Is there such a thing as too many pickles? If such a limit does exist, I think I've gone past it. Waaaay past it. We've had two large baskets of cucumbers sitting in our kitchen for a couple of days now and every day I've been adding to it. Glenn finally reached the end of his patience yesterday and said "I'll help you make pickles, let's just get it done. It shouldn't take long." Those are the famous last words of the inexperienced pickler. Those are also the words I had been waiting on. I'll help you. Ok then, let's get them done!
We spent five hours canning pickles yesterday. Have I mentioned how small my kitchen is? Have I mentioned before that I have almost NO usable counter space? Canning in my kitchen is so much fun, especially with two people in a small kitchen. And two dogs. And one cat. Rachael Ray would have a field day in our kitchen. You know how she's all about making one trip to fridge and counter to save time? HA. Here's how it happens in our kitchen.
1) Glenn washes and trims ends off the cukes at the sink, then piles them into the strainer.
2) I pick up the strainer, carry it over to the kitchen table where I then slice them into future pickles.
3) Once all the pickles and onions are sliced I realize I need pots to put them in so they can sit with canning salt and ice cubes. So into the pantry I go for pots. Then to the kitchen sink, because everything in this house has to have the dust rinsed out before using it. I kick Glenn aside, listen to his grumblings and watch the knife in his hand very closely, then back to the kitchen table to put the cukes in the pots.
4) Walk to the fridge to get ice cubes, then back to the kitchen table.
5) Walk to the spice cabinet to get canning salt, then back to the kitchen table.
6) Back to the stove to get the brine ready.
7) Back to the kitchen table because I realized I didn't have any pots left for the brine.
8) Spend a minute trying to come up with more storage options for the cuke slices so I could free up a pot.
9) Back to the cabinet over the stove for two casserole dishes, then back to the kitchen table.
10) Dump one pot of cukes into both casserole dishes, back to sink to rinse it out and start the brine.
I won't bore you with any more, but now you know why this took five hours. We did five batches of pickles: four more batches of the Methodist and one batch of Bread & Butter. Why so many Methodist? Because Glenn couldn't possibly go into winter without at least 30 jars in the pantry. Current pickle inventory: 35 Methodist, 20 Bread & Butter, 12 Dill spears, 6 pints dill slices. Now when my pregnant friend comes to visit I'll just need to pick up some ice cream.
I'd like to do more dills and I really want to try doing some sweet gherkins this year. But the bugs have started to get to my cukes and they're beginning to turn yellow, so I'm not sure how much more cuke time I've got this season. I also need to order more spinach, collards, and beet seeds for a second fall planting. But please don't hold me to that.
Appybutt was supposed to go home last weekend. Drunken neighbor said she's been working on the fence and would really like to have him home. I'm actually surprised that she remembered that he was gone. But she never showed up last weekend to get him. Of course she didn't. She would have had to walk at least a few hundred yards to accomplish the move. Oh, the horror of it all. So when Glenn gets home today we'll take him home ourselves. It will take two of us because I guarantee he's not going to want to leave. But once he's gone Indy, Stride, Manny, and Chief will get moved into the back pasture to hang with the bachelor dwarfs. I'll just have to ignore any dirty looks from Manny this time. They should be happy about it, there's a lot more grass back there and the Troublets will not be able to harass them any more. But I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot of whinnying for awhile until they get used to it.
Excuse the lack of pictures. The camera is MIA at the moment. I've interrogated Thor, but he's a tough nut to crack and won't tell me where he buried it.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Delicious and Beautiful Pineapple Tomato
Ladies and gentlmen, let me introduce you to the best tasting tomato in my garden. Not to mention the largest, prettiest, and most productive! And please forgive the picture quality, I simply couldn't wait much longer before cutting one up for my chicken sandwhich with ranch, basil, and melted munster cheese. No, really. I couldn't wait.
Those three maters together weighed almost 6lbs! And they came off of ONE plant just today at lunch. There are two more about the same 2lb size on the same plant that are almost ripe and ready for plucking.
One slice blanketed my bread. And just look at how beautiful that is!
But I can tell you... it.. mmm... is even... mmm... more beautiful in my... mmmm.... mouth!
If you have never grown this heirloom before, please, for your own sake, give it a try next year. You won't regret it!
Those three maters together weighed almost 6lbs! And they came off of ONE plant just today at lunch. There are two more about the same 2lb size on the same plant that are almost ripe and ready for plucking.
One slice blanketed my bread. And just look at how beautiful that is!
But I can tell you... it.. mmm... is even... mmm... more beautiful in my... mmmm.... mouth!
