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| The Harvest |
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| Profits on The Ground: ARGGGGG! |
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| This Year's Sauce |
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| SqueezO In Action (at the house, not the Cabin) |
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| It's A Start! |
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| Time To Relax |
Friday, July 31, 2015
Stocking Up!
I worked my patooty off up at the cabin! I took up about 400#'s of tomatoes and made sauce and my homemade Rotel. I've been making both up at the cabin for about 10 years now and boy do I have a system. Tomatoes in the Kitchen Aid strainer, the Squeezo and the Foley Mill...yep, there's 3 of us working from sun up to sun down...balls to the wall!! AND we do this 2 more times towards the end of tomato harvest. My son and husband are commercial tomato growers...we have an early harvest, mid-harvest and then the late harvest. These tomatoes were the early harvest. My friend Paula brought up about 50#'s of pickling cucumbers and made some awesome horseradish/garlic pickles.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
ONE LAST THING
CABIN TIME!
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| Off My Back Deck At The Cabin |
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| Commercial Transplant Trays |
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| The Winter Garden |
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| Old Coop |
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| New Coop (Shed) |
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Mean Girls
I don't know why, but the week following the family vacation is a time great activity for me. I do lots of reading on holiday...I save articles and books and then pour over them while enjoying a nice wood fire and my "girls/boys" preparing dinner. This year was no different...I focused on bees and poultry.
My bees have not done well the last couple of years...wax moth, robbing, ANTS...I'm down to 2 strong MEAN hives. I'm not happy these girls are so ornery, but they are very strong and healthy...I put up with them. I have them in the fenced raised garden and get stung almost every time I go out...up until these new ladies, in all of my years of beekeeping I'd only been stung twice and both times were my fault. I thought at first they weren't' getting enough to eat and it was making them bitchy, so I opened each hive and gave them light syrup...hasn't stopped the stinging. For whatever reason, they seem to be focused on the back of my neck...they've stung my husband, too...only in the face!! Now I'm forced to wear a hat with netting when I go out to check the garden: what a pain in the patootie! I'll be moving them out of the garden and into a yard away from human traffic and tonight's the night. I have lots of work to do in the garden to prepare for my Fall planting and cannot afford to be chased by a bunch of nasty bees. They'll be happy in their new site...no activity and they can just do what they do best, collecting nectar, making honey and raising brood, if they continue being a problem I will have to replace the Queens. I'm planting all of my orchards in bee/butterfly loving wildflowers and clovers this Fall in an effort to reduce hive feeding. I have several 100's of pounds of honey saved from the good years and don't need any for awhile (I have a few egg customers that also buy honey) for the coming year I would like to build up my bee colonies. My apiary is set-up for 100 hives...that's 2 deeps and 3 shallows for each hive set-up. I like the idea of 100 hives because that's how many we use on our almond orchard...at $150 a hive, that's a big savings when pollination time rolls around...I can handle 100 hives with a part-time helper. When I retire in 4 years, I would like my bees and my poultry to supplement my income and now is the time to get that plan in motion.
