preserving the summer's goodness ~ one jar at a time!

a few weeks ago i was blessed to have all 3 of my daughters help make pickles.

the little girls were happy to stuff the jars with the pickle slices that M and i cut for them.

while the jars were not stuffed as tightly as i could have done myself, the girls are learning what it is to can and preserve our summer's bounty for the winter.

and that's certainly more important than having prizewinning pickles!

I'm picking and picking, and canning and canning, and freezing and freezing, and still we can't keep up!

you'd think with 7 CSA boxes weekly, 4 pigs and numerous canning/freezing days a week we'd be able to keep up better.

but no.

so off to the hot kitchen i go again!

it's a wild and crazy ride, so hang on tight! (and don't forget to buckle your seatbelt!)

...just popping in for a moment to say "I'm still here! and hanging on for dear life!"

despite the total lack of rain for the third week straight, our garden is producing. i think that i can safely say that we've reached the point of relentlessness !

this morning alone, i picked a 5 gallon bucket of cucumbers. i thought that the cukes were pretty much petered out and done, but i guess after the thorough soaking that we gave them Saturday night and last night, they've made a miraculous comeback.

since today's agenda was already full with 3+ bushels of peaches, and 150 ears of corn, I'm not sure where we'll squeeze in the cucumbers. (and that's not counting the yellow beans that are ready to pick today!)

but squeeze we must, and squeeze we will. old man winter will be here far sooner than we think, if the speed with which this summer is galloping by is any indication.

wasn't it just last week that we were marveling that it was May first already?

we've been steadily harvesting, selling, canning, sharing and freezing our bounteous produce. what a satisfying feeling to see all the colorful jars lined up like soldiers on the cellar shelves!

I've updated the puttin' stuff up list on the sidebar.

I'll try to stop in again soon- i have some posts ready to go, including our latest chicken butchering escapade.

a {partial} snapshot of the bounty from our garden....

this picture is several weeks old, but this is one of the very first harvest of a variety of veggies: basil, beets, cherry bomb peppers, a yellow tomato, green cabbage, cilantro and yellow summer squash.



beets. who knew that they'd be so popular? aside from corn and tomatoes, they are our most requested vegetable. thankfully, i planted ALOT early in the season.

i will mention here, though, that beets do not like raised beds. they do their top beety thing quite nicely, but the main beety thing on the bottom? very disappointing.

the carrots have also made a respectable showing, although they are not nearly so popular. I'll take carrots to the farmer's market only one or two more times, and then pull them all to free up the raised beds for some fall plantings of lettuce, strawberries, spinach and broccoli.

here is part of our July 4th feast: red, white and blue potatoes.

we're glad that we grew the blue potatoes this year, but the yields are very disappointing. this will be the first AND last year that blue potatoes are grown on our little farm by the bridge. even though we started them quite early, (by most standards) it's obvious that the blues needed another month or more in the ground to size up nicely.

the red, white and blue potatoes did sell marginally well at the Farmer's market, and in our CSA boxes, so i guess it wasn't a total waste...

most of the onions are harvested, or on the list for this week. many sized up quite nicely, and i was not disappointed. after trimming the tops and roots, they are spread on newspapers in the mudroom to dry out.

again, the red and white onions are a staple at farmer's market, and for our boxes. surprisingly, the white seems to be just as popular as the red onions, which is not what i expected. i like to cook with the red onions, just for the added color they give.

and just in case you think that we don't take the time to stop and smell the roses ( or purple cone flowers, as the case may be...) i took this picture last week, right outside the back door in the perennial flower garden.

and this little surprise greeted G and me on our way to dunkin' donuts at 6AM last week. this curios and greedy little skunk got in *almost* over his head. he took a little dip and dive into the pig bucket and got stuck!

Dave dispatched him without incident.

although i will say, that it would have been MUCH better if Dave had removed the skunk AND bucket from OFF the BACK porch, as a DEAD skunk, EVEN though MOSTLY buried in a pig bucket, can STILL smell up a back porch.

AND mud room.

July: Jesus in our heart and home

years ago, when the older children were small, i made this wooden nativity. i had seen one similar in a friends' house, and she was gracious enough to let me trace and copy the figurines.

this sturdy, chunky, child-friendly set is one of my favorites. it's the one that i reach for each Christmas as we re-tell the smallest children the wonderful story of Jesus.

thursdays are almost my favorite day!

my routine for Thursday mornings has been to get up early and begin harvesting for our CSA boxes. i make the garden rounds and see what abundance we have to share with our families. much of the produce goes in the boxes, always making sure to have a good variety, and then some gets saved for farmer's market on Friday mornings.

this weeks abundance:

* sweet peppers (green and lilac)

* hot peppers

* white potatoes

* sunflowers

* catnip

* cucumbers

* red and white onions

* summer squash

* jalapeno jelly

* eggs

* green beans

* tomatoes

and the best part? all that fresh produce (no pesticides or herbicides) for $23!

and on another note: the jalapeno jelly seems to be a favorite with the family. if we continue at our current rate of consumption, I'll need to make well over 22 gallons of the spicy greenness!

mathematically speaking, that is!

score: Dave ~ 10. groundhogs ~ big fat zero!

these two little girls are sure country girls all the way to the core, and make their daddy's heart proud!