If you have never grown this heirloom before, please, for your own sake, give it a try next year. You won't regret it!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Call Me Ishmail
I thought we were going to be extremely busy this weekend, but I was wrong. At least about Saturday. Saturday morning we ran to the feed store because I wasn't able to make it there on Friday before they closed. Then we stopped by the Middlebourne Farmers Market to say Howdy to Anne. On our way to the grocery store afterwards we saw a deer on the side of the road that had been hit and couldn't get up. We are who we are. We stopped. She kept flopping around and getting closer to the road so I pulled the Jeep up between her and the road. The poor thing was panting and in terrible distress. Glenn didn't have his gun or his hunting knife on him, but luckily some dude from Florida stopped and said his brother lived right in town and had a gun. Would we like him to go and get his brother? Why yes, what a wonderful idea.
Anne stopped by on her way home from market a few minutes later and so did one of her friends, who happened to have a cell phone that actually had service (this is a new concept for us Nextel owners). They called the police, who really didn't give a rat's ass about the deer or her proximity to the road. Fine then, up to us. Floridian came back with his brother and his brother's very loud, very powerful rifle. We waited for a break in traffic on what had been a very busy road that morning, then BAM! The doe was out of her misery, but not out of my mind.
After that, the mind and body just weren't in to working. On our way home the wonderful idea of taking a break actually surfaced and we decided the best way to do that was out on the boat. And what better way to see if Thor likes the water than to take him with us?
The Captain of the boat, standing tall and proud on the bow as he keeps an ever watchful eye for icebergs and horny sperm whales in his Larry the Cable Guy t-shirt.
The First Mate knows no fear and looks death in the eye as he posts guard on the stern where 20' waves could easily wash him overboard.
He wasn't exactly washed overboard. We were looking forward and heard a loud splash. Poof, gone was the Thor. Then he surfaced slightly behind the boat, paddling for all he was worth. Good thing we were only using the trolling motor and Glenn wasn't doing his usual petal to the metal imitation of a speed boat racer.
Once we got Thor back on board we outfitted him with the latest fashion in swimwear. Just in case he decided to take another dip when Glenn turned into Mario Andretti on water.
Ahh... this is what the brain needed. And the body needed a little swimming, which also happened. I keep waiting to turn green and get all glowy, but it hasn't happened yet. The Ohio river is not exactly known for it's cleanliness in these parts.
And for those that have asked, yes, Thor has an appt to be neutered. But our vet is incredibly busy and can't get to him until Sept 15. This shouldn't be a problem since he doesn't leave my side. Ever. Which is a good thing since I couldn't possibly do anything without him. And I do mean anything. At least he's cute.
Anne stopped by on her way home from market a few minutes later and so did one of her friends, who happened to have a cell phone that actually had service (this is a new concept for us Nextel owners). They called the police, who really didn't give a rat's ass about the deer or her proximity to the road. Fine then, up to us. Floridian came back with his brother and his brother's very loud, very powerful rifle. We waited for a break in traffic on what had been a very busy road that morning, then BAM! The doe was out of her misery, but not out of my mind.
After that, the mind and body just weren't in to working. On our way home the wonderful idea of taking a break actually surfaced and we decided the best way to do that was out on the boat. And what better way to see if Thor likes the water than to take him with us?
The Captain of the boat, standing tall and proud on the bow as he keeps an ever watchful eye for icebergs and horny sperm whales in his Larry the Cable Guy t-shirt.
The First Mate knows no fear and looks death in the eye as he posts guard on the stern where 20' waves could easily wash him overboard.
He wasn't exactly washed overboard. We were looking forward and heard a loud splash. Poof, gone was the Thor. Then he surfaced slightly behind the boat, paddling for all he was worth. Good thing we were only using the trolling motor and Glenn wasn't doing his usual petal to the metal imitation of a speed boat racer.
Once we got Thor back on board we outfitted him with the latest fashion in swimwear. Just in case he decided to take another dip when Glenn turned into Mario Andretti on water.
Ahh... this is what the brain needed. And the body needed a little swimming, which also happened. I keep waiting to turn green and get all glowy, but it hasn't happened yet. The Ohio river is not exactly known for it's cleanliness in these parts.
And for those that have asked, yes, Thor has an appt to be neutered. But our vet is incredibly busy and can't get to him until Sept 15. This shouldn't be a problem since he doesn't leave my side. Ever. Which is a good thing since I couldn't possibly do anything without him. And I do mean anything. At least he's cute.
The Last Frontier
First, a rant. Then the guineas.
More like, the last straw with Frontier! Frontier is our phone/DSL provider and I've had it. I was so excited when we moved up here and DSL had come to the area just two weeks prior. No more satellite! Woohoo! We had satellite internet in VA and frankly, dial up was faster and more reliable. But the one thing I will say about satellite, is that after a thunderstorm it was usually back up within minutes. I only wish our DSL was that reliable! Our DSL goes out with every bad thunderstorm that comes through. And it seems like I'm the only one to ever report it. Inevitably, I end up getting on the phone with some college kid who, after I tell him the t-storm took it out, I've already done the diagnoses and rebooted my modem several times and it's probably a local outage, he still makes me reboot the darned modem. Then he's surprised that the magical and all powerful reboot didn't do the trick. Sometimes they think I'm even fibbing, just for the attention. The last time I went through this I asked to speak to a manager. The manager was incredibly patient and put a note on my account not to bug me with the usual rebooting routine, which can sometimes take as long as 30 min. This just depends on how far through college the tech on the other end of the phone made it before flunking out from beer bongs.
