Recently in Fall Category

The drought hit us pretty hard in this part of Virginia. Pumpkins aren't as plentiful and in most places they are priced at a premium. One place was selling them for $2.77 per pound. Last year they were .39 cents per pound. I can't see paying that for a pumpkin and only using it for a day or two and pitching it out. That is a waste of food, if not for people then for animals. The frugal part of me just comes up short and I told the kids no pumpkins for the front porch this year.

Instead we took that same money and bought fun-kins. The faux look-alike pumpkins that won't rot, we can use every year and I don't have to feel bad about wasting food.

 

We waited until the craft stores where putting them on sale to move 'em out and we picked up several Sunday evening. I spent a little time yesterday carving them. If you haven't yet carved one of these don't be fooled. They are nearly as hard to carve as a real pumpkin. I used the same technique for transfering the pumpkin face then used an exacto knife to carve the lines. My hands were tired by the time I finished all of them. It ws work people! I used photoshop to make some face patterns. I printed them out to use as my guide for cutting. Using a stick pen I made little dots through the paper template then cut out the pieces following the dots.

You can see that Fingers McGillicutty had a great time being in the middle of it all. I did the carving and he carried them out to the porch for me. He gets very excited over everything. He wants to be in the middle of it all. He was climbing up and down on the table and chairs. He took the little pieces that came off as I carved and carried them around like priceless treasures. He is so funny. It is really hard for me to believe that in about a week he will be 21 months old. Already. He has left his baby stages very quickly. He is talkative but it is the baby talk that only the trained ear of a mother is able to interpret. Don't even ask Steve what he just said. He just stares at you with that look of a deer caught in the headlights.

I had been wanting to do the 'boo' set of pumpkins every year and finally this year I made them. With these foam pumpkins you can't use candles or the oil lights for lighting. I refused to buy those battery operated things that flash so annoyingly. Besides Halloween night is not a good time to have flashing lights in the dark that might set off some schitzo feind on a Jason or Michael Meyers trip and ruin a perfectly good evening. Also what a huge waste of batteries that I could better use in my camera making photos of my kids and the cute trick or treaters that come to my porch.

For this very out of the way place we get a lot of trick-or-treaters. alot who are too old to be out trying to get some candy. I am going to be mean this year. Anyone who looks like they are 14 or older I am turning them away with treats. Last year far too many teenage boys came to our house not once but TWICE trying to get candy. What is up with their parents letting them go out alone knowing they are scrounging for candy and in some cases pushing little kids down to get to a door first. I am not putting up with it this year. I am going to say, "NO," and send them on their unmerry way. We get about 200+ kids and that is ALOT of candy. And great day in the morning have you seen the price of candy this year? Are they lining the little foil packages with precious metals now days? I think I should dress up as the Grinch and be done with it. LOL

Ok. So. Moving on.

In keeping with the chicken theme I have had going lately I would be remiss to let you all down without at least one more post featuring poultry of some sort.  Here it is. This is my rooster jack o'lantern. I wish I had gotten a couple more of the really big pumpkins and done a hen on her nest to go with the rooster. We did go back to buy another big pumpkin but the craft store was all sold out. Imagine that. Two days before Halloween and the stores are selling out of decorations. What ever will we do when there is nothing left to buy at the after halloween sales? That is usually when I buy a few things to have for the following year without having to pay full price.

These pumpkins are lit with the replacement lights that are sold in the Christmas section. You know, the ones that you insert into a little hole in the back of a little village house or store. Now I shouldn't have to invest in pumpkin decor for a very long time. or perhaps we could add just one to the collect each year. That would be fun.

Before I go and start sorting out my candy to give out tomorrow night I have to tell you something about my goats. Cindy, the not so nice doe, is sick. She has little sores on her udder bag. I called the only goat vet in our area for hundreds of miles and she will be coming by sometime this morning to check her out. Also, we have been making some super nice homemade soaps to add to my baskets for Christmas gifts. Goat milk soap is some of the best for your skin. I have goat milk. PLENTY of goat milk. I'll make some photos to show you all of the process of transforming oils and fats and lye into some of the most luxurious soaps you can buy. Yes, I said lye. You cannot make soap without lye. Once the chemical process has taken place there is no lye left in the mix. It is the process of saponification. If someone tells you lye soap is harsh to your skin tell them they know nothing about soap. And tell them that bar soap mess they buy and shell out big bucks for is chemicals and actually a detergent they are washing their face with. Not soap at all. Wait till you see my goatmilk and cornmeal exfolliating bar! Or my goatmilk and lemon kitchen soap. Or my goatmilk and grits gardeners hand soap. Good stuff!

