I go back to town to take his wallet so he could pay for the fuel. That makes 2 days in a row I have had to go rescue Rodger. Last evening on his way home from work he stopped in town with Jason and locked his keys in his truck. He ain't allowed off the farm tomorrow. We all arrived back at home. Took a break and had a quick lunch. Then off to get the corn planted. Rodger planted corn while Jason and I hoed and side dressed the garden stuff that was already up. Jason plowed it out after I got the fertilizer on. We got all our sweet corn (open pollinated) planted (10 rows about 75 ft long), the tobacco worm beans ( 2 rows about 75 ft long), with a plot between the 2 kinds of corn for tomatoes and peppers. I planted 2 rows of Ky wonder bush beans about 50 ft long and transplanted the remainder of the cabbage plants and about 20 broccoli plants. The other small seeds will all be planted in a week or so when we transplant the tomatoes and peppers. We had planned on planting the potatoes in a small plot near Jason's house that dad used for a tater patch long ago. He had the ground plowed and worked up but we still needed to run the rototiller thru it to get it just right. We are talking sod ground that had not been plowed in probably 20 years or more. Needless to say that lil piece of ground will have to lay out for this year to let the green matter break down before it will be really good to plant. So load up all the "stuff" and back to the big garden to plant the taters. We finally got those in just before dark. We had 2 rows about 150 ft long and 1 row about half that long. Talk about a long azz day and I am one tired pup. I think we all are tired enough to sleep good tonight.
They are giving rain for us in the early morning hours but not much of a chance. I am hoping it will hold off one more day. If it don't rain the plan is to get the strawberries and raspberries plowed out and fertilizer put on them. Then I can mulch the berries. If the weather holds long enough I would like to get the 2 beds built here at the house for herbs and small veggies out back. If not that will be OK for another week or so.
I had mentioned last post that I would take some pics today to share, even had the camera with me, and was too busy to remember to take photos. Can we say brain fart?
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

It's dry enough to get in the garden!

2011-04-29T23:20:00.001-04:00

Its hard to believe that with as much rain as we have had with only an intermittent day of sunshine that the garden would be dry enough to plow. We went to check on the strawberries and raspberries that I had transplanted a few weeks ago and be damn the strawberries are blooming and some have berries on them. They look great. I do have the fertilizer now so I will try to get that on there tomorrow to boost them along. The stuff we have planted in the big garden is looking good and growing in spite of all the rain. It will get fertilized tomorrow as well. The plan is to plant the white heirloom corn that we use for cornmeal and stock feed tomorrow and get the garden planted as well. It is pose to rain again on Sunday evening. Rodger got the corn ground disc up this evening so it should be ready to go for tomorrow. That will be the first chore on the list. Then the garden.
I have not got a lot done today and to beat all it was a nice day too. All I managed to accomplish was extending the side walk that leads to the back of the house to make it look a lil more finished. The guys had put a big rock step in front of the summer kitchen for me. I put landscaping timbers cut to fit on each side to finish it out and filled the spaces in with gravel. My lil chainsaw sure came in handy fer cutting the timbers to size. I really don't want to plant directly in the soil in that area as it would never survive the foot traffic and gettin stepped on daily. But with the gravel in place I can set planters there if I do want flowers or maybe herbs. I think herbs would be a good idea as it is in front of the kitchen back there.
The plants in the greenhouse are big enough to transplant now. Likely those will not go in the garden till next weekend to be sure to miss any possible frost. As crazy as our weather has been tho who knows. The only thing that will get transplanted tomorrow, time permitting, will be cabbages and broccoli. Tomatoes wait till next weekend.
Maybe if they don't work me to death tomorrow I can get some pics of the happenings here. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

What? No rain today?