Eventually, the tech concedes that yes, perhaps it is an area wide outage and not just my modem. Then they put in a ticket and tell me to wait by the phone, a field technician will be calling me shortly. Hours pass, days pass, I keep calling in looking for an update. Sometime after the fourth or fifth call, someone tells me that hey, they found the problem! And guess what? It WASN'T my modem! They always seem so pleased with themselves at this point. Like, hey, I couldn't get your modem to work because it was an area wide outage -- not my fault! But it is your fault that you took days to figure this out instead of just listening to me in the first place. Grrrr! Our DSL went out Friday night, I reported it Saturday morning, and it just came back up around 8pm tonight. And rather than getting anything done today, since I couldn't work, I had to sit by the phone and wait for the technician call. Which never came. Because they found that lightening had taken out some doohickey at the DSL station. I only found this out because I called them again around 4pm (my third call of the day, since they said on Saturday that it should be up by noon today).
Thank you for reading. I feel much better now that I got that off my chest.
Guinea update: things are not well on the guinea front. We lost seven guineas Friday night in the storm!!!! WHY??? We did get an awful lot of rain during the night and there could have been a flash flood under the coop. But why weren't the guineas in the coop where they usually are at night?? Saturday morning I found seven dead, soaking wet, but otherwise untouched little guineas. The remaining six looked fine and were pecking around behind me as I crawled into the pen to pick up the dead ones. BUT, they were not touching the food I had gotten them! I ended up getting more of the same 22% chick grower that they had before because I couldn't find anything with a higher protein. I did buy some 31% fish food pellet that the feed store guy said people fed their fighting cocks. But I had it separated from the other food in the coop, so have no idea why they weren't eating either one.
Rather than have them starve to death, I made the executive decision to let them out today. I opened up a spot in the fence, called them over with my bug bottle, let them come out, then shooed them back in. Let them come out again, then shooed them back in. The breeder said to do this so they would know how to get back in at night. And no one was watching, so I did it five times. I watched them in the yard for about an hour and they seemed very happy and were tearing into the bugs. Then they moseyed into the horse pasture and disappeared for the rest of the day. I assume they went into the woods where it was cooler. Around 6pm they started heading back and stayed awhile in the backyard getting their fill of bugs kicked up from the lawn mower. But something seemed amiss with one of the white guineas. She was lying on the ground with her wings spread out while the others were happily eating. Uh Oh. She'd get up and walk around if we got too close and seemed to be walking fine. I stayed out in the garden and kept an eye on them to make sure none of the cats took the opportunity for a quick meal and to see if they'd head back to the coop for the night.
I was playing twister with one of the pineapple tomatillo plants, trying to get all the little berries without knocking any unripe ones off when I heard Thor sit down behind me. It was a minute or two before I unwound myself from the plant, straightened out my appendages, and turned around. Thor had brought me the white guinea and placed it on the ground behind me. She seemed untouched and very much alive, but she was just lying there. Thor gave me this look that said "Mom, I think it's broken. Can you fix it? (for dinner? with maybe a little gravy?)" I picked her up and she never even squawked. She lay her head on my hand and I felt her heart beat in my palm. Her heart wasn't racing and seemed to be thumping just a tad faster than mine. Here was another decision to be made. Do I take her to the coop for the night or do I find her buddies and put her back with them? She seemed weak and I doubted she'd make it through the night if her buddies decided not to come back to the coop. So into the coop she went. I dipped her beak in the water then placed her on the straw in the highest nesting box. A few minutes later she had hopped down and was at the doorway looking at me. Of course I have bugs for you, little guinea. She gobbled up the Japanese beetles as soon as they fell from the bottle. Dare I hope?
More like, the last straw with Frontier! Frontier is our phone/DSL provider and I've had it. I was so excited when we moved up here and DSL had come to the area just two weeks prior. No more satellite! Woohoo! We had satellite internet in VA and frankly, dial up was faster and more reliable. But the one thing I will say about satellite, is that after a thunderstorm it was usually back up within minutes. I only wish our DSL was that reliable! Our DSL goes out with every bad thunderstorm that comes through. And it seems like I'm the only one to ever report it. Inevitably, I end up getting on the phone with some college kid who, after I tell him the t-storm took it out, I've already done the diagnoses and rebooted my modem several times and it's probably a local outage, he still makes me reboot the darned modem. Then he's surprised that the magical and all powerful reboot didn't do the trick. Sometimes they think I'm even fibbing, just for the attention. The last time I went through this I asked to speak to a manager. The manager was incredibly patient and put a note on my account not to bug me with the usual rebooting routine, which can sometimes take as long as 30 min. This just depends on how far through college the tech on the other end of the phone made it before flunking out from beer bongs.