My bees have not done well the last couple of years...wax moth, robbing, ANTS...I'm down to 2 strong MEAN hives. I'm not happy these girls are so ornery, but they are very strong and healthy...I put up with them. I have them in the fenced raised garden and get stung almost every time I go out...up until these new ladies, in all of my years of beekeeping I'd only been stung twice and both times were my fault. I thought at first they weren't' getting enough to eat and it was making them bitchy, so I opened each hive and gave them light syrup...hasn't stopped the stinging. For whatever reason, they seem to be focused on the back of my neck...they've stung my husband, too...only in the face!! Now I'm forced to wear a hat with netting when I go out to check the garden: what a pain in the patootie! I'll be moving them out of the garden and into a yard away from human traffic and tonight's the night. I have lots of work to do in the garden to prepare for my Fall planting and cannot afford to be chased by a bunch of nasty bees. They'll be happy in their new site...no activity and they can just do what they do best, collecting nectar, making honey and raising brood, if they continue being a problem I will have to replace the Queens. I'm planting all of my orchards in bee/butterfly loving wildflowers and clovers this Fall in an effort to reduce hive feeding. I have several 100's of pounds of honey saved from the good years and don't need any for awhile (I have a few egg customers that also buy honey) for the coming year I would like to build up my bee colonies. My apiary is set-up for 100 hives...that's 2 deeps and 3 shallows for each hive set-up. I like the idea of 100 hives because that's how many we use on our almond orchard...at $150 a hive, that's a big savings when pollination time rolls around...I can handle 100 hives with a part-time helper. When I retire in 4 years, I would like my bees and my poultry to supplement my income and now is the time to get that plan in motion.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Reynolds Family Vacation 2015
We survived....no broken bones and everyone still speaking...hard to do when you have 22 immediate family members gathered together sharing all their own opinions. This year our oldest daughter and her two youngest flew out from Mississippi to join us at the North Coast. We stayed at Wages Creek out of Westport...the last time we were here our youngest was one month old...he's now 33 years old.
Our camping spot was perfect...the Group Site...big enough for our 3 travel trailers (2-30+ feet and a 27+ foot) and 4 tents...a camp kitchen area and a BIG outdoor movie screen...3 picnic tables, 6- 6 foot banquet tables, 2 cook stoves, 2 BBQ's, a popup canopy and a small fire-pit...can't tell you how many chairs there were so many. We pulled the trailers up in a circle and faced everything towards the small creek (Wages) running along our site. The vehicles (10) we pulled up on the outside of the camp at the backside of the travel trailers. The tents were placed together next to the creek and housed the older kids...and one son and his family (he did announce this was his last tent trip...he's buying a nice used pop-up tent trailer).
My oldest son's wife and her 2 daughters were the first to arrive and they had set up their tent. We rolled in next with our hybrid trailer and were setting it up when our youngest came in with his big fifth wheel...our youngest daughter and her 3 kids came next...they set up a tiny little tent (she always stays with us...she's afraid of the dark) her husband (the Dentist) had appointments the next day and would be in later in the p.m. or early the following a.m. She and the two DIL's started setting up the kitchen as my youngest and his father were leveling the trailers. Sam's is new and totally automatic, but ours has to be done by hand and is a pain in the butt. Towards evening the last of the trailers rolled in and completed our circle. The oldest daughter and her two drove down from the Oakland Airport the next day...and the men left to check the harvest! For a full day it was only women and children...then the next day the menfolk started filtering back.
We had rain on the second day!! Unbelievable....the men were gone and we did just fine...thank goodness for the covered kitchen and the 3 trailers...the tents were flooded! The next day the sun started shining and we were able to dry everything out at the camp laundry.
We built big fires, popped popcorn and watched old timey movies after dark. John Candy's "The Great Outdoors", "Summer Rental", Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation", Disney's "Old Yeller", "The Incredible Journey" and the "Swiss Family Robinson". We invited the whole campground and actually had a number of little kids join us...great fun and because the trailers blocked the sound from carrying we didn't disturb the other campers.
The small town of Fort Bragg is about 20 minutes south of Westport and then Mendocino is another 15 minutes. Mendocino is famous for many movies and television shows that have been filmed there...including Murder She Wrote. My grandfather had a small homestead in the area where during the summer months he would grow a huge garden and berries...we would spend part of the summer there selling the produce to the neighbors while he fished the ocean. When winter came he would move back to the small ranch he had in the Sacramento Valley, just 45 minutes north of were I live now. I was lucky enough to have spent my young teenage summers in Mendocino when the "hippy" movement was just beginning. Great times I love sharing with my grandchildren...of course their parents think having a "hippy" grandma isn't that cool!! I showed the Littles all of my old haunts and hang-outs...fun!!
