Mostly the Same

Here's the updated list--just about all that's added is the muscadine jam that Keith made (and is DELICIOUS!!) and drying rosemary, I think. I would say this is probably all, but we'll make Christmas jam soon. We would use our strawberries for that (frozen from early summer), but we just used the last of those, so we'll have to use some from the store.

Food Preservation 2008

6/25 Lazy Housewife beans / canned 7qts
6/30 Wild blackberries / froze 1 qt
7/4 Kraut / canned 21 pts
7/5 Basil (whole leaves) / froze 2 qt-bags
7/5 Contender bush beans / canned 3 qts
7/5 Cherokee Trail of Tears beans / canned 4 qts
7/10 Maude Wall beans / canned 23 pts
7/10 Maude Wall beans / canned 28 qts
7/16 Beans (mostly Maude Wall) / canned 19 qts
7/17 Okra (breaded) / froze 3 qts
7/18 Tomatoes / canned 14 pts
7/18 Tomato sauce / canned 8 half-pints
7/18 Pickled peppers / canned 7 half-pints
7/21 Cucumber relish / canned 11 pts
7/21 Squash / froze 4 qts
7/22 Carrot relish / canned 15 pts
7/24 Cowpeas / froze 4 pints
7/24 Corn / froze 5 pints, 5 1.5-pints
7/25 Tomatoes / canned 28 pts
7/25 Tomato sauce / canned 19 1/2 pts
7/26 Blueberries (from B. Case's) / froze 7 pts, 2 1.5-pts
7/28 Corn (from Short Mtn) / froze 5 qts, 3 1.5-pts, 10 pts
7/29 Squash / froze 1 qt, 1 pt
7/30 Cowpeas / froze 8 pts
7/30 Carrots (shredded) / froze 6 pts
7/31 Salsa ("Judy's Salsa") / canned 10 pts, 2 1/2-pts
8/1 Speckled butter beans / froze 15 pts
8/5 Diced tomatoes (mostly Romas) / canned 7 qts, 7 pts
8/6 Okra (breaded) / froze 7 bags (app. 3 c each)
8/6 Carrots / froze 11 pts
8/7 Roasted tomato garlic soup canned 4.5 qts
8/12 Crushed tomatoes / canned 19 pts
8/13 Garden-fresh-tomato soup / canned 12 qts
8/14 Pepper jelly / canned 6 ½ half-pints
8/14 Pickled peppers / canned 8 ¾-pints, 3 ½-pints
8/15 Peach freezer jam / froze 4 pts
8/15 White peaches / froze 7 qts
8/16 Basil pesto / froze 3 half-pints
8/18 Pepper jelly / canned 6 ½ half-pints
8/19 Elberta peach jam / canned 4 pts
8/19 Elberta peaches / froze 4 qts, 4 1.5 pts
8/19 Keith’s salsa / canned 13 pts
8/25 Pickled peppers / canned 7 pts
9/8 Pepper jelly (red) / canned 7 ½-pints
9/10 Pickles peppers / canned 8 pints
9/15 Applesauce / canned 10 pts
9/16 Applesauce / canned 8 pts
9/16 Apple butter / canned 6 ½-pints
9/17 Sliced apples / canned 9 qts
9/18 Sliced apples / canned 8 qts
9/19 Apple butter / canned 10 ½-pints
Sometime this past week, dried about a qt of apple slices
9/22 Sliced apples / canned 8 qts
9/24 Apple cider / canned 15.5 qts
9/24 Apple cider / froze 4 qts
10/11 Muscadine jam / 4 ½-pints

Fresh apple cider: 8 gallons (?—some of this may have gone toward the 15.5 qts of canned cider??)
Apple cider vinegar: 3.5 gallons
Drying/dried: basil, sage, feverfew, red clover blossoms, rosemary
Collecting seed: butternut squash, Cherokee purple tomato, plum lemon tomato, var. peppers, var. beans

Mary Susan

2nd Amendment

Here's a video which many of you have probably already seen regarding the 2nd Amendment. I'm not sure when this testimony was given or to what legislative body/committee. I found somewhere that the witness's parents were killed in 1987. (The hair/fashions seem to support that.) Regardless, it's a powerful statement.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4069761537893819675&p

I'm amazed at how many rights we allow to slowly (usually) be taken from us. And somehow "we" are able to be convinced that it's a good thing! And those who see at least a bit of what's happening and try to open others' eyes to it are radical, suspect, fringe-element trouble-makers.

