Friday, January 13, 2012
Winter Days on Vinegar Hill
My day started early.
I had a tea biscuit order - done before 6 and still time to read!
I am working out of the house this morning.
I am off to see Mike and Jean.
I am the "Girl Friday" who cleans the chimney, gardens, dog sits, chicken sits, cuts the grass, shovels the roof and does some light housekeeping.
This is a job that I love.
Not the particular tasks, although there are far worse jobs, it is the fact that I get to visit with Jean.
We never seem to have enough time to get all of our creative yah yahs' out.
We have quite a variety of interests, from what's new with the chickens to home decorating and craft projects to cooking or restoring a vintage sheepskin coat.
The stuff I learn.
You should see my new sheepskin coat, for it does look new.
Jean just threw it in the washing machine and then I let it cool-air dry.
It didn't even need brushing!
The lady knows her laundry.
I learned the origin of the coat - My great-uncle, Colin Mathias Rowbotham, bought the coat, second hand, from the widow of the late George Brennan of Haliburton (past master of North Entrance Masonic Lodge) in the early 70's - He wore it only a couple of time when he gave it to my father. It has hung in the closet for the last 40 years or more.
Now it hangs in mine. A perfect fit and a thing of beauty.
I feel somewhat responsible to Mike and Jean.
They are very good to Carmen and I.
Generous of home and spirit.
Sitting by the pool on a hot July afternoon - how do you put a value on that?
Or the beer that Mike shares with me.
Jean giving Carmen swimming lessons, an added bonus.
You see I talked Jean into getting some laying hens of her own.
Then I built them a small chicken coop in the corner of their carport/shed.
Thank God they love the chickens.
Didn't want them to get into something that they would regret.
You can't really go wrong with a few laying hens.
Chickens are very busy, talkative creatures that are entertaining to watch and you have the bonus of fresh eggs everyday.
Mind you the coop is nothing to write home about but, it only cost the price of a bundle of insulation - $35.
I am a big time recycler, the coop is functional and can be dismantled with no problem when they have had their fill.
It is bedtime for me now - well past my normal 9:30.
I didn't realize that it was Friday the 13 today!
I don't look at the calendar much.
I find most people have an aversion to the number 13, in any shape or form.
I like the number, it's different.
It's a baker's dozen.
I had a great day, not a whole lot accomplished but, no mess, no regrets and I didn't create a bill that needs paying.
I go to sleep content!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Chores
Chores even on my day off.
I feed the chickens, emptied the compost, split and carried the wood, shovelled the steps, front and back and kicked the ball for Dixie again and again and again!
Dixie is our black lab and she loves to retrieve.
She is on her third soccer/basket ball since the summer.
She is six years old, long legged and sleek, with a greying muzzle.
She weighs about 65 - 70 lb., she gets a lot of broken eggs and farm fare.
Anyway, I'm back from the chores but, I still have dinner to make.
Stuck the Dutch oven on the back of the box stove with some burgers to brown.
Now for a vegetable.
That means a trip to the root cellar, so I better make a list.
I keep root crops and preserves in my root cellar but, I also have a freezer down there.
It's full of pork, blueberries, tomatoes and other salsa ingredients.
I should put a pot of salsa on the stove, only one jar left on that shelf.
I should have had the salsa made by now but, I was busy churning and filling my meat freezers.
That is why the "Tomorrow List" was born.
We put 756 lb. of farm-raised beef in the freezer, almost 600 lb of milk-fed pork and 374 lb. of butter.
I have a separate butter/buttermilk freezer.
That should hold us until next fall.
Speaking of next fall I have so many plans, projects and chores to do to get me there.
I need to learn how to properly prune old apple trees.
My great grandfather planted them
Vinegar Hill Farm was homesteaded in the 1880's when Mathias Rowbotham, my great grandfather, bought this hundred acre lot in the land sales when the area was first settled.
He was a Johnny Appleseed kind of guy.
The trees bare well now but, what would they do with a good pruning?
I would like to find out.
