Besides daily chores, Will and I have been sawing logs with our Hud-Son bandsaw mill, edging boards on the hybrid gasoline-driven table saw and stacking them with stickers in between to allow airflow until we can use them. Some of the boards will be used on our front porch roof, some will be turned into barn siding and others will be the rest of the flooring in the hay loft of the new barn. The steel roofing should arrive this week sometime and due to winter closing in on us, Will’s getting anxious to get the barn under cover.
Today I helped Will with one 8-foot BIG log that he had to trim down to get in the sawmill. With a cant hook, we could barely turn it. After sawing it up, Will got more than thirty 2-inch boards — all from one log! Impressive.
Meanwhile, I’ve been saving tomato seeds by squeezing them out into bowls, filling the bowls with water, and fermenting the gel for a couple of days. Once fermented, I put the seeds in a sieve, rinse them very well, and dump them on an ice cream pail lid (with the variety labeled in permanent marker), then lay them out to dry.
I also have been trimming and checking our wonderful crop of onions over and putting them in bags and baskets to store. I had to separate out the Ailsa Craig onions (which are globe shaped) as they don’t store well. Later, I’ll dehydrate the ones we don’t use fresh because I’m getting low on onion powder and onion flakes for cooking.
And I finally got all our potatoes hauled down in the basement. Wow! We ended up with about 300 pounds of gorgeous, perfect potatoes. Yum. I can sure think of a lot of different ways we can eat them this winter: soup, stews, baked, roasted, scalloped, mashed, garlic mashed — Darn, I’m hungry! — Jackie
Betsy,
We store our potatoes and apples in plastic bins with covers and carrots in large insulated coolers with tops. We have never had trouble with mice. But then we have a good cat and have run a “trap line” in the pantry….just to be sure!
I just drove down the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Tyson is located there. You should see the shape those poor spent chickens are in when they arrive to become meat for your table. Better to raise you own if possible
Wow, you’ve accomplished a lot! Still need to get the potatoes out of the ground here in Michigan. Hopefully this weekend!
Congratulations! You have gotten a tremendous amount accomplished this year.
Jackie,
How do you keep mice and other critters out of the potatoes, carrots, apples, etc. that you store? Thanks for a great blog!!
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