Eventually, the tech concedes that yes, perhaps it is an area wide outage and not just my modem. Then they put in a ticket and tell me to wait by the phone, a field technician will be calling me shortly. Hours pass, days pass, I keep calling in looking for an update. Sometime after the fourth or fifth call, someone tells me that hey, they found the problem! And guess what? It WASN'T my modem! They always seem so pleased with themselves at this point. Like, hey, I couldn't get your modem to work because it was an area wide outage -- not my fault! But it is your fault that you took days to figure this out instead of just listening to me in the first place. Grrrr! Our DSL went out Friday night, I reported it Saturday morning, and it just came back up around 8pm tonight. And rather than getting anything done today, since I couldn't work, I had to sit by the phone and wait for the technician call. Which never came. Because they found that lightening had taken out some doohickey at the DSL station. I only found this out because I called them again around 4pm (my third call of the day, since they said on Saturday that it should be up by noon today).
Thank you for reading. I feel much better now that I got that off my chest.
Guinea update: things are not well on the guinea front. We lost seven guineas Friday night in the storm!!!! WHY??? We did get an awful lot of rain during the night and there could have been a flash flood under the coop. But why weren't the guineas in the coop where they usually are at night?? Saturday morning I found seven dead, soaking wet, but otherwise untouched little guineas. The remaining six looked fine and were pecking around behind me as I crawled into the pen to pick up the dead ones. BUT, they were not touching the food I had gotten them! I ended up getting more of the same 22% chick grower that they had before because I couldn't find anything with a higher protein. I did buy some 31% fish food pellet that the feed store guy said people fed their fighting cocks. But I had it separated from the other food in the coop, so have no idea why they weren't eating either one.
Rather than have them starve to death, I made the executive decision to let them out today. I opened up a spot in the fence, called them over with my bug bottle, let them come out, then shooed them back in. Let them come out again, then shooed them back in. The breeder said to do this so they would know how to get back in at night. And no one was watching, so I did it five times. I watched them in the yard for about an hour and they seemed very happy and were tearing into the bugs. Then they moseyed into the horse pasture and disappeared for the rest of the day. I assume they went into the woods where it was cooler. Around 6pm they started heading back and stayed awhile in the backyard getting their fill of bugs kicked up from the lawn mower. But something seemed amiss with one of the white guineas. She was lying on the ground with her wings spread out while the others were happily eating. Uh Oh. She'd get up and walk around if we got too close and seemed to be walking fine. I stayed out in the garden and kept an eye on them to make sure none of the cats took the opportunity for a quick meal and to see if they'd head back to the coop for the night.
I was playing twister with one of the pineapple tomatillo plants, trying to get all the little berries without knocking any unripe ones off when I heard Thor sit down behind me. It was a minute or two before I unwound myself from the plant, straightened out my appendages, and turned around. Thor had brought me the white guinea and placed it on the ground behind me. She seemed untouched and very much alive, but she was just lying there. Thor gave me this look that said "Mom, I think it's broken. Can you fix it? (for dinner? with maybe a little gravy?)" I picked her up and she never even squawked. She lay her head on my hand and I felt her heart beat in my palm. Her heart wasn't racing and seemed to be thumping just a tad faster than mine. Here was another decision to be made. Do I take her to the coop for the night or do I find her buddies and put her back with them? She seemed weak and I doubted she'd make it through the night if her buddies decided not to come back to the coop. So into the coop she went. I dipped her beak in the water then placed her on the straw in the highest nesting box. A few minutes later she had hopped down and was at the doorway looking at me. Of course I have bugs for you, little guinea. She gobbled up the Japanese beetles as soon as they fell from the bottle. Dare I hope?
Friday, August 1, 2008
Garden Discoveries
As I was shutting down the laptop I heard the distant sounds of thunder. Yippee! We could really use some rain! But it was also getting darker out and I wanted to get some garden pics before the weekend. Because yet again, I will be busier than a puppy with two peters this weekend. So let's take a look at what I found in the garden today, shall we?
Jelly Melons have planned and are currently executing the greatest garden takeover I've ever seen. They're crawling all over the basil, climbing up the corn, and they're headed into the next bed to attack the eggplants and cucumbers.
They're also climbing up the corn. Which is where I saw my first baby Jelly Melon fruit. Kinda funny looking, like little tiny pineapples. I can't wait.
This is one of my Brandywine tomatoes. Since the first ripe tomato two weeks ago, I've picked 72lbs of maters. Except for the few here and there that I couldn't help but eat right on the spot, they've all been cleaned, cored, and frozen. If things keep going like they are, I'm going to need a very large chest freezer. Or maybe I just need to take a couple of days off work to spend canning salsa and pasta sauce? Now that sounds like a plan.