Dave has been quite determined to dispatch all the groundhogs that have been attempting to nibble at our garden.

i don't think either of us could have taken another disappointing year like last years, when our only claim to fame was being potato farmers.

the girls are happy to help daddy with the groundhogs, giving encouragement and squeals when he gets another.

A even asked if we were going to eat one for dinner.

seems to me, i remember some rumblings about that before....

gasp! she lives... and writes!

so much has happened, i don't even know where to start!

our garden is definitely doing much better this year, and that leaves me with just about zero time to write.

I'll jot off a rambley list, and hopefully get back later to post some pictures. (even though I've not been blogging, i have been taking pictures. sort of.)

* we butchered 75 chickens last week, and although it nearly killed me, our freezers are full with the best chicken meat you've ever eaten.

* we just sent the last 2 winter pigs to the butcher. despite not having them sold when i dropped them off, at the last minute many buyers came out of the woodwork, prompting Dave to consider building another pig tractor. with the restaurant food that we give them, and the pasturing, the pigs are a much needed cash inflow in our little operation.

* the garden is producing, and is gearing up to producing relentlessly! potatoes, some tomatoes, zucchini, yellow summer squash, egg plant, onions, green beans, yellow beans, carrots, beets, rosemary, basil, cilantro, red cabbage, green cabbage, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, cherry bomb hot peppers, Anaheim peppers, cucumbers, sweet green peppers...

* beets are a popular item; both for my CSA boxes and farmers' market

* red cabbage is not.

* this year's tally for garden pests that dave has "dispatched" is: 10 woodchucks, 2 skunks and 1 rabbit. (the skunk G found right out the back door last week, sitting placidly (and stuck) in the pig bucket.)

* i started a running tally of the things we're freezing and canning for the winter. although it's a bit late in getting posted, it's up-to-date as of right now.

* even though I'm not a morning person, i much prefer to get up at the crack-'o-dawn and do my garden work then. I'm often back in the house before 11am, and will go out again after dinner.

* we're very thankful for the water pump that i bought, as well as the creek nearby. we've been using the creek to irrigate the garden, without which we'd have no garden.

* i have 5 (!) families for my CSA. it's encouraging. and only a little stressful. we're learning so much this year, and hope to expand to even more families next year.

* I'm a produce vendor at the local farmer's market. last Friday was the first time, and it went well. things we learned from last week: people like beets, red potatoes, red peppers and small potatoes.

* quilting classes are still in full swing at the local Ben Franklin, and I'm able to squeeze in some time for quilting. i could almost call myself the quilting gardener.

or maybe the gardening quilter?

quite possibly more than you ever wanted to know about potatoes...

usually it's a toss-up around here whether we'll call ourselves potato farmers or chicken ranchers...

today we'll wear the hat of potato farmers, and just call it even...

we're still on the bite-your-nails-will-they-be-ready-countdown of patriotic spuds for 4th of July. it's looking good down there in the lower garden, but you just never can tell...

these are the "blue" potatoes. if you take close notice, the stalks of the plants are blue, and the flowers have a definite blueish tinge to them.


the superior (early white) potatoes are flowering as well. (the late season kennebecs are still not flowering!) the stalks of this variety are the normal shade of green, and while the flowers are a little bit purple, they more subtle in their coloring.



finally, these are the red Pontiac potatoes. still green stalks, but a more solid, albeit pale, purple coloring.



while i could maybe be considered a potato farmer (if you're feeling mighty generous and kind) I'm no potato expert.



however, it is interesting to see for the very first time a little bit of evidence of what is happening under the soil in the lower garden!

June: Jesus in our heart and home

can i just say *for the 6th month in a row* that this handmade glass nativity is one of my favorites?

i acquired it through a determined bidding war on e-bay 7 or 8 years ago, and although it was not made for me, i treasure it just the same.

each piece was made by the same person, starting with the babe, Mary and Joseph. every several years, another component of the nativity was made, and then given, until the whole set was done.

i can't imagine what circumstances would precipitate giving up such a thoughtful gift, but I'm glad to have the chance to be the grateful owner of this very unique nativity.