small farm girl.....UP all night!

It's 3:20 in the morning, and I can't sleep. I've got HEART BURN!!!! We canned 19 quarts of tomato juice today. Of course, I had to drink some. (make that a lot!) Boy, am I paying for it now. Oh well, I figured since I was up, I would catch up on my blog. It's been a while since I have posted anything. Busy, very busy.

This last weekend me and Hubby went to my family reunion in Marion Oh. It took us about 3 hours to get there. I slept most of the way, up and back. I figure if I sleep on trips where we have to drive on a busy freeway, our marriage will last longer. lol. I am "professional" back seat driver.(I guess that would be a passanger seat driver.) I am constantly saying,"Watch that car!" or "That light is turning red!" or "Would you pay attention to the road and quit looking at that tractor!" I wouldn't even want me as a passanger.(Although, in all fairness, I have saved us from some wrecks by doing that.) I have got a hole worn out in the floorboard on the passanger side. It's where I am applying "MY break." So to keep Hubby from wringing my neck on "freeway" rides. I either sleep or read. (Thank goodness I don't get sick when I read in the car. That could be a whole other blog. :) )

Anyway, we had a really nice time seeing family and friends that we haven't seen in a long while. But I have a question,when you go to family reunions, why do you sit with the people you see the most through out the year? Shouldn't you mingle with everyone else? Shouldn't you be catching up on what THEY are doing? lol.

Okay, I'm getting off the subject here. Anyway, we had a great time. My dad and his brothers played music and there was a lot of dancing. Of course, it had to be the hottest day of the year. Boy did I get worn out.(although it was okay, I slept on the way home. :) ) We got back home around 8:00 pm that night. Happy to have seen family, and full from some really good food.

Today, me and Hubby canned and canned and canned. We had 4 five gallon buckets full of tomatoes. We would have had more, but it poured the rain and Hubby couldn't get back into the garden to pick more. I, for one, was glad. Canning 19 quarts of tomatoe juice is hard on fat girls. lol. If Hubby hadn't helped me, there was no way I could have done all of that today. We started around 4:30, and quit around 9:00 pm. There was tomatoe pieces and parts everywhere. So, I cleaned up and fixed us something to eat. I told Hubby we were going to have tomato soup to eat. I just got "The Look." (women, you know "the look." lol)

Well, I'm going to go and try to get some sleep. Maybe eat some Tums or something.

So for now.....

Small Farm Girl,fire breather.

Hi everyone! My last post was kind of a downer. I was just in a funk. I am back to normal now. Why? Because of all of YOUR blogs. You may wonder sometimes if it is worth writing your blog anymore or if it really matters if you do. Well IT DOES!!!! It helps to know there are others out there like myself, who thinks like I do. As I was reading other blogs these past few days, it makes me realize why we do what we do, why we work our tushes off to can beans and corn and pickles. One for the money saving "free" food, one for the satisfaction of knowing what is in the food you eat, and one for the feel of being out in the garden and creating things with your own hard work.(okay, nature had a little bit to do with it too.)So to everyone out there who is actually thinking of quiting with the blogging.Please don't. You may be making more of an impact than what you may think.

Okay, on to another topic. I've had a few people ask me about my peach butter recipe. Well here it is...

Get a bunch of peaches, peal them and take out the pits. Now you have a few decisions to make.You can either put them in a blender and palse them, or you can put them in a pot whole. If you keep them whole, cook them down and then mash them with a potatoe masher. I use a blender. It seems like it is faster. Then I add about 2 cups of sugar for each blender full. Actually I just add to taste. I find that some peaches are a little more tart than others. Then add cinnimon to taste.(do you see a pattern here?) If you want, add a bit(that's a technical term) of ginger. It's very simple. It's just what ever you like. Cook it down until it's the consistincy that you want. If you want it thicker, cook it longer. If you want it runny, don't cook it as long. But one thing,out of all of this that you have to do is, make sure you constantly stir it. It will stick and burn on the bottom if you don't. Then put it in jars and seal. Or, if you want freeze it in freezer bags. It taste the same. Hard recipe huh? lol

Well it's getting late and I'm going to go to bed.

