...And Still More!!

We've had more than an inch of rain since I last posted, I believe! Praise God. Things are actually beginning to turn green, and it's looking less like California in the summertime.

Despite the rain, we definitely have a smaller corn crop than hoped for--the end of one of the plantings has been totally lost to predators and the lack of rain. 11yo son built a trap from a design he found on-line, and the bait has been taken a number of times, but the sensitivity of the springing mechanism either needs to be changed, or something else is happening. (I'm somewhat suspicious of the largest of our three dogs.) Regardless, 11yo son and 13 yo daughter are considering spending some time tonight out in the garden, hoping to put a stop to our losses.

The squash has been less than hoped for, too, and it's petering out, now, as my mother says, because of the heat. 15yo daughter is not convinced it's done, though, remembering how it seemed to be a perpetually bearing vegetable last year.

Tomatoes are coming in full-force. I would like to make some tomato sauce, but this week is extremely busy, and next week and part of the next are out of the question. Besides, my father is enjoying giving them away, and that's a good thing.

We're getting a good bit of okra, too. My mother refuses to do anything about preserving okra, being disappointed with any previous efforts she's made. A friend of hers told me to bread it real good and thick, then simply freeze it. Sure would be good, and better than buying the frozen stuff at the grocery store, but at this point, I'm not ready to tackle that bit of diplomacy.

We had some of this year's kraut the other night; turned out more sour than last year's, but good.

We had hoped to can some peaches this year, after having some delicious canned Georgia peaches at the home of some Georgia friends last year. However, peaches are hard to come by this year around here, it seems. We've been told that one of the men that has a table at a nearby farmers' market will have some this Wednesday; we had some of his earlier this year, and they were very good. My mother bought them that time, and she has a hard time making herself buy in the quantity I had hoped to get. So because of that and because they were so good, we ate them all raw fairly quickly, and the man has not had them again when we've been to the market. Hopefully we'll get some this week.

Keith had to leave on a business trip this morning, and my sister is visiting, so she, the kids, and I went to one of my father's churches with him and my mother. It's a very friendly church and seems to be very close-knit (of course, a great many of the members are related!). We are always warmly welcomed there, and enjoy worshipping with them. It was good to hear Daddy in the pulpit again, too; he's a good preacher, and we should probably attend one of his churches more often. I'd really like the kids to remember him in the pulpit--a part of their Christian heritage.

Blessings to all on this Lord's day.

Mary Susan

...And a Bit More

God is good.

He sent us another light shower early this morning.

This may not sound like much, but every little bit helps. It also gives hope that just maybe more of these will hit us, instead of barely missing us like they have been all summer.

Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
I Chronicles 29:13

Mary Susan

Rain!!

We actually got rain over the weekend--3/4" Friday and 1/4" Saturday! (That's at least double what we've gotten in maybe ten weeks--total!) The Friday rain was not as slow as we'd have liked, but at least it was something, and, as Keith said, it prepared the ground so that Saturday's 1/4" didn't simply run off. It's not much--not as much as we need--but it sure felt good!

Corn fields around here are showing terrible stress. Other crops, too, but the corn is very obvious. One field is totally void of green now, and others are not far behind.

As I walk through the backyard to the clothesline, the grass crunches underfoot as the brown blades break.

In the landscaping, we've lost a holly tree, it looks like, as well as a Bradford pear, and most likely some other trees--young maples, tulip poplars, dogwoods, etc.

But thanks to well water, we're still busy canning, freezing, and enjoying fresh vegetables.

Mary Susan

More Canning and Freezing

We've been busy canning and freezing lately. We've frozen speckled butter beans, as well as some corn. And we're canning tomatoes. Hoping to can salsa, and possibly tomato sauce, too, if the tomatoes will hold out. I'm surprised at how many we're getting, despite the drought. We have watered some, and I suppose that's what's making the harvest respectable.

In a few minutes, I head downstairs to fry up a few pounds of bacon, slice some tomatoes, boil some corn and set before my family a meal fit for a king: BLT's with fresh corn-on-the-cob on the side!

Mary Susan

Thistle Patrol

My parents have a real gripe with thistles. They can't stand them. Same goes for dandelions. Noticing all the Queen Anne's lace around here lately, I asked why not have a vengeance for that, too? They had no response.