2011-04-25T23:52:00.000-04:00

It was a beautiful day out today. Rather warm, sunny all day, high in the 80's. The plants in the greenhouse love the heat and I do think they grew an inch today alone. The yard was finally dry enough for Rodger to mow this evening. And after he finished with the mower Jason got his yard mowed. The only thing that really don't like the heat is the chickens. The Cornish do get hot with the least bit of hot weather. The have such fast metabolism they can over heat pretty quick. Probably tomorrow I will need to put the fan in the building for them. Good thing I had already gotten one when we were out of town last week. I did sow more pepper seeds today, some thyme, and a few flowers. I have had a rough time getting the peppers to come up. It is a lil late for me to start them but I did anyway. If they don't get big as I want then I guess I will have to pay my friend a visit that has a greenhouse. I know she has peppers. I just always like to start the varieties that I prefer and always heirloom too. But if I want peppers that may be my only option.
The big garden was dry enough for Rodger to get the disc run in there this evening as well. IF it don't rain between now and tomorrow evening we plan to try and get the sweet corn and beans planted over there. If only the rain held off for a few more days we might actually get the field corn planted that we use for cornmeal. But I wont push my luck. If we can get in the garden tomorrow evening I am gonna try to get the fertilizer put on the stuff that is already up and growing.
I noticed today while I was in the greenhouse that my sage had sprouted and come up that I started a few days ago. Still waiting on the peppers and lavender that I sowed at the same time. I just hope that by time all the herbs are ready to transplant that I can find dry enough weather to get the herb bed extended. It will sure go a lot faster now that we have the bucket on the front of the tractor.
Not much else happening around here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I get scatterbrained this time of year

2011-04-24T23:13:00.000-04:00

In spring and early summer I get so scatterbrained I could lose my head if it were not attached. We have had a lot of rainy weather this year so far and I wonder if that is one reason I can not seem to keep me on track. Kinda feel like a fish in a fish bowl, keep hitting walls till I just go to the middle and go belly up. Well maybe not that drastic but you get the idea. I really wanted to get some things planted this weekend while the guys were off work for a long holiday weekend but we got more rain. Really didn't think Rodger needed to be out doing much where he had minor surgery on his arm last week, Sure don't need stitches pulled out. About 2 days of being in the house with it wet and nasty out I think he was about stir crazy. On Saturday he ask if I wanted to just get out and go somewhere. We both really needed to purchase some work pants for summer and decided to head off to Richmond. We had dinner out and got both of us some new pants, I also found a juicer on sale for a price I was willing to pay and got that as well. Not much else shopping wise.
While we were out I had told Rodger about a local winery that was in the town we were in and we decided to go have a look see. I have alas loved learning about nice places here in our state. Really there is so much to see and do that a person could vacation every year for a lifetime an still not see it all. Anyway the winery is called Acres of Land Winery. It is small, with several young vineyards, they have a nice restaurant on site as well. We didn't get there in time for the tour of the whole facility but did get to do a wine tasting. We both tried 3 different wines each. All of them very good, but every palate prefers different things. My personal preference was the concord wine. Made from just concord grapes, with the very pronounced concord flavor. One of those kinds of wine you could get woobylegged on real quick cause it taste so good. Anyway we came away with 3 bottles of wine, all reasonably priced too. They also told us we were more than welcome to drive or walk thru the vineyards and look at the grapes. We were actually learning different ways of trellising grapes as we went along too. Their grapes are trellised very much like our here on the farm. Not to mention theirs were pruned like ours as well. That did give a lil boost to the confidence there. So I guess our first try at pruning by reading a book paid off. We are thinking when Rob and Amoy come home in July from Nevada we will take the family to dinner at the restaurant there. Turned into a nice outing for a change.
Today it was still too wet to do much of anything here as far as gardening but I did get out back and dig up the strawberry pyramid. For some reason all the Ozark beauty strawberries in there have died out. Not sure what the deal is. Maybe 7 total plants left, but they have berries on them. My first thought was to go dig out the rest of the strays in the big field and move them here. But dang do I really need more strawberry plants to tend to? I really don't thing so. I did have some herbs in the greenhouse that needed to be put in a permanent place, so I proceeded to move them to the pyramid. So now I have marjoram, savory, borage, parsley, chives, and thyme in there. The top layer of the pyramid now has lettuce sown in there along with spinach mixed in for quick salad and I will get some onion sets in there tomorrow if we don't have any more downpours over night.
While I was tinkerin in the plants Rodger ran the weed eater with the intention of mowing maybe tomorrow evening if we don't get more rain. Our yard looks like a jungle out there. Kinda scraggly with weeds here and there and all of it tall. It will get done all in good time I suppose.
On our way home Saturday, on our road, I had spotted a vine growing way far up in a tree, maybe 50 ft off the ground. I had wondered what it might be because it was near an old house site. We stopped to check it our and low and behold it is wisteria. I can imagine that plant is likely 50 years old or more. I know for fact that that area of woods have not been tended or logged as long as I have been around. And the houses have been gone for probably 40 years or more. I was amazed that I had not noticed that wisteria before. But maybe I had and just didn't know what it was. Then at another old house site there was a really pretty bush growing near where I remembered the house being. I had to trek down the hill to investigate. I was tickled pink to find that is was the same kind of yellow shrub that I had taken cutting from at my aunts place in western Ky a few weeks ago. A plant that Aunt Ann had given Jackie. What a blessing in disguise. I didn't pull up 2 sprouts of em to bring home to transplant and save. I am certain that if someone went in there to clean up the woods it would have been destroyed. The house site is within just a few hundred feet of my west property boundary. There are still probably 20 or so of the bushes left at the site. Really nice to see them bloom in early spring. As you can tell it sure don't take much to make me happy.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The new toy is here!