One of my favourite snacks is dried apple rings and Carmen likes to make fruit leather.
More to learn and do, I can't wait!
Dinner is done, the dishes are done!
Bread pudding for dessert - with fresh eggs - to die for!
My shift is over and I can go back to my chair and the basket beside it.
Almanac, library book, seed catalogue, farm magazines, reading glasses and my dried apple snacks.
I feed the chickens, emptied the compost, split and carried the wood, shovelled the steps, front and back and kicked the ball for Dixie again and again and again!
Dixie is our black lab and she loves to retrieve.
She is on her third soccer/basket ball since the summer.
She is six years old, long legged and sleek, with a greying muzzle.
She weighs about 65 - 70 lb., she gets a lot of broken eggs and farm fare.
Anyway, I'm back from the chores but, I still have dinner to make.
Stuck the Dutch oven on the back of the box stove with some burgers to brown.
Now for a vegetable.
That means a trip to the root cellar, so I better make a list.
I keep root crops and preserves in my root cellar but, I also have a freezer down there.
It's full of pork, blueberries, tomatoes and other salsa ingredients.
I should put a pot of salsa on the stove, only one jar left on that shelf.
I should have had the salsa made by now but, I was busy churning and filling my meat freezers.
That is why the "Tomorrow List" was born.
We put 756 lb. of farm-raised beef in the freezer, almost 600 lb of milk-fed pork and 374 lb. of butter.
I have a separate butter/buttermilk freezer.
That should hold us until next fall.
Speaking of next fall I have so many plans, projects and chores to do to get me there.
I need to learn how to properly prune old apple trees.
My great grandfather planted them
Vinegar Hill Farm was homesteaded in the 1880's when Mathias Rowbotham, my great grandfather, bought this hundred acre lot in the land sales when the area was first settled.
He was a Johnny Appleseed kind of guy.
The trees bare well now but, what would they do with a good pruning?
I would like to find out.
One of my favourite snacks is dried apple rings and Carmen likes to make fruit leather.
More to learn and do, I can't wait!
Dinner is done, the dishes are done!
Bread pudding for dessert - with fresh eggs - to die for!
My shift is over and I can go back to my chair and the basket beside it.
Almanac, library book, seed catalogue, farm magazines, reading glasses and my dried apple snacks.
My Day Off
I decided today is my day-off.
My road trip to the dentist with Dad got cancelled due to bad weather.
So I can do whatever I want.
No one knows that I'm home, alone!
Cranked up the tunes - Blues!
Sat down to blog!
Blog gets flagged in my spell check, so I goggled to confirm.
I love Wikipedia!
A blog is a " personal journal published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete entries...".
Discrete it is and spelled correctly.
Winter is lazy for me on days like this.
That is when I sit far too long in my rocking chair by the wood stove and read until my hearts' content needs to get up for school.
Soon as the door closes I'm back in my chair.
I have also been working on my garden, planning how I will run dairy my next summer.
This is my planning time.
I have been offered a box of heritage veggie seeds.
I said yes.
My friend Lisa and I are going to put in a field of potatoes I think, hope.
My root cellar stores potatoes well.
Another project is that I need to build a new, mouse-proof potato bin.
I need to give the root cellar a clean sweep and a make-over.
To much HGTV perhaps.
As far as the dairy goes, we have scaled way back.
May only milk one cow this summer.
Don't think that will be enough for what I want to do.
I made 374.25 lb. of butter in 2011.
Sounds like a lot but, it is surprising how much butter I went through over the holidays.
I gifted some in care-package Christmas presents as well.
So I'm thinking 2 cows and something for beef.
I also want 2 piglet sows to drink the excess milk and grow into pork.
Sows so that they don't need to be cut!
I love milk feed pork.
It is very sweet and the flavour divine!
Not to stack the deck but, we also want to have 2 dozen meat birds.
The chicken house at the farm is empty.
A good cleaning and we're ready.
That will have to wait until April.
I need to get some hatchery flyers when I am at the feed store next time.
Which reminds me that I need to get more feed.