Until next time.....

Small Farm Girl,motivated.

I'm still here, I promise.

I'm still alive and kicking. I have not left you, nor have I been abducted by aliens. I am a slave to the garden right now. The veggies are getting ripe faster than I can can.(not the dance.) The beans are slowing down, but the tomatoes are just starting to hit their stride. Soon the corn will be coming on. It's times like these I wonder about just saying forget it. But then I read one of you guy's blogs and I get motivated again. I'm so glad I have "partners in crime" out there. It's good to know that other people are getting over whelmed too. I know, I know, sometime in January or February, I'll be glad I canned so much. I think I over did it for the first year of canning though. I have sooooooo much stuff that I want to do. Freeze the turnips, freeze more cherry tomatoes, pick and freeze zucchini and squash, freeze bell pepper strips,can some more beans, etc..etc..etc... I have to quit complaining though, I know not everyone can have the opportunity to do what me and Hubby are doing now. We are blessed with our small 50 acres. I shouldn't complain about using it to it potential. I just feel guilty about the cucumbers that are not being picked on time. And then, we have to throw them to the chickens. What a waste. If I could just keep up. Well, I knew that the main thing that I am concentrating on is tomatoes, corn, and green beans. Those are doing really good. Maybe next year I'll concentrate on more pickles or more frozen zucchini. Oh yea, and more pickled beets. I just love them! I've had a few people want the recipe for my beats, so here it is.......


Aunt Ester's Beets

5 cups of sugar
5 cups of vinegar
whole cloves

Wash and clean beets.Leave roots and about 2 to 3 inches of tops on the beets.Leaving a little bit of the tops on the beets keeps the color from leaking out. Cook beets until a fork can go in easily. (I pressure cook them at 15 lbs for 15 mins)While you are waiting for the beets to cook, bring sugar and vinegar to a rolling boil. After beets are cooked, take off peal. It should slide off easily along with the roots and stems. Make sure the beets are around the same size. Some may have to be cut in half or into quarters. Pack firmly into jars. Drop 6-8 whole cloves into jars after you put in the beets. Then pour liquid into jars with the beets and cloves. Put on lids and wait for the wonderful sound of the "POP"

See they are really easy! And, they are the best tasting beets in the world. I hope you try some. They are worth it.

Well, I'm gonna have to let you guys go for now. So until later.....


Small Farm Girl, tuckered out.

Spooky!!!!

This is the storm that went through today. Doesn't it look weird? It just sucked the fog from the hollers right up into the storm. If you didn't know any better, you would think it was a tornado. It wasn't though.

Well, the last two days have been pretty busy. Me and Mom canned beets yesterday. They turned out the most beautiful dark red. I just love pickled beets. We used my great aunt's recipe. I'll post it on here one of these days.lol Canning beets is easier than I thought it would be. I don't know why but, I was expecting something hard. Not at all!

Then I made some peach butter. That was easy too. I just peeled the peaches and put them in a blender. Pulsed them a few times. Not much, I didn't want them to be peach soup. I added a bunch of sugar, and boiled them down. Then I added cinnamon to taste. I honestly didn't measure any of it. It was all done to taste. It is soooo good. Hubby swears he hates peaches, but he loves the peach butter. Go figure.

Today I made pickles. I used Mrs Wages pickle mix again. I found some that was a little cheaper. It's easy too. And since I wasn't really planning to do pickles this year, easy is a good thing.

I also froze my cherry tomatoes. YUUUUMMMMMMY!!!!My own tomato flavored jawbreakers. Nothing like tomatoes in the middle of winter. I can just pop a few of them in my mouth in the middle of Feb, and that will hold me for a few more months. I also froze some summer squash and zucchini. They freeze very good. Just toss some in a skillet with a pat of butter and some salt. Maybe add some onion and garlic too. Wonderful!!!!I can eat my weight in these. ( and that's a lot!)