2011-04-21T22:26:00.000-04:00

We had to be out of town today for a doctor appointment for Rodger. He had to have a mole removed from his arm. We kinda thought he would have to maybe go back next week to have it taken off due to this being his first visit with the doc. But they had the surgical kit and went ahead and removed it today. But he is fine with only a dozen stitches in his shoulder. Anyway we did go on to the tractor dealer as planned and got to see our new tractor after the dealer got it out of the crate and put together. Kinda reminds ya of a Tonka Toy. We did get it bought today and it was delivered this afternoon. Rodger has already got to play with it and mow the orchard and moved some dirt to clean out a drainage ditch out back. He got to have fun till it got dark.

This is on the dealers lot and our first time to see the tractor put together. Last time we saw it, it was still in the "box".

The dealer had the tractor delivered to us this after noon. Actually the driver followed us home with it.

It is a lil bit smaller than the Ford 3600 we have (was my dads) and this is the size we needed for the things we want to do here on the farm.

The first thing hauled in the bucket was 150 lb of chicken feed to the back and up to the brooder house. Then Rodger was off to try the finish mower in the orchard. He said it did a great job. And a lot less fuel than using the lawn mower to cut the big grass in the orchard. When he got back to the house he used the bucket to move dirt and open the drainage ditch in back of all the buildings. We are on a mountain and get a lot of run off when it rains and the water needs a place to go besides in my onion and asparagus bed. If it don't rain tomorrow we may try to build the herb and strawberry bed here at the house. But if the ground is dry enough to plow we will be planting in the big garden. Guess we wait and see what tomorrow holds for us as far as weather goes.
So that has been the extent of our day. Well I thought I would share this pic with ya.

The neighboring county has a mountain mushroom festival every year about this time when the morels are coming up. So someone thought it appropriate to have a tree stump carved into a mushroom shape for their from yard. I thought it was kinda cool.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Done cleaning for a while now

2011-04-19T23:11:00.000-04:00

I think I am done house cleaning for a lil while now. Today Rodger was home and I conned him into helping me move furniture in the master bedroom so I could shampoo carpet in there. So I got that all done. Then I had a lil energy left and decided to shampoo the other 2 bedrooms. Both of the smaller bedrooms had rather large desk in them. One desk was Robs that he no longer wants and the other was Jason's that he no longer needs. So I decided to take them both out of the bedrooms to make more room. I think I will put both of em on Craig's list and just be done with it. Both are in excellent shape. Sure made the rooms seem lots bigger. Anyway I ended up cleaning carpet in both those bedrooms today as well. Now they are all nice and clean, ready for company. Wonder who it will be first, Deb or Jenny. I think I need to make a sign to hang on the door with frequent guest names just for fun. I am no artist be any stretch so maybe next time I visit my friend Rosie I can ask her to make the signs for me. And hopefully she will get to come visit as well.
The weather was nice here again today, sunny, warm, with a nice breeze so I opened the windows while I was cleaning. Not so sure that was a good idea with all the pollen in the air. We have lots of pine trees behind our house and the pine pollen usually sends me into bronchitis in the spring. I am sure hoping I can duck that this year. But anyway I have been trying to keep the temps rather warm in the greenhouse for the past few days. It helps if I just open the door to let in fresh air instead of the door and window. The plants seem to just grow better with the heat as opposed to it getting cool in there from the fan and with ventilation. I guess I need to purchase another box fan to use in the brooder house for the chicks too. They were scattered out today when it was warm outside. They were a lil hot from the heat light being on. But they are still young and they sure don't tolerate the cold. The lil fan I had in there has died I guess from all the dust that has gotten into over the past few years. But those cheap lil fans don't last long anyway.
Not much else happening here on the far, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Nice weather again today