The girls go through 5 litres of laying mash a day.
I have been cooking for them also.
They love the potato peel wheat dish the best.
People think that I am crazy when I tell them that I cook for my chickens.
My Grandmother used to do it and she knew what she was doing.
They need a warm meal now and then, they also need their veggies year round.
Carmen and I eat a lot of root crops in the winter so, I cook the peels with wheat pellets on the back of the wood stove.
They appreciate it and give me 25 to 27 eggs a day, every day.
I have 27 birds - not bad eh!
In the summer I sour milk and feed them the curd.
Very high in protein.
It is good for the meat birds as well.
The meat is sweet.
They were a little on the fat side because the milk was not always skim.
I don't start separating milk until middle of August.
To much other stuff to do in early spring and summer.
Gardens, pigs, chickens, the beach!
The garden is a big part of my spring and summer.
I love playing in the dirt.
I got my first seed catalogue in the mail the other day, then I went out and bought the 2012 Farmer's Almanac.
Everything is beside my rocking chair in a basket.
I get up at 4:30 just so I can have this time to myself.
Greedy eh!
I build the fire up, read and drink coffee with the animals.
Sometimes I bake.
It is the best time of the day for me.
Mind you, by 9:30 at night Carmen is tucking me in and turning out the light.
I also get a kiss on the forehead.
My daughter is a night owl because, morning is definitely not her best time of day!
This discrete journal entry must end for now because I want to go look at my new almanac.
See what is in the stars for this year!
See, back in my chair!
My road trip to the dentist with Dad got cancelled due to bad weather.
So I can do whatever I want.
No one knows that I'm home, alone!
Cranked up the tunes - Blues!
Sat down to blog!
Blog gets flagged in my spell check, so I goggled to confirm.
I love Wikipedia!
A blog is a " personal journal published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete entries...".
Discrete it is and spelled correctly.
Winter is lazy for me on days like this.
That is when I sit far too long in my rocking chair by the wood stove and read until my hearts' content needs to get up for school.
Soon as the door closes I'm back in my chair.
I have also been working on my garden, planning how I will run dairy my next summer.
This is my planning time.
I have been offered a box of heritage veggie seeds.
I said yes.
My friend Lisa and I are going to put in a field of potatoes I think, hope.
My root cellar stores potatoes well.
Another project is that I need to build a new, mouse-proof potato bin.
I need to give the root cellar a clean sweep and a make-over.
To much HGTV perhaps.
As far as the dairy goes, we have scaled way back.
May only milk one cow this summer.
Don't think that will be enough for what I want to do.
I made 374.25 lb. of butter in 2011.
Sounds like a lot but, it is surprising how much butter I went through over the holidays.
I gifted some in care-package Christmas presents as well.
So I'm thinking 2 cows and something for beef.
I also want 2 piglet sows to drink the excess milk and grow into pork.
Sows so that they don't need to be cut!
I love milk feed pork.
It is very sweet and the flavour divine!
Not to stack the deck but, we also want to have 2 dozen meat birds.
The chicken house at the farm is empty.
A good cleaning and we're ready.
That will have to wait until April.
I need to get some hatchery flyers when I am at the feed store next time.
Which reminds me that I need to get more feed.
The girls go through 5 litres of laying mash a day.
I have been cooking for them also.
They love the potato peel wheat dish the best.
People think that I am crazy when I tell them that I cook for my chickens.
My Grandmother used to do it and she knew what she was doing.
They need a warm meal now and then, they also need their veggies year round.
Carmen and I eat a lot of root crops in the winter so, I cook the peels with wheat pellets on the back of the wood stove.
They appreciate it and give me 25 to 27 eggs a day, every day.
I have 27 birds - not bad eh!
In the summer I sour milk and feed them the curd.
Very high in protein.
It is good for the meat birds as well.
The meat is sweet.
They were a little on the fat side because the milk was not always skim.
I don't start separating milk until middle of August.
To much other stuff to do in early spring and summer.
Gardens, pigs, chickens, the beach!
