What's That Smell? Sorry About That

   So, last week I started dehydrating some onions. Unfortunately, the only place I had to dehydrate them was in the house. After a while, your eyes stop watering, but your nose continues. At least mine did. We go through a lot of onions, so we planted a few hundred. Last year, I dehydrated 99% of them. I dehydrated them so they'd last. We planted more onions this year than last year. This year, I guess I will chop and freeze most of them, and here is the reason why.
   Amy went to Walmart and was in the check out line, and the woman in front of her asked Amy if she smelled like onions. Amy said she guessed she probably did and explained why. This led to conversations about dehydrating onions.
   Daniel was called into the office at work because people complained he smelled. I guess some people just don't like or recognize odor de onion. He told his coworkers I was dehydrating onions and they wanted to know who in their right mind dehydrates onions?
   Tim noticed when he was talking to people at work, they'd step away from him.
   I do admit, this years onions had a much stronger odor than last years. One day, maybe I'll have someplace other than the house to dehydrate onions. every time I think about putting the dehydrator outside, it decides to rain.
   So, to keep coworkers and the general public happy, I will chop and freeze the rest of our onions. All I can say is, sorry about that.

Oh Deer, What Can The Matter Be?

Seen through the dirty window

   Tuesday morning, we had these visitors in the yard. They were so good, the didn't jump the fence into the garden. They probably would have, if they could have figured out how, so they ate from the compost pile and our small berry plants instead.
   Usually when deer see movement, they take off running, but these 3 didn't. They were very skinny and really need to fatten up to survive the winter.
   After grazing for awhile, they noticed something and went into alert mode. We didn't see anything from the window.
   All of a sudden, the deer took off. We knew it wasn't a run for your life run, since it wasn't fast enough.
   You'll never guess what scared them away? Have you given up yet? Well, hot on the heals of the deer, came 19 turkeys chasing them away.
   The turkeys were all fluffed up with their necks stretched out, running as fast as their turkey legs could go.
   It was really funny watching the turkeys. Turkeys chasing deer isn't something you see every day. As a matter of fact, I've never seen it before.
   The deer ate most of the good stuff from the compost pile, so the turkeys didn't hang around long. We have a first come, first serve compost pile.

I'm Running Behind

   Thanks to my dehydrator dying, I'm running behind on things. Luckily, last Sunday Any and Daniel found a brand new, in the box dehydrator at a yard sale for $10.00 and bought it for me. Today's project is to start dehydrating again. Since the weather is getting colder, we need to harvest the last of the garden.
   We have had rain the last few days, so hopefully, the ground is soft enough to put our snow gauge out. I also need to bring in the hummingbird feeders, since the hummingbirds haven't been around lately.
   Besides the dehydrator, the vacuum cleaner bit the dust. I am waiting for my bread maker to follow. It is so noisy. I only use it to make the dough in and then I put the dough in pans because I like the bread cooked in the oven better. I do know how to make bread in my mixer, just putting everything in the bread maker is easier.
   Our TV picture is getting darker and there is no way to adjust it. If the TV goes out, we will be doing without. I will admit, I will get more done with no TV.
   The animals are getting ready for winter. Tim has a large toolbox with drawers and there are nice piles of pine nuts in every drawer. Our squirrel has been busy.
   Poor Jake is having a rough time. Michaela throws toys at him when she is in her playpen. Her aim has greatly improved and she is throwing  harder as well. His feet are always good to try and get, too when she's crawling around. Unfortunately,Jake doesn't like his feet messed with.
   Well, I took a writing break and played in onions. I chopped onions for 2 hours and put them in the freezer. My eyes poured, then my nose. Later everyone else's eyes poured. Just wait until I dehydrate onions.
   Other than all this excitement, it's been pretty slow. My leg has been hurting a lot lately, so I've been taking it easy. Besides that, Chip thinks it's my job to sit with my feet up so he can lay on them.
 

We've Been Overrun By Turkeys

Lately, we have been overrun with turkeys. It doesn't help that we keep feeding them. The turkeys come right up to the door. I know, turkeys aren't the brightest of birds, but these are pretty smart. The actually knock on the door to let us know they're out there.
They have even learned to climb the steps to the back door and knock. If that weren't enough, they finish all the bread we throw them in the front or the back of the house and then they'll run to the other door for more.

