It's Harvest on The Big Farm

Melon Harvester: Does Squash and Cucumbers, Too

Harvest is in full swing.  We have a crew in the sunflowers, the almond orchards, squash, watermelon,
walnuts and rice (the pecans come later)...each group is racing the weather...and we have way too many crops still needing to be harvested. It's a love/hate relationship: I love the Fall and cooler weather.  I watch the skies and I listen to weather reports and report back to the husband and my boys.  The men are in the field for seventeen to twenty hours...yep you read that right...only small cat naps till the crops are in or the rain starts...which ever happens first.  I finish cooking at the school around 1:00 p.m. and head home to start a BIG hearty dinner.  The men come in between 5 and 6 and sit down for dinner. When they leave each takes a small ice chest with sandwiches, fruit, cheese, cookies, a jug of water, iced tea and a thermos of coffee....I'll go out to the fields around eleven and replenish everything...then head home to bed and start the whole process again tomorrow.   I used to cook the crew a big breakfast of ham, sausage, eggs and pancakes; but now I must be at the school by 6 a.m. and I have to do my regular farm chores between 4:30 a.m. and 5:45 a.m.  The men do come in for coffee and either muffins, coffee cake and or beignets...I just don't have time for the sit-down country breakfast and we all miss it. They are on their own for lunch too. I have meatloaf, tuna or egg salad sandwiches on homemade bread waiting for them in the refrigerator at home.  I always have fruit, macaroni or potato salad, cheeses, cake, pie, or cobbler and plenty of iced tea and lemonade. I'm tired and they're tired but thanks to careful planning we are very well fed.

Butternut Squash

English Walnut Ready To Knock

Windrowed and Waiting on The Harvester



Rice....And My Shadow!

Three in One Crop Fields:
Far North West: Watermelon
South West: Tomatoes
East: Rice...lots of Rice

Rotel and Two Sauces...I'm Done Stick A Fork In Me!

Round Five Of Tomato Canning

More Yummy Rotel and Nice Thick Sauce

Last Round Of Asian Pear Sauce

Food Forager...I Am What I Am

I'm one of the best food foragers I know...in fact, I'm the ONLY food forager I know...take that back...I know a fellow that hunts mushrooms along the river.

Last year I had plenty of time to gather/glean field leftovers, but this year I've had to condense my gathering into my weekends.  So, Saturday I headed out to the fields and grabbed a bucket of Heinz canning tomatoes.  I thought that would save me the time of picking them...well the field is muddy and they look like crap: so I had to go back out and hand pick a bucket that looked more acceptable.

Next to the tomato field is a watermelon field.  I grabbed three of each variety, they will be dehydrated.  Monday I'll grab a few more for juice and make a few jars of watermelon syrup.  I hopped in the little truck and went about an eighth of mile to my son's green bean fields.  I picked a bushel of Blue Lakes, Haricots and some yellow beans.  The beans didn't germinate very well so the plants are poorly spaced for commercial production (these are grown for seed) and because they are organic...bugs and some kind of mosaic.  I then headed to my son's home to see if he had any pears on his trees: only six.  I did see the pomegranates were ready and I'll be back to pick some next weekend.  He had a handful of figs and a couple green apples left so I picked those.  I took the *long* way home: five miles and picked wild rose hips for jelly and elderberries for syrup.  I should have picked up some black walnuts and some pecans...but that will have to wait until the middle of the week.

Not My Kind of Spur

I've always liked the sound of a spur on a hardwood floor...not my floor...but a barroom floor. And yes we have that here in my neck of Northern Calif...cowboys with spurs...real cowboys.  And I have found out I have my own spur: a HORRIBLE, PAINFUL, BONE SPUR on the bottom heel of my left foot. YIKES!! I swear I have never been in so much pain...and I've had five kids and one was over 12 pounds!! Wholly Molly, talk about pain! I can barely hobble around in the morning, but after about fifteen minutes, although still tender I'm able to get around without hanging onto furniture, counter tops and broom handles and after about half an hour hardly any pain at all...but if I sit for a bit and then get up the pain starts all over again...if I stay on my feet, it's not bad. I Googled my symptoms and came up with the bone spur. My husband agreed...he had them in his youth. In most cases foot exercises, weight loss, and heel splint pads usually help. Very seldom is surgery required. I started the foot exercises a couple days ago and just ordered some super duper heel pads and some great shoes...now the weight loss thing...d_mn...hate that part. Truth is, this thing is so painful, I'm willing to try and lose a few pounds to make the pain go away.

Am I A Prepper?

