Miscellaneous

After weeks (and weeks) of illness alternated with bitter cold, health and pleasant weather coincided. I took advantage of this to clean up outside.  We cleared asparagus beds of woody fronds, cleared a raised bed to top it off with chicken bedding, moved multiple rolls of goat fencing, and began to clean hive frames.

Sadly, we are back to two hives.  One we lost to wax moths, as it was not strong enough to expel them, and another was too weak to survive the two weeks of below freezing temperatures.  We’ll be cleaning frames and preparing for new hives this summer!

Lately, I’ve been on a mission to use up stored food.  We’ve done so well stocking an extensive pantry with nonperishables and three freezers with beef, chicken, and other delicious food, but with all the last few years have brought, I’ve gotten lazy at planning and cooking with forethought.  No more!  I hope, by spring, to clear one large freezer.  Stewing hens are meeting the Instapot, and it’s a tasty match.  Once it’s warm and light enough to comfortably grill in the evening, I have some packages of steaks to enjoy.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It’s Puragtory 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.

Fall is Here

I've cooked down the last of the tomatoes worth eating.  From here on out, until I finish tearing out the last two rows of tomatoes, anything left on the vines can go to the chickens.

Oh, to have nothing to do but snap random pictures while someone else does my work.  Instead, Bear Cub Q took a few for me, including this of of the dog.

 We've finally... finally... finally... begun gathering eggs from our Turkens.  I must say, the sight of those two little eggs in the nesting boxes was enough to make me whoop for joy.  If you know me, you know not much makes me whoop!

The eggs made for a particularly rich rice pudding, as evidenced by the fact that two little girls ate an entire batch, leaving only the rice stuck to the sides for DH and I to eat when we came in from chores!

 These are luffa sponges.  When harvested young, they can be eaten, but I'm hoping they survive a week or two more before a frost and mature enough to form the spongy interior.  The one below should almost definitely be successful, but after harvesting one too early, I am loathe to cut anything off!

 Finally, here is the {mostly} tidied asparagus bed.  I won't be pulling out these fronds until they die back.  The new plants are not nearly so sprawling, but look rather pathetic in their smallness, so I skipped taking a picture.

Onions in storage are beginning to sprout, so I guess it's time for another round of onion-chopping!

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

Canning Exploits

A long day was had by all at our house yesterday.  It began with defrosting three gallons of skinned tomatoes.  They bubbled away most of the day to join herbs, lemon juice, and salt for 15 pints of tomato sauce.

 Meanwhile, culled tomatoes from Tuesday's picking extravaganza (3 1/2 5-gallon bucket loads) were skinned, cored, and chopped to make 5 quarts of salsa.  Everything but the cilantro was homegrown or in the pantry!

We also had some cucumbers that needed attention, and we've been running low on pickles.  I love that my girls like "our" pickles better than store bought!

See how happy they make her?

We even ended the day with a decent plan for dinner, all the dishes washed, and the bedrooms vacuumed, thanks to my mom!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

a Gasp for Breath in the Rush of Summer

I have used my vacuum sealer to put up to pints of dried fruit.  While I would love to put up more, the mulberries have not been so popular, and I haven't enough strawberries.  Next year, I will start drying strawberries sooner!

The {almost} daily compost bucket. We have just enough spoiled food (and eggshells) that I don't want to give to the chickens, so into the bin they go!

Onions are bulbing out fabulously.  This year, I'm striving to use onions as soon as I pull them, including chopping extra for the freezer.  Last year, too many onions spoiled through my failure to chop and use.  I know few things that smell quite as horrendous as a mouldering onion.

We are slowly... slowly... slowly beating down the weeds.  While they are still ahead, I think we are making great strides.  I'm not sure the same can be said in the battle against the whiteflies, although a judicious application of neem may help me.

The first garlic has been harvested.  The bulbs are disappointingly small overall, but they were planted too closely, in haste, by a nauseous pregnant woman.  I blame it mostly on me.  I'll save the biggest for this fall's planting (by Columbus Day).

Fava beans, why do you hate me?  Like in a past attempt, many are beginning to shrivel and burn up.  Is it the unexpected heat?

Tomatoes!  I am anticipating the first ripe ones with great delight!

A gift... an unexpected mulberry tree.  It is a weeping mulberry and quite attractive.

We also have apple trees suffering from cedar rust and peaches from oriental fruit moths.  I think our neighbor has not cared for his trees in the past, so we have work to do next spring to handle these issues!