On Monday I had pruned one of my White Oxheart plants because it had gone up and over the cage and was falling down on some of the banana peppers. I didn't notice this bird nest until the next day.
And today, I saw these cute little critters! They look like they just hatched within the past day or two. They're so tiny! I tried to get the best picture that I could without disturbing the area around them. I hope mom keeps coming back and doesn't make me abandon the plant!
Everyone loves a pretty butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)! I just thought I had ordered the orange version, not the pink. Haven't I mentioned before that I'm not a "pink" type of gal?
Could it be?? The first eggplant is taking shape! I foresee fried eggplant in my future! I love it sliced and fried in Italian breadcrumbs. I could live off that stuff. I'm going to try frying then freezing it this year and will let you know how it keeps.
The sun is coming out and the thunder has stopped. :( I guess it's time to go water the garden, feed the horses, and go for a ride or two. Have a great weekend!
Jelly Melons have planned and are currently executing the greatest garden takeover I've ever seen. They're crawling all over the basil, climbing up the corn, and they're headed into the next bed to attack the eggplants and cucumbers.
They're also climbing up the corn. Which is where I saw my first baby Jelly Melon fruit. Kinda funny looking, like little tiny pineapples. I can't wait.
This is one of my Brandywine tomatoes. Since the first ripe tomato two weeks ago, I've picked 72lbs of maters. Except for the few here and there that I couldn't help but eat right on the spot, they've all been cleaned, cored, and frozen. If things keep going like they are, I'm going to need a very large chest freezer. Or maybe I just need to take a couple of days off work to spend canning salsa and pasta sauce? Now that sounds like a plan.
On Monday I had pruned one of my White Oxheart plants because it had gone up and over the cage and was falling down on some of the banana peppers. I didn't notice this bird nest until the next day.
And today, I saw these cute little critters! They look like they just hatched within the past day or two. They're so tiny! I tried to get the best picture that I could without disturbing the area around them. I hope mom keeps coming back and doesn't make me abandon the plant!
Everyone loves a pretty butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)! I just thought I had ordered the orange version, not the pink. Haven't I mentioned before that I'm not a "pink" type of gal?
Could it be?? The first eggplant is taking shape! I foresee fried eggplant in my future! I love it sliced and fried in Italian breadcrumbs. I could live off that stuff. I'm going to try frying then freezing it this year and will let you know how it keeps.
The sun is coming out and the thunder has stopped. :( I guess it's time to go water the garden, feed the horses, and go for a ride or two. Have a great weekend!
The Mighty Thor
Here's Thor, spending a hard day at work with me. It's no wonder he sleeps through the night, work like this can be exhausting.
Please ignore the mess on the floor around him. He's still in that must-chew-rip-tear-everything puppy stage of life. If it's paper, either on the floor or within reach of his snout, just consider it gone and hope it wasn't important.
Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago how I did everything around here. The answer is simple. I don't. My house is a disaster area and I haven't danced with the pushmower in weeks. Every minute away from work is spent either with dogs, in the garden, or more often than not, with the horses. It's a good thing we haven't had much rain in the past few weeks because the yard still looks at least partially presentable. We couldn't cut hay off of it yet, which is always a plus. As for the house, I just don't ever invite company in. That's what the porch is for!
I think the stay off the couch training is going well, don't you?
Please ignore the mess on the floor around him. He's still in that must-chew-rip-tear-everything puppy stage of life. If it's paper, either on the floor or within reach of his snout, just consider it gone and hope it wasn't important.
Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago how I did everything around here. The answer is simple. I don't. My house is a disaster area and I haven't danced with the pushmower in weeks. Every minute away from work is spent either with dogs, in the garden, or more often than not, with the horses. It's a good thing we haven't had much rain in the past few weeks because the yard still looks at least partially presentable. We couldn't cut hay off of it yet, which is always a plus. As for the house, I just don't ever invite company in. That's what the porch is for!
I think the stay off the couch training is going well, don't you?
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Let the self-butt kicking begin
For days now I've been wondering why the guineas have been dropping like flies. We've lost 8 so far. We were told we'd lose some, no big deal. But EIGHT??? I thought maybe it was a snake, maybe it was the Noodle, maybe it was another critter that just enjoyed killing and not eating. Maybe it was a disease left over in the coop from the previous owners' chickens. What was I doing wrong? Why couldn't I save them???
Yesterday after work I walked out to check on them and the dogs were of course, right on my heels. I noticed one of the guineas was outside of the pen. Oh no. The dogs were bound to spot him first and I might not be able to call them off. But either the dogs were all struck by BDD's stupidity at the time, or they just knew not to mess with the guineas when mom was looking. As I got closer to the coop I was trying to figure out how to catch the little bugger, when he came running up to me! The usually come running up to the fence when I come out because they expect some delicious Japanese beetles to come pouring out of an old Gatorade bottle. But I was surrounded by dogs... wasn't the little guy afraid? Nope. I stooped down and picked him right up. He didn't let out a peep. Why? BECAUSE HE WAS STARVING!!!! There was nothing left of him, he was just skin and bones! WHY???
