Today's Work

Last summer, we planted corn for cornmeal, since I (sadly) used up the last of our previous harvest over the summer.  The Assistant helped me with the harvest, right before rain was due to arrive, and we quickly shucked and sorted the ears.

Then, the ears sat on my kitchen desk in two ice cream buckets.  Finally, today, I determined to clean off the ears, get rid of as much chaff as possible, and get the corn ready to store properly.

It only took an hour or two, between cleaning, stripping by hand, and sifting.  Now I have that white container in the back full of corn for cornmeal.  My hands are a little sore, which is partly why I'd delayed this task, but I'm proud of supplying our needs for our cornbread for another year or two!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Solar Oven Revival

I've had my solar oven for a LONG time (several years at least), but I haven't used it as our family grows larger, as a whole meal is hard to fit in a solar oven.  However, we cleared the deck for scraping and painting, and this pathetic lump needed cleaning, it was a hot day, and I decided to use it!

 I used our favorite rice pudding recipe (from the Betty Crocker cookbook, with no alterations), heated my oven and pot, and let the sun do the cooking.

It was delicious, and gone the next morning.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise, it's Purgatory Ranch.

What we've been up to...

It's the time of year for canning.  This year, James took the kids peach picking while I stayed home with a feverish JoJo.  He bought 128 pounds of peaches.  Ouch.  So I've canned peach jam, peaches, honey spiced peaches, peach salsa, and peach BBQ sauce.  Jars and jars, boxes and boxes, days and days of peaches.  I still have two boxes of peach jars to haul to the basement, but I'm quite happy with our fruit preservation this year.  I have bruschetta and tomato sauce waiting to be wiped off, labeled, and also carried to the basement.

James found this wine, perfect for our bruschetta-in-a-jar

Apples from the neighbors are ripening slowly.  I'm okay with the "slowly" part, as I am tired.  The garden is slowing also.  While I wish I had canned more tomatoes, I am content to study my full shelves and ignore the problem of empty ones for this year.

Our chicks have been moved onto grass for the first time today.  They are busy exploring and learning how to drink out of a nipple waterer.

We received our beef share from our 40 acres.  Boy, howdy, do I feel rich when I open the freezer.  We are backed with beef and chicken, all local and raised as we desire.  The freezer is additionally stuffed with blueberries we picked from a local farm.

Turkeys will be ready to butcher in the coming month.  I will admit, given how messy they are compared to chickens, and how much water they drink, I'm ready to have them gone.  I need my chores shortened so I can start preparing for the baby.

We attended our last farmer's market last weekend.  It was a lousy showing, due to weather and declining interest as school approaches, but it gave my Assistant a chance to complete a little Christmas shopping with me.  The year, overall, was successful in my view.  Next year, we need to grow more sweet red onions and zucchini.  No more peppers for sale, though, as they did not sell well.

Then there are our fabulous kids, of whom JoJo is currently the most precocious.  But that, my friends, is a story for another time.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Canning

It was time to purge the freezer in preparation for chicken butchering next week, so all the strawberries awaiting canning met the fire today.

27 jelly jars, both 8 ounce and 4 ounce, are now filled with all manner of sweetness.  There's a beautiful mulberry jelly and a fabulous strawberry rhubarb jam.  I also whipped out a lemony strawberry jam and something called maple strawberry smooch.  The smooch is a strawberry syrup and my mom declared it great as she washed dishes for me (over and over.  Canning four different batches results in lots of dishes.)

I'm relieve to have this out of the way, as I probably won't can again until it's tomato time.  There will be something made of blueberries but I haven't decided which recipe to use yet!  Blueberry picking is still a few weeks away.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Solar Oven

Behold!  The first two successful cooking adventures with our new solar oven.  Once I am more adept at setting it up and using it, we should be able to avoid turning on the oven for most baking/cooking adventures!

Every summer, we do our best to avoid turing on the air conditioning.  Last year, since I was pregnant, we had to turn on the AC early, but the year before, we made it to July 22 before we turned it on.  Then, Bear Cub Q ran a fever, and it was unfair to him not to turn it on,

Who know how long we can go if I don't have to use the oven?

Hard-boiled eggs.
The yolk is a smidge grey from being in the oven too long,
but who wants to eat half-boiled yolks?

Pumpkin bread

We purchased the SOS Sport Solar Oven Combo.  I can see it won't ever be my only cooking source with our growing family, but if I can reduce my baking but still keep us in fresh bread, it's worth it.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.