We are going through quite a bit of bread feeding them.

This turkey seems to be the bread mooching mastermind. He and his 2 younger friends were the only ones that came for bread, but he told his friends and now we have more. We counted about 20 yesterday and today.

The turkeys are pretty funny. It's not safe to go out- side now without getting mobbed by them.  They come by several times a day. They still eat the grasshoppers, but bread is better. I know I'd rather eat bread than grasshoppers. I'm pretty sure turkey season opened last weekend or this weekend.

Anyone for pre-stuffed turkeys? 

      

I'm Tired Of Summer Now

   Once again, some people can never be pleased. I'm tired of summer now. We are having temperatures in the 90's, and our normal temperature for this time of year is in the low 70's. Fall is my favorite season and I wish it would hurry up.
   I know, not too long ago, I was complaining about cool wet weather and summer taking it's sweet time getting here. What can I say? I just don't like hot weather.
   Most of the garden is harvested. At last. The big freezer makes a huge difference. It's packed full of peas and green beans. I also have at least twenty pounds of tomatoes in it waiting for me to get to them.
   Amy will probably freeze this winter since it's her first really cold winter. It's suppose to be another La Nina year, so it'll be cold and wet.
   I haven't accomplished very much so far this year, just lacking in ambition, I think and a disrupted routine. Probably more of the lack of ambition, I think. It would help if there were more hours in the day.
   I guess this weekend, I'll start dehydrating the onions. I still need to finish doing something with the carrots, potatoes and garlic. I also have a baseball sized zucchini I'm going to turn into lots of bread and zucchini oatmeal cookies. Amy thinks no one makes zucchini oatmeal cookies. They sound good to me.
   I still need to finish the crocheting for Myrna, but since I don't think she needed hats and scarves during the summer in San Diego, there was no hurry.
   I do have all the towels and the rest of the clothes folded, hung up and put away, so I'm making progress.

Peas, Peas And More Peas



A very, very large bowl of peas

     Our peas have been peaing like crazy lately. This top picture is of one days harvest in a very, very large bowl. We have been getting about this much every day to every other day.
   Shelling peas is much better than cleaning spinach. I can sit in my chair and watch tv and shell peas.
   Of course the pea comments have started. Things like, "I'm going to go pea in the living room", if a pea pod manages to escape out of the bowl and stay in the chair the sheller was sitting in it's "who peaed in my chair?"


The shelled peas from the large bowl



   The deer have discovered the peas lately. Luckily, or unluckily, the peas have about peaed out. They still have some pods not ready to pick and some blossoms yet to do anything.

   After they have run their course, I'll take pictures the

nice 4 serving vacuumed sealed bags in the freezer.

   As a kid, I didn't like peas. My mom tried to trick us into eating them by telling us they tasted like candy. It didn't work. I don't think there would be much call for pea flavored candy.



The results of peaing





   My mom still puts peas in everything, but they still don't taste like candy.

   When my brother was young, he would skin his peas with his fork and have a pile of pea mush on his plate.

   I do think it would be nice if you didn't have to chase the peas around your plate and they stayed on your fork once you caught them.

   When the kids were small, Alyssa used to help me harvest the peas and they never made it into the house. Alyssa was eating them as fast as I picked them.

   I tried telling the kids peas tasted like candy, and they didn't believe it any more than we did. I don't put them in everything, either. I ask our granddaughter, Ashlynn, if she liked peas and she told me " uh...well...uh...I think they are kind of gross. I told Alyssa that and she said she figured that out since Ashlynn's peas kept rolling off of her plate.

   On the news not too long ago there was a story about Obama saying people should give peas a chance. What I want to know is, has Obama ever harvested and shelled peas? Harvesting them is hard on the back and shelling them is time consuming.

   When my mom was a kid, one of her brothers decided to try shelling them with the wringer on a wringer washing machine. I guess it didn't work all that well.

   The green beans are being harvested at the same time. I also take them to the living room to break off the ends. They are also going into the freezer in vacuumed sealed bags. I don't like green beans, but Tim and Chip do. Chip get more excited if you ask him if he wants some green beans than he does if you ask him if he wants a cookie. The dog is just weird. I'll let him have my green beans any old day.