When we had gotten the keats from the breeder he had said to start them out on a chick grower, which is about 20% protein, then by the time they finished off that bag they'd be ready for cracked corn. I started mixing in the cracked corn when they were still in the house and that was all I was feeding once they were out in the coop. NO NO NO!!! I'm intelligent, I like to research things... why didn't I research the proper care for guineas?? Why did it take EIGHT of their little corpses to wake me up to what was wrong?
Guineas make bugs 90% of their diet. Bugs are protein. Corn is not. My guineas starved to death and I never realized it until I picked one up. What kind of horrible guinea mom am I?? I just sat out there with them today watching them eat jap beetles and apologizing for my gross neglect. They just strutted around chirping at me. Ignorant to my stupidity, all they knew was that their little bellies were empty.
I did some research on the web and found that the best food for guineas not on free range is a turkey or wild game bird feed, which is usually over 26% protein. NOT CORN!! For now they are back on what was left of the 20% chick grower and they're devouring it! The good news is that they're acting more lively already and hopefully we won't lose any more. Tomorrow I'll be off to the feed store to get a higher protein feed for them. Let's hope it's not too late!
Yesterday after work I walked out to check on them and the dogs were of course, right on my heels. I noticed one of the guineas was outside of the pen. Oh no. The dogs were bound to spot him first and I might not be able to call them off. But either the dogs were all struck by BDD's stupidity at the time, or they just knew not to mess with the guineas when mom was looking. As I got closer to the coop I was trying to figure out how to catch the little bugger, when he came running up to me! The usually come running up to the fence when I come out because they expect some delicious Japanese beetles to come pouring out of an old Gatorade bottle. But I was surrounded by dogs... wasn't the little guy afraid? Nope. I stooped down and picked him right up. He didn't let out a peep. Why? BECAUSE HE WAS STARVING!!!! There was nothing left of him, he was just skin and bones! WHY???
When we had gotten the keats from the breeder he had said to start them out on a chick grower, which is about 20% protein, then by the time they finished off that bag they'd be ready for cracked corn. I started mixing in the cracked corn when they were still in the house and that was all I was feeding once they were out in the coop. NO NO NO!!! I'm intelligent, I like to research things... why didn't I research the proper care for guineas?? Why did it take EIGHT of their little corpses to wake me up to what was wrong?
Guineas make bugs 90% of their diet. Bugs are protein. Corn is not. My guineas starved to death and I never realized it until I picked one up. What kind of horrible guinea mom am I?? I just sat out there with them today watching them eat jap beetles and apologizing for my gross neglect. They just strutted around chirping at me. Ignorant to my stupidity, all they knew was that their little bellies were empty.
I did some research on the web and found that the best food for guineas not on free range is a turkey or wild game bird feed, which is usually over 26% protein. NOT CORN!! For now they are back on what was left of the 20% chick grower and they're devouring it! The good news is that they're acting more lively already and hopefully we won't lose any more. Tomorrow I'll be off to the feed store to get a higher protein feed for them. Let's hope it's not too late!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Flying Rodents
On Saturday our neighbor brought over his baler and we baled up all the lose hay from our hay mishap a couple of weeks ago. We recovered 31 bales of hay from that mess. Woohooo! He also helped us unload the stock trailer. That boy can chunk some hay bales! He tossed 88 of them up from the stock trailer into the second floor of our small barn. He was throwing them a good 12' up and hardly broke a sweat! We still have another 380 that need to be moved from the big barn into the small barn, but at least we have a borrowed electric hay conveyor that we can use once we get 400' of extension cord for it!
We lost two of the guineas over the weekend. I have no idea how, both little bodies are still in the pen. I'd think if an animal killed them, the offender would either still be in the pen or the bodies would have been eaten or at least drug out of the pen. I'm wondering if the heat got to them because there's always a few birds that don't sit in the shade or go into the coop during the hottest part of the day. Any guinea experts out there want to shed some light on this?
Yesterday I canned 15 quarts of Methodist Pickles. YUM! The cucumbers are still growing and are covered in flowers so it looks like I'll get to try some different pickle recipes this year. I wanted to share the Methodist Pickle recipe with you. This is a pickle that I grew up on and LOVE. I got the recipe from my aunt, who got it from my grandmother, and so on down the line. I have no idea how long my family has been making this pickle, but it's darned good. The measurements are odd, I prefer weighing cucumbers in pounds, not quarts. But I usually just eyeball it anyway. My 15 quarts from yesterday were two different batches. A recipe batch usually makes 7 quarts.
