Anyway...I don't have time for much of a post. Looking at how long it's been since I last wrote here, obviously I haven't had time for a while. I have been somewhat overwhelmed with "issues" and busy continuing with many of the changes I've written about here. Our freezer is stocked with beef and pork from the Decks, chicken from Deo Volente Farm, and Alaskan salmon and halibut I bought through Azure Standard. I've also managed to stash three gallons of blueberries and three gallons of green beans in the freezer, bearly--the freezer is now as full as it should be as we head into winter. I continue to bake bread and bagels regularly, make raw milk Neufchatel cheese and yogurt every other week, have of gallons sauerkraut and fermented pickles in our second fridge, and have incorporated homemade mayonnaise and mustard into my repertoire. After several years of not putting up more than a dozen or so jars of jam, this summer and fall I have not only canned jam, but peaches and tomato sauce as well. I didn't can a lot--12 quarts of peaches and 11 quarts of tomato sauce--but considering my health issues, which make it painful for me to stand for long, I'm pleased I got that much done. In November, I plan to turn our basement bathroom into a cold storage area, for keeping bulk potatoes, squash, and the like over winter. I would like to figure out a second cold storage area for apples and pears. Onions, I discovered this summer, keep well at the top of our basement stairs, which stays somewhat warm, but very dry. I kept a 10 pound bag of Walla Wallas there for a couple months and only the very last one showed signs of deterioration.
We now have not three, but six chickens! In August, I designed and Mike built a nifty A-frame chicken tractor...that is, a chicken coop with wheels.
Much to Mike's consternation, before he was done building the coop, I bought three pullets, Pike (a Light Brahma), T-Rex (Golden Sex Linked), and Jane Austin Sunberry (Buff Orpington), from a farm in St. Helens. As you can see, we still need to finish painting a few parts of it.
Our other three chickens, Henny Penny, Brownie, and Ladybug, came from my friend Chrissy's mother-in-law, Sue, who was overwhelmed with seven chickens. They're all Rhode Island Reds. Here's Henny Penny.
The Brownies, as Sue called them, and as we call them here, too, are laying occasionally, but not always in their nest box. We have found eggs in a brush pile and in a stand of lemon balm. Who knows if they're laying somewhere else in the yard as well. Chicken-watching is a favorite family activity these days and we all enjoy their antics.Okay, I guess I found the time for a lengthy update afterall! There's more to come--over the next few weeks, I will be getting set to launch an exciting new business venture. No, I'm not going to tell you about it yet! Stay tuned!
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