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

[Farmfresh]

I hear that. As much as I LOVE my turkey even I am tired of it two meals a day now since Thursday.

Tonight I dug down in the freezer and we had ribeye steaks w/sauteed mushrooms, potatoes and squash. Tasted darned good too.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Well, I didn't take very many pictures of the wedding, I was a little busy keeping other things flowing. The pictures I took did not turn out very well do to the fact the the trees cast shadow on everyone and everything. So, sorry folks --- no wedding pictures

 

[lorihadams]

Wow, hope things get better soon, I know all about the credit card situation. It sucks. What if you moved out of state, maybe closer to your parents?

 

[FarmerDenise]

I ended up having to rescue our produce that we have stred on the back porch, because the rats have discovered some of it. So I spent the morning sorting through the peppers and the tomatoes and brought them into the house. I also had to finish removing the seed from the sunflower seeds, so I could store them in a covered bucket and I brought the remaining bushel basket of pop corn int he house.
Those rats are doing some serious damage to the persimmons in our tree as well. So I am going to pick as many as I can tomorrow and they too will have to be stored in the house.

Guess what our winter decoration is this year. All that stored food in bushel baskets and cardboard flats all over the place

The house is cold enough, so the stuff should store well. We are not turning the heater on, because we cannot afford to pay the power company. We can't use the woodstove, because birds nested in the chimney and the chimney now needs to be cleaned before we can use the stove.

Fortunately we have a fireplace in the back porch, so I had that going today, while I worked in there. We usually like to work there anyway, because it is ok to make messes and we are closer to the outside and the animals.

Now I am ready to sip some hot tea and watch a little tv with SO.

 

[FarmerDenise]

They are promising a "big" rainstorm. So we are doing what we can to prepare. Yesterday turned into a beautiful sunny day and we decided to go fishing.
It was so nice and peaceful at the lake. The dam was empty of the usual group of guys fishing and drinking and getting louder and louder as the time went by. SO and I just sat at our usual spot and tossed our lines out and watched the lake.
The hills surrounding the lake reflecting in the water. The trees still have a lot of their color. One particularly bright red tree provided the perfect contrast. A pair of ducks in their fine bright new winter plumage came paddling toward our spot, then swerved into the tule grass to my left. There even were a pair of pelicans. I couldn't believe my eyes, I had to ask SO to take his eyes off his fishing poles and take a look.
We didn't catch anything, but it was a nice peaceful interlude.

When we got home we had to do our usual chores of feeding and bedding down the animals.
I baked some doggy treats for the christmas fund raiser at our Humane Society. Of course I had to test them out on our Spike. She even did a pirouette for me. I figured that meant she "really" likes them. SO and stepson made a large batch of toll house cookies.

This morning I packaged both up nicely and made some nice tags and brought them to the Humane Society. It was looking nice and festive. I always enjoy these fundraisers. I stayed for a little while chatting with the other volunteers and some of the staff, then I reluctantly pulled myself away and went home.
Upon arriving home I was pleased to see one of SO's aunts and uncle. They had come to get some persimmons from us. We had a nice time chatting with them for a while. Then we ran a few errands.

I managed to get the gutters on my house cleaned. It is such a lovely view from the top of my roof. Then I came back and taped up my storage tent. It is starting to trear in a few places. I wanted to put an old sail on top of it, but I could not lift the sail, which is at my DD's house. SO suggested we try to put one of the tarps we have around over the part that is tearing. I also covered up the boxes inside the tent with old vinyl table cloths. Then we got interrupted by more visitors and never finished that job.
Stepson offered to help me stack wood in the back porch and I gladly took him up on that offer. I also suggested that "we" re-stack the larger pieces of wood so they would not be on the ground and he did that job also.

Just as I was going to lock up the chickens, I noticed a lot of almost ripe tomatoes on the vines and the sky was awfully clear. I figured I had better pick them, because it just might get frosty tonight. I ended up with quite a nice basket full.

Then I started to gather craft items for the craft kit I am putting together for my nieces. I have to look through the craft book again and get some more ideas of what to put in the box. I hope to mail it off this coming week. I don't want to buy anything, but I have a lot of craft supplies and the book is for nature crafts. So I am sure I will get the box filled up with some fun things for the nieces to do.

For dinner I sauteed up a little bit of sausage, zucchini, onion, garlic and peppers (all from the garden still), added some tomato sauce that I canned and cooked up some nice whole wheat spaghetti. For desert we had leftover homemade apple sauce and homemade cup cakes. the cupcakes were from a mix, but SO and stepson like them and they are easy.

My little kitty is calling. I think he is saying it is bedtime.

 

[delia_peterson]

FD, what recipe do you use for your doggie treats? I think that is neat what you do for the Humane society.

 

[FarmerDenise]

The recipe I used for the doggie treats was super easy.

1/2 cup rolled oats

6 tbs Oil...................(I used canola oil)

2 cups flour ............(I used white flour, because that's all I had, I would have preferred to use whole wheat flour)

2/3 cups broth ........(I used crab broth, because I had just made some from the crab shells we had for dinner the other night. I was using the broth to soak the bread I feed the chickens)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together well. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Use a little flour, if the dough sticks to the rolling pin or the surface. Cut into desired shapes. Bake 35-40 minutes, let cool and store in tighly sealed container.

These look really yummy, several people have wanted to try them. We almost let them

I like working with our local Humane Society. They do not get any funding from the ASPCA. They are funded solely by local donations. They are a no kill shelter and the building is really nice and the rooms for the animals are nice. Volunteers are trained to work with the animals. They rely heavily on volunteers, more so this year, because of the economy.
They also have several nice programs for kids, including one called "Forget-me-not-Farm", where they permanently shelter farm animals and have children that have been neglected and or abused come out and work with these animals.
I hope to work at this farm at some time in the future.

 

[delia_peterson]

"Forget Me Not Farm" sounds awesome. You got me thinking about volunteering at an animal shelter..thats where I got Layla-my black lab/greyhound mix. Thank you for the recipe also..

 

[FarmerDenise]

I also posted the recipe in the kitchen - recipe section.

Our dog is part lab and possibly part whippet, we were told she might be part pitbull, but she just doesn't really look it. She runs like a greyhound though, but she is smaller, so I am thinking whippet. We fostered her and then decided to adopt her, since she fits so well on our farm. We got her at about 7+ weeks. She was just weaned from the bottle by another foster parent.

 

[delia_peterson]

lol, Layla totally runs like a greyhound. My friends and family are always amazed to see how fast she goes. I take her and Pig (beagle mix) to the beach once a week so she can just run, and after 20 mins or so Pig gets tired,comes and sits with me and we just watch her for another hour or so.