Snow Days

I apologize for abandoning descriptions of our journeys to growing and raising more of our own food.  Life has been busy, and crazy, and at the same time, routine.

Early in the day, as snow accumulates.

Neighbors.  Guineas.  Problems.  Enough said.

We lost a rooster.  I still don't know why.

Our dog, Hope, still steals the food of our cat, Andromeda, at every chance she can.  Hope now howls when a particular train rolls past with its whistle tooting.  I could do without this quirk, thankyouverymuch.

During our unusually long and bitterly cold cold snaps, I struggled to keep water thawed and clean for the chickens.  We switched to hanging waterers with nipples, which has helped in all but the longest and coldest stretches.  Sometimes I still carry out hot water to pour in basins several times a day.  Tomorrow will likely be one of those days.

Kids and snow!

James is building a mini greenhouse and a meat chicken coop.  Pictures will eventually appear here on the blog!

There has too much illness and death in our extended families and acquaintances.  Perhaps it is our age or our awareness, but I feel a little as though are a collective Job!

God has been good to us.  We have avoided major illness in our immediate family.  We've ordered seeds for the summer garden, and plenty of new fruit bushes and plants to fill the insatiable hunger in our children for fruit.  We are at that time of year in which I will only buy a few fruits from the store as everything else is too expensive or disgusting.

Avalanche off the white whale.

It had been snowing all day.  We have over 6", and the snow is still falling.  Since we need moisture, we are praying for several more inches.  (At least I am.). Today is a snow day.  Tomorrow will be as well.

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

Tour

 In between the rain storms (3+" in the last few days), I stopped to admire my view during my circuit of chicken chores...

The garlic bulbs have poked little green stems through the soil.  I had almost forgotten this were here.  It's nice to know I didn't kill them.

 The garden is a weedy, flat place after most of the trellises have been removed.  I have one row left of tomato vines to pile up, and two rows of fence.  Then, fire will take what it will.

 The asparagus is beginning to die back.  I may harvest a few seeds this fall to attempt asparagus seedling next year.  I may.  I may not.

 Hoses have been pulled up.  Most are coiled neatly for next year, but a few, pulled out in the middle of harvesting, still need some care and attention.  Once they dry (ah, I love the rain!), I will store them for next year.  I didn't realize how many hoses we had accumulated.  I suppose that happens when the movers put them in three different places last summer when we moved, and we bought more after most of the hoses were laid out.

 Our guineas and exiled (freed?) chickens are enjoying an afternoon meal outside the Love Shack.

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

Planting Preparation

James hooked up his tiller and went to work.   The existing garden space had been taken over by weeds and grass, so he tilled up the old space... and more than doubled it.  We might be drowning in produce next summer if we actually plant all this!

He also knocked down a tree.  I prefer the saw method, but I'm not a man.

Finally, the future strawberry bed was tilled up.

If I can get my act together, we'll spread some clover seed.  I understand full well that I am very late in the season to be doing this, but when I'm pregnant, I am forced to recognize my limits.

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

Apple Raiding

I think, in the relief from the heat, our plants and trees are confused.  Here is a blooming "Delicious"-type apple tree.  It's September!

Last year, I purchased 200 pounds of "juice grade" apples to make applesauce, apple butter, and juice.  We split this with the family at Secondhand Ranch, and decided that 200 pounds was only half of what we needed for a year's worth of apple canning.

This year, at our new house, we've found two nearby families who have productive apple trees but will not be picking any of them!  So far, Q and I have gone twice to fill a bag with apples and walk home.  I estimate we walk about 1/2 mile total each trip, and with 20+ pounds of apples in the bag, this may not be the most efficient method for picking apples for me, at 24 weeks pregnant.  Still, if I drive, I'm not getting exercise.  If I take a wagon, I'm afraid the kids will want to ride on the way home, and I'm certainly not up to 50+ pounds of apples plus 25-60 pounds of children (depending on how many are with me).  Bags it is!

"Pick!  Pick!"  he said and gifted me with these flowers.

Tasting apples for quality!

So far, the family together harvested 20 pounds, Q and I picked up 27 yesterday, and today Q, the Screamer, and I picked up 24.  There are plenty more apples, and we have many more days to harvest.

I'm piling up the rejects so when I return, I don't have to pick through them again.

Bag full of apples

Today I made one batch of applesauce, 4 quarts.  I need a bigger pot!  The canner can hold 7 quarts, but my pot to cook down the apples can only hold about 16 pounds at a time (3/5 of a batch).  When we work at Secondhand Ranch, Myle has propane burners outside and HUGE stockpots to cook down the apples.  We can really get  moving then!

