Trixie's Travels...

To Savor Later.....

This summer, somehow, jamming and canning has happened in abundance in our household.  Fond memories of my grandmother have rolled right along in the midst of it too.

There is a scripture that runs through my mind periodically...

"Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider it's ways and be wise!

It has no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer

and gathers its food at harvest."

Proverbs 6:6-8 

"Storing up", in the scripture could be said about really anything, I guess, but all I kept thinking about was having a little bit of summer in the winter and being able to enjoy an extension of the "good food" season.  

Here is a picture of what has been made or canned....

This afternoon I plan on adding pomegranate jelly to the mix.  I had juiced the pom's at the end of last summer/beginning of fall and froze it until a couple of days ago when I defrosted it to jelly it up.  I just located my recipe for it again and plan on making a little more room in our refrigerator!  

I was able to share the joy of jamming with a couple of friends and I  will be hosting a canning class the first part of August.  That should make for some more fun...

On my agenda of things to do, I plan on making up some sauce with heirloom tomatoes and canning that for later in the winter also.  The taste of freshly ripened tomatoes can't be topped!

What is your favorite taste from summer?  Is it something that you can dehydrate, freeze, jam or can to savor for later?  If you haven't thought about it before .... think about your absolute favorite food thing and what can you do with it for later?  You can whip up a batch of fresh spaghetti sauce with farm fresh produce and throw it in some freezer bags for later...now that sounds pretty tasty!

 

Stuck in the Weeds

Hot Rocks has used the term "stuck in the weeds" a number of times when describing different situations.  I looked it up on the internet for a decisive definition.  The term "stuck in the weeds" means:  "A colloquial expression used when persons are near or beyond their capacity to handle a situation or cannot catch up. Struggling. Very busy." 

It is an accurate term to describe how things have been here on the ole' micro-ranch.  It truly has been a whirlwind of projects since mid-February.  The weather was still in it's weird funky stage of off and on rain storms and our house started to have the arrival of what would later take over our lives....the animals.  What started out to be simple do-able ideas turned into monster-size projects.  We just kept swimming, sometimes drowning in to-do's around here. As soon as we thought we had a handle on things some other emergency happened.  Not to mention, we were just trying to lead somewhat normal routines for our lives but really who defines "normal" anyways?

I am off on a rabbit trail of sorts here so let me refocus. Thinking....thinking....thinking....o.k.  I got it.  This morning we finished our animal chores earlier than usual and the temperature outside was still crisp.  We had watered our garden area the night before so it was a good time to pull weeds.  We were behind somewhat on that chore so I called the kids over and told them to grab a bucket and start picking a few buckets worth.  The normal sighs arrived promptly but they did fill their quota of three stuffed buckets ~ all of which went to the animals for delectable morning treats.  

We have been so busy taking care of the animals that our garden had been severely neglected.  We had watered it and God was making the sun shine on it but weeds had infiltrated it.  The weeds were taller than our plants in some areas.  

You can barely see the rows that the corn are in because of the weeds.

I forgot to take a picture of Hot Rocks garden before we had started but it was COVERED - there wasn't any brown soil to be seen.  My normal M.O. (mode of operation) is to take these quiet times to reflect.  It isn't something I consciously do but rather something that I automatically do.  We normally do not have great and lofty conversations when we are working.  It is pretty quiet. We just go about our business; getting done what we need to do.  

I started to think about why this garden was so overrun with weeds.  We had neglected it.  We did the very absolute basic thing for it ~ we watered it, but we didn't care for it. Things had just gotten so busy with bigger projects that they had taken over everything.  

I had watched the plants growing from afar.  They were green, that was a good thing, that meant they were still alive but I couldn't do anything about the surmounting weeds.  

It is easy for me to learn from Jesus because He uses everyday things to speak to me.  He was teaching me a big lesson this morning.  Our plants were growing and they were producing fruit but you couldn't see what fruit they were producing because the weeds were hiding it.  

Lesson 1:  As a Christian, I can still produce fruit, though it may be small, but it will be overshawdowed and overlooked because of all of the "weeds" (sin) in my life if I do not take care of them and pluck them out.

The amount of weeds that we picked were three overflowing wheelbarrow full.

 

Lesson 2:  The busyness of life can consume so much of my time that all of a sudden I am doing disaster clean-up on a basic foundational necessity for my life.  Meaning, to pull a small weed is preventative action, to pull a big weed is preservation action.  (I need to protect/save my plant from the invasive weed so that it will LIVE!)  To spend my quiet devotional time and daily pull the small weeds BEFORE they become life-threatening spiritually.  

