Bolt's First Egg !

Before moving the goat fence to include fresh raspberry bushes, we discovered something round by the roofing of the goats and chickens's house.  First, we thought that it was a mushroom, just because it was located in a dark space, but later when I went to move their house, I picked it up and it was an egg!

Our girls are maturing and looking pretty good.  They like to be with the goats because then haven't flown outside of the electric fence in a while.  Lindo is working on a permanent goat shed while I was picking our ripe tomatoes to make ketchup.

I pretty much followed my own taste buds to make the ketchup.

First

Collect, clean and quarter all tomatoes you want to use (I even used cherry tomatoes)

I probably used 7-8 pounds this time

Second 

Put them in huge pot with a chopped onion and a chopped sweet pepper 

Have them cook in medium high heat for a while ..... a long time in other words

Third

I added distilled white vinegar (1 cup) and sugar (1 cup) 

1 TBSP of salt and 1 tsp of allspice 

KEEP STIRRING IT AND LOWER TO MEDIUM HEAT 

Fourth 

I used a hand-held blender to blend everything once the mixture had a thick consistency 

KEEP STIRRING 

Fifth 

Let it cook for a while more until it looks like ketchup 

Meanwhile, get your ball jars ready and lids and water canner 

Sixth 

Run the mixture thru a food mill to get rid of seeds and skins of tomatoes 

Pour ketchup into jars, clean the mouth of jars 

Process in the hot water canner for 10 minutes 

I canned 6  (8 oz) jars 

ENJOY IN THE WINTER !

Fugee and Asa at a glance !

Recap of summer happenings at the garden

Frank the Toad is hanging out the strawberry plants around the stone wall in front of the cabin

Pansies from the garden ready to be placed in ice cubes for the party 

I also used borage flowers, chamomile flowers and mint leaves shaped as hearts 

Asa taking a nap in the middle of the morning 

This week I set out to move their fenced space to enclose a raspberry area near the garden

Asa and Che Che enjoy going on walks with us up the driveway 

and nibble on leaves that they find in their way 

Cauliflower that I forgot to cover up with leaves so that the head would be white 

It still tasted delicious and I blanched and froze two pounds of Broccoli and Cauliflower for the winter

Everything is doing well except for the onions that I tried to start from seed

Onions need a lot of compost, water and sunlight 

I will leave them in the ground in hopes that they will sprout next year 

Cabbage, small but pretty

Broccoli, Kale and Cauliflower do much better in our garden 

One of our lovely chickens cruising thru our garden 

Recently, they have discovered the tomatoes and they like them 

Which means that they are now hanging out with the goats in their pen 

All the them have names 

Blanquita, Negra, Dina and KG 

Our beets are doing great!

I don't think I can wrap one hand around them

I will leave them a little bit longer in the ground in hopes of keeping them in the root cellar 

One apple tree bear fruit this year 

They are getting big and getting some red on them 

I lost the tag of what the trees were, my guess is that they are eating apples 

Red Zebra or Green Zebra tomatoes on the vine 

This morning we had scrambled eggs from our neighbors, tomatoes and eggplant from the garden 

and onions from the farm I work at

Swiss Chard 

My favorite green to grow 

To tell the truth we haven't eaten any yet 

But we will plan to do that soon !

Broccoli, cut and blanched and ready to be bagged!

Time to harvest 

I have been weeding so much that I have forgotten the great feeling of harvesting 

Today I decided to pick, wash and dehydrate herbs from the garden 

Last year was a bad year for herbs, but not this year !!!

I am very excited to dehydrate: 

Rosemary !

Sage 

Thyme and others 

like lemon and Thai basil 

The coolest thing is that last fall I transplanted a thai basil plant to a pot and had it in my classroom

It was the saddest plant you have ever seen

But after being in the garden for a couple of months 

It came back to live

I think I will do that with most of the herbs from this year!

Before and after there was Rhubarb

Learning to be on the porch and not taking off is one of Fugee's last tricks.  I don't think I could write a post with out a picture of her in it.  She brings a smile to our faces from the moment we wake up to the moment she curls in bed with us. 

I collected the Rhubarb stalks from a plant that was shaded by raspberries last year.  I cleared that section of the garden this year and the plant grew exponentially! 

I collected the stalks by pulling them out of the plant with a motion to the right or left of the main stem.  Sometimes you might break the stalk and that is okay, but you have to freeze the stalk or use it right away.  The leaves of Rhubarb are poisonous.  

I washed the stalks and cut them in 1 inch pieces, put them in freezer bag and hopefully make strawberry-rhubarb jam, rhubarb cake and rhubarb sauce.

We have also named another of our chickens... She has the least amount of black on her beak, therefore she is now called Blanca or Blanquita!

Chickens in the family

I don't remember this picture, but I can remember growing up with chickens, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, dogs, song birds and fish. My favorite memories of growing up were of taking care of them.  Having a big yard gave us the space to house them and gave us the opportunity to learn about responsibility, compassion and made me love nature.

We just brought home 4 black australops chickens. One of them has a name, Bolt.  She is the biggest one and the tips of her wings have a white stripe that can be seen when her wings are tucked in.  They roost in the basement in the box of our new chest freezer, which by the way is the greatest investment for our food supply this fall and winter.  They love being in the garden and their feces should be awesome for the plants.  They are getting in the flower patch and the deck, which are places that we don't want them to be, but how can we mad at them?  They are adorable.  

The other three don't have names yet. We are waiting for their personalities to shine thru so that we can name them.  So far, they follow me around in the garden and eat the bugs I unveil while I am weeding.

I love hearing their calls since they have a variety depending on their situation. When one of them is lost, she sounds differently and when they are content they sound another call.

Pecueca

Pecueca is our chicken that has gone to a better location with 

other chickens and a place to stay warm in the winter 

Chao pecueca!

On the other hand, we had the best pizza of the season so far,

Thin crust 

olive oil, garlic and basil as a "sauce"

fingerling potatoes, onions, tomatoes and buttercup squash

yummy

cooked at 500 F for 15 minutes