Family – Page 8 – Cabin Crafted

Sunday Olio – July 31, 2022

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things.

What a busy week. At least the later half. On Thursday, hubby and I drove to mid South Carolina to pick up the two local grands from their other grandparents who drove them up from Florida that far. Daughter was unable to go get them and they needed a place to stay for a few days so they came home with us. They are now 10 and 15. On Friday, we took the 15 year old to take his learner’s permit test, which he passed and came out with a brand new learner’s permit. He mowed for us that afternoon after he and I determined that the mower had not broken the belt, just jumped it from the pulleys. I don’t know if it is stretched or if the repair shop made an adjustment while replacing the drive cable, but as long as you turn off the motor prior to disengaging the drive belt, it stays in place.

Saturday, he was given a lesson on driving the real tractor and did great, but after several starts and stops as we were using the height of the tractor to trim back some branches overhanging the driveway, it suddenly would not engage in any gear. It is parked in front of the barn until I can troubleshoot the issue, hoping it is something his size 13 feet kicked getting on or off. We did get the branches trimmed by using the seat of the riding mower, me pulling down on the branch to lower it enough for him to cut it. This was done after we all walked at the pond. It is great having a teenage boy around that is willing to work with grandmom to get things done I can’t do by myself and to have someone who enjoys riding the riding mower get the grass done.

They were taken home early this afternoon and daughter presented me with a gallon bag of jalapenos. Her’s are larger and more prolific than mine at this point. Once home after hubby and I walked in the rain for the 4th time this week, a basket of softball sized peaches was picked from our tree and canning commenced.

First up were the peppers. I process them two ways. First is to pierce them, pack them in a jar with a little oregano, a tablespoon of salt, and pour hot vinegar over them. They then sit out until cooled and are put in the refrigerator to pickle over the next couple of weeks. The other way is to make them shelf stable, by doing basically the same thing, but while still hot, water bath canning them so they seal.

There were about 2 1/2 pounds of Amish paste tomatoes that had been picked yesterday and they were next. Blanched and peeled, seasoned, cooked down, packed in jars for pizza sauce and they were water bath canned.

Nine of the huge peaches were blanched, peeled, chopped in the food processor, and made into Peach jam with Sriracha, which makes a great cream cheese topping with crackers or meat glaze. The peaches cooked while dinner was prepared and eaten and then the jam was packed in jars and canned.

Total for the day: 1 quart refrigerator pickled jalapenos, 5 pints canned pickled jalapenos, 4.5 half pints pizza sauce, 8.5 half pints Peach jam with Sriracha.

Several days ago, one of the Easter egger hens decided to be broody. She was put in “Purgatory” aka isolation on Thursday and released late this afternoon. She went straight back to a nesting box and parked. She is back in purgatory for another 2 or 3 days to cool her off. All of the hens are beginning to molt already and their pen is beginning to look like a pillow fight occurred in there and out in the yard where they wander during the day.

The monthly spinning challenge ended today with me finding all 31 scavenger hunt items and posting the daily picture with my spindle and the item. Though I didn’t spin as much this month as usual, I needed 62 grams spun and did about double that. The blue on the scale was used partially for the visible mending on my wool hoodie, and the white is more than half used on the tribute hat for my friend, so more spun than the scale shows.

Next month’s challenge has been posted and will begin tomorrow with the spinning for it.

During the week, while looking for a library book online, I saw the monthly selection for July was “The Girl in His Shadow” which was a great book sending me to the sequel “The Surgeon’s Daughter.” Both excellent historical fiction books set in the early 1800’s in England. If you are looking for a good book, I recommend both, but the second, the sequel should be saved til the first is read.

Hail! Hail! The hay is down.

What a whirlwind last 5 days. Son 2 and family returned from their RV trip and spent about 24 hours with us, including a birthday party for two of their daughters, a “bonfire” (not very big), and a hive inspection. It looks like maybe two hives are queenright, frames shifted to help population and add brood and queen cells to the other two. If they don’t make their own queen, I will have to seek out a local source. We have a huge beekeepers association, and at least a couple of them raise queens for sale.

