Working Towards "Normal"

My first day back milking and of course none of my milking untensils were sterilized. The chickens were very happy~ me~ not so much!  A pile of red peppers awaited roasting and 1/2 bushel of peaches needed to be frozen. So I guess things are getting back to normal.
Finally I have all my seeds ready for the fall garden and am waiting for the garlic to ship. Of course I will plant the usual things ~ kale, spinach, kohlrabi, collards, carrots, beets, brocolli and head cabbage but this year have added a few interesting veggies.
 One is a leaf cabbage from Territorial Seeds. I thought it interesting and wondering if it might hold better we have another bitter cold winter, more like the collards. We'll see. Also mache, some new mustards, a purple pac choi, miner's lettuce and rutabaga. Lots of new things that promise to be packed full of nutrients and more cold hardy.  I am looking forward to cooler days.

Green Beans

It has been a very sad year for green beans.Thankfully I canned enough last year so I am not too devastated over that fact. We have planted three times only to pick a nice sized mess each time.
Today I picked what few were down in the garden. It only amounted to a couple of good meals. After picking them I snapped enough for a meal, tossed in the few butterpeas I found and set them to simmer in the chicken stock I found hiding in the fridge. They were a yummy addition to supper for sure.
Today the boys "let" me fill water buckets AND gather eggs ;o))

First Day Out

Today was my first day venturing out.Though still extremely sore, I was able to walk to the garden and pick a few tomatoes. I saw the green beans needed to be picked and there are lots of jalapenos ready. The butter peas are ever so close but I hope will wait a bit longer. Next I gathered the eggs and went to visit the dairy girls. They talked to me when they saw me headed their way. It was nice to be missed! Later, after a rest, I took another short walk with my husband. Slowly things are returning to normal.

All Is Well

The good news is that the tumor is benign. However, after two days down I am beginning to become extremely board and a smidge grumpy. I am trying hard not to take it out on my poor family as they are being absolutely wonderful. I was able to do some laundry today and load a few dishes. I am also working on several knitting projects and much to my families' horror I am making lists of all the things I can think of that need to be done around here. I am also working on getting a new blog up for the Icelandic sheep. I found a cool online garden planner through Territorial Seeds that I am considering trying out. They have a 30 day free trial offer. Once you enter your garden size, you can arrange icons and plan your crops for the year. It helps plan what and when too plant, succession plantings ands helps with crop rotation. Email updates are sent biweekly with reminders of what needs to be done.... hmmm. Yep, I am definitely board.

Grape Juice

Yesterday I cooked the grapes down while finishing all my check lists. After cooking and straining, I had almost 2 gallons of juice. After work today I canned 5 quarts and left the rest to be enjoyed with breakfast this week. Lack of time did not allow jelly to be made- maybe next year ;o))
All lists are complete and I am ready for the big day tomorrow. However, a monkey wrench was thrown into my plans when I was informed that I was to be at the hospital at 6:15 a.m. instead of 10:30 and I had to scramble to make milking arrangements. My family has been my rock these last few days and I am so grateful!!

Sunday

The first thing I had to do after morning chores, according to my husband, was to go and buy a dishwasher. Ugh. I milked and put a pot of beans on and we headed out. Buying one was relatively painless just time consuming. We went ahead and made the grocery store run while we were out and stopped to check the hive at my in laws house.
Finally back home and able to check the hive here, we discovered that the ones we recovered from the barn didn't need to be treated but the ones we bought do. The mite count on the wild hive was 20 and the other 103. Kinda interesting....

Groceries put up, veggies washed and cereal made I headed to check the grapes. Quite some time later I was back with a bushel. These vines were planted just 1 year ago in the spring and proved to be very prolific. The Catawba seems to have done better than the Concord this year. I will be making juice and jelly tomorrow!

The Best Laid Plans

I woke to the sound of thunder and rain this morning. Hmmm.. that could certainly dampen my plans for the day. However, after baking and cleaning up the sun was trying to peak out. I milked and checked over all the dairy goats. A few hooves needed trimming but all in all they look good. I am going to deworm Tuesday evening since the milk will not be kept for a few days. Next on the list was to check the bees for mites. It is that time of year. My husband devised a cool contraption that mimicked the sticky traps that are available. He took a white piece of thin siding and cut it to fit the bottom of the hive. He then sprayed it with cooking spray and slide it in. The mites will fall onto it and die and tomorrow we will check the mite number. In order to do that though we had to make several stops at various relatives homes and of course there was a bit of visiting at each. So, that put us behind for the day. It was late afternoon when we got back and after evening chores were done it was time to call it a day. Tomorrow. Tommorrow, there's always tomorrow......