5 qts sliced pickles
4 medium onions
Brine:
6 cups sugar
6 cups white vinegar
3 tbls celery salt
3 tbls mustard seed
3/4 tsp turmeric
6 whole cloves - I like to use 8
Wash and slice the cucumbers and onions, then sprinkle with pickling salt and let stand for an hour. Make brine and bring to boil. Drain cukes and onions and add to brine. Bring to a boil again for 5 minutes, then pack in sterilized jars and seal in a boiling bath canner for 5 minutes.
These things are so good that Glenn can sit down with an unopened jar and a fork and have the jar emptied in under 30 minutes. We gave away many quarts of these last year and heard nothing but rave reviews from everyone.
It was way too hot in the kitchen and I was ready to sit down somewhere cool by the time the pickles were done, so I didn't clean up as I should have. The canner stayed on the stove with the rack and about 6" of water in it. I always forget to remove the rack and it ends up rusting. Last night was hot and sticky and I'm the electricity nazi. So instead of turning on the AC I just left the front door open. Besides, it was in the 50's this morning. Who needs AC?
So around 9AM when I went into the kitchen for some juice I noticed that once again, I had left the rack in the canner. I cursed myself as I was lifting the rack out, then just started cursing. Period. In a very loud shrieky voice. Totally unlike me. When I was 5, my babysitter tried to teach me how to scream. Seriously. It's not something that comes naturally to me. So when I lifted out the rack and saw something live clinging to it, all I could do was squeal out some favorite curse words. Luckily, Glenn had already gone off to work. But I'm sure he'll laugh at me later.
Yes, it's my fault for leaving the door open.
But come on... we must have some really stupid wildlife up here in WV. First the moronic groundhog choosing to live under our porch. Now this dipshit flying into a house with 5 cats. And why the canner???
I guess I should just be happy he chose the canner and not our bed.
The poor little guy was soaking wet, shivering, and half drowned. And because I am who I am, I left him on the stove to dry out. I even turned one of the burners on the other side of the stove on low to give him some heat and help him dry. I should have let the cats have him. But even though they look like winged rodents and give me a case of the creepy crawlies, they do eat a lot of bugs and are good for the garden. Let's just hope this particular dumbass doesn't breed more idiot bats.
We lost two of the guineas over the weekend. I have no idea how, both little bodies are still in the pen. I'd think if an animal killed them, the offender would either still be in the pen or the bodies would have been eaten or at least drug out of the pen. I'm wondering if the heat got to them because there's always a few birds that don't sit in the shade or go into the coop during the hottest part of the day. Any guinea experts out there want to shed some light on this?
Yesterday I canned 15 quarts of Methodist Pickles. YUM! The cucumbers are still growing and are covered in flowers so it looks like I'll get to try some different pickle recipes this year. I wanted to share the Methodist Pickle recipe with you. This is a pickle that I grew up on and LOVE. I got the recipe from my aunt, who got it from my grandmother, and so on down the line. I have no idea how long my family has been making this pickle, but it's darned good. The measurements are odd, I prefer weighing cucumbers in pounds, not quarts. But I usually just eyeball it anyway. My 15 quarts from yesterday were two different batches. A recipe batch usually makes 7 quarts.
5 qts sliced pickles
4 medium onions
Brine:
6 cups sugar
6 cups white vinegar
3 tbls celery salt
3 tbls mustard seed
3/4 tsp turmeric
6 whole cloves - I like to use 8
Wash and slice the cucumbers and onions, then sprinkle with pickling salt and let stand for an hour. Make brine and bring to boil. Drain cukes and onions and add to brine. Bring to a boil again for 5 minutes, then pack in sterilized jars and seal in a boiling bath canner for 5 minutes.
These things are so good that Glenn can sit down with an unopened jar and a fork and have the jar emptied in under 30 minutes. We gave away many quarts of these last year and heard nothing but rave reviews from everyone.
It was way too hot in the kitchen and I was ready to sit down somewhere cool by the time the pickles were done, so I didn't clean up as I should have. The canner stayed on the stove with the rack and about 6" of water in it. I always forget to remove the rack and it ends up rusting. Last night was hot and sticky and I'm the electricity nazi. So instead of turning on the AC I just left the front door open. Besides, it was in the 50's this morning. Who needs AC?
So around 9AM when I went into the kitchen for some juice I noticed that once again, I had left the rack in the canner. I cursed myself as I was lifting the rack out, then just started cursing. Period. In a very loud shrieky voice. Totally unlike me. When I was 5, my babysitter tried to teach me how to scream. Seriously. It's not something that comes naturally to me. So when I lifted out the rack and saw something live clinging to it, all I could do was squeal out some favorite curse words. Luckily, Glenn had already gone off to work. But I'm sure he'll laugh at me later.
Yes, it's my fault for leaving the door open.
