Saturday, October 5, 2013

Triple Creek Farm, October 5, 2013

I love the fall/autumn season, I love to see the earth prepare for the winter.  Walking down to the pasture lot kicking my way through the fallen leaves reminds me of being a child playing in the leaves. I know we will be dropping trees, because without the leaves, they are much easier for us to handle.  The goats will be missing the leaves as they get saplings every day.  In the winter, they will be fed holly and pine.  This helps us with the clean up of the forest floor.  I am watching the girls very close to see if they are thinking of coming into season.  With the two I wish to breed, this will be their first time and I hope I do not miss the opportunity this year.  I have told everyone in the coop there will be no more baby chicks as winter is coming.  They have to wait until spring for any more little peeps.


IN THE KITCHEN

I have had a recipe to make a condensed cream soup mix but I wanted to use my supply of creamed soups before making this mix.  I was planning to make the green bean casserole with the french onions for supper Monday night.  Walking into the pantry, there it was, no more cream of mushroom soup.  Off to gather the ingredients I had stockpiled to make this mix.  I was so excited because it will save money, save pantry space and I think I will find many ways to use this mixture.  Here is the link to the recipe.  I am very excited to have this mix on my pantry shelf.  I have other homemade mixes, they are a staple in my pantry. I am going to make this soup and when I heat it I will add in some dried mushrooms which I will chop.  This worked very good, the green bean casserole was very tasty.  I enjoyed the flavor of the herbs in the soup mix as this bought a new level of flavor to the casserole.  I am very pleased to have made this soup mix.

ON THE FARM

We have woods behind our house, they are across a creek.  I have been wanting to go through these woods and collect all of the dead trees from the forest floor.  The first load of dead trees were bought in this week to be made in our own mulch.  There are some huge oaks trees on the floor which a storm laid down for us.  Lots of good firewood, this is our first step at making a road to get down to where these trees are located.

IN THE COOP

Sunday morning, when approaching the coop we heard a strange noise, we just went on our way as we were not sure what this was.  Monday morning, there was another noise and we could tell there was a welsummer rooster trying to find his voice.  As the week progressed I can now say it sounds kinda like a crow but there is plenty of practice needed.  With the welsummer starting to crow this answered the question of Heathcliff being a rooster because this bird has never tried to crow.  Mr. Bootsie found Heathcliff on the nest Monday, and I know I am collecting 2 pullet eggs.  There were 2 little peeps in the first hatching and both of them hens,  Our second hatch 5 little peeps with 4 hens and 1 rooster.  We had a good year hatching.  I have, once again, started the blending of the coop.  So far, so good.



IN THE GARDEN

The night time temperature has been quite moderate, so I am starting to play the I have a few more days game with Mother Nature.  We seem to have new pests in the garden.  I walked through and there a 4 traps set.  Snow peas have been nibbled off, the lettuce, kale and Holland greens have been eaten.  So far, they do not care for turnip greens.  Garlic, red, white and yellow onions are coming up.  I am going through the harvested onions looking for the multiplying sets, I know there were a few harvested and I tried to save all of them.  I planted rhubarb seeds, but I saved half of them just in case they do not come up, to replant in the spring.  I am going to do several things this way.  My momma would plant a number of things in the fall saying the plants would be much stronger if they overwintered.  So, I am going to give this a try.

IN CLOSING

I know the end is close for the summer garden.  There are a number of cucuzzi hanging in the tunnel but they are much to large to harvest for food.  I just let them go because the wee folk (grandchildren) enjoy seeing how big they get.  I have a large number of small ones and with promised rain on Monday and Tuesday I think I may be able to harvest a few more to make more cucuzzi bread.  I can store this bread in the fridge for 6 weeks,  this would give me fresh bread for Thanksgiving.  I know I can freeze it but I would rather not.

Thanks for all of you who visit our little farm, time for all of us to get the onions sliced and placed around the living areas in our homes.  They will collect all sorts of germs.  I have put a few in the keeping room, when I start hearing flu shoot time, I do the onions to help protect the house from germs. Have a wonderful week and stay safe.

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