The Reynolds Family Camping Trip 2015:
Papa and Grandma Lynda
Tera, Lanie and Lillie Smith (Oldest Daughter and 2 of 5 kids)
Tessa and Ruben Reynolds-Reynoso with Vincent and Leah (Middle Daughter and family)
Leslie and Teryn Reynolds with Little Lynda, Claira and Audrey (Oldest Son and Family)
Kelly and Adams Reynolds-Stephens with Jack, Isla and Halle (Youngest Daughter and Family)
Sam and Sarah Reynolds with William (Youngest Son and Family
all names have been spelled correctly...yeah...I know...weird family.
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| Noyo Harbor |
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| Our Ocean View |
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| The Light House |
Our camping spot was perfect...the Group Site...big enough for our 3 travel trailers (2-30+ feet and a 27+ foot) and 4 tents...a camp kitchen area and a BIG outdoor movie screen...3 picnic tables, 6- 6 foot banquet tables, 2 cook stoves, 2 BBQ's, a popup canopy and a small fire-pit...can't tell you how many chairs there were so many. We pulled the trailers up in a circle and faced everything towards the small creek (Wages) running along our site. The vehicles (10) we pulled up on the outside of the camp at the backside of the travel trailers. The tents were placed together next to the creek and housed the older kids...and one son and his family (he did announce this was his last tent trip...he's buying a nice used pop-up tent trailer).
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| Trailer One |
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| Trailer Two |
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| Wages Creek...Near Our Tent Area |
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| Our Youngest, Sam With His Wife, Sarah and William...Heading For The Beach |
My oldest son's wife and her 2 daughters were the first to arrive and they had set up their tent. We rolled in next with our hybrid trailer and were setting it up when our youngest came in with his big fifth wheel...our youngest daughter and her 3 kids came next...they set up a tiny little tent (she always stays with us...she's afraid of the dark) her husband (the Dentist) had appointments the next day and would be in later in the p.m. or early the following a.m. She and the two DIL's started setting up the kitchen as my youngest and his father were leveling the trailers. Sam's is new and totally automatic, but ours has to be done by hand and is a pain in the butt. Towards evening the last of the trailers rolled in and completed our circle. The oldest daughter and her two drove down from the Oakland Airport the next day...and the men left to check the harvest! For a full day it was only women and children...then the next day the menfolk started filtering back.
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| Setting Up Our Firepit Grate/Grill |
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| Papa Fixing Steak |
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| Set-up For Dutch Oven Cobbler |
We had rain on the second day!! Unbelievable....the men were gone and we did just fine...thank goodness for the covered kitchen and the 3 trailers...the tents were flooded! The next day the sun started shining and we were able to dry everything out at the camp laundry.
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| Daughter, Tess and G-Son Vincent Fixing Breakfast |
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| Granddaughters/Cousins...Best Friends Forever |
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| Youngest Daughter Kelly...Always Smiling |
We built big fires, popped popcorn and watched old timey movies after dark. John Candy's "The Great Outdoors", "Summer Rental", Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation", Disney's "Old Yeller", "The Incredible Journey" and the "Swiss Family Robinson". We invited the whole campground and actually had a number of little kids join us...great fun and because the trailers blocked the sound from carrying we didn't disturb the other campers.
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| Relaxing Before Movies |
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| Daughter-In-Law, Sarah and Youngest Grandson, Williams And Oldest Son's Daughter, Claira |
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| The Great Outdoors |
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| Perfect Night For A Movie |
The small town of Fort Bragg is about 20 minutes south of Westport and then Mendocino is another 15 minutes. Mendocino is famous for many movies and television shows that have been filmed there...including Murder She Wrote. My grandfather had a small homestead in the area where during the summer months he would grow a huge garden and berries...we would spend part of the summer there selling the produce to the neighbors while he fished the ocean. When winter came he would move back to the small ranch he had in the Sacramento Valley, just 45 minutes north of were I live now. I was lucky enough to have spent my young teenage summers in Mendocino when the "hippy" movement was just beginning. Great times I love sharing with my grandchildren...of course their parents think having a "hippy" grandma isn't that cool!! I showed the Littles all of my old haunts and hang-outs...fun!!