2011-04-18T22:47:00.000-04:00

We had nice weather today. Well if you can call cloudy and warm nice. It did warm up a good bit in the greenhouse today tho which I was happy to see. The plants in the greenhouse just seem to grow better when it is hot. The cool nights can really stunt seedlings. My dad always said the plants were maturing and aging whether they were growing or not. Then when you transplant them they don't get as big as they should which translates into less fruit. I sure don't think I will seed anything in the greenhouse next year till about the second week of April. It should be warm enough by then for them to come up and take off good. In our area I think heavy frost and hard freezes are past us now. I saw firefly's out tonight. Another one of those things dad alas said, "when the fireflys are out the killing frost are past. It is still a lil too wet to get in the fields yet so no garden planting for us yet. And it has started to rain here tonight as I write this post.
I haven't done anything outside today other than tend to the greenhouse and take care of the lil chickens. Some how I got the hair brain idea to shampoo carpet today. So that is what I have done. Just hope I can still walk tomorrow. I am sure I will be pretty sore from all the furniture moving I did today. Rodger is off work tomorrow for Passover and I am hoping to talk him into helping me move furniture out of the master bedroom and shampoo the carpet in there. It surely needs it bad. Pretty sure there are lil dust animals living up under things and around the edges of the room. I think I get the motivation to do some deep cleaning when it has been nice and sunny outside and in my mind I think I am gonna be really busy all summer and not have time to clean. At least that is my hope anyway.
Not much else happening here on the homestead. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

One day without rain, sunny and nice

2011-04-17T20:51:00.000-04:00

It has been nice out today. Sunny and kinda warm, the wind kept it from getting too warm I guess. But the wind does also dry the ground a good bit. Sure am hoping to get some things planted this week if the rain passes around us. But the forecast is for showers everyday except tomorrow. We shall see. I did get out an take some pics so you all can see how things are coming along here.

The herbs are growing in leaps and bounds with all this rain we have had the past few weeks.

This is the row (75 ft) of raspberries that my friend Rosie had given me several weeks ago. They really look great. They will be getting mulch very soon.

This is the 4 Rows of strawberries that were transplanted on the other side of the raspberries. They will get plowed and then they get mulch also. It is a good thing we planted them on ridges or the rain may have drown them out.

This is a shot from the river bank from the end of the raspberry and strawberry patch. It is probably 40 or so feet down to the water level. If it ever gets the berries we will sure need an ark.

The onion bed at the house has out done its self this year. These are the walking onions. In the fore ground is the asparagus. I think it will be best for the plants if I let them go till next year to harvest. It takes a few years for the plants to grow and establish and provide a good supply of asparagus and still have enough fronds to feed the crowns so they will multiply.

My little chicks are happy and healthy. Did I mention they are growing so fast. They are only about 10 days old now.

This is a pic of the end of the garden that we have planted. We have onions, peas, beets, carrots and cabbage already in here. We always plant our garden in blocks. This does help the plants that need pollination to pollinate better if you have short rows instead of just a few long rows. This is especially true with corn and beans.
OK so now you have a glimpse of how things are growing here on the homestead. I am surprised we have this much done with all the rain that we have had this spring. Here in Kentucky we have some short lil winters that come in spring. There is dogwood, red bud, both of which you get some cool rainy weather. After those we will have another short cool wet spell when the wild blackberries bloom out. Then we should have nice weather from then on out till fall. It really take warm weather for plants to do well in spring. The seedlings in the greenhouse are healthy looking but they don't seem to be growing as fast as I think they should. But of course I am always in a hurry to get them up and big enough to transplant. Then when they are I am fussin cause it rains and is too wet to transplant. So maybe I need more patience. That is NOT one of my finer qualities.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Gathering supplies to build an ark