Pulling weeds takes time.  Not a huge amount of time if you stay on top of it, but time none the less.  I don't know what it is about this day and age, but busyness is an all-consuming killer.  The amount of things that supposedly "need" to be done or the thoughts that are planted in our mind that such and such has to be done because it shows that we are somehow a better person is just a bunch of baloney.  

I am only the person that Christ wants me to be when I am abiding in Him.  I am only the person that Christ wants me to be when absolutely NOTHING in this world takes priority over what He wants me to do, not what I think I need to be doing.  I am only the person that Christ wants me to be when I take the time to pull the weeds in my life and boy howdy, it doesn't take much for a weed to grow in my life.  

A total side note...Did you know that a weed can grow in only 1 tsp. of soil? Now that is a reality shock to a person's life....it doesn't take much for a weed to grow in a persons life.  

Well, part of Hot Rocks garden was cleaned up.  You can see the rows.  You can see the plants that we planted.  

We still need to get in the corn area and do some deep cleaning.  So if you will excuse me now, I have some weeding to do....

 

Roosters

In our collection of chickens we have a number of roosters.  For all purposes, we really only need one, if that.  The old ladies tend to keep things in order just fine ~ they even keep the roosters in order.  

We are trying to decide which will be the "Rooster Finalist" around here.  The one man who gets to rule the roost, so to speak, and watch out for the best interest of the ladies.  

These are the rooster finalist requirements:  

1.  He must be good with the ladies, not overly aggressive.

 2.  He must not back down from protecting those who have been entrusted to him.  

3.  He must NOT come after the hand that feeds him, namely us or others that decide to visit.  

 

So these are the candidates:

These first two were picked out by our oldest children and purchased at Tractor Supply Co. in Dixon.  They are very handsome, still on the small side and have yet to show any protective nature.

This young lad only lets us know that he is around.  He likes to kind of sneak off into the pig pen to see what little treats he can find. 

This young man only wanted to show me his tail feathers

 and then recline beside his buddy.

Our third contestant is Pook's frizzle, Sam, named from Sam of Lord of the Rings.  He really has a Napolean complex and likes to chase the ladies that are twice his size.  He makes a good run at it, but always falls short of catching up to them.  He does have that gorgeous red color going for him though.

He has that awesome stare down working for him too.

Our fourth contestant is one of the newer additions.  He has some lovely color markings but has yet to show any true rooster characteristics other than crowing. He is still quite young.

This one is the latest contestant to enter.  I have yet to observe him, so I can't really say what he has going for him.  He does have some nice markings when the light hits his feathers.

Last but not least is "The Big Guy".  He is the biggest chicken in the yard.  He and Sam actually share pretty well but he backs down immediately when one of the old ladies let's him know that he has crossed the line.

He is very handsome with the exception of one thing....

no tail feathers.

 It seems that he had a run in with one of the ladies....

and they showed him who was the real boss.

I am sure that we have at least one or maybe even two more in the mix, but they have yet to reveal themselves.  

So who would you choose?  

What would be your requirements for the "Rooster Finalist"?

Postcard Art

In our travels, I usually pick up postcards as they are inexpensive reminders of where we have been.  I was going through a box, (yes...I am STILL unpacking even after a year) and I had found some antique looking postcards that I had picked up in a few different places. I wanted to use them on the wall someway but didn't want to put up another big thing on the wall.  It seems that my wall space is shrinking considerably and I still have a number of important things to get framed.  On that same unpacking excursion in the garage, I noticed that I had a few pottery plates that I had picked up in Arizona.  I had used them for candles but I have repurposed my table space so it was time to repurpose the plates.  Why not combine the two?

I punched some small holes in the corners of the postcards and pulled out my handy-dandy hemp twine to tie the corners of the postcards to the plates.  

This is what I got:

 

 

For an inexpensive way to put a little "art" on the wall .... I thought it fit the bill. 

What kind of cool "art" can you hang up?

 

Where was my mind?

Did I really think things through on this one?  Was I even thinking at all or just holding nothing back to pursue a dream?  Did I count the cost? Do I want to know the cost?  These are all valid questions that I am posing to myself at this moment.  

I could spiritualize it all and say that it is a character building experience.  But I won't.  It is, without a doubt, a character REVEALING experience.  There have been things that have taken me for a loop in life, especially since I have been a Christian and those loops have always been other people.  

 

This, this life right now, has nothing to do with other people.  It has to do with this little family inside these walls, with me, with a bunch of animals, a garden, a house.... a dream.  