Go get ready for Halloween. See you tomorrow.

The chimney sweep is coming this morning to clean my fireplace and chimney as well as the stove pipes on my wood stove. It will be a busy morning here at Home Grown Central because I am also doing laundry, makingtomato preserves, drying thyme and stringing/drying peppers. Plus I have Steven to keep out from under the workmen's feet.

This is also the perfect time for me to remind you that if you have not done so in the last season since using your fireplace, wood heater, or woodburning stove you MUST get your chimney and stove pipes inspected and cleaned by a licensed chimney sweep. Not only is the safety of your family at risk so is the basic health. We do not want any chimney fires nor house fires this fall and winter. We also do not want to read of carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbonmonoxide is an oderless, colorless, tasteless gas given off during combustion. It will cause you to fall asleep and you will die in a room.house saturated with it. If you don't already have a fire alarm/smoke detector go get one TODAY! While you are at it pick up one for carbonmonoxide, too. It is always better to be safe than to be sorry. Most accidents inthe home can be prevented! So can forest fires. Ask Smokey The Bear.

Mary had asked to see the 'kitties' we have been capturing and taking to the shelter. Here are a few for your veiwing pleasure. I forgot to take photos of some of them before shipping them off to a new home and a new life.

One of the kittens was solid black. The girl at the shelter said it would be kept locked away in a very safe place now that it is Ocotober and halloween lunatics are running around free and loose in the world amongst us common folks.

Did you know that most shelters have a policy that no black cats are allowed to be adopted coming up on such an event? I don't have to tell you this world is running amuck with sick-o's. I am not a fan of cats but I don't like the idea of them being mistreated.

I am trying to get as much of my work done as possible before sun up this morning. I feel so rushed! I am expecting my chicks to be delivered this morning. A box full of fluffy cheepers. It'll be almost like Easter around here. :)

This weekend Steve and I have plans to cut a few more loads of firewood. We have to begin to close down the pool. It is filling with leaves already. The drought is ushering fall in a little faster than normal.

I have stopped adding chemicals to the pool and have been watching for frogs to begin swimming in there. If frogs can live in it the clorine has dissipated and we can use some of the water on my garden. Recycle! Reuse! Reduce! We seriously need some rain. When we pull down the pool to over half full II'll go back to dumping in the chemicals to make the water chrystal clear. Then we'll blow out the lines, shut down the pumps and put the cover on it.

Work, work, work. Always something to do.

We also have some work we need to do on the koi pond. The fish are nice and lovely to watch but man I am getting tired of all of the taking care of things around here. I need a helper, a yardman, somebody - anybody - to come help.

I think I am rambling this morning. The coffee is hot and I am enjoying the first cup of the day. It is humid right now. The windows are up and the air is very cool but it is damp moist cool air that makes your skin feel a bit yucky. I don't like that feeling. Especially when it is heavy enough to make the floors feel sticky. Double Yuck. The floors are clean but the wax makes them feel sticky-ish.

Here is something else we caught in the Stray Cat Round-Up 2007.  It is a nasty ol' possum.

Given a chance this thing would eat the heads and innards of every chicken I have and then come back looking to see if there were any eggs he could sink those needle like teeth into.

They are a vicious little creature. They hiss and try to bite you through the wire cage.

Their claws are also a bit oogie to me. They look like hands. Five toes that look like four fingers and a thumb. It is not really a thumb but it looks like it is.

It makes me shiver. I do not like to encounter these scurrying little beasts that roam around at night looking for something to eat.

There is a hunting season for possums.

Don't tell Steve. He'll likely turn into Jed Clampet.

I am not Granny and we won't be serving anything like this on the fancy dining table this fall. Ewww.

So, I'll leave you with that thought for the weekend. LOL :)

That is exactly what we did this weekend.

Steve and I spent the better part of saturday morning working on firewood. Steve used his chainsaw to cut the trees in stove size lengths and I used a wedge and maul to split them into 6 or 8 pieces. I really thought my arms would be super tired and sore the next day. They weren't but my back was a bit stiff.

The wood was then loaded onto the truck and we brought it home where we then unloaded and stacked it for our winter use. We did this with three truckloads and a trailer load. Talk about a lot of work but we managed to do it in a matter of three and a half hours.

Steve and our neighbor think I am a slave driver. I just like to set a task and get it done before dark. You know? Men will stand around and talk, cut a bit and talk and then ponder a little more before getting back to work. Not me. Shut up and get to work is my motto.

