Busy Canning Season

I had so much fruit this year, I've been canning and drying as much as I possibly can. It is a time-consuming and overwhelming job. When the amount of fruit is more then I can process, I give it away to friends, family and our local homeless shelter. I hate for the fruit to spoil if someone else can use it.

At present I've canned and dried; 25 jelly jars of plum syrup (I was trying for jam), 7 pints of pears in light syrup, 2 quarts of dried cherries, 19 jars of cherry jam, 1 1/2 pints of dried apples and I'm not done yet. I still have a small amount of plums and apples on the trees. The peaches on one of my trees are ready and about 1/2 have been picked. The other peaches on the second peach tree are still too green.

Today I plan on drying apples and preparing for canning peaches; hopefully I'll have enough time to can part of my peach harvest today. I like canned peaches best out of all my fruit and look forward to the end product.

The light syrup recipe I used for my pears is: 4 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar. I'll be using a medium  syrup for my peaches. The recipe is: 4 cups of water and 3 cups of sugar. I haven't used these recipes before, but I will write a review later on how well they worked.

My first batch of dried cherries I attempted in the oven. The dryness of the fruit varied and a small portion burned. The cherries I dried in my new dehydrator came out perfect. But it took about 18 hours for them to dry.

The plum syrup was my first attempt at plum jam. I looked up several recipes and none had suggested pectin. I just put the plums in a pot with sugar on the stove to cook, as suggested. After a few minutes of cooking, I  blended, put the mix in jars and canned them. And ta da, syrup. Tastes sweet with just a hint of plum tartness.

I haven't tried the pears yet. The apples turned out wonderful. Sweet and slightly chewy. I dried them in the dehydrator for about 8 hours.

To prevent my pears and apples from browning, I soaked them separately in a solution of 1 quart water and 2 tbsp lemon juice. The pears didn't brown. The apples only have a light browning on a few of the slices.

The labels are designed and printed by my husband who is a graphic designer. He wanted my jars to look pretty for gift giving.

Cherry Jam

Plum Syrup

Dried Apples

Canned Pears

Dried Cherries

Finished products

Apples to dry. 

Peaches to can. 

It's Been a While

It's been a while since I last posted. We've had many projects and activities going on lately. I keep having to prioritize my activities to keep from getting overwhelmed and losing my goal of a simpler life.

I'll have to do some extra posts to update all my readers on all the projects; canning and drying fruits, outdoor projects, indoor projects, family and of course the animals. I thought I'd start off with a post on the animals, first.

My two oldest birds, #1 and Goldie from my first batch, are no longer laying. Most people, would have put them in a pot to stew, by now. But we decided to let them live out their remaining days as pets. Our next two oldest, Rockett and Twin 1, are laying pretty regular. (Poor Rockett has never regained her feathers from her injury.) Five of my  thirty-seven new chickens have been laying for a few weeks. Little miniature eggs, they are so cute.

My turkeys are laying eggs as well. I have two females and one male. I haven't had the nerve to eat a turkey egg yet. I heard they taste like chicken eggs but I'm too chicken to try one. (Pun intended.)

The ducks are the same. Walking around the yard, hissing at everyone they see. I tell them they are just blowing kisses. We are keeping the ducks separated from the chickens most of the day and at night. The ducks wander the backyard until early evening then we let the chickens out for just a few hours in the big yard. We're usually out there at that time and can watch the ducks to prevent them from injuring another chicken like they did Rockett. It's almost like having children.

Male Turkey on Left, Female on Right.

"Can I have a little privacy? Please!"

Young chickens are laying. 

"I did my duty, now time to forage." (Henrietta)

"Blue" chicken, AKA Phyllis Diller chicken.

Rockett and her featherless injury. 

Cherry Picking Turkey!

 I thought it was funny to have a Cherry Picking Chicken, but now I have a Cherry Picking Turkey to laugh at. My turkey just flew up into the tree to have a snack.

Snack time 

Oh, Which cherry to choose.

All done snacking.

New Potatoes

I've did a little gardening over the years but never had time to really do much because of working full-time. This year was different. I'm only working part-time and decided to plant vegetables I never planted before, like potatoes. I wasn't sure how my little crop would turn out; but I found out tonight.

