Buried in Veggies

Today Hannah came over to help with the canning, which was a real boost to Esther and me. Even I was feeling a bit demoralized. I was busy enough with my garden, but then a friend brought 7 feed sacks of corn over (which probably hold 70 ears each) and the idea of all that corn sitting there GOING TO BE WASTED was terrible. But, I did give away all but half a bag, felt better, then realized that MY corn was ready. So today we did our own corn (all done! 18 pints canned, and 3 quarts frozen...my freezers are getting full so I'm having to can some of everything). We also baked all the rest of the zucchini in the closet into bread, which Larry was happy about. He likes it in his lunches.

I think I'm feeling overwhelmed because Della isn't here and I have all the cheese making too. I made yogurt yesterday, and tomorrow we must do something with some of the milk. I'm also having to do the laundry which means running up and down stairs while trying to watch the canner and prepare jars...

I have tried some different cheeses and had some successes. We dropped one milking to decrease the amount of milk, and we're drying up one of our big producers. Even so, there is still enough milk for cheese-making. I've told Della we just can't have all the goats milking at once!

Last year we had half milking at a time and that was much more reasonable.

Tomorrow Esther and I have to run errands and pick up a few chickens, then Thursday it's back to canning again...tomato sauce I think. I think this week will be the peak. Della certainly knew when to leave :)

Helping Milk Victoria

Realizing that busy is the word most used to describe my life, next to tired, so I've changed the title of the blog. Not even sure who is reading it! Facebook vs. Blogs...can I keep up with both? Are blogs better for those with a particular interest, like Della with her decorating? We'll see.

And now, it's Sunday afternoon, I'm recovering from a 24 hour bug (I spent all last night tossing with a fever and wondering if I had the flu, and cataloging all the people in the family that I could have infected...). Esther and I have had a quiet afternoon and are about to go out and take care of all the animal chores. Sarge the farm dog has to be tied out by the garden every night to keep the deer away from the second crop of beans. Maybe next year we'll have more fence up. We have to feed all the outside cats and dogs, water the goats and close up the poultry. And maybe pick all those tomatos!

Very Busy Summer
Writing to both boys takes up a lot more time than I would have thought. No wonder I don't write so m

The hens are laying now. I sold 10 and kept 15, one of which turned out to be a (mean) rooster. He terrorizes Esther when she lets them out in the morning-she goes in armed with a stick and a garbage can lid as a shield. However, the same rooster can be chased by my little Siamese cat Mochi. The trick with roosters is to never let your guard down, and YOU do the chasing.
Anyway, I'm getting about 12 eggs a day now. The eggshells are dried, crushed, and fed back to the hens as part of their calcium. Recycling starts on the farm!

Rain, rain

Esther is down with Laura; Della and I are at Panera's. We were desperate enough that we sacrificed a morning at home so we could come here and use the internet w/o worrying about exceeding the mysterious limit that plunges our speed into the Paleolithic zone.
It's raining, again; and I would have worked outside longer yesterday had I known. Today I was going to buy plants for my flower planters but who wants to tour outdoor garden centers in the rain? The older I get the more cat (and goat) like I become about rain.
Yesterday I did plant my cucumbers and dill. Instead of the wonderful neat "square foot gardening" raised beds, I had 3 pallets wired together (former compost heap). I put a board across the front, filled it with old manure, and so avoided building at least one trellis! The garden is soaked from 2 weeks of rain. Frogs are living in the low spots. It's going to be a while before I can till up any of it. So for now, my raised beds (which I'm trying to add to each year; at the moment I have 3) are the only part I can work on. One raised bed has potatos already planted in it, so I have two to work with the next time weather permits.