But come on... we must have some really stupid wildlife up here in WV. First the moronic groundhog choosing to live under our porch. Now this dipshit flying into a house with 5 cats. And why the canner???
I guess I should just be happy he chose the canner and not our bed.
The poor little guy was soaking wet, shivering, and half drowned. And because I am who I am, I left him on the stove to dry out. I even turned one of the burners on the other side of the stove on low to give him some heat and help him dry. I should have let the cats have him. But even though they look like winged rodents and give me a case of the creepy crawlies, they do eat a lot of bugs and are good for the garden. Let's just hope this particular dumbass doesn't breed more idiot bats.
Friday, July 25, 2008
BDD Jr.
Yes, we got another dog. Before I introduce you, please don't think that this is Rocky's replacement. If Rocky is ever found, we will still take him and give him a home. He just won't be going out in the truck with Glenn. His hands are still sore and swollen from all the bite marks and he's not such a big fan of little dogs anymore.
Now let me tell you Thor's story. Maybe I should start by proclaiming yahoo groups are dangerous! Or maybe it's just my inability to say NO to an animal in need that's dangerous. No, that can't be it.
One of our soldiers was headed overseas and couldn't take Thor with her. She was heartbroken and tried for a month to find him a good home. When the day came that she had to leave, her husband took matters into his own hands and took Thor to the all ready overflowing county shelter where they euthanize surrendered dogs before strays (this would have been grounds for divorce in my book!). Fortunately for Thor, the woman at the shelter knew him and his owners, since that's where they adopted him from in the first place. She decided to give Thor a stay of execution for a day or two in the hopes that someone would want to take him home. That's when someone on this yahoo horse riding forum that I subscribe to cross posted about Thor. I contacted the rescue that was trying to place him and Glenn picked him up yesterday. And that's a bit of a funny story as well... Glenn went to get him in my Wrangler and had the top down. On the way home he stopped at Taco Bell for some lunch and while cruising down the highway afterwards he gets pulled over by a state trooper. The cop walks up to the door and tells Glenn he pulled him over for littering. Then he noticed Thor in the passenger seat with a big wad of taco bell paper hanging from his mouth. The cop smiled, shook his head, and said "Nevermind, I understand".
I call him BDD Jr. for now because he's going to be huge. He weighs in at probably 65-70 lbs now and isn't even a year old. He may not make it to BDD size, but he'll be awfully close. The previous owners think he's black lab and mastiff. I don't see much mastiff, but maybe pitbull? What do yawl think?
And of course I can't have a post entitled BDD Jr. without pictures of the original BDD. I actually noticed some smidgen of intelligence in that stare tonight.
No matter how dumb, he sure is purdy.
Thor and the BDD are both in love with Brie. Who wouldn't be? Especially with groundhog intestine breath? That's right, she found the dried up intestines from the dumbest groundhog in the world and chewed them right up. Mmmmm, groundhog jerky. That dog is not licking me in the face for a month.
The herd has been spending most evenings in the top field, so it's been a rare treat that they all come down towards the house. Tonight was one of those nights. This is Junior, Stride, Dolly, Willow, Classy, Meghan, and Semi. Kita and Indy weren't far, but just outside the picture. Manny the wonder horse and his little buddy, Chief were far to the right, by themselves as usual.
Megalia and Tabby up on the ridge. Their sister has found a place in the herd, but these two prefer to stay apart. Which is probably a good thing, because they are beating the hell out of Stride and Dolly. When Manny isn't picking on the poor old fogies, the girls are. Junior and Semi have taken the ancient ones under their wing, so they usually defend against the two Troublets. But both Stride and Dolly have scrapes and bite marks all over their butts. I've started locking them in the barn in the morning so they can eat in peace and stay out of the sun and away from the bugs. Hopefully, that will help keep the girls off of them.
Have a great weekend. And if anyone is bored this weekend, come on over. I have plenty of things for you to do! :)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The Rescue Site is Up!
Go check it out! http://www.horserescue.alterra-wv.com
And now it's time to sing the praises of the woman behind the site. Or call it a shameless plug if it makes you feel better. Tenley was so easy to work with. She was fast. She was professional. I have already recommended her services to two people (sorry, that's all the people I know!). And she'll probably tsk tsk me for putting it up here so soon while she's still tweaking. But I couldn't help it!!! I'm excited!! I'm impatient!! And I'm totally out of control.
You can find Tenley at http://www.awebresource.com.
What are you still doing here? GO!!
And now it's time to sing the praises of the woman behind the site. Or call it a shameless plug if it makes you feel better. Tenley was so easy to work with. She was fast. She was professional. I have already recommended her services to two people (sorry, that's all the people I know!). And she'll probably tsk tsk me for putting it up here so soon while she's still tweaking. But I couldn't help it!!! I'm excited!! I'm impatient!! And I'm totally out of control.
You can find Tenley at http://www.awebresource.com.
What are you still doing here? GO!!
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