Later the night they arrived, Son 1 arrived for his delayed birthday weekend and our time with him was wonderful. Lots of good food, hikes and walks, enjoying his presence. He got to kayak with a friend, mountain bike ride all three days, and do some stone masonry work on the patio which is now finished from the house outward. The last 5 or 6 feet still need some leveling and puzzle placing some smaller rocks to finish it out. Then he and I will move the remaining small rocks to the inside edge of the stone wall and we will order soil and mulch to fill the garden. Since Huck’s coop, the old chicken tractor that blew over about a year ago, was sitting on a cedar post raft on flat stones, he disassembled the raft and moved those stones over to fill in spaces. That leave the broken frame to be disassembled, the hardware cloth saved and the rotting wood put in the burn pile once the screws and staples are removed. We don’t want them in the grass where they might end up in a mower or tractor tire.

He was driven to the bus back to the train at 5 this morning, but will return to help his brother make repairs on the roof of the RV next weekend if the materials arrive by then.

The plum tree is producing a small amount of fruit for the first time. The little plums are delicious. I may save the remaining ones as the last ones ripen to make a small batch of plum jam.

When we returned from a late afternoon walk, there were two big tractors with hay mowers taking down the hay. I guess tomorrow they will tedder, rake, and bale it. It isn’t the latest they have done it, but approaching it. I’m glad it is down. I like watching it blow, but once it dries and turns golden, it isn’t long before it falls over and ceases being useful.

Purgatory

The hens are 2 1/2 years old and laying has significantly fallen off the cliff. Only about half as many per week as a year ago, plus this summer, they are taking turns being broody that also slows production. The first hen to go broody was a Buff Orpington and trying to wait her out was unsuccessful. She sat for 5 weeks. Without a broody cage, the only solution that came to mind was to put her in the Chicken Palace, a large A-frame coop made from scrap wood and extra roofing material that was going to be for meat chickens. It has never really been used that way, but is used to isolate old hens when new pullets are ready to go to the coop. It has proved a good purgatory for a broody hen to be isolated for 3 days and 3 nights with food, water, and an old homemade ladder to perch on, but no nesting boxes. It worked with her and when late last week another Buff went broody, she was immediately removed to Purgatory for three days and three nights. She was freed Tuesday night, just in time for an Easter Egger to go broody beginning last night. Tonight, she was put in there to begin her cooling off period.

She is most unhappy with her current situation, but if left alone, she would just encourage more copycat behavior.

Early in the week, we had two of our grandchildren for two nights. They are 10 and 15, so old enough to do adventures with. We took them to the Amish store in Whitegate for the best sandwiches that are huge and relatively inexpensive, then a few more miles to Dismal Falls or Falls of Dismal depending on which sign you see. Last time we were there, almost no water was going over the falls, but there was still a swimming hole. This time, a lot of water was spilling down, very, very cold water. Still not as much as photos show, but still very pretty. Though none of us were brave enough to actually swim, we all waded, and granddaughter managed to dunk fully under once.

An AT thru hiker and I debated whether this was a water snake or a copperhead. I didn’t want to get close enough to see if it had pits, but it did have the hourglass markings. The hiker thought it was a water snake. At any rate, he knocked it off the log with a trekking pole and it went downstream.

Tonight a thunderstorm passed to the south down the river, producing a lot of cloud to ground lightening that I tried to capture with a photo unsuccessfully, but the storm light made the still standing hay look red.

Even though it didn’t pass over us, hopefully it will cool the 92 degree day down. Tomorrow is still very hot and Saturday is supposed to be 16 degrees cooler, a welcome relief after this week. Our hay is still standing, the deer are eating the lower branch tips on all the fruit trees, the potted plants on the porches and back garden are requiring daily watering.

The garden still has no cucumbers and few sunflowers, corn is beginning to show. More cucumbers and sunflowers were started today on the back deck. The heat is going to wipe out the peas, but the beans are beginning to flower. The potato plants are beginning to die back, so a storage plan needs to be decided on soon.