The morning is crisp, actually right around freezing right now, but the sun is warming the day back to normal fall weather after our Arctic chill of the weekend. Even on days like this when the sun is out, the little alcove on the south deck is toasty, sheltered from the NW breeze. The view from the porch swing is stunning, though most of the leaves are gone now and the trees bare until spring. It is a great place to sit with a cup of tea and watch the chickens free range and look out for deer and turkey or listen for the hawks call.
The morning chores are done, fresh hay in the coop, chickens fed, their water and the garden hose thawed. I guess I should bring it in for the winter though that makes chicken chores more difficult as I then have to haul the 5 gallons of water from the yard hydrant to their run.
In spite of the shortening days and frigid nights of late, I have another broody girl. She has plucked her breast feathers as the weather chills and I fear for her winter health. She isn’t being allowed to sit eggs, I am removing them several times a day from the coop instead of just at lock down time. I’ve tried removing her repeatedly during the day, set a bag of ice under her, removed her to a perch at night, blocked off her preferred box (she just moves). Today I will dip her backsides in cold water if the temperature rises enough and put her in the meat bird pen alone for the day.
Romeo has nearly finished his molt and doesn’t look nearly as ragged as when he arrived. His neck feathers are glossy and darker than the hens and his tail feathers are coming back in. He isn’t as beautiful as Cogburn was but still a fine looking rooster and calm and nonaggressive toward people.
The greens in the garden perked back up, a mess of them and a roasted pumpkin are on the menu for tonight.
The reknit of the sweater is progressing and last night I ordered yarns for grands sweaters for Christmas.
It looks to be a good first half of the week, perhaps I’ll finally get the garlic planted or there won’t be any next year.
Lovin’ life on our mountain farm.
I thought the pressure canner had been stored away for the year, but then the winter squash started appearing through the jungle of leaves and I realized that I had so much more winter squash than the two of us will ever eat. Mountaingdad likes pumpkin pie at holidays and will tolerate about two small baked pumpkins stuffed with rice, sausage, etc. each winter, but that will hardly put a dent in the harvest. Last night I texted Son#1 and asked for suggestions and he was quick to suggest pumpkin soup, and if I canned it, he would eat a couple quarts a week as he takes his lunch to work with him. This seemed like a splendid idea as soup is my favorite food, if it is not commercially canned soup. We have a local restaurant that always has chili and two soups made fresh at the restaurant and they are unique and rarely duplicated on the menu. In the years we have lived here, I have only gotten one soup there that I did not like so I set out to make a creative pumpkin soup. Here is the recipe, I hope to soon be able to insert my recipes in a printable card, but not yet.
Spicy Pumpkin Soup
5 c cubed, pared raw winter squash or 3 c cooked winter squash
2 1/2 c vegetable stock
1/4 c onion
1 Tbs. oil
1 Tbs. minced ginger
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 Habanero (may be omitted or use a less pungent pepper for a milder soup)
1 1/2 tsp whole cumin
1 tsp whole coriander
1 tsp salt
1 c dried milk
If you use raw squash, cook it in the broth until soft. Blend or puree the cooked squash and put it back in the soup pot. Retain 1 cup in the blender and blend in the milk powder until smooth and creamy.
Toast the cumin and coriander until fragrant and then grind. Saute the onion in the oil until soft but not browned, add the garlic and ginger until softened. (You may use garlic paste and ginger paste as a substitute, but just add it with the ground spices) Add the ground spices and the sauteed onion and stir to blend in. Add the puree with the milk into the soup and bring back to a simmer. It will stick if you let it boil. Yields about 8 cups
I doubled the recipe and the result is slightly spicy and delicious. With two cantaloupe sized pumpkins, I made the 4 quarts of the soup for canning and had just enough left over to savor myself.
I guess it would be a bisque as it is blended smooth and contains milk. My plan is to alter the seasonings with each batch for variety, make and can until I run out of jars again. Son#1 said we could bring down another load from his house when I go pick the up for Thanksgiving and they would help me peel and seed the squash and pumpkins to make more while they are here. It is rather time consuming, peeling and seeding 2 pumpkins, but it occurred to me after I was done that I could have just as easily split and baked them and used the baked flesh instead of boiling it soft, but I do like the flavor the broth added to the soup.
NOTE: canning failure. You can’t can pumpkin puree or soup, just chunks of pumpkin. The soup is in the freezer and will be enjoyed after thawing the jars. Lesson learned, I guess we just can the pumpkin chunks and make our soup later.