   Our potato crop is going to be smaller than last years. We have some good potatoes out of the garden. Last night we started harvesting some of the onions. I have to let them cure in the house because the deer will eat them if I leave them outside to cure. Those deer are just so much help at times.

   We bought a 20.6 cubic foot freezer last Sunday, since we only have the small refridgerator freezer. We have to put all those peas and green beans somewhere, and I like frozen much better than canned. Unfortunately, the freezer won't be here until Sept. 6th because Sears was out of stock.

   Once the freezer is here, I am going to freeze mashed potatoes and hash browns from our potatoes. Later in the year, I think a deer just might find it's way into the freezer as well. A wild turkey or two or so will also probably end up in the freezer.

   Now it's time to shuffle some onions around so I can find the kitchen. For some reason, people want to eat around here.



  

But It Was A 6 Foot Fence

   Well, the deer have been in the garden, even with the 6 foot fence. I guess there is really no stopping them. They had a good old time eating whatever took their fancy. Who needs lettuce, broccoli and watermelon? Who needs peas and beans? We do have a freezer full of peas and beans. They haven't helped us harvest onions yet. I'm sure with time, they will.
   There is a pumpkin with some teeth marks in it, but it's still ok. Chard is also good deer food. I went grocery shopping yesterday. It was a really long day. I noticed people weren't buying the non-necessities.
   Tomorrow there is a farmer's market in Clayton, WA, which isn't that far from here and I am trying to convince Tim we need to go. There are going to be spinners there, with fiber to buy. Who cares that I have a bath tub full of still untouched fiber to do something with. There will be Alpaca fiber to buy and I've always wanted to try some of that. $10.00 for 4 ounces. 4 ounces of Alpaca fiber will go a long way.
   There will be other crafters there, as well. Also fresh cheese, homemade goat milk soap, small farm animals to buy, and free lemonade and cookies. Who knows, maybe we can get more peas, green beans, onions, carrots and potatoes.
   One of our tomatoes that had a big boy label in the pot turned out to be a cherry tomato. Big difference in tomato size. I bet someone had fun playing with the variety sticks stuck in the pot.
   The birds have discovered Tim's black berries and raspberries. He's not happy about that. He put bird netting over them and the birds were trying their darnedest to get in under the netting.
   The wild turkeys are still roosting at the end of the driveway high up in the trees. Tim is getting a good collection of turkey feathers for his fly tying.
   Amy caught Michaela walking yesterday. She just turned 8 months old. Michaela really has that throwing things down pat. She still spits up a storm, too.
   Well, my break is over. It's time to get back to playing in the green beans. Amy and Daniel are shelling the peas for me, but for some reason, they don't like doing the green beans.

Life Isn't Quiet Here Anymore

  

    Life here isn't quiet anymore. Michaela is not a quiet girl. Today, Daniel and Amy put shoes on here. She screamed and tensed up and shook. Every time she looked down at her feet, the screaming got worse. Amy and Daniel thought they'd try putting shoes on her at a store to see if maybe it was that particular pair of shoes only to find it's any shoes. Michaela has had shoes on before and this hasn't happened. Some parents are so mean. If once wasn't bad enough, they tried later in the day, and the results were worse.



Side view



   A couple of weeks ago, Tim sold one of the 3 generators we had and used that money to buy a wider, flat bottomed canoe. I guess it's not really called a canoe, but I can't remember what Tim was calling it. It was a good deal. Now, he can go on the smaller lakes out here that don't allow bigger boats.

   Last week, Tim took me to Fan Lake and we paddled around the whole lake. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, since I can't swim and don't really like being in or on the water. While we were on the lake, we saw a couple of Bald Eagles. One was carrying a very large fish in it's talons. We also saw water turtles and, believe it or not, fish.

   On the way home we saw many does and their spotted fawns out and about since it was early evening.



   Eventually, Tim wants to get a small motor so he and any passengers don't have to row all the time. The canoe  also needs seat cushions and seat cushions with backs would be nice since, the seats are hard and very butt numbing.







Cherry pitter

    Today, I pitted 10 pounds of cherries with the cherry pitter I bought at a yard sale last year. I think I paid $3.00 or $5.00 for it, and it was really worth it. I wasn't really sure how it would work, since there were no instructions with it. It did pit the cherries so there were no stray pits in the cherries. It also chopped the cherries at the same time, so they'll be great for my cherry jam. I will use the first cherry pitter I bought (also at a yard sale) that uses the plunger method, if I want whole, non-mangled cherries.

