Never Enough

The literal fruits of our labors and the inevitable trying to keep the literal spoils to a minimum.

It's hard not to love this time of year.  Warm days, cooler nights, produce and the signs of a productive season tripping you in the garden and falling from the sky... yeah it's a good time.

Of course that doesn't mean I have anything like enough time to appreciate it.  Today's accomplishments included (yeah, just Sunday), tweaking and testing a yellow summer squash pizza crust recipe (5 qts shredded squash, who knows how many pounds) which was a great success, a full oven of overloaded cookie sheets covered with roasting peppers (because even after being frozen, they're ROASTED PEPPERS mmmMMmmmm), elderberry kombucha (so good even Mrs. Farmer likes it), another 7 quarts of processed tomato sauce and another pot of chopped tomatoes in the pipeline for the next batch... and no doubt stuff I'm forgetting now.

By the time you're done accounting for all of that, the animal chores, the prep and processing for what we ate today (all fresh of course), and a little of the "ugh tomorrow is Monday" last minute catch up chores... we're done. Good night.

Oven Pickles, a Retrospective

2015's storage pickles are starting earlier this year.

Last September we talked about oven pickles but I never did some back to talk about how good they were.

The answer, of course, is they are excellent. Even now, 11 months later they have lasted well in the pantry if they have lost just a touch of their original crispness. The only reason they lasted this long at all is because we buried a few jars otherwise in this house pickles go fast. Very fast.

Which is one reason why we're meeting our early cukes with extra Ball Jars. (continued)

Finally time for Manure Therapy

Something in the compost is even more interesting
than fresh grass... I don't wanna know.

So much changes with the beginning of spring.
Soon the animals will move from winter housing to a more spread out (less messy) set up.  Soon the gardens will be planting and I'll be building more beds to make up for all the over estimating we have done with our seeds and starts this year.

But before that though, as soon as the piles can be pitchforked and there's a spot of grass clear it is time... to start the compost! (continued)

Thermostat? What's a thermostat?

Feeding the dragon.

We heat with wood.  At least partially.  The house is not optimally designed for this, with a fireplace insert wood stove on one end of the house and a long, chilly walk to the bedrooms on the far side. This long ranch style with poor solar aspect doesn't lend itself to heating with oil really either, so in a choice between the two types of heat we err on the side of wood.

Mostly this works out well. Between the stove, a couple of strategically placed box fans, and embracing the need to actually use blankets at night we do alright.  I, for one, prefer to sleep in a cooler room anyway and if Mrs. Farmer would perhaps be more comfortable sleeping inside the wood stove rather than in the chilly bedroom even she rarely complains once she's under the down comforter and everything has warmed up. (continued)

Cold Nights, Warm Kitchen

No visitors at the buffet. Bad sign.

Having repeatedly taunted the New England weather over the last several weeks mother nature has decided to kick me hard, and it probably serves me right.  From temperatures pushing 50° F around Christmas we have plummeted severely.  Daytime temps have flirted with freezing for the past week and overnights have been closer to zero. Tomorrow we'll be lucky to get to 20° for a high and -10° (yeah, that's 40 below freezing) overnight.

Makes me shiver just talking about it.  One benefit from last week's weather though is we have a bit of snow on the ground.  This makes chores harder but the scenery better.  So far I have not slipped on the ice yet, but I suspect I'll have my chance before things warm up.  With the snow layer as shallow as it is, a day or two of halfway decent weather will probably melt it all.  Not that I'm complaining mind you... but this time last year I'm pretty sure we had over a foot on the ground and more on the forecast. (continued)

There's a First Time For Everything

Assorted bits ready for trimming/cleaning.

Turns out pig butchery is pretty easy. I was surprised too. Best part as far as I'm concerned is there are no feathers.  The meat to plucking time ratio is optimal.  The sheer volume can be a bit of an issue, but I have always said having enough of a good thing to be worried about having "too much" is the kind of problem I like to have.  More photos after the break.

Homebrew

A side benefit to all that applesauce and all those apples comes in the form of home made apple cider, apple mead, apple wine, hard cider and the like. "Apple ferments" for lack of a better term. I love me some homebrewed apple ferments.

Between a general lack of (empty) brewing equipment and the rush to put up all that apple sauce right away my apple related brewing was more of an afterthought than a project. Even so, I had 7 gallons worth of beverage ready to re-rack and get into a secondary fermenter this week.

While this is certainly not enough to eliminate my hard cider purchasing over a whole year it will put a nice comfortable dent in it I think.  Planning starts now to be geared up and ready to go for much more fermenting by next fall's harvest.  I am ABSOLUTELY sure I want an annual cider tradition around here (and I'm equally sure the folks getting gifts from us would enjoy that greatly also).

Getting started is easy.  Anyone familiar with my friend Carlo Rossi probably already spotted him in my photograph.  Recycling glass gallon jugs is awesome, but food grade plastic buckets or even larger glass vessels are great too.  If all you have is a glass gallon, an air lock, a recipe, and some brewer's yeast you are ready to begin.  Some folks get really into following a recipe and prefer certain products or techniques to follow each time.  I myself find taking a relaxed approach to it with more than a little playful experimentation still yields great results and often cool surprises.

Like so much else that is worth the wait the problem lies within the waiting. I should be able to keep my hands off it until Christmas.  I hope.

Apples. Apples all the way down.