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

I might have gone a little overboard when I found a better-to-me price on canning jars.

Then again, I have four kids and lots of extended family members.  Maybe I should go back for more.

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

Potato Planting Insanity

Our helpers dug too!

As we enter our fourth (can it really be the fourth?) year of planting potatoes at Purgatory Ranch, the situation has changed.  (Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3) Since James and I now live within miles of P.R., driving out is much less of a trial.  However, since we moved, all our potatoes that had been saved for seed were exposed to extreme heat this summer in the moving van, and they were a tangled, vine-y mess.  See what I mean?

I always intended to snap off the sprouts earlier in the winter but never got to it.  Famous last words, right?  So this year, we opted to purchase some seed potatoes and sort through this mess to see what might survive planting.  Since last year we actually had a pretty decent yield from our over-sprouted potatoes, why not again?

I had two buckets and five boxes to sort.  All the small potatoes were pretty well exhausted, so I tossed them into the compost bin.  However, even after discarding all those, I had 35.5 pounds of potatoes (and sprouts) to plant. Add to that the potatoes my dad purchased, and we are well on our way to another record year.

Then, there is always the challenge of calendar.  We received two feet of snow not so long ago, and was the ground still saturated?  James and Dan work opposite schedules.  Myle was caring for a neighbor's children.  I have an almost-newborn.  Spring break is coming and we both had plans that would prevent potato planting by March 17.  Then, the kicker, for me... it was supposed to rain all day this Saturday, meaning the ground would be (God willing: we need rain) saturated, so I couldn't plant in the coming week.

This is the insanity part.  I made plans to plant the potatoes by myself, with three of the kids.  It's a good thing I had a friend offer to help.  In preparation, I cut up several of the bags of seed potatoes.  After toting up my pounds of seed potatoes, I opted to leave the bags of Red Norland and Yukon Gold uncut for a future planting scramble, as I felt confident we had no business planting 81.5 pounds of potatoes alone.

90 minutes later, we had this:

The north bed is almost entirely full.  My friend had a giant blister, and JoJo was complaining of the wind, even well-sheltered in the Moby wrap.  I consoled myself that even if it rained, we had the lion's share planted.  On our way home, the rain started.

Meanwhile, James' plans of building chicken tractors after school fell through.  Upon learning said information, I wildly suggested we plant the rest of the potatoes.  Right now.  As in, throw the kids in the car, scoop up the cut potatoes, and take on the rain, which had stopped momentarily.

This year, we left most of the south bed empty of potatoes.  We have planted potatoes in this bed every year and are risking disease buildup.  So, the only part of the south bed used was the section planted in onions last year.  It received the remaining Red Norland and Yukon Gold that didn't make the first cut.  This was accomplished in 30 wild minutes (wild, because we had four kids with us) of James digging holes, my tossing potatoes, and the girls burying.

And... Done!  All the potatoes are buried in the ground, and I'm off the crazy potato planting hook for another year... (We shouldn't think about the garden that is planned for Yahweh Jireh Acres)

Final totals:

Type	Pounds	Source	Rows (from the north)
Russet Burkbank	5	seed	3
All Blue	7	saved	5
Kennebec	4	saved	4
	2	seed
Purple Viking	5.5	saved	2
Dakota Pearl/Crisp	12	saved	13
	14.5	seed
Red Norland	7	saved	3
	12.5	seed
Yukon Gold	12	seed
	81.5

If that's not as clear as mud, just ask.  We planted 81.5 pounds of potatoes.  The rows are for my reference in July, when I can't remember what's what.

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

Fall Preserving

James requested apple cider, and since I just happened to have boxes of apples around, I cooked down some apples for cider.

I still have two boxes of apples left.  I think there will be more apple chunks, cider, and leather in our future.

Here's the pulp after straining.

While I was photographing, it just so happens the cider was in the canner.  Just trust me, its pretty pink color and rich apple/cinnamon/cloves smell will be worth the wait.

We've been decorating cookies too.

And since I started the canning around 6 am, the cat thinks she should come in.  Think again, Andromeda, think again.  No pets in my house, and you're a work animal, not a pet.

Since I was brewing, baking, and otherwise humidifying a cool kitchen, the bones from last night's chicken were combined with some apple butter, garlic, carrots, and onion for broth.  I'm trying to work up my courage to attempt pressure canning.

I can't bear to waste the pulp, so last night I ran it through the food mill before straining to separate the peels and seeds.  This will be dehydrated for apple leather.  James loves it too.

