Weekends are made for relaxing

I think I heard that from someone who didn't have a farm to take care of.

Glenn worked both days this weekend so I was on my own again. Saturday morning was spent in the kitchen turning garden goodies into winter cheer. First up was the Swiss Chard. I challenge you to find a more versatile and prettier veggie.



The leaves I canned like spinach. It looks terrible, but then so does canned spinach. I can't stand canned greens, but Glenn loves them.

The stalks I cut up into bite-sized squares and vacuum sealed for the freezer. Half the bags I blanched, the other half I just washed. I had read that frozen chard stems came out mushy, so this was an experiment. I use chard like I would celery, in the crock pot, stews, and soups - so hopefully this all comes out of the freezer tasty and crunchy this winter.

My first batch of beans for the summer. This is another veggie that I don't like and only grow for Glenn. I got 5 pint jars out of this batch. I picked another basket last night, but just blanched and froze those. I also canned 7 pints of marinated mushrooms last night -- yum (unless you're like my buddy A, who calls mushrooms 'slimy little basturds' (sic)).



I also finally blanched and froze all the kohlrabi on Saturday. I finished up in the kitchen around 10, then went up to the barn to massage some horses. Have I mentioned before that I'm a certified equine massage therapist (CEMT)? No? It's one of those things that I did years ago, but never made a business out of it. I was massaging Junior and the girls pretty regularly down in VA, but since we moved up here I haven't found much time for it. Jewel, Stride, Dolly, and Indy got done on Saturday. I still haven't started working with Jewel because she's still iffy about being caught some days. I'm still working on getting her used to the idea that nothing but good stuff happens when she's caught. Indy fell asleep during his massage. Dolly wasn't sure what was happening at first, then about 10 minutes into it her head started to drop, the lower lip began to swing, and the eyes began to close. I had done Stride before so he knew what was up and kept nickering at me the whole time I was doing Dolly. "Is it my turn yet?? Is it?? Please?"

I woke up Sunday morning and my arms were a little stiff from four hours of massaging horses. So I got out of bed, did a little stretching, then went up to the barn to put up some fence. The previous weekend we had made a trip to town to get fence posts, cement, and a one-man auger, but by the time we got started on the fence we only got four holes done before the rain hit. So I figured how hard can it be? I can handle it by myself, no problem!

My shoulders and arms still ache. I got 9 fence post holes done before my arms and back decided that enough was enough. I put the posts in, mixed up some concrete (with my bare hands -- stupid stupid stupid), and got everything lined up. I was pretty darned impressed with myself because everything ended up so straight. I'm the type of person that can't draw a straight line with a ruler, but I somehow managed to get the posts lined up. When Glenn got home I was expecting much oohing and aahing over my accomplishment. Instead I got "that's not enough concrete". After he noticed my icy stare he tried to make up for it with heaps of praise and pats on the back. Better late than never, I suppose.