Homestead Catch Up

It is my busy time of year.  The season when the sunrise and the roosters (!) wake me up around 5 and if I am smart I get out of bed and get going when they do.  Not that I am that smart that often.  The garden is growing and bits of it are ready for harvesting.  The heat index is rising, which means getting into the garden as early as possible so that I may be indoors when it goes from "hot" to "unbearable" to "ain't no way I'm going out in that!".  So as I said, when I am smart, I get up and get outside as early as I can stand to and start picking the garden.

The beans are in full production.  I filled a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 of the way full today.  See?

Last year I was not as diligent as I could have been and we ran out of beans before Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping this year will be better.

The squash are doing quite well too.  However, this year I am NOT putting squash up.  Mr. Marvelous is not a fan of squash casserole and preserved squash just does not cook well the way he likes it.  We will enjoy what we get and share the excess and be done with it.

The cucumbers are productive too.  I started the pickle crock back up this week

Tomato season is only just now getting started.  We are still more in sandwich mode than in canning mode.  Hopefully before the summer is over I will have enough quarts of tomatoes to get me through the rest of the year.  I'm even hoping to make salsa this year.

Our chickens are all growing and we will be harvesting some roosters soon.  We will keep one rooster for breeding so that we can replenish our stock without having to go buy more chickens every year.  It is funny to listen to them learning to crow.  I just wish practice time were not at 4 am!

We have already harvested several rabbits.  I have learned some new cooking techniques that we are enjoying.

So as you can see, it is pretty busy around here with the picking and canning (almost sounds like a bluegrass song, doesn't it?), and with the animal tending.  However there is always room in our world for a little fun.  Best of all is a little fun with little company.

 

 They do brighten my day!