Moolie - Happy Thanksgiving :)

[moolie]

Saw the critter again when I was out pulling (50 lbs of) carrots:

Up till today I was the only one who'd actually seen him, but now my daughter and hubs have also seen him, and hubs is totally on board with getting rid of him--hubs was ready to smack him with the shovel but he got away too quickly. Next time, rodent!

 

[FarmerJamie]

Offer the critter some gum!

 

[snapshot]

That's a lot of carrots! Good luck with the critter removal!

 

[moolie]

Got the critter

Flushed him out of his hole near the corn with the water hose and hubs just grabbed him with work gloves on. He was actually pretty easy to catch. Turns out he's a Pocket Gopher, not a Prairie Vole. We popped him into a bucket and drove him 5 miles out into the prairie and dumped him by the road. The kids felt it was more fair that way than just bopping him with a shovel, and mouse traps just weren't big enough to do the job.

He's probably hawk food by now, we saw lots of raptors on our drive out hunting.

Just hoping he was the only one, going to keep an eagle eye on the garden over the next while...

 

[so lucky]

He's so cute! couldn't you just make a pet out of him?

 

[Denim Deb]

He's so cute! couldn't you just make a pet out of him?

My thoughts exactly. But, he probably wouldn't be happy as a pet.

 

[moolie]

Nope, he's a wild thing and belongs in the wild. He was only here because we live so close to the edge of the city and he found food in our yard. He's either happier where he is living now, or some hawk or falcon is happy to have found him for dinner.

Busy busy weekend but got lots accomplished. Lots of canning done, over 60 lbs of carrots pulled and put away (some is in sand buckets in the basement, some is in the fridge waiting to be made into more soup and stew for canning, and some got eaten fresh with dinners this weekend.

Frost predicted for tonight, so we'll be out getting sheets and blankets over the gardens to protect the tomatoes, peppers, celery, pumpkins, cukes etc. Not sure how frost tolerant the Floriani Red Flint Corn is, way too big to cover (some is about 7' tall) so it will just have to fend for itself. Over half the corn has flowered/tassled and we have lovely baby ears of corn growing

 

[moolie]

Back to school today, back to menu planning and a more regular schedule

For most of the summer we've been eating salads (with cold home canned meat/beans), "breakfast for dinner" type meals, pasta with tomato/squash/meat sauce from time to time, and occasionally burgers or chicken on the bbq. The nights have cooled off considerably and now that we're getting back into our fall routine, I'm also feeling like some hearty dishes for dinners.

So here's what's coming up for September:

I didn't bother with Sept. 1 because we were at a wedding on Saturday and had a lovely buffet that included 4 kinds of salads, whole grain buns with butter, veggies & dip, cheese tray, roast potatoes, a lovely baked squash medley that included orange/yellow/zuke squashes, and Prime Rib. I never have the beef at weddings because I don't like pink in my meat, but the rest (especially the baked squashes) was lovely!

 

[Denim Deb]

Think I'm coming over to your house to eat. That looks good.

 

[moolie]

Lol, you are welcome any time

The freezer is full, and the pantry is getting close, so I don't need to go shopping for a long while at the moment.