My mother said she heard that middle Tennessee had no thistles until the interstates were built, when they brought in a lot of dirt, etc., from elsewhere. Even she seems surprised at that, but she has the excuse of having grown up in the city, where thistles are somewhat less noticeable.

Last year, I did a bit (and only a bit) of research to find out uses for thistles. I figured if there were some product or use for it, Keith could quit his day-job, and we could make all kinds of inroads toward numerous farm enterprises. Yes, we had that many thistles. However, I found that the thistle we have around here is pretty nearly useless. The only thing I found was that you could (carefully!) slit the stalk and drink the liquid from it. Not very useful, but if the water situation around here doesn't change soon, you may find us sucking on thistle stalks!

We have actually made, in less than two years, some headway in getting rid of thistles. We have been told that thistles are a two-year plant--biennial, I guess--and that if you can keep the seeds from sprouting for a couple of years or so, you'll have them just about under control. (I'm not sure what they say about thistles from the roadside, neighbors, etc.) So last year, with my father's oversight, he, my mother, the four kids, and I spent quite a few hours in the most thistle-infested field known to man, cutting off thistle blossoms, placing them in garbage bags, and then lopping off the thistle plant at its base. I felt that we should somehow pull them up by the roots, but knowing we'd never finish that way, we simply chopped. It was a hot, sweaty day, but we made great inroads.

We were all doubtful of the outcome this year, but that field is a totally different place! Incredible how few thistles are there.

My father has been on self-imposed individual thistle duty this year, attacking when necessary. This, however, has not been too big of a problem, since we got rid of so many last year. They did get a little ahead of him, though, so he spent most of yesterday and is back out today attacking the dreaded thistle. Others of us would help if needed, but he seems to think he can handle it alone this year. Also, we've been putting up food, and so are not as available to help.

Isn't it strange that thistles and the like seem to thrive and do just fine in a drought?

Mary Susan

Mr. Kimball's Contributions

Hats off to Mr. Herrick Kimball, the Deliberate Agrarian.

First of all, Keith can't say enough good about Anyone Can Build a Tub-Style Mechanical Chicken Plucker. He says it is one of the best manuals he's read, and that even a non-techy could build a Whizbang plucker from the instructions. I tried to make him think really hard about that, to make sure he truly believes his words: "So you think that even I could build one from this manual?" And after slight deliberation and actually no hesitancy, he said that I could. High praise, indeed.

I know I said over two months ago that the children and I were going to use Mr. Kimball's most recent book, Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian, as a read-aloud. And we did--at least, we started it. As with so many other things, I got somewhat sidetracked. Not completely; we read it occasionally, mostly during casual lunches. But I was too easily distracted by other things and wasn't consistent with it at first. I've been very poor at sticking with read-alouds for quite awhile--which I don't understand, because we all enjoy it--except the 3yo, who wants only "his" books (you know--lots of pictures, etc.). This may be why I've gotten so bad about it, but he needs better training in this area, too.

And so for the last couple of weeks, we have immersed ourselves in Writings and have thoroughly enjoyed it. We didn't want to miss a word. But we did miss some: I couldn't finish "Life and Death of a Good Dog," and barely made it through "My Mother."

We read most of the stories on the backporch after chores during casual breakfasts and lunches. This provided wonderfully appropriate ambient sounds from the woods behind the house, the rooster in the chicken yard, the occasional bark of a dog or call of a hawk. It was a nice way to read them.

We finished the book this morning after breakfast, reading the final three "ramblings." I had a bit of a hard time getting through "The Old Photograph," about Mr. Kimball's grandfather, who was born the same year as my grandmother. She died in 2002 as she was approaching her 106th birthday. She was quite a woman, and a wonderful example. Mr. Kimball's story has prompted me to make sure I have pictures of all my children with each of their grandparents. Although they may have only a little appreciation for it now (and really not like the process), one day they will be glad.