Windfall apples. Literally. 15 bushels.

You may have detected a theme, here at the homestead.  We spend the majority of our time working with, working on, and talking about things that we like.  Never forget that it is OK to surround yourself with work that you like, things that you like, food that you like, you know the IMPORTANT things, the things that make you feel good the things that make you feel the most YOU.

Like apples.  There are whole sections of the country where folks are no more than a short drive away from an apple orchard. Facebook is covered right now with people happily indulging in their fall tradition of an afternoon spent apple picking. They will spend a few hours there, pick a few apples, take a few home, pay top dollar for top quality and leave happy. I am not so easily satisfied. (continued)

How To: Oven Pickles

Ugly oven, shiny pickles.

More about pickles? Yes, more pickles.  Batch style pickles are good for the end of the season as your supply begins to wind down.  If you have made your batch of real pickles you should have enough pickles to satisfy for now, these ones will last longer. This is also a good approach to use for longer term storage as these pickles will leave the oven canned and ready to hit the pantry.

How To: Canning That Extra Chicken

First, You will need one of these. (Click for Amazon)

Previously, we discussed turning a chicken from one meal into several and it was pointed out (accurately) that while I mentioned the canning process I did not discuss it.  An omission to be rectified immediately.

Canning for long term storage is all about heat treatment and safety.  Safety while you work around the hot equipment and the hot stove, safety in ensuring you are using the right recipe for the right foods, safety, safety, safety.

It is possible to make yourself sick with improperly canned foods and it is possible to burn yourself while working with high temperatures and the stove top. Proper understanding, instruction, and due diligence are your responsibility. Protecting you and your family from accidents should be your number one priority. (continued)

Stretching A Chicken Dinner

Yes, I have chicken overwintering in quart jars.
It might be comfortable, I've never tried it.

Ah, it's fall now, you can tell because Mrs. Farmer refuses to let me leave the windows open at night and has both started checking the weather forecast for frost advisory and begun wearing her fuzzy slippers in the morning. Others may count from the equinox or when the leaves begin to change their color but I know better (and a wise man never argues with his wife).

This weekend our time was spent graduating chickens (old and new) and getting them set up in their winter homes (the freezer or pantry). We're not even close to finished with that yet, but chicken processing and storage have been on my mind daily of late.(continued)

Thirty Degree Nights

Soon to be dried tomatoes

Our pretty little summer is truly over now, we had temps in the 30's overnight this weekend. It's not winter just yet, but my instincts are telling me we'll probably have early snow this year and a frost advisory before September is half over isn't arguing with that guess.

The impending winter provides an undertone of urgency that the hot August afternoons lacked. That shiver getting out of bed, having to squint out the window to see if that shine outside is dew or frost, the ever increasing backlog of fall bounty clamoring to be processed or preserved, all those chores and projects that needed to be done before snowfall... I have a love/hate relationship with fall. (continued)

'Tis the Season to be Canning

I love it when the produce really starts coming in.  Not the dribs and drabs of the early crop, not the trickles of that one or two of variety that might be new to the garden but when that main flush finally hits.  Yes, that is a great time each year.  Both our tomatoes and those at the CSA have finally starred ripening in earnest.  This is not a huge surprise as the CSA is local and we have nearly identical climates but it does mean that when the produce starts to rain, it pours.

We will be doing a lot of canning but that's hardly the only option for storing the surplus of the season. (continued)

How to Make Simple Sour Pickles

Cucumbers taste pretty good but really I don't think of them as all that special. PICKLES though, pickles are like magic.  Magic that takes something as bland as a cucumber and fills it with that incredible pickleness. Beyond that, if store bought pickles are magic, homemade pickles are downright miraculous.

Of course, cucumbers don't just volunteer to hop in the pickle jar so they require a little coaxing and a little know-how. As a long time standby of most gardens I find a lot of people end up with too many cucumbers and not enough desire to eat them.

Pickles help this in a couple different ways. (continued)

Surprise Graduation

Now that's fresh.

---

In a moment of snap decision, and with the cost of a bit of deferred rest (otherwise already well deserved)  Big Tom went to freezer camp last night.  In our haste we neglected to weigh him, but I have little doubt he met my 50+ lbs. expectation.

It strikes me that "Big Tom Went to Freezer Camp" sounds like the title of a children's book.  While processing poultry is a topic which would be considered by many to be a little macabre for today's children it might be all the more needed for that fact. Maybe I'll find time to write it.  There you go, I dibs'd that book idea here first, folks.

No strangers to home processing of poultry I still think this amounted to several firsts for Mrs. Farmer and I:  getting started after 9 p.m. it was quite dark for one,  deciding it was time to get the job done within an hour of actually doing so was another, processing and piecing out a turkey a full 9 months after his original slated "date with destiny" marks a third.

Not meaning to put it off for so long in the first place was a significant bit of the decision making once we started discussing it.

Given time I would probably come up with other novel bits from tonight's activities, but I am spent, and tired, and my goal to get this post written and scheduled to post on time rather than scrambling to put something together in the morning has only extended my eventual rest that much farther into the night.  I apologize for the short post, the lack of quality photos, and for the lack of the usual Wednesday P.P.P.P. report.  If time allows I will attempt to have it ready for your enjoyment tomorrow but if not tomorrow it will be forthcoming, and soon.

Thanks for stopping by.