Something Beautiful: Spider In Web

Project Of The Day: Meat Chickens

These cute little puffballs came in the mail yesterday from Ideal Poultry.  They're cornish rock chickens and in six to eight weeks they'll be much, much bigger, have lost their cuteness, and be ready to go in the freezer. 

I moved a group of teenage egg-layers out from the barn and into the chicken coop.  More about the chicken coop later.  We've strengthened it to keep critters at bay.

I know this is a gross picture.  It's one of the odd things I've seen around here lately.  It's a dead bat I found in the driveway.  I can't imagine that the cats got it.  It makes me sad because I find bats to be very interesting.  

I also found a dead snake in the driveway - I don't see snakes around here very much.  It was small - like a garter snake.  

And finally, a coyote has been making daytime runs back and forth across the field next to us.  One of the guys here thinks it's a scout coyote.  

Strange.

Project Of The Day: Bear Control

My neighbor let me know that a bear had got into his round bales and torn some of them up.  Bears and bees go together like peas and carrots so I thought I better take some precautions. 

We charged up the bee fence battery so it was nice and strong.

And then we mowed and weed wacked the bee yard to make sure nothing was grounding out the fence. 

As an added deterent I hung a little bit of ham on the wires.  It gives a nice strong shock when a bear (or other critter) touches it with their nose or tongue and hopefully encourages them to run the other way!

Project Of The Day: Clean Out The Garden's Overgrown Produce

Due to the work before, during, and after the Eliot Ness Fest to set up "Jack's Place" (the Rotary Club's "Speakeasy" fundraiser) the garden got away from me a little bit.  

Cucumbers went wild!  I picked everything that was ready to be picked or overgrown.  I gave away, canned, and we ate the produce that was not overgrown and terribly seedy, and the rest went to the chickens and the compost pile.  

Project Of The Day: Blueberries

I picked what the Japanese beetles hadn't decimated.  The chickens got a nice snack on the yucky ones.  

Then washed and froze a quart of fresh berries.

And made blueberry bread with the rest.  I like to use this mini loaf maker from Pampered Chef because it is dangerous to have full-sized loaves lying around with just two of us in the the house!

The bread was VERY good.  I used a quick and easy one bowl recipe.  

You can get the recipe HERE.

Project of the Day: Bread and Butter Pickles

It's the busy season for me now, so I think I'll post daily projects as I'm able.  

Yesterday's project was taking care of some of the piles of cucumbers produced by my garden.

I LOVE bread and butter pickles.  I like to use the recipes from the Ball Home Preserving book because I know the recipes have been well tested and, if directions are followed, are safe to consume. 

Yummy recipe.

Spice mix.

Cucumbers and onions draining.

The finished product!

I like to work in small batches so that I'm not slaving over the stove ALL day!

My Apologies

I apologize to my readers for the long delay in posts.  Things have reached an insanely hectic level and blog posts tend to trickle to the bottom of the to do list. 

As well as all the farm activities, I've been very, very busy with Coudersport, Pennsylvania's Eliot Ness Fest on July 19, 20, 21.  You can find more information about the Eliot Ness Fest HERE.

I look forward to things getting back to a semi-normal pace after the Festival!