Our internet issues seem to be finally resolved, many months and many mistakes later, we are back with our original cell provider and our original internet/phone provider. The lines have been repaired, the speed boosted as much as it can be boosted given our physical distance from the nearest booster from our small community cooperative telephone/internet provider. They also provide cable TV service, but their HD is not HD, so we opt to receive cable elsewhere. Life was so much simpler with an antenna, a house phone line, no internet and no cell phones; cheaper too.
The sweater was ripped out and restarted using a yoke pattern instead of a raglan pattern, the sleeves have been put on waste yarn and the body is being worked slowly. This pattern is from one of Ann Budd’s formula books, so it should fit.
The twisty rib pattern at the top is interesting. Hopefully it will block into a nice yoke for the sweater that is otherwise very plain.
As the sweater has already gotten too bulky to want to tote around with me when I am the car passenger, I finally started the mitts that are made of Unplanned Peacock Superwash Merino in a colorway named for me as it was dyed especially for me to match a skein I purchased from her several years ago and from which I designed and made Ruby Hat (http://goo.gl/yAfQV) and later Ruby Scarf (http://goo.gl/uzjTFo), both free patterns on Ravelry. Ruby Hat is my favorite hat and has its own story, but that is for another day. The mitts are also being made from one of Ann Budd’s formula books to wear with the hat and scarf or just around the house at night when my hands get cold. They are the perfect portable pocket project for the car.
I am frequently amused at questions I get from folks that I know have grown up their entire lives in this rural county. Today, the phone/internet installer saw my chickens wandering about the yard and ask me very innocently if my hens were laying now that the weather is cooling down. My response was yes, except for the one who was molting. I could tell from his expression that he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about and he said his egg production from 10 hens was down to only a couple each day. I asked him how old his hens were and most of them are only about a year and a half old, so experiencing their first molt this season, thus his lack of eggs. He also wasn’t feeding them any calcium, not even giving them back their own shells. He left educated by the city girl with a ziplock sack of crushed oyster shell to free feed his hens and a promise that once their feathers were back in that he would start seeing eggs again. He also was surprised that Son#1 and I could kill and process our culls and meat birds. He said though he could shoot and dress a deer, he wasn’t sure he could do a chicken. Our flock is enjoying their daily freedom to dig in the gardens, to look for bugs and tender blades of grass. When we need them safely away from the dogs or driveway, I just go out like the Pied Piper with my little cup of scratch that I shake and they come running and follow me back to the safety of the electric fence.
The pumpkin vines are dying back more each day and revealing more of the winter squash. I thought that only the Burgess Buttercup survived and that I didn’t get any Seminole pumpkins, but realize that it is a half and half mix, except the pumpkins for the most part haven’t turned tan. The ones that I picked and put on the picnic table are beginning to turn. The wormy ones get split with a hatchet and thrown into the chicken run for them to enjoy. A side benefit is that the seeds are a natural anti parasitic for the chickens. The peppers and tomatillos survived the cold nights predicted in the last post. I am letting the remaining fruits mature until we are threatened again and I will do another harvest. The last batch was made into another 4 pints of Tomatillo/Habanero sauce, the hottest batch yet. Maybe I should change it’s name from XXX to Insanity. I sure can’t eat it, but Son#1 will love it. The Farmers’ Market last week had many vendors of apples. I came home with another peck of mixed crisp red apples and realizing that they would not stay crisp until we finished them all, I used about a third to make another batch of Apple Cranberry Chutney (http://wp.me/p3JVVn-Ja), using 1 cup of honey instead of brown sugar this time. The shelves are full of goodies even after having taken two crates of canned goodness to Northern Virginia on the last two trips to return son and grandson.
Lovin’ life on our mountain farm and continuing to gather knowledge to fight the pipeline.
With two days of beautiful weather, I finished all of the staining that I can reach and with the cooler, wetter weather coming, it may be all that gets done this fall. We will have to finish it this spring. I made up a gallon of the stain mix this morning and the area that was to be done didn’t require that much, so the excess was used to get about 2/3 of the coop “redecorated.” The girls were on a walk-a-bout on the farm, being supervised by Romeo, so it was a good time to get it done. We have a few days of rain due, so the last bit can’t be done for a few days. The year and a half it has been in use, it has gotten very dry and faded. The egg hatch, pop door and side drop window are all made of the same plywood siding as the coop and their exposed edges are really showing wear from the weather. I guess at some point, those three features will have to be replaced with a more weather resistant material.
