The Road Home

The Road Home
There is no place like home.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

All In a Day's Work


We had a lot to get done today. So here it is. The day in review.


Milked the goats, fed the chickens and Pearl.





Fed the new kittens

 





The frig is running over with milk again, so I made Chevre. It doesn't require any attention. It can sit on the counter all day while I get other things done. This evening I will hang the curd and it will be ready in the morning.

 
Canned 14 pints of green beans


While the green beans were in the canner, we made squash relish. I will post that recipe later.





While Frank was grinding up the ingredients for the squash relish, I put the water on and washed the corn that needed to be frozen. We got the first batch boiling and it was time to take the green beans out of the pressure canner. Once we had everything chopped up for the relish, it has to sit for a while, so we could finish the other projects.We blanched and froze 3 1/2 gallon bags of corn.





Now, it's break time. The last time we were at the warehouse market, Frank picked up two cases of Snickers -  our favorite. You know you need to stock up on comfort food too, right? Well, when he was putting
them on the shelf they wouldn't stack right with the old box. Then he realized that the new box wasn't quite as large as the old box. So he got out a candy bar from each box and compared the size. The old candy bars net wt. was 2.07 oz. and the new candy bars are 1.86 oz. with a difference of .21 oz. That comes out to about five candy bars less per case of 48 bars. Frank feels slighted. But they cost the same so that means prices are not going up and we have no inflation, right? It's too bad sarcasm doesn't come across the same in print as it does when you can hear a person's voice.

After break time we still had to finish up the squash relish, cook and eat dinner, then feed the animals. It's all in a day's work. And it's a lot of work. Those of you that grow and preserve your own food know just how much it is. And I would bet you wouldn't trade it for anything, would you? Not even at the end of a long, tiring productive day.

Until next time - Fern


5 comments:

  1. I am trying my best to ignore the basket of pears across from me that I should be processing instead of reading blogs. Canning is full of sore fingers, sticky juice puddles and sweaty effort...but when I pull a jar of pear butter off the shelf for breakfast toast and it's snowing outside (yes, it does snow is AZ!)it's definitely worth it.

    P.S. Looking forward to the squash relish recipe...we have a lot of crooknecks this year.

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  2. Is that shoe peg corn you put up? Yesterday I froze 3 quarts of fresh blackberries and 3 quarts of catfish fillets and canned 11 quarts if hamburger dill slices : )

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    1. We planted an open pollinated corn this year - Country Gentlemen. It is white and the kernels aren't as watery (for lack of a better description). It's good.

      I am looking for a different dill pickle recipe. Would you mind sharing?

      Take care,

      Fern

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  3. I'm right there with ya - well almost. I only have two dogs that want attention. Just finished cutting up my cucs, onions, and bells and have them chillin' in the fridge for bread&butter pickles. Apples and pears are next to get chopped for the dehydrator. Then I'm trying to talk myself out of canning the beets and carrots. It's should be in the low 90's today and this old house has no air-con. Maybe I'll pick some more blackberries instead for canned pie filling. I do love this time of year though. It's makes me feeeeeel good and prosperous!

    Just like your candy bars, I wonder how many people have noticed sugar is in 4lb bags, not 5lbs. Nope, no inflation here either. ;}

    Stay cool Fern!

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    1. I always tell Frank that if the electricity ever goes off and stays off, I sure hope it's in the winter, so we will have time to acclimate to the heat slowly. I do love our air conditioning!

      I agree that putting up your own food is a very satisfying feeling. Being able to look at the shelves of food we have preserved brings great comfort.

      Keep at it and it will eventually all get done. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

      Take care,

      Fern

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