Brrr...

Temperatures are dropping again. I really can't complain- it's October already!  We've had great weather this summer and fall.  The best since we moved up north.  But all good things must come to pass, so these cooler days are a friendly reminder that winter is not far away.  And I don't like to be cold.  And I don't like to work outside in the cold.  So I best get my ass in gear if I'm going to make it into hybernation before snowfall.

We have four wood stoves, which each will hold different sizes of wood.  This is the sunroom wood pile.  It's almost done.  The lean-to is full, but I like to have an extra row in front that we use through the fall.  The sunroom is where we enter the house.  The stove is small, the box about 12"X12" square, and 18" deep.  I prefer the wood for it to be very dry pine.  it's the first fire we light in the morning, to take the chill off as soon as we open the door to let the dogs out.  We let it go out in the afternoon, except on the coldest days.

The real heat source is in the basement.  We have a wood oil combination furnace.  The box is 20"X24" and 24" deep.  We cut the wood for it much longer than the sunroom wood.  The basement holds 6 rows, 10'X8'.  I need another 2.5 rows right now.  We drop the wood in through the window and down the slide.  We also keep a pile of 'over-nighters' under the basement stairs.  Very large pieces that won't burn up over night with the dampeners turned down low.

Then there's Homework House.  It was the trailer and add-a-room we built for f-i-l, but he went to live with Husband's brother in the spring.  It's now Homework House because #1 uses Dragon Naturally Speaking to do his homework, and it doesn't like the background noise created by little brothers. 

It's also really nice to have a clean work space available, with all the supplies they need, and not have to worry about getting them off the kitchen table for supper, or canning, or company dropping in.  They take their back packs over after school, and they can work for a bit, take a break, and come back and find everything the way they left it.

The wood for this stove is dropped in from about a 12" diameter hole in the top.  We cut it at about 10" long.  We have room for almost two more rows in the lean-to, and three rows in front.  Since this is the first year, and it won't be burning all day long, we don't know how much wood we'll need here.

The garage stove is similar style, but smaller.  We use the little stubbies like these for it.  The pieces we cut off the ends of other wood.

The Littles and I have been busy the past couple of weeks cleaning up branches and dead trees in the pasture, and clearing the trail from my parents place to the spring.  There's enough dead fall and dead standing wood to keep our fires burning for at least two more years.  We just need to get it cut up and brought up to the house!

Pickled Beets

The best beet year we've had so far!  After washing them down with the garden hose,

they get a second wash in the kitchen sink.

Cooked in a pot of water for several hours,

then back into the sink.  The skins slip off easily with some cold water and a little rub.

Into a clean pot, with the bigger ones cut into bite size pieces. 
Add the brine:
2 cups of water
2 cups of vinegar
2 cups of sugar

Let them cook and reach a full roaring boil, about 20 minutes.  Then into hot sterilized jars.

Lids and rings, wait for the pop!

Growing Up

Isn't Casper turning into quite a handsome fellow?

His mama makes some mighty fine milk!  He is going to produce a lot of prime beef!

He and Toothless have become fine barn yard friends!

Toothless is still on the bottle.  Just two feeds of 2 litres each per day now, but he's not planning to give them up any time soon!  Every couple of weeks we try to skip one, and wait until he starts bellowing for milk.  Sometimes he forgets, and lets me think he's ready to wean.  Then the next day he bellows repeatedly, all day long, claiming he hasn't been fed until we give him a third bottle.

Sweet little Nelly, a year and a half old,

is turning into such a pretty little heifer!

Bullwinkle Leaves the Farm

Mama raised another fine young son, and it was time for him to move on.  At six months old he was starting to get pretty frisky.  Time to move on before we risk incest.

He drew quite a bit of attention at the auction.  He's such a handsome young fellow.  He sold for $150.  A very nice profit.  #1 was extremely happy with that!

And after a few days, Mama stopped searching for her little boy.

Turkey Time

The first three went to the chopping block.  The first one, because she had injured her leg and wasn't moving very well.  then two others, because it's a lot of work getting everything set up and ready for the kill.  I didn't think they were quite big enough yet.

My water tub has sprung a little bit of a leak.  Not bad, but still, it needs to be repaired.  Bring the water up to just below a boil.

Then swish the headless turkey around in the water by the feet for about 30 seconds.

Start with the wing tips and the tail feathers while the bird is hot.  They're much easier to pull out that way.  Then work your way around the bird.  The little quills are the worst.  These birds were covered, with the season about to change, they're trying to get ready for winter too.

Slice around the anus carefully, stick your hand in and pull out the inards.