Coming in, stain covered and worn out, after a thorough clean up, I turned my waning energy to less strenuous tasks. I’m working on one of the sleeves of my sweater, the one that is being knit to go with the Hitchhiker scarf made during the summer.
And an Ouroboros Moebius scarf, a design by a friend Mergaret Radcliff, published in the December 2013, Knit n’ Style magazine. The scarf will be for Son #1 as part of his Christmas gift.
Both projects are pretty mindless knitting at this point.
I’ve looked at “Hot Mess” for enough days that I think the measly 106 yards of tight overspun very fine yarn is going to become a knitted cover for a small sturdy plastic cup to hang from my spinning wheel to hold the machine oil, orifice hook and notions I need when spinning.
Tonight we enjoyed a “gourmet” meal utilizing some of the goodies from this year’s garden. The basic baked pork chops were topped with chutney that I canned, the Roasted veggies a blend of our yellow and white sweet potatoes, garlic, and rosemary added to farmers’ market potato’s, carrots and onions. A farmers’ market salad mix topped with beets, our radish kimchi and goat cheese.
Lovin’ life on our mountain farm.
As the canning season is nearly over, may be over if it really went down to 30ºf last night as predicted, I haven’t checked yet. Yesterday was a day to harvest everything that was ready, do a small canning as I wanted to try two of Marisa McClellan’s recipes for canning small quantities.
Before we had freezers, refrigerators, and pressure canners, food was preserved by smoking, salting or fermenting. The Germans preserved cabbage, the Koreans made Kimchi both using salt and the anaerobic process known as Lacto-fermentation. These products are available, but the raw, unpasteurized products made at home are so much tastier and have more health benefits.
Fermentation on the counter.A basket of tomatillos, assorted peppers, bush beans, too many radishes and lots of greens were brought in, a 2 pint batch of Chunky Tomatillo Salsa made. Quite uncharacteristic for me, I purchased a quart of out of season Strawberries as one of her books has a recipe for strawberry jam made with honey and Thyme that I wanted to try and I made a small batch of that as well. I rarely grow radishes as they all are ready at the same time and you go from famine to feast. I took the surplus and made a quart jar of radish Kimchi then shredded cabbage to start a half gallon of Sauerkraut. The Cider started as vinegar a few days ago is beginning to smell, well like vinegar. Maybe another half gallon of Sauerkraut will be made later. Pickles and sauerkraut used to be made in quantity in large crocks or barrels in the farmhouse basements, the farm cook going down and drawing off what was needed for a meal and the crock re-covered until needed again, lasting until spring vegetables were growing. We usually go through about a gallon each year. The eveningwas finished blanching and freezing the beans and hoping the plants survive the night to give us a few more meals before the real frosts and freezes of autumn arrive.
The tarp on the meat chicken pen was anchored more securely, the peppers and tomatillos covered with light tarps and row cover.
A photo of the pumpkin patch was made to document the wild growth they did in the rich soil of the compost bins.
I’m afraid to venture down to check the thermometer for the low or to peek out to see what survived the night. I am hopeful that we are high enough to avoid the frost pockets that should have formed last night.
are perfect for processing a half bushel of apples. The apples peeled and cored, some chopped fine for applesauce, another 7 1/2 pints canned, others chopped for Apple Cranberry Chutney, 4 pints, 4 pounds pared and sliced and frozen for pies or cobblers during the holiday or when guests arrive. Again I am thankful that I discovered the Peeler/corer tool, but it still took quite a while to prep all the apples and prepare the recipes for canning.
Apple Cranberry Chutney
After trying Marisa McClellan’s Green Tomato Chutney in her book food in jars it seemed that apples would be perfect for a chutney. After looking at various recipes, I created my own that turned a beautiful red color from the blush pink of the Rome Apples and the red skins of the cranberries.
Apple Cranberry Chutney
2 qts. mixed apples, pared, cored, chopped
1 c yellow onion chopped
1 c Cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 c Yellow seedless raisens
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp pickling salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 whole star anise
5-6 whole cloves
1 Pt. Raw Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 c Brown Sugar
Place the cloves in a muslin bag or tea ball. Add all ingredients to a large non reactive pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until reduced by half and thickened 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring frequently. Remove the spice bag and the star anise.
Ladle into clean hot pint jars, wipe rims, add hot lids and bands. Water bath process for 15 minutes or pressure can at 11 PSI for 10 minutes. Allow to cool, wipe and label jars. Enjoy with roast meat or served over Neufchatel or goat cheese on crackers or baguette slices.