Okay, I don't generally make any sort of political statements, but there you go.

Mary Susan

BTW, if we should happen to receive any nasty comments, they will be deleted.

Food Preservation

I'm guessing this is about all for now. A friend has a loaded pear tree we could go pick from, but I'm thinking we'll probably skip on that for now. Space in the pantry is being better utilized than it ever has been, but we still had to use some space in the library for a few jars, mainly of beans and cider.

We've got a lot of garden clean-up to do, now!

6/25 Lazy Housewife beans / canned 7qts
6/30 Wild blackberries / froze 1 qt
7/4 Kraut / canned 21 pts
7/5 Basil (whole leaves) / froze 2 qt-bags
7/5 Contender bush beans / canned 3 qts
7/5 Cherokee Trail of Tears beans / canned 4 qts
7/10 Maude Wall beans / canned 23 pts
7/10 Maude Wall beans / canned 28 qts
7/16 Beans (mostly Maude Wall) / canned 19 qts
7/17 Okra (breaded) / froze 3 qts
7/18 Tomatoes / canned 14 pts
7/18 Tomato sauce / canned 8 half-pints
7/18 Pickled peppers / canned 7 half-pints
7/21 Cucumber relish / canned 11 pts
7/21 Squash / froze 4 qts
7/22 Carrot relish / canned 15 pts
7/24 Cowpeas / froze 4 pints
7/24 Corn / froze 5 pints, 5 1.5-pints
7/25 Tomatoes / canned 28 pts
7/25 Tomato sauce / canned 19 1/2 pts
7/26 Blueberries (from B. Case's) / froze 7 pts, 2 1.5-pts
7/28 Corn (from Short Mtn) / froze 5 qts, 3 1.5-pts, 10 pts
7/29 Squash / froze 1 qt, 1 pt
7/30 Cowpeas / froze 8 pts
7/30 Carrots (shredded) / froze 6 pts
7/31 Salsa ("Judy's Salsa") / canned 10 pts, 2 1/2-pts
8/1 Speckled butter beans / froze 15 pts
8/5 Diced tomatoes (mostly Romas) / canned 7 qts, 7 pts
8/6 Okra (breaded) / froze 7 bags (app. 3 c each)
8/6 Carrots / froze 11 pts
8/7 Roasted tomato garlic soup canned 4.5 qts
8/12 Crushed tomatoes / canned 19 pts
8/13 Garden-fresh-tomato soup / canned 12 qts
8/14 Pepper jelly / canned 6 ½ half-pints
8/14 Pickled peppers / canned 8 ¾-pints, 3 ½-pints
8/15 Peach freezer jam / froze 4 pts
8/15 White peaches / froze 7 qts
8/16 Basil pesto / froze 3 half-pints
8/18 Pepper jelly / canned 6 ½ half-pints
8/19 Elberta peach jam / canned 4 pts
8/19 Elberta peaches / froze 4 qts, 4 1.5 pts
8/19 Keith’s salsa / canned 13 pts
8/25 Pickled peppers / canned 7 pts
9/8 Pepper jelly (red) / canned 7 ½-pints
9/10 Pickles peppers / canned 8 pints
9/15 Applesauce / canned 10 pts
9/16 Applesauce / canned 8 pts
9/16 Apple butter / canned 6 ½-pints
9/17 Sliced apples / canned 9 qts
9/18 Sliced apples / canned 8 qts
9/19 Apple butter / canned 10 ½-pints
Sometime this past week, dried about a qt of apple slices
9/22 Sliced apples / canned 8 qts
9/24 Apple cider / canned 15.5 qts
9/24 Apple cider / froze 4 qts

Apple cider: So far, 8 gallons of fresh, 3.5 of which have gone toward making vinegar
Drying: basil, sage, feverfew, red clover blossoms
Collecting seed: butternut squash, Cherokee purple tomato, plum lemon tomato, var. peppers, var. beans

We've never canned or frozen apple cider, but figured we'd give it a try this year. I'm sure it can't be as good as fresh, but we're looking forward to some good mulled cider during the holidays.