I'm not sure how God has brought us to this point in our lives. We certainly had little or no early training that would lead us to Christian agrarianism. Regardless, He has brought us here, for which we are grateful. Mr. Kimball and other Christian agrarian bloggers have provided a great deal of wisdom and encouragement for us over the last year or two. Mr. Kimball's book is a great synopsis of many of our thoughts and feelings about life in general, and about Christian agrarianism--which is a way of life. And he is right in his Afterword when he states that "agrarianism apart from Christianity amounts to nothing special."

Mary Susan

The Clothesline

Keith put a clothesline up this spring, but mid-May to mid-June is usually the worst allergy time around here, so I put off using it much. This week, at our 13yo daughter's urging, we have been using it for all our laundry thus far. Our using it even spurred 11yo son to hang rugs out and beat them with a rug-beater!

Mary Susan

Dry and Dusty

We need rain around here. The nurseries around us are watering their stock. We're watering some. Thankfully, the water for the pastures and garden comes from a well. The house is on "city" water, though. We tried the well for about a year, but it has a great deal of sulfur--not a little; a LOT. We have a water treatment system--quite extensive, but it just couldn't hang with the amount of sulfur, and we decided that what the treatment system was putting into our water may be just as bad as what the city does, so we bit the bullet and switched over after a year. Also, the treatment system--well, it was breaking down; two pumps had given out, pipes were being eaten through. Tough water around here!

Anyway, we have had about a half-inch of rain--in six...seven...maybe even eight weeks! That's the total for the entire period, and that half-inch came in spurts. We've seen a number of good showers skirt us--hard ones, sometimes, totally blotting out the hills around us. But all we get is a quick shower, at best. A friend told us they had an inch one day when all we had was a light, quick shower. A good rain lately is one that gets the sidewalk completely wet.

Our pastures are really stressed. The yard is getting brown. (Up side: no mowing in a few weeks!) Keith's talking about feeding hay--in July! Hard to believe.

Our wonderful neighbor says he has never known it to be this dry, in all his years, and that's quite a few more than us. Bad as it is now, that was encouraging to hear--that this is not a common occurrence.

Funny how our focus has shifted. Not that long ago, I'd have been thrilled with so many rain-free days--kids could play outside, swimming was a possibility (not that I ever liked taking them to "the pool"), less mowing, etc. Of course, it was nice to have rain--at night, at least. Not so anymore; we--even the kids--would love to have a good, soaking, lasting rain.

Mary Susan

Kraut

Farm Girl recently asked in our comments for our kraut recipe. I'll give it here, but keep in mind that even very experienced kraut-makers seem to admit that sometimes it makes, and sometimes it doesn't.

Last year was our first year to make kraut. A friend mentored me and gave me a number of recipes/instructions to work from, as well as tips from her own experience. She also loaned me a great crock (I will not covet.), thinking she wasn't going to make kraut during that period. Turns out another friend had an abundance of cabbage and gave her a lot of it, so she made some after all, using one of her plastic wheat-type buckets. When it came time for us to make some this year, I decided I'd find a crock to buy for us. Lehman's has them, but I needed it then, and was somewhat reluctant to spend so much on a crock, not that the price is out of line, just thought of all the other things we could get for that. One of the recipes I have says NOT to use plastic, and I kept wondering what might leach into our kraut, so I nixed the plastic bucket idea. One recipe said and unchipped enamel pot would work, though, so that's what we used. This had an advantage over the crock in that it has a lid, and there was much less skimming/daily cleaning of the top of the kraut.

Now for the steps:

First, set aside some of the large outside leaves of the cabbage for later use.

Shred the cabbage for the kraut. We used a food processor for this step--very convenient.

Mix 2 tablespoons of pure salt (I think our container is called pickling salt.) with every 5 pounds of cabbage. (The recipes call for 3 tablespoons, but my friend recommended using only 2; this has worked well for us.)

Let this stand a few miniutes.

Pack the cabbage into the pot, crock, or large jar that will be its home for a few weeks. Juices from the cabbage (drawn out by the salt) need to cover the cabbage now and throughout the fermentation process. If additional brine is needed, use 2 tablespoons pure salt to 1 quart water.

