One Big Happy Family !!!

Well we finally made it through the wedding day and I must say it was a tough one for us all. Traci was so nervous that I thought she was gonna crack. I'm not sure who was more nervous, me or her. When the preacher ask "Who gives this woman to this man" I boldly announced "Her family and I". How those words got past the lump in my throat I'll never know. Everything came off without a hitch, thank God. It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful bride and groom. Pictured above is my whole family from left to right, Savannah, Me (The bald guy), Traci (The Bride) Adam (The Groom) Olivia and Katie. I am very proud of the family I have produced.

You just can't imagine how glad I am to be home, back to the farm. I better get out there and pick those zucchini and squash and cucumbers.

My Oldest Daughter is getting Married

It seems that I will be out of town for a few day's this weekend. My oldest daughter Traci, is getting married and I am walking her down the isle. It seems like only a few months ago that I brought her home from the hospitol and now she is getting married on me. I guess time really does fly. Anyhow, we are going to West Virginia on Friday morning, the rehersal is at 6:30 that night and the wedding is at 3:oo on Sat. I am so very proud of her, she is a great daughter and has never been any trouble. She is 19 and has a really good man, Adam, and they have a nice home waiting on them. Going to The Great Smoky Mtns. for the Honeymoon to stay in a cabin in the mountians. I am so very proud !!!

UPS Delivery !

UPS came today and brought the Home Canning Kit that I had ordered from Amazon. Man I really need this kit, the jar grabber alone was worth the price to me, I have been dipping water out of the canner with a cup and then reaching in with a dish towel to get the HOT jars. This will make things a lot more enjoyable and safer too. You can find the link to this kit on the left side of the blog, if you don't have one this is a great kit and a great buy. Comes with all you see here.

HELP !!!! I'm Canning and I Can't Stop

Well guys i've been at it again, this time tomatoes. Call me crazy but I was at the Farmers Market the other day and I came across a guy selling tomatoes for $12.00 a 25 lb box. The first thought that crossed my mind was buy, buy, buy. That's 48 cents a pound, China-mart is selling them for $2.28 per lb. and Kroger had them for $2.89 per lb. so this had to be a good deal. Sure I have maters growing in the garden but they aren't ripe yet and who knows I could have a hail storm or anything and then not have any maters. Maybe I'm thinking this thing to death but, a bird in the hand, well, you know the rest. I calmed myself down and bought only 1 box, 25lbs and came straight home and fired up the canner. We saved some to eat and gave a few away ofcourse and I canned the rest, man these things are great. Ended up with 7 beautiful qts of tomatoes to be used in soup and so on. I have come to love this food preservation thing. The sound of lids popping as the jars are cooling are music to my ears. Here is a picture of one of the cans. Liv made some really nice labels using address labels, we got the date wrong but it's close enough.

Flea Market Finds

I had to go to town today to get more canning jars and I then thought, hey I'm only a mile from the flea market. Well I never pass a chance to go and look around at all the stuff they have there. FleaLand is the largest indoor fleamarket in Kentucky, they also have lots of stuff outside as well. That's where all the good stuff is anyway. After looking for just a few minutes I found these, a meat grinder and a jucier. These are great items to have around the house, no electricty needed and they are very dependable also. Got the meat grinder for 3 bucks and the jucier for 2, pretty good deal I think.

Rind Pickles are finally done !!!

Well it's taken a while but here they are. Got the recipe from here. Mine did not turn out red like the ones on the link but they sure smell good. That much sugar and cinnamon sticks it has to be pretty good. I didn't get the 4 to 5 pints that they said so, I just put half into 2 different qt jars, giving one to Liv's mother. I'll wait a few weeks to try them, let them sit and work awhile. I still think they look alot like apples. They have a very nice amber color to them. But anyway, I gave it a shot. Never had them before but wanted to try to use the rind that most just throw away. When I try them I'll post the results. If anyone else tries this, please let me know how yours turn out.

While waiting on the rinds

The watermelon rind pickles are taking a while, first had to cut away the green and the red. Next let them sit in a salt water brine for 3 hours, then cook for 10 mins. Mix 9 cups of sugar, 3 cups of water and 3 cups of viniger together and bring to a boil for 5 mins. After they are both done cooking pour the water off the rinds and pour the mix over them. Let sit over night in a refrigator. That's where I am now. Nothing hard about this it just takes a while. Oh well, I guess I have more time than I do money, or atleast I hope I do. hehe!!Sitting in the brine, also had to add 2 trays of ice. They look alot like apples.Maters are realy getting big just not red. Come on guys Turn, Turn !!
This picture is for Marie over at Food Storage. She was interested in the taters that I have growing in totes. I am growing taters in several places to see what works best for me.

Now that's a pretty nice size bean. I have picked from these small rows ( 2 at 25 ft. ) 5 times so far and they keep on coming.

Just a picture of the hen house. All from scrap out of the Lowes dumpster.

Inside where the girls do their thing.
Some of the corn. It seems to be doing pretty well.

Zucchini are coming on strong.


A few more rows of corn about 8 or 9 I think. Notice how the corn in the center is much larger. I had a compost pile there last year before we plowed it up this spring. Guess it was pretty good stuff.

Peppers are recovering from the duck raid.