Our weather turned into a glorious Indian summer. Temperatures are in the high sixties and dry. Will made use of it by cutting the new seeding down below the goat pasture. Three years ago, it was a brushy wet area full of stumps and rotten logs. With Old Yeller’s help Will cleared it off, then we disked it and seeded it in to birdsfoot trefoil, clover, and orchard grass. We used it for pasture for two years. Since we didn’t have it well fenced, we didn’t pasture it this summer as the cattle were on the new forty. So here was all that beautiful feed, just standing there. Hopefully, we’ll be able to square bale it tomorrow. There are just a few acres, but whatever we get is all gravy and I’m sure our animals will love it.
Meanwhile, I’m madly trying to get our harvest canned up. Yesterday it was spaghetti sauce and Hansen’s bush cherry jelly. Today it’s going to be more spaghetti sauce and carrots. Our carrots are getting so big that they ARE like 2x4s, which is their name. I did plant some Tendersweets and even they are very big. Then there are the onions to pull today so they can dry in the sunshine we are forecast for several days.
Today, Will’s working on the front porch again, trying to get a roof on it before winter hits in October. He got it stained yesterday and today he’s doing the final fitting and screwing it together with 10-inch log screws. I think it looks very nice!
Saturday I’m speaking in Mt. Iron to the State Horticultural Society about self-reliant gardening and Sunday we’re hosting a potluck for local homesteaders.
I never did get my flower beds all weeded and cleaned out but oh well, maybe next spring. You NEVER get all you “need” to get done, but you just keep pecking away at it. That’s life. — Jackie
Jackie, I see nothing unusual about your kitchen photo. Mine usually has a white plastic bucket for things destined for the compost heap, and cooling jars of something fresh from the canner. And speaking of feeling like one is sticking to the floor, come to my house when I take honey off a few days from now. ( I know it should have been done before this, but as we all know a homesteaders life is sometimes comprised of moving from one job to another that can’t wait any longer and I wasn’t in honey mode). We are now in a warm streak of weather which is expected to last for a few more days, so it’s better to work with honey now than wait til winter is past and the hives are getting ready to swarm come May 2014…. Anyway my wife hates it when we work with honey in the kitchen, and she refuses to even go outdoors when I work the bees. Regardless of how careful we try to be there are bound to be honey drips where we don’t want them, and before clean up can really progress there is that extractor to take apart and clean and sticky jars to wipe off. This is the worst thing we do every summer or should I say fall this year. I don’t mind working the hives. It is the clean up after the jarring of the honey that is such a chore….. The garden harvest is bounteous and sooo welcome this year. For a couple years due to health concerns my gardening was pretty insignificant in comparison to a normal year….thank God for restored health and homegrown food and a fattening larder. I can even face the cleanup of honey season joyfully….. Jackie you and Will are awesome!!!So glad I got to know you through BHM…..Rick
Well, add me to the list of those glad to hear someone else has a kitchen you don’t want anyone to see after a day of canning. One side of my kitchen is the countertop where I put the canning jars to cool and the other is the side where I do the work. I would only show a picture of the cooling jars.
Jackie, you are so kind to show us fellow homesteaders your kitchen. My kitchen looks the same…pots on the floor and all.
I loved your last two sentences in this blog post. “You NEVER get all you “need” to get done, but you just keep pecking away at it. That’s life.” I think I might print that out and frame it. That’s so true on a homestead..
Elizabeth’s comment about the sticky floor made me smile. I hate sticking to the floor…just ask my kids…but it happens a lot this time of the year. :)
That looks just like my kitchen! The only thing that’s missing is the sound of my sticky footsteps as I walk across the floor!
Jackie ! seeing your kitchen makes me feel so much better. I was hoping I am not the only one with a mess while canning. I love and admire all that you do.
Jackie, seeing your kitchen did my heart good. I thought I was the only one that had a kitchen that looked like a tornado went through during canning season.
I’m so glad someone else has a kitchen that looks like mine during harvest season… but the temporary mess is well worth the long term gain of all that yummy food for winter.
Looks just like my kitchen every fall! Oh, well. The benefits are fantastic! I have a canning tip I’d like to share. You know all those old, cruddy cookie sheets we all have? Since I’ve finally replaced them with new, I use the old ones for canning. I put my empty jars on them to fill them up. Keeps the mess contained & off my counter. Then when the jars come out of the canner, I put a towel on the clean cookie sheet and put the full jars back on it. Then I can move them around the kitchen as needed, i.e., out of the way for the next batch of canning, over to the sink to wash them, etc. That way, I’m only making one trip with the jars instead of 10. Saves time & mess. Win-win!
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