Tomorrow, I harvest radishes, turnips, tomatillos, and peppers then cover as much of the remaining garden as I can with sheets and hope that we don’t really get a frost this early in October. Many of the radishes and turnips will become Kimchee, the Tomatillos and peppers will become salsa and hot sauce. This may be the end of the season for us or we may get lucky and have a few more weeks.
Tomorrow will also be a day to make a batch of Sauerkraut. I see Roast Pork or chops with sauerkraut and chutney in our future.
Warm weather and garden season that is. When I arrived home from last week’s wanderings, the woods were beginning to wear jewels. I had seen a bit of the dark red Poison Ivy climbing the trees and the barest hints of color elsewhere, but by this week’s end there is much more color on the mountainsides.
The Maple aka, the Tick tree as you can’t walk beneath it without acquiring at least one.The photo doesn’t show nearly the color the eye sees.So I conceded and pulled out the fall banner and mini banner, the fall wreath, tablecloth, napkins and kitchen towels. With no kids in the house and no Trick or Treaters come this far, I only put a few decorations out, a real pumpkin on the porch, a resin one on the front table, a ceramic ghost and ceramic lighted jack-o-lantern on the bookshelves.
The table set with a large dried bottle gourd, a smaller gourd I painted at Garden Club years ago and a Burgess Buttercup squash from the garden.So I have conceded, sort of, but I’m not ready for the early frost/potential hard freeze predicted for our region on Saturday night. Today and tomorrow, I will harvest Tomatillos and peppers, drape a sheet over the peppers tomorrow eve in hopes that we either miss the frost or only have a short light one. Sunday I may be able to find all of the Buttercup squash, Seminole Pumpkins and sweet potatoes, but I’m just not ready yet.
This is when I wish I had a portable hoophouse that could be put over the two beds that are still providing, hoping to extend their season by a few weeks. Maybe next year.
Today as the rain comes in, I will can applesauce and apple slices. Yesterday I started the cider vinegar. Tomorrow, we will bundle up and go buy meat for the freezer, leaving space for the 15 chickens that will be processed next weekend.
Several years ago I joined the eBook populous and either rent ebooks (did you know you don’t actually buy them! And they can be withdrawn from your library on the whim of the publisher!); or check real books out of the library and rarely buy a print book, but yesterday an exception was made.
A few weeks ago, a fellow blogger sent me a link to another blog for a recipe. The recipe author has penned two cookbooks.
Before I bought either, I wanted to preview them and couldn’t find them in the library so I looked for them in our local Barnes and Noble retailer but they didn’t have either in stock. They special ordered them for me to preview and they arrived just prior to my leaving for the retreat so I couldn’t go look at them. Tonight, after dinner we traveled the two towns over so I could preview them before they were returned or put in their stock.
I couldn’t decide between them, both containing many interesting recipes for putting by garden and Farmers’ Market goodies and I left with both books. I don’t know whether to thank my blogging friend or not, but I have added to my library and have many, many new ideas for preserving garden goodness, so thank you Yanic for the linky.
Or the garden quits producing. The tomatoes are long gone, the Tomatillos and peppers are making up for it. Much to my surprise, the late planting of bush beans is producing.
I returned from my Retreat and the 12 hours of driving in 2 days, the babysitting and errands with more jars, lots of them. I have been taking jars to NoVa for three years, full of canned goodness and have brought a few home, but today I have enough to keep me from a purchase for a while at least.
And bigger jars purchased for the winter storage of bulk goods.
I left NoVa early today and arrived home in time for lunch with Mountaingdad and wandered off to chicken chores and a garden check and was greeted with . . .
Peppers, 5 kinds, tomatillos and beans. This was inducement to pull out the canner again and pickle 4 pints of Jalapenos, 5 cups of XXX Habanero/Tomatillo sauce, blanch and freeze 3 meals of beans and a quart of bell pepper slices. The tiny hot little peppers that I bought as cayenne are being added to a bottle of vinegar as I harvest them for a couple of smaller bottles of pepper vinegar.
The more I put by, the more we will enjoy this winter and the more we can share. The garden has been good to us this year. I still plan to put up a few more pints of applesauce and a few quarts of apple slices in juice, make a gallon of cider vinegar, as much green salsa and XXX hot sauce as I have Tomatillos and peppers, pints of pickled Jalapenos until the frost hits. The winter squash and pumpkins continue to spread and grow. Hopefully, below all of those leaves we will find a good harvest of Buttercup squash, Seminole pumpkins and yellow and white sweet potatoes that were engulfed a couple of weeks ago.
Lovin’ life on our mountain farm. It is good to be home.
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Cabin Crafted 