Plowing

 Saturday, "plowing day," in three parts.

Part I, 8 am delivery of 6 tons of compost at less than $15 a ton.  It was chilly, in the 30s, but once we started working, I had to take off my winter coat.

6 tons of compost.

Preparing to sell our mower, as we have no tractor for it currently.

After Mike the compost guy left, we began felling red cedars.  Why, you might ask?  Red cedars are considered a noxious week and make it hard for us to plow up larger plots for our food.  When we bought the land over two years ago, the previous owners had cut and burned the largest of the cedars.  Our original plan had been to burn our front 20 acres, thus killing all the cedars and any other not-so-pleasant undesirables, but county regulations had other things to say.  Since we are within a mile of an air strip, we are not allowed to burn.

Plan B?  Axes and bow saws.  Next time, I'm using loppers.

Excellent camouflage, no?

Our tree hauler!

Early in our tree piling, before James used it as a resting place,
 only to discover I had also been cutting down honey locusts!
(Ouch!)

 Unfortunately, I failed to snap a picture of James as he felled cedars with one blow.

The end of the pile, over 100 trees.

 Intermission, we attended a nearby auction when we learned that the man with the plow would not arrive until 12:30.  It should be noted that we (James in particular) are not to be trusted alone at most auctions.  Last time, we bought a tractor that nearly killed James.

This time, being more prudent, we only bought a tool box and a fence post driver.  (I really appreciate the Google search engines for things like this.  Fence post driver?  We called it all kinds of things as I didn't know its proper name!)

Part II, in which I fail to take pictures of the tilling.  My dad asked that we plow this year, as our heavy clay needs to be broken up, but he found a man who thought we only needed tilling (again... James still maintains we never needed to plow) since the ground was soft from all the rain.

Wow.  The two plots look amazing.

Supervising the plowing and assisting with his own hoe.
Doesn't the drive look lovely with gravel?!

 After plowing, we showed the girls how to plant sprouted potatoes left from last year's harvest.  It will be their own little garden to care for, and will hopefully keep them busy!

Next week, planting!  We have 6 varieties of potatoes, including All-Blue.  We're going to make a party of it!

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

Dryer Free Month

I didn't turn on my dryer this winter until November 30.  Thank God I was using it during the Great Vomit, as I think in the space of a week and a half, I washed 12 or more loads of laundry.

At the end of December, I realized certain members of my family were still operating under the delusion that I didn't use my dryer, so I decided to try not using it again for all of January.  After all, I had strung lines in the basement and received a new drying rack for Christmas.

It turned out, other than timing loads and the necessity of washing each and every day, it was no more labor intensive than throwing the clothes in the dryer.  Certain clothes belonged on hangers and the rest required folding, regardless of how they dried.

I did learn to throw in a load every night, or, at the latest, first thing in the morning.  I had to be prompt about hanging up clothes and turning on a fan at night if clothes weren't drying fast enough.  We've had an incredibly mild winter, so between a lack of dryer use and lower heating costs, the gas bill is half of last years'.  If the winter were colder, our basement would be chillier, which might make it difficult for me to keep up.

Now to see how long before I turn it on next...

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.

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.

End of the Year

And we have been absent, but not idle.

Rain continues to fall on Purgatory Ranch, giving us a full pond for the first time in two years.

Isn't the ice beautiful?

Did you know that you can't but a cap for 8" PCV pipe around here?  6" will have to do, and we only capped the inner pipe.  It's a good thing Uncle Bruce came through and figured out a way to cap the pipe after we left.

Adventures in Luffa

Or loofah, as you please.

These long-season plants, similar to cucumbers, grow MILES.  This year, our second in attempting to grow them, finally proved to be a success.  Their flowers are beautiful and attracted lots of bees in the fall.

I think I might have waited too long to begin peeling mine, but I had tried to peel another and was too quick, so I decided to be good and sure!  

We chose the floor for our peeling experiment because it was MESSY.  Here, the kids are picking out the seeds so we can try again next year!

She's so proud of herself for gathering seeds (and she closed her eyes on purpose).

Bear Cub Q wanted a picture taken too.

The leftovers.  It's supposed to be easier to peel than this, if you peel earlier,

but I didn't know that until after the fact.

I will be washing it next, and bleaching if necessary.

If you would like some seeds, please leave your email.  I'd be willing to send out a few envelopes of 10 seeds for anyone who would send me a SASE.

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

Homemade Chili Powder

This year, I had plenty of chilis, so I made a double batch.  If you want a smaller amount, cut the ingredients in half!

2 c. dried chilis
We use any kind of dried pepper.  The hotter the peppers, the hotter the powder.
Last year, I made a pretty mild version, using plenty of bell peppers, but, since the the peppers are fresh instead of having sat on a grocery store shelf for a while, the taste is still much stronger than I was used to from my old chili powder!  Use at your own risk.

2 t. paprika
2 T. dried oregano
4 T. garlic powder

4 T. toasted cumin seeds
(toast over medium high heat, shaking frequently)

Throw in the blender until a fine powder is formed.
Please don't open it for a little bit, or all these fine particles will be in your eyes instead of
in the blender, and you don't want that!  (Neither do I!)

On the left, remnants of last year's batch.
I used more green peppers, so you can see it has a more greenish cast.

I'm looking forward to trying it!

I *think* this is based on an Alton Brown recipe I found last year, but since I didn't note it on my recipe card, I'm just not sure!  Check out other homestead blogs on the Barn Hop at Homestead Revival.

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