2011-04-16T19:04:00.000-04:00

Or at least we need to be gathering stuff to build an ark. We have had so much rain here. We cant seem to get much planting done at one time. We kinda try to catch a dry spell for a couple days and rush and plant what needs to be that day. It is time to plant field corn and we have water standing in the fields. We usually try to plant out corn and beans in the garden in mid April as well as most of the other seeds that are direct seeded. Tomatoes and don't get put out in the garden till after the first of may to avoid frost. The past few days and nights have been rather cool here and that is not doing any good what so ever for the seedlings in the greenhouse. It don't hurt em they just don't grow too well. In farming it is always a battle with the weather.
I went to my doc appointment last week on Thursday, got my meds refilled and the doc seems to think I am doing OK. Although he did bring up the subject of Lupus. But the meds I am taking treat that as well. Then we went on the the farm equipment dealer to look at new tractors. Rodger had decided to try to buy us a small tractor with the bucket on the front an a rear discharge mower. We so desperately need a tractor and bucket here on the farm. We are always needing to dig or move something or scrape and level something and it is just too much work for a shovel. We really need the mower to keep the orchard mowed and be better able to take care of our fruit trees. We did end up buying one although we probably wont get it here on the farm till next week. The dealer had just gotten them in and the tractors are still in the crates and not put together. So he said he would get one put together for us and we should have it delivered next week. I can keep it busy for weeks just getting thing done in the yard here. I need a couple more beds built fer herbs and berries and some other landscaping projects. When the toy is delivered I will post some pics of it on here.
So far the chicks are growing and doing really good. Those lil fellers seem to just grow over night. I plan to have them butchered by about the 3rd week of May. There is only 25 so it wont be a big job for the 3 of us to get done in one day.
I have lost my window of opportunity to mulch my herb bed and asparagus bed. The plants are already up and about a foot tall in both bed and would be really hard to get mulch in there without killing some of the plants. That is unless I can get my hands on some wood chips to mulch with and wood chips don't get on the leaves and pull the plants over like straw does. I hope I can find wood chips on our road like before from the tree trimming companies. The wood chips make great mulch for strawberries as well. I have enough old straw to mulch in the raspberries that we got planted last week. We just want to have the ground dry enough to plow them out one time before we mulch to smooth and level the soil in the rows. So we wait for drier weather.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Nice weather today, cleaning summer kitchen

2011-04-13T21:43:00.000-04:00

It didn't rain today and the weather was fairly nice out. I watered in the greenhouse and sowed more tomato seeds, still need to do more peppers tho. The plants that are up are growing nicely. Everything outside is doing well right now. But they are giving frost for tonight. I sure hope it don't. I need to re-sow my lavender as it did not come up at all. I would love to have a whole bed of lavender to cut and make sachets for the linen drawers. Sprouting the seed is the hardest part otherwise it grows really well here. On the way back up to the house from the greenhouse I stopped and pulled what few weeds were growing in the herb bed by the driveway. Not too many I am happy to say. I went out back to weed the asparagus bed although it is not too bad either. And the asparagus is starting to come up. I should get a mess or 2 when it gets in full swing this years. But I didn't get any weeding done down there. I went in the summer kitchen to get a drink and got side tracked. I did manage to get the summer kitchen wiped down good and the rubber mats taken out and washed down. I scrubbed the floor really good. Not that it will help a lot, but for now it looks nice and clean. I still need to wash the ceiling but that can wait till tomorrow I think.
I think I killed all my strawberries that I had planted in the strawberry pyramid in the back yard. Back a couple months ago I weeded the bed really good and lifted each strawberry crown out and then replanted them. A few plants are green with bloom on them and the rest are still lil brown stubs. Oh well such is my dang luck. So I guess I can go the the garden and dig up some more of the ones that got plowed thru and move them over here to the pyramid. Add that to the to-do list.
The time is right here to plant corn and beans. Dad always said it was time to plant corn when the leaves on the oak trees were the size of a squirrels ear. And they are. Next time we get a couple days of dry weather and can run the tiller thru the garden to work it up again we will plant the sweet corn and green beans. They prolly wont be up outa the ground till after the last frost date for us. Potatoes also need to be in. I think the later you plant the later you dig the longer the taters will keep in the cellar. After all we grow them for storage mostly. I have a doc appointment tomorrow so I will look for some Yukon Gold potatoes to plant.
Not much else happening here. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella