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Pressing Apples Into Cider

About two weeks ago, we picked as many apples as our ladder could help us reach in the old apple tree. I then set about making apple pies, which I froze. I also made and canned applesauce, apple pepper jelly, and apple cinnamon jelly. The two kinds of jelly I made using apple scraps. Then came the apple cider. Paul helped me bring the cider press and apple grinder into the kitchen, which I then cleaned thoroughly. We find it easier and more sanitary to press our cider in the kitchen rather than outside. This time of year, there are too many hungry wasps around to be able to press cider outdoors. Above is the grinder. We bought the apple press and grinder in 2019 and have pressed cider every year since. We bought both from Pleasant Hill Grain, located in Nebraska. The grinder is a Weston apple and fruit crusher, and the press is a Maximizer 36-liter stainless steel fruit press.  Of course, before we could grind up and press the apples, we had to quarter and clean them. I always cut ...
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Coyote Pups Hanging Around Our Farm

Living next to a creek, we expect to see various wild animals coming and going, as this land is their home, too. We've got deer, chipmunks, raccoons, and a wide variety of birds, including birds of prey like barn owls and bald eagles. Once, a black bear was spotted behind our milk shed down by the creek, and our neighbor has seen cougar tracks on the trail that runs behind our house. Occasionally, we get word that someone has seen a cougar along Morse Creek. Even so, we were rather surprised when we spotted five coyote pups hanging out around here. They are not hiding from anyone and are present during the day. If they spot you, they don't run away too quickly, so they aren't all that afraid of people.  The coyote pups look like small dogs, and they spend much of their time hunting for field mice and other rodents in the fields on and around our property. All five pups were hunting together for rodents in the newly hayed field across the road at Elton's farm. We noticed...
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Preserving the Garden's Bounty

We've been busy freezing, canning, dehydrating, and curing what we've harvested from our garden and blueberry patch. I thought I'd share a few photos from recent harvests. There have been LOTS of potatoes, and this latest harvest had the largest of them! After canning several jars of beets, I later discovered a donor beet plant growing out at the far edge of the garden. It was the most lush of all the beets I grew, with an enormous root. Often, it's the donor plants that are the hardiest. The zucchini has been coming in like crazy. I've made 12 jars of zucchini relish, and at least 6 loaves of zucchini bread so far. Plus, we eat steamed zucchini several nights a week. I'll be making zucchini lasagna and zoodles with our next few batches. I was able to grow one giant head of cabbage. It was beautiful all the way through to the middle. We also grew four or five small heads of cauliflower - below is one of the most recent that we brought in. We canned several batch...
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The Summer Garden

This year's garden is not as overgrown as it was in past years. We put down cloth along each pathway and have kept up with pulling or trimming the weeds. And we sure have been enjoying the harvests! So far, we've had peas, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, beets, artichokes, potatoes, onions, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, green beans, and more. There's been enough to eat now, preserve some, and share with family and friends. Above, the short row of corn is growing well and we've got several winter squash varieties, which you can see below. Sadly, though, there is still a vole or two running amok, digging holes, chopping down pea plants, and even slicing through a winter squash vine in several places, which caused the whole thing to die. I planted a lot of extra seeds this year to ensure that I would have food to enjoy from the garden, even if a vole or two did some damage. The vole situation improved drastically from last year, but it may be a year or two more befo...
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Flowers Growing in the Sidewalk Crack

Weeds grow in the cracks of our driveway and sidewalks. More recently, an enormous patch of beautiful flowers began to grow in the sidewalk crack near our front door. We typically try to remove the things growing in these cracks, but since the flowers started growing, we've begun to rethink whether removing them is the best option. This amazing and hardy patch of donor flowers brings us such joy. Friends and family who stop by remark on it as well. Among the flowers are yarrow, oregano, and white clover. It makes me wonder if perhaps we should intentionally plant a flowering groundcover in the driveway's many cracks. Look at all the potential for beautiful flowering groundcover in our driveway below. 
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We Put In a Sauna

It gets so horribly cold here from October through May. In this drafty old house, we've found it difficult to warm ourselves up, and so we have been talking about putting in either a hot tub or sauna. We know that come fall and winter, the idea of slipping into a hot tub or sauna and relaxing for a bit will be pure heaven. We've also been reading about the health benefits of using a hot tub or sauna, which I especially appreciate since I have problems with poor circulation.  Since a hot tub requires maintaining the water levels and monitoring the chemicals or salt (depending on which option you choose), we decided it would be easier and more economical to put in a sauna. So, we ordered one from Costco. It was delivered rather quickly in one giant box to our front door. It took most of a day to put together, and that included the usual amount of arguing, head-banging, and starting over when it fell apart. Below are a few photos of the process and the finished result. First, Paul...
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Farewell, Sweet Little Peep-Duck

 One of our peep-ducks passed away this morning.😢 She was about 5 years old. We referred to her as a "peep-duck" because she was raised with ducks. She was one of two Barred Rock chicks that joined us at the same time as several ducklings toward the beginning of the pandemic. Since they were all raised together, the chicks preferred to be near the ducks and occasionally had odd duck-like behavior. The chicks and ducks would snuggle together in their warm bedding. The odd assortment of birds became a family, always together, as close as best friends, brothers and sisters. Above is one of the peep-ducks after we moved them outside. It was hard to tell the two chicks apart. Later, the only way I could tell them apart was by their preference for how closely they hung to the ducks. One peep-duck stays with the ducks at all times, even bedding down in a pile on the floor of the coop with them at night. Meanwhile, the other peep-duck began hanging out with the chickens, and chose t...
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