I didn't grow up anywhere close to living an agricultural/farmer life.  I was blessed to live every summer in Montana and "play" with that life from a distance, but I was also a kid and life has a different outlook during those years.  

Most days end with me exhausted, a new bruise and the thought of what I didn't get done that day....like laundry or a meal where we all sit down together to eat.  I juggle between schooling my kids, cleaning house, paying bills, trying to follow everyone's schedule/appointments, feeding about 90 animals, gardening for future food for us and the animals, planning Mom's Night Out, prepping/organizing for Children's Ministry or whatever else might break, crash or die.  

Crazy?  Yes.  Disappointed? No.  Since the end of February we started a brood of about 50 chickens, a flock of 15 turkeys to be processed for Thanksgiving,

raising a pig for butchering,

and a small herd of dairy goats for making cheeses and soaps.  

How can I forget the ducks?

This does not include the 60+ plants to landscape the front yard or the 35+ berry bushes and a few grapevines that have also planted themselves on the property.  We also planted 15 fruit trees/bushes.  Since our property came with absolutely no fencing we have run three full rolls of ranch fencing

and we still aren't done marking off the individual pens.  It feels like we should own stock in Home Depot, Lowe's, and Tractor Supply.  

Any knowledge we might have, is because we spend a good portion of our sleeping hours researching the internet and finding out that everything we do or feed the animals will kill them but thankfully God is greater than that and everyone is STILL alive and well and growing.  The couple of farm friends we have keep us encouraged enough to keep going, at least me.  

So why am I writing all of this?  Because Hot Rocks said that this blog was really just for me and him.  My family likes to keep tabs on us too...with all the stuff going on phone calls just don't happen like they use too and they can find out what new animal showed up on the porch or what they might be eating if they come over for dinner after they read this thing.  

Hot Rocks still works full-time, goes to school full-time for his Master's and serves in the Army Reserves.  

A person can be strong and persevere through things but what happens when that strength wears out?  When you are all by yourself and a big piece of lumber lands on you, what do you do?  Do you chuck your tool to kingdom- come because you are exhausted, worn out, alone?  Do you smile at the animal and think "It's o.k., you will be dinner soon enough?" or do you see that it is character being revealed?  

Ummmm...just to confess... I did not chuck my tool nor did I think about eating my goat, but I did yell loudly WITHOUT cussing. I also did not think about my character, honestly, I rarely do but God keeps showing it to me anyways and I just keep ignoring it.   I think I am in denial about things that He is showing me.  It means more work....work that needs strength.... strength that I do not have....but do I really need strength to change or just faith and some time?

I know the answer to that one but the question really remains .... am I going to have the faith and give the time up?  Has God ever disappointed me when I have come to Him?  Has He ever NOT given me strength for another day? How much time do I really lose from the One who made it?

I will just leave this post at that....a question for myself.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hen House

Last week, I enlisted the help of my Dad for our latest project around here. We have come to the place where all of these cute little fluff balls

that came to us in March have grown to be considerably larger.  

The old ladies have come to a place with Hot Rocks that they are no longer welcome beyond the pasture fence.  

You see, these lovely ladies, have begun to invade his garden.  

Since we are a couple months behind on proper planning times, the seeds that have been planted have become GOLD.

Hot Rocks does not take their invasion lightly.  Electric fencing has surrounded our backyard.  Chicken wire lays on top of all newly planted beds.  Are you getting the picture - he has declared war on them.

With all of this in mind, it was time that I took action and since a chicken coop is a project that I cannot do alone ~ I called on my Dad.  He is a handy kind of Dad to have around and it is certainly a bonus that he is retired!

One afternoon we got together and "drew up plans" ~ in our family, that means that we sketched out a real rough drawing of what we would like it to look like and then we kind of break it down from there.

I knew that I wanted it up off the ground.

It makes for easier clean-up.  I also wanted chicken wire to be on the bottom with 1 x 3's laying across the top of them for the birds to be able to walk better on the floor.

We were able to finish that in a day.  (I think that it is a good idea to mention that my Dad does not stop working until he gets to a point that has already been established in his mind before we even begin).

Today we put up the walls and the roof rafters.  It is quite tall, about 7 feet in the front and sloping to about 6 feet in the back.  

We still have a couple more days worth of work, but by the time we are done, I believe the layers will be quite happy with their new residence.  I know that Hot Rocks will be!

 

 

Smokey the Pig

Yesterday, in the early evening, the sun appeared and we were able to do our animal chores without rain showers soaking us. It didn't seem to last for long but we were still thankful for a little reprieve from the weather.  Whenever Smokey sees us it usually means it is time to eat and she cheerfully greets us or runs along beside us to her pen.  

