FarmerDenise's journal - full on harvest time = busy, busy, busy

[FarmerDenise]

In the past we got our plants in the ground end of May or so. We always hasd to wait to get the field plowed.
BIL brought his tractor by last night and showed SO how to run it this morning. The field is done! It is such a great feeling.
We sectioned a good portion off for the goat pasture. The grass in there is nice and lush. We figure on cutting it a bit at a time and drying it for hay. I might even plant some of the goat pasture to grains for the goats.

After the field got disked, SO decided to go to the good neighbor and weed whack his front yard. It really needed it. While we were out there the Good Neighbor stepped out, he was limping badly. His knee hads been bothering him so much, he could barely make it down the stairs. I ended up helping him feed his chickens.
I promised the neighbor that I would come back and rake his grass for him. He wants to use it for his goats and chickens.
While I was helping SO weed whack the neighbor's yard, I spotted a cute turtle sandbox. I am going to see if I can get it for the grand baby.

I just took the lemon bars out of the oven. Mmmm, they smell sooo good.
Now I get to go and feed the critters.

 

[FarmerDenise]

The grandson is growing by leaps and bounds. DD changed his formual to an organic one. He is definitely tolerating it much better. We are all adjusting to having him around.
When he comes over, I take him out to meet and greet the critters. He loves the leaves best

This morning I am taking a break from chores to catch up on the forum.

I have a big pot of turkey broth in the works. It is still in the fridge this morning. I plan on removing the meat from the bones and then putting the liquid and the bones back on the stove to simmer some more. I want to get all the goodness out of those bones.
Depending on how tender the meat is, I will use it for human food and some willno doubt be made into dog food.

SO is beginning to catch onto the "saving" aspect of being self sufficient. The last few times he cooked, he asked if I wanted the liquid from cooking asparagus and potatoes. Which I did.

Last night we had a turkey roast for dinner. When SO had shot a turkey a few weeks ago I took 1/2 the breast meat, butterflied it a bit, put a mess of seasoning on it and rolled it up like a roast and froze it. Last night I covered it with bacon strips and baked it. Yum!!! It still had some tough pieces in it, but we just cut those out and fed them to the dog, so even the dog got a meal out of it.

The night before I used 3 pieces of turkey breast and made a casserole. I had taken the other half of the turkey breast and cut it into "steaks" and packaged them 3 to a bag. I had been really busy that day and forgot to take something out of the freezer for dinner. So I took out a bag of the turkey steaks and tried to cut them into smaller bits. That didn't work, so I left them on the counter to thaw, while I prepared the rest of the casserole.
I gathered frozen whole tomatoes, a big bag of frozen green pepper strips, frozen cooked black beans, fresh garlic, onions, and herbs from the garden. I chopped up all the frozen vegies, cut up the garlic and onions, and added lots of herbs. I used all ingredients that I might use to make a tomato sauce. I also added about 1/2 cup of cooked black beans.
By the time I had finished, the turkey was thawed enough for me to cut it into small strips. I sauteed it in some olive oil, just to brown it. about that time I found out that stepson and girlfriend would be joining us for dinner. I got a can of chicken meat and added it to the turkey. I placed the browned meat in a casserole. Then I briefly cooked all the vegies. I poured them over the top of the meat. There was plenty of liquid, so I did not cover the casserole. I baked it for about 45 minutes. By that time the liquid had cooked off. I served it with pasta and cheese.
I was so glad SO had frozen those tomatoes last fall. These were from our first harvest and I left for a visit with my parents soon after. SO did not want them to go to waste and just set the boxes in the freezer. The peels came of real easy, when I put the frozen tomatoes in a bowl of hot water. They were also very easy to chop up, while they were still frozen.

Now I better get off to do some work.

 

[framing fowl]

Hey FD! I always love catching up on your journal. You are always so creative in how you stretch your resources. Definitely an inspiration. Have a great weekend!

 

[abifae]

Those meals sound great. I will have to see about freezing tomatoes this year I do have a spare freezer.

 

[Dace]

Nice to see you around FD!

Your meals sound great
It is good that your SO is starting to pay more attention.....men can be a little slow sometimes :/

Abi....I used to keep a big ziplock in the freezer and whenever I had a few too many tomatoes, I would toss the extras into the bag. They were always great to cook with or to make up some fresh hot sauce

 

[Farmfresh]

I freeze as I pick until I get enough for a big canning day. It also works with the picked green tomatoes at the end of the summer. I let them ripen naturally under the roof window on my old plastic picnic table and then freeze those we do not eat as they ripen. When the last is ripe I usually do a big batch of marina sauce and can that.

 

[FarmerDenise]

FF, I love your tomato pic. That is probably as many tomatoes as we froze last year. After our first picking, the crop developed weird spots and we had to toss most of it.

I had granson yesterday, today and will have him tomorrow and monday. He sure keeps me on my toes. It is very hard to get anything done. I managed with the help of stepson's girlfriend.

I got some weeding done in the front yard with Cecilia's help. Cecilia is one of my favorite chickens, who has recently gone lame.

I brought the incubator into the house to clean it, but haven't done that yet, but at least I did get the bathroom cleaned. I also pulled more weeds from under the electric goat fence. The goats were so happy to have my company today.

I did manage to make a batch of yogurt and some cookie dough. We decided not to color easter eggs, but rather to make cut-out cookies and decorate them.