   It still took time to go through all the cherries and look for bad ones, remove stems and wash, but pitting was so much faster. When I was finished, I measured out and put in bags, in the freezer, what I need for each batch of cherry preserves. I did it this way last year, and it was much nicer canning in the winter than in the summer.

   I have finally finished harvesting, washing, blanching and freezing our spinach crop. I now hate spinach. I like eating it, but if I never have to do the rest, it will be too soon.

   Tomorrow, I'll be harvesting more peas and beans. At least they are more staggered than the spinach crop was.

   I still haven't done anything with the fiber in the bathtub since I was waiting for me to finish the spinach. It's done, so now I can play. Hopefully. Oh, there is another basket of towels waiting for me to fold, as usual.

   I need to tackle Chip and give him a bath and a haircut. I had to buy a muzzle for him since he's decided to be a nasty dog when I try to cut his hair and claws. Rotten poodle. I have decided to keep Chips hair short, even in the winter. It's funny, since hos hair is much shorter and Tim is mowing our whole 5 1/2 acres, you would think it would be less junk in Chips coat. Not so. Teach me to think.







 





















I Have Fiber

   I have 4 Llama fleeces and 2 Suffolk sheep fleeces to skirt, wash and, card and spin. I would still like the Shetland sheep fleeces. The Suffolk fleeces are white and about 3 inches long. The Llama fleeces are a nice brown, a nice tan, a cream colored and a white, black, gray, and tan and about 6 inches long. Amy wasn't really thrilled that I am teaching her how to spin with the Suffolk wool. Amy also has to learn how to skirt, wash and card the wool. She isn't really happy about having to touch dirty and then wet wool.
   The spinach is ready to harvest again, so I have to take care of all that before I play in my fiber. So now, since we have a bathtub and a walk in shower in our bathroom, the fiber is in bags in the bath tub. There are people in the extra room where it would have ended up. We don't have a garage to store it in or a shed, so the bath tub it is. Who knows where the bumper crop of potatoes will end up this year until I can work my way through them. Luckily, they aren't ready to harvest yet.
   I didn't buy shoes and socks with the money I paid for the sheep shears. Instead, I bought a table for my dutch oven. Nothing exciting, but now I can use my dutch oven and not break my back picking the heavy thing up. My dutch oven weighs 23 pounds empty, so having it cooking at table height is going to be much nicer. I bought a roast for my first meal since they are hard to mess up. I'll add some potatoes and carrots and onions and be good to go. Add some nice, fresh spinach as a veggie and a hone grown salad, and it will be great. Maybe, even fresh bread since I make 2-3 loaves a week.
   I do believe I've made myself hungry, so I'm off to go eat something.
  

Coming Soon, Lots Of Fiber In My Diet. Not The Kind You Are Probably Thinking Of

   Last evening, the growing lamb from behind us got in the yard. As she was trying to go back home, she panicked when she saw her people, and ran into the fence, getting tangled in it and tearing it down. They will try to fix the fence today.
   Wendy, the sheep's mom, is going to buy my sheep shears and some, if not all, of my goat supplies. I have no use for them anymore. I mentioned to Wendy before that I spun, and she wanted to know if I wanted many Shetland sheep fleeces and 2 or 3 llama fleeces. Of course, I said yes. I will use use some of it to teach her, possibly her kids and a friend and Amy how to spin. After I teach her how to spin, I will teach her how to crochet.
   The sheep's dad, William, is going to give Tim lessons in butchering. William was worried about teaching Tim the kosher way, but it doesn't matter to us, so I think Tim is learning how to butcher chickens this weekend.
   They will also give us an endless supply of compost from all their critters. Wendy and William were both impressed with our garden, even though we don't think it's doing as well as last years. With the lack of sun, and 12 inches of rain so far this year, things are behind.
   We did have fresh homegrown spinach with out supper last night. I have a lot more I need to harvest. William said they have never grown spinach, so it's now on their list of things to grow in their garden next year.
   Since I will be getting some extra money, I will use part of it for the pressure canner and more jars. I'm also thinking shoes and socks would be nice, since I figure one of these days I'll actually have to wear shoes again.
   I guess with people coming over, it's the extra incentive I need to dust.