My second problem is my food mill.  It needs to be clamped onto a counter or tabletop.  At our old house, I had to clamp the food mill onto the counter above my dishwasher, which was inconvenient as it required having the washer open.  Here, my counters again are not deep enough to clamp.  My table? It has an angle edge, so the clamp will not stay.  Someday, I will design my own kitchen for canning, and part of it will have deep-lipped counters for just such tools!

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

Winter Heating

Uncle Bruce needs some help with wood this winter, so James suggested we visit the garden waste dump and fill our truck and trailer with wood to split.  We also need a supply of wood, as the house being on the market and moving prevented us from stocking up last spring/this summer!  Everyone got in on the act, although I stuck mostly to photo shooting.  Lifting wood usually ends in a pulled round ligament around my growing belly!

Little Miss Independent

Look at that strong boy!

I can do it!

Deer on the way home

I thought I snapped a picture of the awesome teamwork I witnessed between the girls, but I guess it didn't turn out, as I don't have one on the camera.

Now it's time for James to do some splitting!

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

The Learning Curve is Steep...

 ... but, oh, so worth it!

A brief evening at Purgatory Ranch learning the ins and outs of our new machinery while the children enjoy the cooler weather!

The Assistant took care of pictures of the evening!

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

A Christmas Gift I can use...

Frequently, my mother-in-law and I have very different views on what I would like to have for a gift.  God bless her, she has amazing taste and buys very lovely things... it's just not my taste and not my lovely.

Imagine my excitement when she actually clicked on the links I sent her and received THIS for Christmas!

A pioneer drying rack from Forgotten Way!  James frowned when I asked him to help me assemble this, and oh, dear, I need a drill, but once he realized it was just a few screws to hold the dowels in place, we were both very happy with how quickly this assembled.

Our only hiccup came when James returned to the house with his electric drill, which I had found run over by the van (I don't know which of us committed such an atrocity, but there it is!), which would NOT work to drill the pilot holes.  Then, as James said, he "went Amish" and fetched the hand-powered drill I had purchased for his Christmas gift in 2010.  Don't you love it when you buy a good gift?

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

Planting Time

Dan has determined one ought to know what they are doing before riding a tractor like a bucking bull. ... but that is a story best told by the men.

Today, we planted several hundred onion plants (Vidalia, Texas Sweet, and Red Candy), 12 asparagus crowns, and 2.5 pounds of Rose Finn Apple potatoes from Seed Savers.

Hopefully, neither Dan nor I had any more contact with poison ivy, as we have not yet recovered from the last encounter. I could have skipped the sunburn too - at least I only burned where I missed the sunscreen on my upper arms.

There is the case of the missing tractor key, but a pocketknife solved the case. Our research suggests it is well-cultivated into the onion bed. Perchance it will give rise to a key tree, in which case I would never worry about James losing a key again.

The manly men hauled a trailer-bed of dry wood to the land from a neighbor for later cutting and splitting.

We are without pictures today. I said to Myle, "I should take a picture before we leave," but we were so tired by the time we were packing up, a camera was the last thing on my mind.

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

Easy Time Ranch?

There is a vote in for a new name for the ranch: Easy Time Ranch.  James figures if we rename it, maybe it won't be so difficult.

Today, we drove out to the land to prepare the earth for potatoes.  As I pulled in with the van, I see the tractor and the truck, but no James.  As I park, I see James lying under the mower attachment, prying out barbed wire.  The best we can figure, the barbed wire wasn't properly attached to the fence post and whipped loose as James drove by.  No fingers or hands were lost in the process (or eyes, or other body parts).  He proceeded to accomplish his mowing task and moved on to...

Plowing.  Well, you know there's a steep learning curve for everything here at PR.  Steep.  As ladder steep as opposed to stair steep.  We had to call it quits for the night since James' trailer's brake light wires are stripped, and he bought the wrong piece to fix that.

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

It's still Purgatory Ranch.

Is there a City Slicker Tax?

an Attempt to plow

It's hard to be 40 minutes away from your tools.  The gentlemen were going to mow and plow but forgot wrenches.  Then they learned a bolt was cross-threaded, so they mowed approximately 30 feet and had to quit.  It is Purgatory Ranch, after all.  (Gentlemen, any more details?)

katie z.

Auction

Today, a house on the air strip north of us had an auction.  It was unfeelingly frigid, so much so that Q and I had to retreat to the van to listen to the auction.  James purchased a tractor to use on the land.  Thus far, he's bought a pressure cooker, coat stand, and chair.

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