2015 Summer Pictures, Part 1

Here are some of those long promised pictures!!! I know, I know, they aren't great, but I never claimed to be great at choosing my picture subjects!!! (and yes, I love taking pics of the dogs)
We've had some different visitors here to the farm, and they are all always well greeted. We did get off of the farm as you can see by the concert picture. We went to the fair with some friends (Aaron and Donna, Pictured below the concert). We saw a group called Hotel California, they are an Eagles cover band, and I will say they were pretty good, and I was quite surprised by just how many Eagles songs I know!!!
The weather here today is fantastic!!! In fact, the air has been off here in the house for the last 2 days, and I have some of the windows open here in the house. It's kind of nice being able to have the windows open after that sticky summer we have had.
I candled the eggs again in the incubator the other night, and had to take another 3 out. So, the count was, we started out with 33, and I took 6 out on day 7, because they were infertile. Then, I took 3 out that had blood rings, so I'm down to 24 eggs. I'm hoping I don't loose anymore.
I spent most of today canning pumpkin, let me tell you, that was a lot of work. I spent about 8 hours working on my pumpkin, and I still have 3 more pumpkins to do!!!! (noooo!!!!!)  Then when I was putting some stuff away while killing time waiting on the pressure cooker to do it's thing, I discovered I was down to 3 jars of soup!!!! So, I am now cooking some chicken to make some chicken soup to get canned. For me, 3 jars is dangerously low!!!
Alright, that's about it from here. I now have to start working on the other half of the pictures for you guys!!!

have not forgotten

Hey all, I promise, I have not forgotten you all!!! I've been a bad blogger lately, but only because this summer has been insane. I've been working on uploading some pictures to share with you all. Between the garden stuff, the chickens, the rabbits, the dogs, the vehicle breakdowns, and the family functions it's been quite the busy summer. I'm hoping for a slowdown though now that we are halfway through September already. (wow, where has this year gone already????) I'm planning on sitting down tonight and finishing up with my pictures so that I can share some of the farm pictures I've been taking.

Just a little bit of farm news, I'm on day 10 of egg incubation. I started out with 33, but on day 7 when I did my egg candle, I had to take out 6, but not because they died along the way, but because those 6 just weren't fertile. That means we need to look at what's going on with the roosters in that run. I don't think its that we have too many hens for our 3 Rhode Island Red roosters, I think it's more that we only have 1 rooster who is really working, and that would be Martin. Sinatra seems to have retired. Every time I see him he is either eating, or hanging out on the roost in the house napping. The other young, un named rooster that we have in the run doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. We are planning on doing a Rhode Island chick order here soon, and have decided that we are going to go ahead and order 2 rooster chicks when we make that order. This spring, we are going to have to do a huge butcher of our older hens. Right now, we are getting about 40 eggs a day, which is good because I have a lot of egg customers. In fact right now, we are planning on keeping all of the hens that hatch out. We are currently hatching out Tetra Tints.

We are still working with the Americana chicks that we hatched out. Although they aren't really chicks so much anymore. They are close to 4 months old. We've been butchering the males so that we can see what we have female wise. We thought that we only had 9 roosters, but I'm thinking it may be more as they are growing. That's the one thing I really don't like about that breed, they are so slow to mature that unless you are an expert at sexing them as newborns, you really don't know what you have until they are mature. As we are not experts, we just let them grow up and decide what they are.  As soon as we finish butchering everything male, we will get those hens sold off. We are going to need the space for the chicks that we are working on hatching out right now.

Well, I'd better stop rambling on for the moment. I need to get myself on the move.

Lots going on!!!

Hey there everybody!!!! It's been a while since my last post, but things have been busy around here. I've been canning tomatoes, and dealing with the last of the garden. We're trying to get as much out of it as we can.
Yesterday we picked all of the pumpkins, and Frank brought them down to the house in the tractor wagon. We got 6 decent sized pumpkins. As soon as I finish making the Damson jelly that I started yesterday, I'll get started on the pumpkins. I'm going to roast the seeds, can the pumpkin meat, and save the rinds for the worms. We will be harvesting those tubs and getting them started fresh here in the next few days.
Frank has been doing the random butchering that needs to be done, so my freezer is filling up with winter meat. We made some rabbit sausage last week. We didn't stuff it though, because I wanted to just go ahead and leave it loose so that I can make sausage patties, or do whatever with it.  I'm planning on making some big pots of soup here soon, so that I can get that canned up and put back. Last winter we ate a lot of soup, and that was awesome.
Since my  counter has been full with the dehydrator, and canning supplies, I haven't been able to make any bread. As soon as all of that is done, I think I'm going to have to make a few big batches of bread.
I'm planning on taking lots of pictures of the different things we have going on, so there will be a big picture blog coming soon!!!!
I've got to dash, because this Jelly isn't going to make itself!!! (although wouldn't that be nifty?)