Cover the cabbage with the large outer leaves you set aside before shredding the cabbage. Cover this with a plate that fits inside the container and is weighted with a jar of water. This keeps the cabbagge in the brine. OR you can cover the cabbage with a plastic bag filled with water. This supposedly seals the surface from the air and helps prevent the growth of film yeast and molds. Make sure the bags are food-safe and watertight; you may want to double-bag. I placed a large plate on mine, weighted it, then put the lid on, and had very little of the molds, etc.--much less than last year, when I did not have a lid.

Keep the kraut around 68-72 degrees. (One reference says 65 degrees.) I didn't worry about this, and simply kept it in our laundry room.

Remove any surface scum. I had to do this almost daily last year, but only once this year, I think, although I checked it often.

The kraut is ready for processing when bubbles no longer come to the surface. My friend told me to check by hitting the side of the container; if bubbles appear at the top, fermentation is still taking place. If bubbles don't appear, it's ready. My references vary on how long this will take, anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks. Last year, we processed at almost 4 weeks; this year, at just over 3 weeks.


Once the kraut is finished fermenting, heat the cabbage to simmering.

Pack into hot canning jars; cover with brine (make more if needed, just as you did, if needed, while the kraut was fermenting), leaving a half-inch head space; remove air bubbles; wipe mouth jar with a clean, damp cloth. Adjust lids.

Process in a boiling water bath: pints, 15 minutes; quarts, 20 minutes.

Store in a cool, dry place. If cured and sealed properly, should keep a year.

We started with approximately 15 pounds of cabbage and ended up with 5 quarts and 7 pints of kraut. Hope this helps and works!

Mary Susan

Chicken Processing

Well, we did it. We processed our broilers Tuesday. What a way to celebrate Independence Day--by becoming a little more independent of the industrial food supply.

Friends--a family of five--came and helped. This is the same family that processed their broilers a couple of weeks ago, using our men and initiating our Whizbang chicken plucker.

The whole process went much faster as a result of having 11 people working. We were done in well under 2 hours--I really think it was less than 1.5 hours--for 27 birds. That includes cleaning up and getting the birds in the freezer. Truth to tell, I didn't help a lot with the actual processing: I ended up being gopher, photographer, etc., most of the time. I included myself in the 11. I also included 3yo son, who actually did help hose off the birds just before their being bagged. (Cute story about that; see link below.)

Speaking of bags, we thought we'd ordered the large bags from Stromberg's, but didn't find out until Monday that we received small ones. From the looks of them, the birds would never fit, but we tried anyway, and had no problem. The birds dressed out between 3.5 and 4.5 pounds, I guess. We only weighed a few on the kitchen scales, and the two that I heard the weights on were 3 lbs, 14 oz, and 4 lbs, 2 oz.

Also, after processing seven birds a few weeks ago without a Whizbang plucker, and doing these this week and our friends' a couple of weeks ago with it, I highly recommend the plucker. It works great and makes the whole thing go waaaaaaaay faster. I sure don't want to do it again without the plucker. Fantastic invention! (http://store.cumberlandbooks.com/chickenplucker.html)

Anyway, here is a link to more specifics about the day, written by one of our dearest blessings, our 15yo daughter: Reformed TN Girl

Mary Susan

Harvesting

We've been canning and harvesting a good bit of the garden's bounty the last few days.

The kraut was ready to go, so we canned that. We started a few weeks ago with approximately 15 pounds of cabbage; on Friday we canned it, and ended up with 5 quarts and 7 pints. Looking forward to some good Reubens this winter!

The tomatoes are slowly beginning to come in; not enough to can, but it won't be long. We are already enjoying some delicious BLT's!

We've canned quite a few green beans: I believe the total is 38 pints and 38 quarts. Thereabouts, anyway.

Last year, we started using the propane burner and stand from our turkey fryer to help speed up the canning process. Not only does it heat up the veggies much quicker than the stovetop, it also frees up the stovetop for other needs. We use two pressure canners or hot water baths at a time: that is a great perk from combining our household with my parents' a couple of years ago. We also have a number of folks lending a hand: our two daughters are usually providing great and very competent support; 3yo son is always around--he's actually able to help a great deal on some items; and 11yo son jumps in, too, when he's not got other chores to tend to. And my mother: she's the foreman. We are blessed to have her around!
We were able to can 38 pints of beans in about 2.5 hours

Mary Susan