What a fabulous weekend! We're having an Indian summer here in Ohio, although it's already beginning to cool down. Saturday and Sunday, we enjoyed highs in the low 70's with mild winds and no rain...what a nice treat for mid-November! With the exception of church, we didn't leave home all weekend, which was wonderful in itself...but to be able to work in the yard in short-sleeves...that's just too much to ask for!
We're back to food preservation this week. A local grocer had pears for .77/lb, so Mara and I canned up 15 pounds of them, which added to what we have already canned, should be nearly enough to last us the winter. We dug up 15 lbs. of carrots Sunday that need to be pickled or frozen...I can't decide which. Also in the near future, applesauce and dried apples. A friend of ours who owns an orchard offered me a couple bushels of a very dry mystery apple in exchange for a few quarts of dried apples. Can't pass up a deal like that!
More fun stuff; a dear friend gave us a few pounds of homegrown meat to sample...ground beef, ground goat and a whole chicken. Can't wait to try those! I've heard homegrown tastes better than factory farmed, so we'll be finding out in the next few days. We've also made an appointment with a local butcher for our roosters...they're about to meat, er, that is, meet their maker. It's going to be a little strange eating chickens we raised from sweet little chicks, but I think we'll get over it fairly quickly! And as Jeff astutely put it: "I hate them stupid, flighty roosters! I can't wait to gnaw on their legs!" Yep. He's a caveman.
So that's my to do list for the next few days:
1) Preserve carrots - Underway
2) Sauce apples - Done!
3) Transplant strawberries - Done!
4) Plant berry vines that just shipped from Stark Bros. - Done!
5) Hang Christmas lights before it turns cold.
6) Enjoy homegrown chicken - On Hold, Temporarily
7) Pick up some more food safe buckets - Done!
What's on your To Do lists?
10 comments:
I just ordered a food strainer so that I could make applesauce this weekend as well - it better get here in time. I've been storing them in the garage where it is cool to keep them until it arrives!
I have some fresh persimmons - I may make some persimmon cookies to freeze for the holidays.
It's over 80 here today. Again. I would kill for rain.
We're passing around illness this week, it seems. Trying to rest as I'm the one out today, but the 3 yr old is feeling LOADS better than last night when he was throwing up. Joy.
I need to get more of my squash canned. Turns out that even winter squash won't last long if the only place you have to store it is the kitchen floor in a house where the local weather is in the 8s or higher even into what's supposed to be fall... Le sigh. With this perpetual heat, the last thing I want to do is canning.
mmm...homegrown meat is the best. The aroma of our pork is just wonderful as it cooks, too. Is that ironic? :)
I've never had goat. Let us know...
Pete Smith said...
Sounds like you have a lot to do. When I'm working on our preps I feel so good. So I try to keep a small list of need to do things so I keep myself from falling behind on my preps. Great post. Pete
I'm curious - what is the process for taking your birds to the butcher? Do you bring them there alive, or must you "dispatch" them yourself? And how do they charge your? By the bird or by the pound or something else? I didn't even know you could do this!
CI- we're taking them to a family-run butcher shop on the other side of the county. We take them live, in a dog crate and the butcher does the rest. He dispatches, cleans, processes the meat and then vaccuum packs it for 2.50 a bird. Can you believe how cheap that is???? He's certified by the agri. department, so we're feeling pretty lucky to have found someone reputable closeby! He also processes deer, goat, cattle...whatever you bring in, he takes care of it.
Wow, great price. So when are you going to do the "head choppin'" yourself? Good prep skill to have...
If you skin them, it is very quick and fairly easy - like cleaning a big fish (OK, it's bloodier, but not too bad). If you pluck them to save the skin, it's a bit more work.
CI- Yeah, I'm not there yet LOL. I'm comfortable with the idea of eating our chickens, but not ready to do the dispatching. Baby steps, baby steps.
Although I did see plans for a 'whiz-bang chicken plucker'.....
It has been cold and wet in the Smokey Mountains. I'll watch with interest to see how you find the meat. I haven't really been able to discover a more convenient way to save meat than buying it canned, which is expensive but viable for a long time. I've been at this for ten years now, and I still learn alot from other people's experiences.
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