The injured one was the smallest of the three, and she wouldn't fit in my roasting pan.  hmmm.  I guess they were bigger than I thought.  The other two took two big rice bags each, duct taped together, to cover.  I'm going to have to do some shopping and see what I can find for storage bags.  Wow.  I didn't weigh these ones.  we were half way through plucking when I remembered that I had planned to dig out my scale before we started.  Definitely big!

Two in the freezer, one in the belly.  Three we're keeping to breed.  12 to go.

Hay Days & A Barn Facelift

We did hay this year with our neighbours up the road. Their farm, their hay, their equipment, our labour.

Weather was wonky, as usual, and there were some equipment failures in the beginning, but by the end of August we had hay coming in, and still no hay shed.

That worked out ok though, since we were able to stand on the hay while we did construction.  Easier than a ladder when you're weilding large beams.  Skids on the ground for a floor, logs, poles, and spikes for construction materials, and plastic for the roof.

 #2 decided to replace that old board they've been climbing over for the past four years with a real gate.  That'll make feeding much easier this winter.  He's such a good kid, worrying about his mama like that.

The hay kept coming.  Awesome.  553 bales in the end.  We'll need to build another hay shed for next year.  For this year, we have two stacks piled under tarps.  We're already feeding a bit of hay now, as the grass in the pasture is getting pretty sparse.  Most of these stacks will probably be gone before winter really sets in.

The last load was just me and the littles in September.  The bigs had gone back to highschool.

Earlier this year husband used the tractor to push the barn back up on it's foundation.  It's getting kind of old, and, unfortunately, was not constructed well to begin with, made out of 2X4s and pressboard mostly.  It had never been painted, the pressboard was peeling, and the bottom was rotted out.  And the critters knocked the doors off AGAIN!

We added a couple rows of 1X6s to the bottom of each side to patch the holes and strengthen the base.  Then I started on the paint job.  #3 and #4 helped out the first day, cause you know, it's always fun to paint on the FIRST day...


I couldn't quite reach that patch on the top with the ladder I was using.  I had taken the big ladder back to the house to work on the chimney.  I figured I'd just get that later, instead of carting the ladder back and forth.  Wouldn't you know it though- it's rained every day since I finished the chimney.  The patch remains unpainted.

The back side of the barn doesn't have as much slope on the ground, so I was able to get all the way to the top.

I painted the north side of the barn beige a couple of years ago.  That's where the hay lean-to is.  I'll give it a fresh coat of paint in the spring.

Garden Update V - Frosty

Greenhouse 2 went under construction mid August.  Husband, #2, and #3 did an awesome job once again!

We put the plastic on and started adding manure.  This winter both greenhouses will be testing the slope of the roof and the strength of the plastic.  Greenhouse 1 wasn't plasticked until this spring.  This may allow me an early crop of lettuce, swiss chard, and spinach, if the plastic holds.

We got our first dose of frost on September 6th, which is better than most years.  We covered the beans for the first week or so, but the cooler temperatures slowed production significantly.  The last picking yielded only one bucket from the 6 rows.  Not worth the extra work covering and uncovering daily at that rate.

I picked three buckets of seed green beans from the end of the row plants that I had stopped picking earlier in the season.  I still have the greenhouse seeds to pick as well.  I'm pretty sure it'll be more seed than I originally put in the ground. 

Meanwhile, the turkeys have been growing like crazy, eaten every bit of grass and greenery from their pen except the raspberry bushes, and watching me like little hawks in the garden.

I cut the dividing fence and set them free.  They were overjoyed.

Broccoli and cauliflower were quickly their favourite eats.  Both had survived the frost just fine, but I had nearly all the broccoli picked off already, and quickly cut those that remained.  The cauliflower never produced.  Possibly too hot and dry this summer.  We'll try again next year.

And then we started pulling this wonderful harvest of beets.  Our best year yet!  3 1/2 buckets from two rows, with another 3 rows to pull.  Awesome!


There are still carrots, onions, and potatoes to harvest as well.  Tomatoes are ripening in the greenhouse.  Brussel sprouts are coming along.  I'm holding off on picking the peppers still.  There are several peppers on each plant, but they're still quite small.  One greenhouse cauliflower formed a head, and most of the broccoli has been picked.  Herbs need to be picked and dried.


The frost killed the pumpkin and squash plants.  Some of the pumpkins froze, and went mushy, so immediately went to chicken feed.  The rest were brought in the house, but as they go mushy they're going out to the chickens as well.  I don't think there will be any for human consumption this year.  Dissapointing with those huge plants that were taking over the greenhouse.  I had better pumpkins from the smaller plants last year.