We plan to do it all over again this saturday for the full day. Last weekend we knocked off at 2pm because we were meeting Steve's parents for dinner. This time no early days. We work until our arms give out.

We heat our house with a woodstove and stove insert in our fireplace.We use about 4 cords or more during the winter. We must get that much stockpiled. The wood we have been cutting and hauling is from dead dried trees that were felled and left to sit over a season. We cut and split and haul it home. We have 2 areas in our barn where we stack wood then we have a few places out under the back trees where we stack it to sit and season. We cover those piles with a tarp to help keep it dry.

Yes, I am a slave driving task master.

Saturday night we had to stop at target for a couple of things and Steven grabbed hold of this chainsaw in the toy isle and wouldn't let it go. He has been cutting wood since.

Sorry about the photo quality. This was taken in low light with Steve's cell phone. 

I often get questions and requests either in comments or by email about certain journal subjects or something that is a spin off from those. I used to keep a running list of topics to write about and questions to answer but that got tedious and often I wasn't in the mood to write on a specific subject. I am trying to get better about getting back to you all on such issues as you have made a point of asking me.

Tomorrow I am going to tackle one of the most recent, crabapples and jelly.

If you have a request leave it in the comments section and I'll see what I can do about it.

Now I have to go finish the quarterly reports for the local food bank. Fun, fun, fun.

Searching through the old posts here please note that when the journal entries where imported into this new version of Movable Type the formatting was lost. Therefore all of the old posts look like I don't know a thing about sentence structure and paragraphs. I am not totally complainly. I am happy to have the entries available. O'kay I am complaining a little bit.

(Another) One of the things I love about the approach of fall is the anticipation of the apples. We have apple trees. We have very few apples this year due to the snow storm that came just before Easter this year and killed most of the blossoms on the trees.

We will harvest our apples this week. First on the menu is apple pie!

Back in March (I did so much in March!) we planted three fig trees. The summer drought did nothing to help them. They have struggled and made it through to fall. How very surprised I was to see one of the tiny trees baring fruit. Figs! My mouth waters at the thought of the deliciousness we will hopefully harvest next summer.

I probably shoudl knock these off and wait until next year but I can't. I want to taste just one, just one this fall. Hopefully the birds won't get them.

As soon as October shows its face around here I am headed off to the mountains. This year I plan to acquire more than a few Stayman apples. If you have never had an old Virginia stayman apple you have missed out one of the best apples to be eaten. I discovered these apples last fall at an open market and fell in love with them.

Our diet is filled with apple and pumpkin dishes during this time of year. I look forward to cool nights where I serve pork roasts marinated with rosemary and roasted with apples, prunes, squash, pumpkins, onions and potatoes followed by apple desserts - baked apples, fried apples, apple pie, apple tarts, warm apple sauce with cream - mmmmm or pumpkin desserts. After that comes sweet potato and collard season - a different kind of ymuuy.

Does your diet change seasonally? What's on your supper table these days?

I cooked the very last of the purple cabbages and red beets for our supper last week.

The cabbage was the last thing that came out of my garden from the spring plantings.

The peppers are prolific this year! I have never had such a harvest.

The way they are producing I can't justify pulling out those plants no matter how tired of them I am and replacing them with something else.

From here on out the hot peppers will get canned by pickling or jellied and the bell peppers (as they ripen to red) will be chopped and put in the freezer.

It was nice to say goodbye to most of those spring time plants. It was even nicer to say hello to all the new things I have planted for fall. I still have room in my garden for a few things.

I plan to put in an asparagus patch this fall. Asparagus for fall planting isn't available until October 30th. So I have plenty of time to get the beds in tip top shape while waiting for their arrival.

I also am hoping for a garlic patch. Garlic is available now. I do have my beds ready for planting. I am thinking on a softneck variety that I can braid into long beautiful displays to hang up -and use!

I also plan to expand the artichokes but I think that really has to wait until spring.

Rosemary is in the dehydrator. This is my second batch. It dries out after several hours. Then I strip the stems and seal it in a airlock bag.

Today I will try to work with the peppers getting them harvested. We are still in a drought and my new little garden for fall is so very thirsty. I am watering for 20 min. in the mornings rotating sections by the day. I hope things survive.

In other news, and I have no idea why I am telling you all this - especially YOU, you crazy animal lovers out there. We have been over run by stray and/or feral cats and kittens. I have no idea where all of these beasts have come from. We are setting cage traps and taking them off to the county animal shelter one by one. For all of you who think I should just keep the pretty kitties, kiss my @$$. I mean that in the nicest way. LOL

There are upwards of 15 cats -some with kittens. After the sun has warmed my front porch all day the bricks are giving off radiant heat through most of the night. This is where these strange animals gather after dark. During the day they lay in wait in the hedges and try to ambush birds and rabbits -which is a good thing because rabbits would eat my garden - however, these things breed like rabbits which is a very bad thing.