She had finished eating and we opened her pen door so that we could scratch her and love on her.  

We like to think of it as tenderizing the meat for future use.

She usually backs up into your hands when you are scratching her hind area so that you can scratch harder.  She is a pretty funny pig until she steps on your foot or falls on your feet because you have made her a 50 pound ball of puddy from hitting just the right spot.  

Each week I am amazed at how much she has grow.  In all honesty, I am not surprised that she is gaining the amount of weight that she is because Hot Rocks feeds her like she is a queen.  He faithfully makes her gourmet pig slop. There has never been a batch that didn't smell delicious.  He boils up the biggest soup pot I have full of fresh vegetables and bread.  This mixture is combined with some of her feed and topped off with fresh goat's milk.  This kind of meal makes for a very happy pig.

Somewhere along the line, she and Maggie have come to some kind of friendly agreement.  

If Maggie lets Smokey tackle her

then Smokey will allow her to eat the few bits of that delicious gruel left in her bowl without going after her.

This seems to work out well for them. 

I don't foresee this kind of agreement continuing after Smokey hits the 250 mark in weight but until then it is a win-win situation for them both.

I am just glad that everyone gets along at this point in the game!

 

 

 

 

Rain

We woke up this morning to the rain pounding on our rooftop.  That meant it would be a wet morning feeding the animals but by the time I got outside the animals were all soaked.  The rain had come down so hard that even their dry areas were drenched and water was puddling up all over the ground creating lots of mud in the back.  I switched up my order of things so that we could start moving animals around to get them to a little dryer area.  

Sis was up and came out ready for the mud after I had milked Delilah.  Pook rolled out of bed after we had gotten all the goats to the pallet pen. Sometime after the goats were put up someone snagged my camera and started shooting a couple of shots of Pook trying to move the turkeys to a dryer area.  

Turkeys can be fun but the only way to get them to move anywhere is with food.  We had already given them their morning feed but they were just going back to the same ole' spot that was soaked and puddling up with water.  

I was off trying to get the pig situated with her morning feed and making sure that her pen was somewhat dry and secure from the wind.

We eventually got everyone to a dryer area but we had almost fallen in the mud a couple of times and were pretty soaked ourselves.  Who knew the joys of rain in JUNE!!!

 

Round 3

I am having a love/hate relationship with my chickens right now.  The old ladies to be more specific.  They know better, but they just keep right on doing whatever they want.  Then when they are done doing the really bad thing that they keep on doing - they look like this....

just sitting there resting like nothing happened.

But something did happen and it has happened twice!  but Nooooooo - they just sit there relaxing under the apricot tree.....

resting with even their eyes shut....

This one though looks totally guilty.  She knows she has done something wrong but tries to give it that "Who me?" look.

But I am onto them and this time they were deterred.  You see since the end of March, the kids and I have tried to start seedlings and just when they get to the point of being hardened off outside, these lovely ladies come and EAT all of our seedlings.  The bad thing is they haven't done it just one time, they have done it TWICE!!! That kind of horribleness (is that even a word ~ I am not getting spell check so it must be) is just unforgivable.  The third time around we got smart and put our seedlings out in front of our house where the old ladies can't get to them.  

Look at how lovely they are!  

So happy and green ~ growing peacefully undisturbed. They aren't being scratched up, ripped apart, flung to the ground to die a cruel death.I bet you didn't know chickens could be so evil, so inconsiderate....so .... so.... IN TROUBLE!  I will forgive them though because they continue to give me eggs even in their old age.

I just came to terms that our garden is going to be so late in producing fruit this year and the weather has been so crazy the past couple of months that our summer might last further into the fall.  It will be wonderful to see how the heirloom seeds do in our garden and as long as I can outsmart our chickens we should do pretty well!

Here's to outsmarting chickens and a happy healthy garden!

 

 

My how they grow!

I was looking through my pictures trying to see where I had left off on the work that we had been doing over the past couple of months when I ran across these pictures of Samson....our first born son on the ranch.  That was just to fun to resist.

When he was born all eyes were on him...

Even at a little over a month and a half, he still has that sweet little baby-ish face about him...

Now look at him, becoming all grown up.  

Even after the debudding, his hormones were so strong that his horns came back a little.  We just couldn't stop them from growing and we weren't going to take him to UC Davis to have them put him under to have them removed. We will clean them up a little bit but what you see is what you get at this point of the game.  

We have definitely been in a learning curve lately.