Saturday I made the trip to the Big Town to the East of me...a 45 minute drive...and did a bit of shopping.  I don't normally shop.  I accompany my husband when we stock up...usually every four to five months.  Today I went alone...scary!  I have wanted to head to WinCo by myself for several months.  Last time Bill and I were there I noticed they had really "ramped-up" their bulk storage aisles (my favorite place).  I wanted Gamma lids...Bill thinks they are a waste of money.  I don't.  Bill thinks I'm a bit nutty with my food storage.  He appreciates my bargain shopping, the gardening, canning, baking, etc. but I think he's a bit uncomfortable with the 200 pounds of flour, 100 pounds of sugar, boxes of salt, yeast, baking powder, jars and jars of home canned fruits and veggies, etc.  He tolerates the 200 pounds of rice, wheat berries, beans, corn, almonds and walnuts because we grow them and I tell him I NEED that much for the year...the stuff I have to buy makes him nervous.  I'm not Mormon, so I couldn't use that as an excuse. I was raised in a predominately Mennonite community so I've tried that one on him...I don't think he buys that either. You see, I have turned a extra bedroom into a food storage room...he's been in there twice: he said it scared him.  I showed it off to a dear friend and she thought it was a bit much, too.  I really do hate to shop and love having everything I need just steps from the kitchen.  I really do love to can and I really do feel good about the food storage. AND WE USE IT! I'm not an Extreme Couponer...my food storage is almost 100% from scratch stuff...no Del Monte, Dole or Chef Boyardee or Dinty Moore.  After reading a few prepper blogs, prepper web-sites and reading a few economic collapse books I think I'm a low-end prepper...if there is such a thing. I don't spend much time worrying about a Zombie Apocalypse or an incurable Virus that only my family and I are immune too...I worry about our struggling economy and the devaluation of the dollar.  I worry about Peak Oil and Outrageous changes in our Weather.  I'm not into or excited about guns, martial arts, camouflage or isolation.  I don't hate nor am I frightened by the Government, other countries,  Democrats, Republicans, Whites, Blacks, Christians, Muslims or Jews.  I don't care if you are Gay, Straight, Blue or Green, blind, in or out of a wheelchair.  I care if you are happy, well-fed, well-read, fair, even handed, open-minded and curious...but I don't hate you if you aren't and I don't blame anyone/race/party/country for the economic mess the world is in: it is the nature of all things...every living thing reaches it's carrying capacity and then collapses upon itself....I just plan on being well fed and home when it happens! 

Oh Dear!  I went on a rant when all I wanted to say was I bought 6 Gamma Lids and a new pair of Dansko shoes for work (I'm full time now and not a sub)!!

(So do you think I'm a middle-aged hippy or a prepper?)

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



A Bit of Weekend Canning



Weekend before last weekend was the best!  My friend Paula and I canned about 150 pounds of tomatoes.  We planned on doing three to four hundred pounds…but  I lost my tomato picking help.  I had scheduled my son to bring out 4-5 ranch employees to meet me out in the tomato field on Thursday to pick for an hour…unfortunately I was called into work.  In a normal world, the fellows would have gone ahead and picked the tomatoes…but, my world is not normal.  I wasn’t there, so they stood around for 2 hours, and then went back to the shop.  My son picked them up and off to the next job they went.  Sam didn’t know they had not picked any tomatoes until later that evening when I asked him if he had my buckets of tomatoes.  We both just shook our heads when we put two-and-two together.  He didn’t know I had gone into work (I should have left him a message).  I picked my own tomatoes Friday early a.m. on my way to the cabin.  I managed to get several  5 gallon buckets full before I gave up.  It worked out for the best.  Paula and I processed the tomatoes we had and they filled up the only roaster I brought up and 2 BIG crock pots.  I reduce my sauces in electric roasters (I have 2, but could only find one).  Paula made apple sauce and pickled peppers along with her tomato sauce.  All in all it was a very productive weekend.  The weather co-operated and the old movies we watched in the evening were quite entertaining.  The canning left us exhausted, so we both slept in late and took a couple well-deserved naps.  Neither of us have the time to do more canning at the cabin this season.  She’ll be canning the rest of her garden and orchard produce at home with her family and I’ll be doing mine here at the house.



One Of Several Organic Tomato Fields



New Toy For The KitchenAid



I Ran The KitchenAid

Paula Ran The Squeezo...on the Deck!

Sauce In The Roaster

One of Two Crockpots of Sauce

Crockpot Applesauce

Pickled Peppers

Paula Trying to Get The *Shot*

Staging For The Perfect Photo

Sauces, Peppers and A Jar of Dehydrated Mushrooms

My Favorite Picture