Zucchini Fritters Recipe

 

Oh the joys of zucchini, and all of the many ways it can be prepared. This is one of my favorites!!! It

uses simple ingredients, and works up in a jiff. One batch makes a lot, so I tend to make 2 batches so that we can heat the left overs for dinner the next night. They are just as tasty the next day as they are the first!!!! (Don't worry the recipe I'm giving you guys isn't doubled)  The recipe is as follows!!!

 

2 Cups grated zucchini

2 Cups grated cheddar cheese

1 onion grated

2 eggs

1/2 to 2/3 cup flour

salt and pepper to taste.

 

Mix above ingredients into a large bowl and stir. Keep skillet greased while cooking. Drop spoonful of batter into skillet. Flatten into a patty w/ spoon. Fry until golden on both sides.

 

Now, I have a metal tablespoon that I use to put the batter into the pan, and it works quiet well, and makes for a decent size that's not too big, and not to small.

Enjoy!!!

Betty's kits

So, as some of you know, we raise Silver Fox rabbits here. Well, We have this big beautiful Chocolate Silver Fox doe, who at first we couldn't get to lift. Then her first litter froze, we didn't realize that the buck had slipped a fall of in, and luckily, the doe across the way had just had some as well, so I slipped those 4 in her cage. This time, I was ready!!! She had 6 beautiful kits last Sunday. 3 Black, and 3 Chocolate, and she is a fantastic mother as you can see by how well fed they are!!!
Bob, is their father, which is the second buck that we picked up several months ago.

I can't wait to see how these grow out!!!!

Rabbit Chili Recipe

As you all know, we raise rabbits for our own meat consumption. It's healthy, and it allows us to be able to feed ourselves without going broke. (Ok, I have to admit, I don't help with the butchering part)
But we love Chili here, I believe I've even posted a recipe or two before on chili.  
Ok, the first thing I did was I put the raw rabbit meat in the crock pot, with a lettuce stalk, a red onion and a bell pepper, and some salt and pepper. I put just enough water keep the meat from cooking dry. Then, I allowed it to cook over night on low. Once that was done, I took the meat out, and deboned it. and I put the meat, and the veggies, and a small amount of the broth in a big pan. Then I added some fresh diced tomatoes, some squash and zucchini (because lets face it you can put them in anything and they make a fresh healthy filler),  2 cans of kidney beans un drained, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, and a can of tomato past. Then I added a packet of seasoning powder, and mixed will. I then simmered on low on the stove for about 2-3 hours until everything was good and hot, and all the flavors had been able to come together.
This was really tasty, and was even better with a sprinkling of cheese and a dab of sour cream on top!!!

critters, veggies, life

Hey everybody!!! Sorry it's been quite a while between posts. Things have been a bit on the busy side with summer, and canning, and critters.
We finally got the grow out pen completely shoveled out, and some fresh new bedding down, a coop moved in, and we now have our Americana hens and roosters in there. (yes!!!) Although the one rooster is going to have to go. He's way to mean for my liking. I've never been scared of a rooster until him.
We did get our Americana chicks moved outside a couple of weeks ago, and they are doing fantastic out there in their little coop and run. We are starting to be able to tell the difference between the girls and the boys so, soon, very soon we will be taking out the boys, butchering them, and getting the girls ready for market.  Which will be great because my newer pullets that came in the mail back in the early spring are about ready to start laying, so I will be able to do my next round of hatching.
My dogs, all 3 of them are doing fantastic. Sam pretty much so stays in the house, because he melts outside.
My pumpkins are growing fast!!! I have some more up to date pics than these, but I've just got to get them uploaded. Some of them at this point are already turning orange!!! Hard to believe that they have grown so swiftly.
Then finally, I'd like you all to meet Lucy!!! She's the newest Silver Fox in our herd. She is the Daughter of Fred and Ethel, and is just under 4 months old. She has a great size, and great fur, so I can't wait to see how she finishes growing out.
Even better news!!! Betty, my Chocolate Silver Fox who was having such a hard time taking care of her kits, finally has a litter that she is taking care of perfectly. she made a nest, she's feeding them, all of it. She just seemed to have a hard start with the others.
I have a few recipes that I'm going to be posting here in the next day or two as I go.
Oh speaking of recipes. Remember a while back when I made that chocolate cake from that old old old recipe, and couldn't find the Hershey's syrup that I could have used in it at Food Lion? Well, Matthew my favorite grocery store dude, showed me where it's located! For some reason they have decided that it does not belong in the baking isle, but with the ice cream stuff. Ah well, at least I know they have it for next time!!!