I was sitting on my front porch this morning, wondering why I wasn't getting many cherry tomatoes this year. I see the green ones, but it's like they just disappear. As I was sitting there. My dachshund(Skeeter) was sniffing around the tomato plants looking for critters.Or so I thought. I looked down at her and she had a ripe cherry tomato in her mouth! The thief!!!!! I yelled her name and she looked up at me like "What?" Nothing funnier than seeing a long black nose carrying around a small cherry tomato. I just had to laugh. The case of the missing tomatoes has been solved.

So until next time.....


Small Farm Girl, detective.

Right as I was writing this blog, Hubby asked if I wanted to go to his dad's house. Me, always up for a change in scenery, said yes. So we go down for a little bit. While we where there, someone stopped in and said there was a horse, a colt, and a burro lose down on the road. He thought it might belong to Hubby's stepsister. So we all get into the trucks, and go off on a horse wrangling mission. Sure enough it was her horse, so Hubby's stepmom led it back to her daughter's house. When we got there, her daughter told us that she didn't own a burro. We had to find a home for this 2 1/2 ft fall burro. I wanted it. But oooooooh no, right when I had Hubby convinced we needed it to keep coyotes and dogs away from out cattle, the owner of the burro shows up. He had no idea what to do with this burro. They had just bought it a few weeks ago for $60. It was his 5 year old girls birthday present. He didn't know how to lead it, or how to even put on a halter. He told us he had it in a tiny lot up by his house. He said his kids loved it like a dog. What he don't understand is, these animals are still able to kick and bite. Just because they are little doesn't mean they don't need respect. I sure hope that little girl doesn't get hurt.

Now for a brighter note.....

Hubby and my dad got the roof on the shelter. Looks pretty good, huh?



See Hubby can do it all. You would think he would have employers flocking to his door.

Oh, and Roz helped again.

This is what Dad is going to put under the shelter.

Oh, and this one too. Hey, notice that beware of dog sign there? I think it's funny.

Could you be afraid of this? I'm sure you could.

So until later......

Small Farm Girl, burro wrangler.

The Mystery is Solved.

I canned 9 quarts of beans today. I love canning beans. It's sooooo easy. If I had enough beans, I could can all day long. My Dad always told me,"You eat what you can, what you can't, you can." Smart isn't he. lol

I also picked my first tomato out of the garden. A real tomato, not a cherry tomato. It was the only one. The rest are still very green. But, it won't be long now. This year I am concentrating on tomatoes, particularly tomato juice. We go through tomato juice so fast in the winter. Soups and chili, although, I can drink my weight in tomato juice too.(and that's saying a lot.)

Hubby has had a few bleeps on his job radar lately. I hope something pans out. Although I love him being at home, extra money is nice too. He has been laid off since back in December.(and hasn't done one dirty dish. Go figure.) If he gets this one job, he will be staying out of town for a whole 28 days. But, he will be home for 28 days after that. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess we'll just wait and see.

Oh, the other night when I couldn't sleep, well, I couldn't sleep last night either. But I did figure out why I couldn't sleep the night before. I was a human smorgasbord for mosquitoes. I am covered with mosquito bites! Did I say covered, I mean COVERED!!!!!!I stayed up last night scratching. I'm dying here. I believe someone could connect the dots and they would form a masterpiece. If anyone has a suggestion as to how to make these things quit itching, I am all ears. ( well actually I am all mosquito bites. But you get my point.)

Until later.....

Small Farm Girl, scratcher.

Sleepless in South Shore.

Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night and just can't get back to sleep? (like now) There is absoutley no way your body can lie down and even consider going to sleep. (like now) My mind jumps from one thing to another, nothing really important. I'm not really stressed about anything, I'm not hot or uncomfortable, and Hubby's not snoring THAT loud. It's just I can't sleep. If I don't though, I am going to be worthless tomorrow. It's funny though, out of all the things that my mind could be thinking about in the wee hours of the morning, I'm wondering what that skunk is doing. Okay that's it, I've offically lost it. I had better go back to bed.

Until later....

Small Farm Girl, insomniac.