I dug a few potatoes out from one of my large planters. I was really surprised I actually had potatoes. I quickly took them into the house, showed my husband the fruit of my labors, then prepared them to put in with the chicken I was roasting. They made a delicious addition to our meal.

My 1st home grown potatoes.

Frugal Mulch

I've been trying to be frugal to save money and have fun. (I believe saving money is fun.) Our yard was starting to look a little shabby and needed a new load of mulch applied. I can't afford regular bagged mulch or even a truck load of mulch. Instead I try to get free mulch in the form of tree trimmings from local tree service companies.

I was out running errands one day and spotted one of our two local tree companies. I had not met this particular company before, but I thought what do I have to lose. I stopped and asked what they did with the tree trimmings from their jobs. They said they give them away. Hooray free stuff! I asked if I could have the load they were working on. The worker said they could bring a load but didn't know when. He would ask the owner. I gave them my address and left.

I went home and told my husband what I did and left $20 for the tree workers to have lunch if they came by while I was still running errands. Yes they did say the trimmings were free. My purpose in leaving $20 was to be nice to the workers. We live in a small town and friendly gestures go a long way. I'm sure I will need more trimmings for mulch in the future and hopefully they will remember my kindness and bring them to me again. And even if they don't remember me it is always nice to do something for some one else. It is OK to be frugal, but not overly cheap.

I didn't think to take pictures of the large load they brought until after I started distributing it. As you can see below, they brought a rather large load (about five yards my husband says). What nice guys. It took two pics to capture the whole load (even after moving some to the yard.) I still have a lot and will probably share with my elderly neighbor.

1st half

2nd half 

One view of the mulched front yard.

Local Fair

Our local fair occurs Mid-July each year and I can't keep away from it. I enjoy seeing the animals in their different fair states; holding areas, judging areas and auctions. I never get enough of it. I always have to pet and take pictures of the animals. It just amazes me how friendly they are to strangers. I thought I would share some of the animal pics with my animal loving readers.

Goat judging. 

Lazy cows. 

Cuddling pigs. 

Friendly bunny.

Just hanging out horse.

Curious calf.

Rest time. 

Protective momma.

"Okay, scratch this side now."

Baby goats, all played out.  

Tuckered out from performing.

Thinking Thanksgiving & Christmas Dinner in July

A couple of years ago we tried to raise turkeys for Thanksgiving Dinner.  It didn't work out real well. The first one became sick and passed on before she was even a month old. We were able to keep the second for about four months. We named him Louie.

Louie was a funny bird. He would walk around and strut with his wings and tail feathers spread out. He thought he was something. He also would unfortunately play with our pup Max. Louie would go towards Max and open his mouth wide like he was going to mouth Max. Max thought it was a game and would do the same. When Max would open his mouth Louie would try to put his head in Max's mouth through the fence. How stupid can this turkey be, I thought. Well unfortunately one day both got loose when we weren't watching. The two must have been playing their "Mouthing Game" and Louie lost. He ended up with a broken neck. Another one of those unfortunate events that can occur when raising animals.

This year we thought we would try again. (Ensuring the turkeys and dogs weren't able to get in contact with each other.) We purchased two Bronze Turkeys and one White. One of the Bronze Turkeys turned out to be a runt with a sweet personality. She will cheep loudly to get attention and be picked up. Once picked up she becomes content and will stay in your arms and allow you to pet her. I named her "Turkey Girl"; knowing she will be a pet. How can I eat a bird who longs for human affection?

The other two are different stories. They behave like normal turkeys. Not wanting human attention, unless food is involved, eating flies, and not showing fear of larger animals, because they are too stupid. Their names respectfully are Thanksgiving Dinner AKA "Drumstick" and Christmas Dinner AKA "Turkey Breast".

Turkey Breast, Looking pretty dumb. 

Drumstick, trying to figure out what is going on.

I've enjoyed watching them grow and listening to the funny sounds they make. I often wonder how big they will be and all the meat we will enjoy for the holidays. I ponder all the side dishes we will have alongside Drumstick and Turkey Breast; mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy and sweet potato casserole.

In preparation for the big days I've even bought a new platter for the meat and matching bowl at a yard sale. I even looked at roasting pans at the yard sales this weekend wondering if my pan at home would be big enough for our future turkey.

The only problem is no one in our family knows how to dress a turkey!