One of the cows (#31) gave birth to a bull-calf sometime while we were gone over the extra-long (6 or so days) weekend. This can pose a problem, since a calf gains strength fairly quickly. Also, the cow can be quite protective (frighteningly so, sometimes!). However, #31 is generally not aggressively protective, and is fairly trusting, as far as Angus cows go. She's not our friendliest (which is just a strangely friendly cow for an Angus), but she's not nearly as skittish as the others. We're excited to have a male, but it did pose an extra problem: not only did he need an eartag (which we sometimes forego), but he also needed banding. With his growing strength, and knowing the task at hand would not be a welcome one, Keith and 13yo were ready for a struggle. However, 13yo drove the Mule, circling the calf, while 6yo sat in the Mule with the eartag equipment, and Keith knelt in the back, attempting to rope the calf--and succeeding! They got the calf tagged and banded and were back inside in 20 minutes or so! So we'll soon have a steer calf, instead of a bull calf. What great cowhands!

We'll probably be slaughtering a steer sometime soon. And oh, we're so looking forward to having beef in the freezer again! We ran out awhile ago, and buy very little of it at the store. We've been living on chicken since the pork and beef are pretty much gone, and although at one time, I probably would have said chicken was my favorite meat, I'm all for beef now, since we've had so little lately!

Mary Susan

Gadgets

Our apple peeler/corer/slicer is the one from Pampered Chef, and we like it. 18yo daughter, who did most of the apple-peeling the last few weeks really likes it. We took the slicer/corer blade off when we didn't want slices, and she peeled them with it. Personally, I think hand-peeling is a bit faster, but she prefers the gadget. However, when we are also coring and slicing, I prefer the gadget. It gives uniform slices, which is especially nice for drying. Also, it takes care of the peeling, coring, and slicing all in one operation. This has two slice-thicknesses to choose from. It doesn't take up much room, and we feel it has been worth the purchase price.

I really like the food mill, too. We use it mainly for tomato sauce, although I also used it for (extremely) crushed tomatoes this year, too. We don't have any additional blades/attachments that are available, but it says it has a salsa blade, which sounds wonderful. This takes up more storage space than I'd like, but we don't use it often, so it gets tucked away somewhere until time for sauce-making. It's a Universal Gourmet Tomato Sauce Maker and Food Strainer, model #800, which I'm fairly sure we got because it's what we could find that fit our desires. (Friends told us to go with this type of food mill, instead of the kind that is more commonly found, and at the moment, I don't recall what that kind was, unless is was one that has some sort of arm/blade/scraper thing that turns horizontally on a screen. They had that kind and switched to the kind we got and said it's a far superior design.)

Mary Susan

Catch-Up

The last couple of weeks have been somewhat busy, what with apples, birthdays, and bluegrass.

Actually, we celebrated three birthdays a week or so back: 17yo daughter is now 18yo daughter; 5yo son is now 6yo son; and mother-in-law, who shares 6yo's birthday is a year older (won't divulge age on that one). We are very blessed by these three, and celebrate and give thanksgiving for them.

6yo's new favorite: Magnetix, given to him by Keith's mother. Loves them so much that they had to be confiscated a few days after he received them so that I could get a proper response/attitude from him about doing chores and academics. (He has re-earned them.)

As I said in the post below, we have been busy with apples since picking them last week: we've put up sliced apples (wedged, really), applesauce, apple butter, cider, and cider vinegar, and aren't done, yet. Hopefully in the next day or so, we'll get the rest of them made into cider. We may try canning some cider, although that sounds disappointing, the fresh cider is so good.

13yo setting up the cider press.

18yo has been at the peeler/corer/slicer a great deal over the past week, but she takes advantage of sitting in one place for awhile by watching multiple episodes of "Jeeves and Wooster."

This past Saturday, the Lingos of Beaverdam Creek Farm had a booth at Belle Meade Plantation's Fall Fest, and asked if our kids could play there, so we took advantage of the opportunity and enjoyed the day at Belle Meade with the Lingos. The Lovetts also were there for awhile; some of the Stouffers dropped by; and it was great to see the Clarks again.

On the way to Belle Meade

6yo, playing with a Tennessee spinner gourd at Belle Meade. He's gotten quite good at spinning it.

Coming up this weekend: the Williams/Logan wedding. We're headed up Thursday (or earlier??) to provide some help; rehearsal/dinner is Friday evening (15yo is helping with the music for the wedding); wedding Saturday afternoon, followed by reception/dinner/dancing/visiting into the night, I'm sure; and church the following day in the reception tent (because it's big enough for the crowd that's coming in for the wedding, some of whom will be attending church). Sounds like it will be a busy weekend, but we're looking forward to it--especially to seeing some of you folks we haven't seen in awhile.

Mary Susan