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| Leah and Little Lynda Enjoying a Day Away From The Parents....Sharing Fish and Chips At Noyo |
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| Audrey and Her Chocolate Face |
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| Williams Showing Off His Shark Week Hat! |
The Reynolds Family Camping Trip 2015:
Papa and Grandma Lynda
Tera, Lanie and Lillie Smith (Oldest Daughter and 2 of 5 kids)
Tessa and Ruben Reynolds-Reynoso with Vincent and Leah (Middle Daughter and family)
Leslie and Teryn Reynolds with Little Lynda, Claira and Audrey (Oldest Son and Family)
Kelly and Adams Reynolds-Stephens with Jack, Isla and Halle (Youngest Daughter and Family)
Sam and Sarah Reynolds with William (Youngest Son and Family
all names have been spelled correctly...yeah...I know...weird family.
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| Our Oldest Son, Les...Taking A Nap! |
Monday, July 6, 2015
Heading Out
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| Power Washing The Trailer |
Our tomato harvest started this morning...so this year, as in too many years past, the menfolk will drive the trailers to the campsite, set them up, eat a hearty camp cooked dinner, spend the night, cook up a big campfire breakfast and head back home to the Valley. The ladies and kids will have a great time together and then one-by-one the menfolk will filter back over the mountain to the Coast and spend whatever time they can with the family....then, after a week, we'll all be together to hitch up the trailers and head back home...if we're lucky we'll all be together for at least a couple days. So go the lives of a Farm Family...feeding the world can be a pain in the patootie!
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Turkey Mama
Well, it turns out I'm not a very good turkey mama. I started with 10 awesome little poults a month ago and today I'm down to 4...what's a mama to do? I lost four the first 5 days I had the little buggers, before I figured out I had a vixen fox stalking my outdoor brooder...then yesterday I noticed one of my remaining 5 was hanging back and just not looking happy. I isolated the poor thing and did the best witch-doctoring I could come up with...didn't work...sometime in the early a.m. we both lost the battle.
Each time I lose one of my animals I go over my long list of "could'a, should'a, would'a"...then I tell myself I'm no longer going to raise animals...I'm just going to let them die of old age and not replace EVER! Then Spring comes and I walk into the neighborhood feed store and there they are: baby chicks, baby turkeys, baby pigs and baby goats...it's just not fair.
This summer's project is to replace my flimsy fencing in the chicken yard with hog wire panels and electric fence top and bottom. I've got all the supplies and a builder lined up...now to find the time. At the moment the poultry is running willy-nilly on the property...much to my husband's chagrin. We have poultry poop everywhere! I know, sounds totally gross. Even though the home place is about 200 acres and they have plenty of room to roam, they seem to do their majority of pooping on my patio and sidewalk! When we get back from our annual family vacation next week the fencing will be top priority...folks cross your fingers for me..."The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men"....
Each time I lose one of my animals I go over my long list of "could'a, should'a, would'a"...then I tell myself I'm no longer going to raise animals...I'm just going to let them die of old age and not replace EVER! Then Spring comes and I walk into the neighborhood feed store and there they are: baby chicks, baby turkeys, baby pigs and baby goats...it's just not fair.
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| (Not My Photo)... |
This summer's project is to replace my flimsy fencing in the chicken yard with hog wire panels and electric fence top and bottom. I've got all the supplies and a builder lined up...now to find the time. At the moment the poultry is running willy-nilly on the property...much to my husband's chagrin. We have poultry poop everywhere! I know, sounds totally gross. Even though the home place is about 200 acres and they have plenty of room to roam, they seem to do their majority of pooping on my patio and sidewalk! When we get back from our annual family vacation next week the fencing will be top priority...folks cross your fingers for me..."The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men"....
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| This Is The View From My Front Porch: NOT Acceptable!! |
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