Tonight I heard something that we've all been waiting for ... David came running in and informed me, "Mom, the corn's ready!" Whew, we were afraid it would not be ripe before we had a heavy frost. We've already had a few light frosts, but more in the valley and not up where the gardens are situated. We have so much left to do before winter, and I hope we can get it all done.
Tomorrow is my big day for baking bread, buns, muffins, etc. for the Saturday farmer's market in town. The boys sell garden produce, and I have gotten into the act by selling baked goods. I still can hardly believe that people no longer do their own baking, but are willing to buy it from me. Homemade bread is old hat to our family, but apparently it's quite a novelty for others. I've also been selling strawberry and raspberry jam, wild plum and chokecherry syrup, and may try selling hawthorne jelly. I didn't realize how much pectin is found naturally in hawthorne berries, so it may be a bit thick. We'll have to try out a jar of it in the morning and decide if I should sell it or not.
I also agreed to help out the local retreat center by filling in as cook until they hire a new one. I will start on Sunday, and hope all goes well. Hopefully they will hire someone soon, because I have lots of canning left to do. Our tomatoes are close to being ripe, and I have only canned 7 quarts of them so far.
Jim and the boys have been working on the main floor of our house. They may have the floor between the main and 2nd floor done soon, and we'll see how far we can get before it's too cold to work in there. It sure is nice to at least have storage up there.
I guess David (8) had a little bit of excitement today. When David is around, there's always excitement! Part of his chores is to feed our two pigs. The older boys put together a new pen for them with newly purchased hog panels, and David was trying to get the feed over to the pig's feeding bucket and promptly fell in head first! I am very leery of pigs, since I've heard how mean they can be. The boys quickly informed me that these two pigs love being scratched and are very friendly. Guess I haven't been down there to check them out for a while. All I know is every time I walk to the clotheslines to hang up wet clothes they think my laundry basket is their slop bucket and start squealing!
I would love to show you some photos of all the activity around here, but our digital camera is currently not working.
4 comments:
Oh Lynn, I think of you often my friend. You have your hands full. I have no idea how you are going to add being a cook at a retreat center to your schedule. Don't over do, or then you are not good for anyone or anything and you can get sick besides.
Hi Lynn, Just wanted to say hi and see what ya were all up to. Cheryl was just talkin about hawthorne jelly. Ya got a recipe?
Guy
Sounds like you'll be busy - how you can cook for others on top of farmer's market, canning etc i DO NOT KNOW!
Don't worry about David falling in with the pigs. I go in with our 250lb Berkshires to feed them every day and while you should always be cautious around animals, they aren't usually aggressive without reason. I am careful as the boar is in with the sows, but unless the sows have babies, or they think you are another pig when they can't see you, you can work amongst them without too much fuss. Ben used to have to sort out dozens of pigs when he worked at a pig farm and that requires you to go in with them and physically sort.
I have a soft spot for pigs and how much they love life. :)
Heather
I can't seem to post on Jonathan's latest blog, but I would throw in a push for straw mulch around your potatoes instead of just piling dirt. Less work and NO potato bugs. Plus you can dig the potatoes up really easily - I used to dig them with my hands. They hold moisture in for the potatoes and once I mulched I did no watering, weeding or bug picking. The potatoes that weren't mulched required daily potato bug picking and weeding. Plus they dried out really badly.
Mom and I were sold on it!
Concrete wire also works great for cages instead of staking tomatoes.
Heather
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