The garden is a big part of my spring and summer.
I love playing in the dirt.
I got my first seed catalogue in the mail the other day, then I went out and bought the 2012 Farmer's Almanac.
Everything is beside my rocking chair in a basket.
I get up at 4:30 just so I can have this time to myself.
Greedy eh!
I build the fire up, read and drink coffee with the animals.
Sometimes I bake.
It is the best time of the day for me.
Mind you, by 9:30 at night Carmen is tucking me in and turning out the light.
I also get a kiss on the forehead.
My daughter is a night owl because, morning is definitely not her best time of day!
This discrete journal entry must end for now because I want to go look at my new almanac.
See what is in the stars for this year!
See, back in my chair!
Monday, January 9, 2012
The Fruit of My Labour
Dinner was amazing.
All over by 4:15 p.m..
Carmen got off the bus from school hungry so, we dug in.
Home-made vegetable soup, oatmeal-buttermilk-honey bread, and oatmeal cookies.
Too good.
Now I have lots of time to wash eggs.
27 laying hens and I get 25 to 27 eggs every day.
The girls are wintering well.
The wood is in and the outdoor chores are done.
I got my sewing machine as far as the kitchen table.
I have a couple of sewing projects I want to start on.
I also want to make a quilt.
Denim - I have been saving torn, discarded, at the end of their rope jeans.
When I get the eggs graded and the dishes done and egg salad made I can get back to my book.
Work is interfering with my reading.
All over by 4:15 p.m..
Carmen got off the bus from school hungry so, we dug in.
Home-made vegetable soup, oatmeal-buttermilk-honey bread, and oatmeal cookies.
Too good.
Now I have lots of time to wash eggs.
27 laying hens and I get 25 to 27 eggs every day.
The girls are wintering well.
The wood is in and the outdoor chores are done.
I got my sewing machine as far as the kitchen table.
I have a couple of sewing projects I want to start on.
I also want to make a quilt.
Denim - I have been saving torn, discarded, at the end of their rope jeans.
When I get the eggs graded and the dishes done and egg salad made I can get back to my book.
Work is interfering with my reading.
Baking Day
I am working at home today.
The new year is in and I have so much to do.
Carmen is back at school and full of life.
She talked me into writing this blog.
What the hell is a blog?
What was I thinking?
We will see what happens.
Back to the "Do It Tomorrow" List.
That is the name of my chore list.
So named because there is always more to do tomorrow.
I think it's the farmer way.
Some things just need to be put off until tomorrow.
The cookies are gone and the bread box is empty so, I am going to bake today.
I have a couple of orders for cookies, tea biscuits and bread to fill.
This is one of my favourite days.
I love baking.
I get to use the butter and buttermilk I froze this fall.
So delicious as well as rewarding.
The cookies are so rich, its' bad.
I also put a pot of bones on the wood stove for soup - my own beef soup bones.
I have all day to complete these chores.
I love my chore list!
Soup and bread both take time and a hot stove.
I need to set the dough and get some wood in.
The new year is in and I have so much to do.
Carmen is back at school and full of life.
She talked me into writing this blog.
What the hell is a blog?
What was I thinking?
We will see what happens.
Back to the "Do It Tomorrow" List.
That is the name of my chore list.
So named because there is always more to do tomorrow.
I think it's the farmer way.
Some things just need to be put off until tomorrow.
The cookies are gone and the bread box is empty so, I am going to bake today.
I have a couple of orders for cookies, tea biscuits and bread to fill.
This is one of my favourite days.
I love baking.
I get to use the butter and buttermilk I froze this fall.
So delicious as well as rewarding.
The cookies are so rich, its' bad.
I also put a pot of bones on the wood stove for soup - my own beef soup bones.
I have all day to complete these chores.
I love my chore list!
Soup and bread both take time and a hot stove.
I need to set the dough and get some wood in.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
After the Holiday
Just back from snowshoeing. What a beautiful day. Took a few photos and got some much needed exercise. All that baking (eating) over the holidays needs to go.
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