It's a good All Hallow's Eve!

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

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

Since moving, there are many activities that have fallen by the wayside.  In the last few weeks, here are a few that I've been working to revive...

Home cooking, involving more than just pasta or rice.  I have a hard time cooking when I'm nauseous, and I'm more nauseous when it's hot, so guess what happened...  No cooking.  In the last few weeks, though, I've made homemade pizza (success), Spanish rice (success for the adults), and enchiladas (another success).  Fortunately, returning to cooking also means James has a greater supply of leftovers from which to choose his lunch.

Making bread.  This morning, I mixed up a batch of "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day."  Tonight, I bake.

Grinding wheat.  I haven't ground wheat since before we moved.

Pathetically, peeling carrots.  I went to the grocery store today and bought another bag of carrots.  Then I came home and peeled the old bag, relieved that carrots survive in the crisper drawer so long despite my neglect.

Next up, some yard work!

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.

Canning Strawberries

In an attempt to move away from preserving fruit only in the form of jam, I've been buying and juicing lemons to make strawberry lemonade concentrate.

Par for the course, the yield was lower than predicted in the book (5 pints and 1 1/2 pint instead of 6 pints).  My stick (immersion) blender that was such a labor saver in making the tomato sauce saved me more dishes again. Ah, I am really glad I have it!  I like that the bulk of the seeds have migrated to the top, as that should make them easy to skim off when I'm ready to reconstitute it.  We have a few delicious possibilities for these jars: use for freezer pops, cold juice in the summer, or mixed with ginger ale or tonic water for a more exciting drink.

Then, because I was going to be heating the canner anyway, I decided to make batch of strawberry vanilla jam.  Next year, I'll try the strawberry balsamic jam, and the next year, I'll try lemony strawberry jam.  It's easy to buy plain jam in the store, so I might as well use my time to make more creative jams.  8 pints (the suggested yield) of delicious jam are now waiting eating and gifting this winter!

All of the strawberries were picked/purchased in the spring, cut up in the appropriate measure for the recipe, and frozen.  Except for the little excitement of a river of thawing strawberry juice on the kitchen floor this morning, freezing the strawberries pre-measured was a great time saver today.  Probably not next year, but the year after we hope to have a large enough strawberry bed to provide our own berries!

Still on the docket for canning, I'll make blueberry jam and blueberry lime jam.  Just not today, or tomorrow either!

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

Canning Adventures

Belatedly, as this took place in early July...

Cucumbers shredded for relish

Onions cleaned, to be diced for relish

Dye for lime pickles

First round of cherries being washed.  36 lbs total

Various pitting tools...
We broke the spring-loaded pitter, and in the breaking decided how we would completely redesign it.
By the end, we were pretty efficient with knives.

No words...

My first canning casualty, it exploded promptly on being placed in the canner.
What a sticky mess!

End of the day...
Many, many jars of sweet cherries in light syrup
One batch of lime pickles
One batch of relish.

Onions were grown at Purgatory Ranch.  Pickles came from our in town garden or (mostly) from our good friends.

With gratitude to the friends who picked up the cherries, cut the onions, and pitted the lion's share of cherries (this includes James!), I declare we had a successful canning day, even for the two pregnant women involved.

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

Leftover Lemons

It's going to take many more lemons than I thought to make strawberry lemonade concentrate.  In the meantime, before I buy the 30+ lemons I still need, I wanted to show you what I did with the lemon left after juicing...

You should always wash your lemons first... and removing the peel might be easier before rather than after juicing, but I didn't think of this before, and it wasn't too bad.

Remove the peel from your lemon.  Only the yellow, not the white, please, as it is bitter.

If you are a sensible person, you might boil your peel in 1/2 c. water and 1/2 c. vodka to remove impurities or wax, but since the directions don't say to discard the boiling liquid, I would assume your impurities are still in the final product, so I didn't boil.

For every one lemon's peel, add 1/2 c. vodka.  Shake up bottle and store in a dark place.

Lemon extract!

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

The week in review

We visited the land on Sunday since our neighbor Uncle Bruce had called to say he found a solution to our uncapped well.

Who knew a rusted out chicken feeder would fit so perfectly?

Today, at the store for a few fresh essentials, I discovered canning lids in the CLEARANCE section!  At 60% off, almost 360 lids, which should safely take care of next fall's canning (unless Myle and I get REALLY adventurous)!

I seem to have trouble getting the Barn Hop picture (again).  See what other homesteads have accomplished this week.

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