Things To Do When The Internet Is *Down*

It’s been a week without Internet…sorta’. They’ve been working on the underground DSL lines out here for about two weeks. Service has been sporadic at best. I did not realize how dependant I had become to the Internet…Google to be more specific. I go to Google for everything…I barely open a cookbook, dictionary or encyclopedia these days….I had to drag out the dictionary a couple of times this week...I ended up using Microsoft Office Word as my *go-to* dictionary. Thank goodness I had saved most of my families favorite recipes to a flash drive including my canning times. I wrote up a couple blog posts and saved them, too. I worked this week so computer time would have been limited anyway…but I did learn that I spend too much time on the computer…or Internet to be more specific. I got much more work out of myself than usual. I worked in the garden and actually cleaned up my garden mess instead of hoping someone else would do it. I spent more time with the bees and the chickens…not just a quick over-all look and then off to another project. I took the time to check out each chicken…I have 7 roosters, not the 4 I thought. I have 2 hens that should probably be put in the freezer (I won’t…they’ve become good friends), the hen house needs more shavings and straw and the honey needs to be harvested: NOW!

I Have To Cover The New Plantings:
I Have A Barn Cat Using My Beds For a Potty!!!
  Need To Make Sure The Grands Keep The
Gate To The Garden CLOSED!! 

I have a counter full of veggies I need to process. I had bell peppers, pimentos, chilies and anchos in the dehydrator. The last (hopefully) of the zucchini are drying right now. I have several pounds of red potatoes I’m processing in quart jars (I have a couple dozen pints already in the pantry). I hope to start the last of the tomatoes later today…I need to do the tomato canning I had planned on last weekend: Rotel, catsup and pizza sauce. I use the pizza sauce in just about all of my pasta dishes…it’s sweet and spicy: yummy! I cook down the Heinz tomatoes, run them through the Squeezo, put the puree in a huge roasting pan and reduce the puree overnight at 250 degrees…it should get really thick. I sweeten with honey to taste and add my salt and pepper to taste too…then into the jars and then my pressure canner (I don’t use a water bath canner for my tomato sauces). Viola’! This sauce then gets *doctored-up* when I start cooking with it…the spices and add-on can be Mexican, Spanish, Cajun, Italian…you get the picture…it’s a fantastic base.

Daily Harvest







Prepping The Zukes

My two granddaughters and I spent yesterday afternoon out in the fields picking green beans, tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, butternut squash and watermelons. It’s not easy work, but they’re real troopers. I’m canning the green beans, tomatoes and pickling cukes. The butternut and watermelon will be dehydrated. I store about 100 butternut squash every year, what we don’t eat; I bake for the chickens on cold, wet days during the winter for a treat. I’m going to grind up the dehydrated butternut to add to bread and soups this winter…something new for me.

Heinz Tomatoes For Canning

Lucky Girls: 100 Acres of Watermelon

Little Lynda Showing Leah How To Find A Ripe Melon

Organic OP Moon and Stars Yellow Fleshed Watermelon



Green Beans Share The Watermelon Field:
The Girls' Would Rather Pick Melons