I had to go to DD's today and let her dogs out. She and hubby are taking a little overnight holiday. While I was waiting for her dogs to do their thing in the backyard, I picked some greens for my goats.
When I got back home, I shared those greens with the rabbit and the goats. I also added some rosemary trimmings as an aditional treat for everyone.

By then I was starving and tired. I ended up making whole wheat spaghetti, and melted a lot of butter, to which I added a lot of chopped garlic and some dried basil. I poured it over the spaghetti and added lots of parmesan cheese. I also cooked up two jars of green beans. It was a nice and simple dinner. Everyone was surprised at how good it was, even though we didn't have any meat.

Now I am too tired to bake cookies, but at least the dough is done and we can make them tomorrow.

The baby is staying with us tonight, since DD and hubby are on their little getaway. He is sleeping now. I hope he sleeps pretty well tonight

Now I will do a little cleanup and relax, maybe read a little.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Today is granson's 8 week birthday! He sure keeps me busy.

Yesterday we wanted to pant a whole mess of seeds, but SO had somehow done a number on his back and had to quit after planting a row of carrots and 4 holes of summer squash. I had to take over on his chores for the rest of the day.

fortunately DGS had a dr apt today and I did not have to babysit. I ran errands today. I even went to the Grocery Outlet, since I had to be close by to return library books. I was still shocked by the prices. I only bought a little bit of cheese, since it was so expensive, but we have been without cheese for some time. Even SO is beginning to see that I had good sense in getting the goats. Even if it will be more work, at least we will have milk and the ability to make our own cheese for our own consumption. And of course, hopefully we will be able to sell or barter some of it.

Today I fed the chickens goats and rabbit with lettuce leaves the good neighbor brought over yesterday and with broomcorn we grew and weeds I pulled. In the evening they all got some storebought feed.
The good neighbor came over to ask me some advice on a chicken foot injury. After my errands I went over to look at it. I think his chicken has bumble foot. I brought it back to my house to treat it. He just doesn't have the neccessary stuff to treat it. and he always takes care of us, so I wanted to take care of his chicken.

I soaked it in epson salts, rinsed it in betadine solution and put it in a cage with water and food. I also gave it some rescue remedy. I will check on her in a little while and see what else I can do. Mostly I think rest is what is needed. And I will check my sources on bumblefoot.

I have been treating my goats Blossom and Flower for lungworm. They are not getting rid of their cough. We also keep getting rain. I am concerned, because I am quite sure Blossom is pregnant and I don't want this to affect the pregnancy.

I better go and figure out what to fix for dinner. I am tired and SO is in so much pain, he can't do much of anything.
I think I'll make baked potatoes with gouda cheese and I have to see if we have enough asparagus outside for a meal.

 

[TanksHill]

Sorry about your SO back. It makes everything so hard when you have a bad back.

Spring sure has sprung. All kinds of things taking off down here.

Bumblefoot? I guess that's one more thing I will have t google and learn about.

I keep thinking tat I need to bite the bullet and get some goats. Even if I have to pay for a second freshener. What I am paying for raw milk for my kids is ridiculous. If dh know what I was spending he would kill me. Or maybe buy me a goat.

Are you using the Ivomec to treat the lung worm? Just wondering.

g

 

[FarmerDenise]

It is such a lovely day today. Our front yard has flowers popping up color all over. You can't help but smile when you go out there.

SO's back is still killing him. I think it is his sciatic nerve shooting pains down to his feet. I have been using reflexology foot chart to massage his feet, giving him pain meds and relaxing meds and fishoil and bananas anything else I can think of. He finally got 4 solid hours of sleep last night. I hope he gets better soon, because I am so tired of listening to his whining and of course I hate to know he really is in pain.

Trying to keep up with everything while I babysit DGS and with SO being incapacitated and not much help from DSS is not easy. I am managing though.

Our sweet corn is up as are the blue lake beans and the cranberry beans. Potatoes are coming up too. And the strawberries are turning red. I have to make sure I cover them today or tomorrow.

At the moment I am taking a break. SO fell asleep in his recliner in front of the tv. I don't dare shut it off, nor do I dare clean up the easter decorations, that are in the living room.
I went to TJ's and spent my last $17 on wine, cheese and pistachio nuts. I am enjoying the wine as I am typing

I made venison soup yesterday. I had spent about 3 hours trimming the assorted meat that was in the big ziplock bag. I am giving the parts, we can't eat to the dog. She loves it. I marinated the meat in milk overnight. DSS's girlfriend's parents had given us a mess of carrots and potatoes. I put them in and also some of our own frozen tomatoes along with other goodies. I also used a jar of my venison broth that I made a while back. So the soup didn't require much in the way of storebought stuff. And it is very healthy.

It is kind of bland. I had considered giving some to DD and her hubby... she doesn't like hot stuff and he doesn't eat much salt. But then I decided today to just can the remainder. So for tonights meal we will have venison stew, but I plan on spicing it up a bit. I picked some greens in the garden, which I already added to the storebought salad mix and we'll have a salad and I have bread rising.

I hope to can the remaining venison soup/stew tomorrow.

We have been using the broomcorn seeds and the millet to extend the feed for our animals. I also keep gathering weeds and assorted greens for them. Anything I can to stretch out the storebought stuff.

Now I am going back outside, to spend time with my goats, and maybe plant something else.