I am not and have no desire to be a crazy cat lady. This place is not a feline farm either. So, out of here is the way they are going. If you want a cat I have some free ones if you want to try and catch one.

As if you haven't figured it out by now -

I don't like cats. At all.

I do tolerate one for the barns and keeping down the mice population come fall and winter.

In more other news and developing saga I have ordered my meat birds for fall. 25 cornish cross rocks. These birds will grow to giant size in eight weeks and be ready for the freezer. They should arrive next week. I plan to keep close accounts of them because of the speed of their growth. I think charting the development will be an interesting project. These birds when dressed will easily weigh around 4lbs each. Those that have to wait to the end while we process will be 5 -6 lbs. Like small turkeys!

Before you send me bunches of hate mail let me remind you that we operate a small scale farm. Every thing here has a job and a purpose. Animals are part of the food chain. The dog is a pet and if she didn't exist before my time she would not be just a pet. She would be a working dog.

Now I am off to do my weekly volunteer duties at the local food bank.

It will grow.

Really. It will.

Back in March I had gotten pineapples from the grocery store. I cut the tops off and stuck them in some empty pots of dirt. This pot is 18 inch diameter. Just add water, sunshine and the occassional plant food and voila!

Some of you might remember the pots of herbs I started in tiny pots in my kitchen when snow was on the ground.

They long ago outgrew those pots.

Thyme

Lavander

Parsley

Rosemary

Spearmint

I am clipping some of the herbs and tying them in bundles to dry for use this winter. I might even pull out my old food dehydrator and see if it still works. Most hearbs dry in about 4 hours in the dehydrator. Drying herbs in the dehydrator causes their aroma to be released into the air. It can be perfectly delicious.

I love the scent of rosemary the most. I am thinking about using some of it to make a batch of homemade rosemary soap. Mmmmm. The scent of romasemary - sigh ... This aroma is one that tends to stimulate the more sensual receptors of my physical being. It is going to be a pretty interesting day here on the farm. :)

Is there an herbal scent that gets your motor running?

I always eagerly anticipate the planting of an early spring garden. I love spending the summer harvesting and enjoying the fruits of my hard work of keeping the weeds at bay. I love being able to share the first fresh leaves of lettuce, lovely yellow squash and cucumbers. I eagerly wait for the very first red tomatoes.

By the end of summer I have begun to tire of some of the things in my garden. A body can only eat so many bowls of salad before it begins to revolt. I was actually sort of happy when the lettuce began to bolt in the coming heat of July. We haven't had a craving for or the want of a salad since then. I know very soon I will be dreaming of those crisp fresh leaves of lettuce to go with the last of the struggling tomato vines trying to make it until the first frost comes in November. So for fall lettuce is a must have.

This week after cutting the grass and mowing and cleaning up around my barns in preparation for the coming wintry months I got busy with the overrun plants in what is left of my summer garden. Out came all of the dwindling eggplants, okra, cabbage, squash and bean vines. I tilled the earth, turning it over fresh and clean.

A new canvas was ready to paint with the beautiful colors of fall seedlings. Rows of purples from cabbage, deep greens from collards, vibrant bright green from romaine lettuce and the mixed blue-ish greens of brocolloi, kale and brussel sprouts.

The tree on the edge of the garden is a mulberry tree. The kids love the fruits in the spring. So do the birds as is evident by all of their mulberry colored and staining poop. I have another mulberry tree much larger close by the garden as well. I am told and from what I read my larger mulberry is defying the laws of mulberry trees and should have come to the end of its live by now. It is a very large tree. I trim the low branches to keep them out of my way when mowing and tilling. I then take the branches and put them in the goat field. The goats can clean an entire limb of leaves in just a couple minutes. They eat like hogs!

Yesterday morning I began filling that clean slate with some of the vegetables that grow so beautifully in the fall.

I planted:

9 hills of brussel sprouts, 9 hills of broccoli, 9 heads green cabbage, 9 heads purple cabbage, 27 hills of collards, 27 heads of romaine lettuce

Yeah, I am planning on my appetite for salad to return in full swing very soon.

Are you planting a fall garden? It's not too late to get started in most parts of the country. Even in more wintery places there is something that will grow even in a cold frame or long flower pots in a sunny window.

I have grown lettuce in hanging baskets in front of a big bay window. I have. LOL

You can, too.