Pigs on the Farm

The homegrown pigs have had a great time reaching maturity. We really enjoyed this group of porkers each with its own personality. Pigs are very smart animals and develop games to keep themselves from becoming bored and to entertain one another.


Here one of the pigs is a comedian and the chickens are the audience!


Now this pig insisted on carrying a stick around. Sometimes he would drop the stick and grab it before another pig could pick it up. It was a modified version of Keep Away!


Then there was the tireless and timeless game of tag. The pigs would choose one to be "it", and the other pigs would chase the one that was it. When caught all the pigs would roll around together.


There was plenty of time in the pasture for grazing, wandering off to the spa for a mud bath, a roll in the dust to cool off, and moving freely from pasture to pasture. The ten pigs have been butchered now and they will be filling the freezers for many happy families.

Blackberries

Can you believe the blackberries are still going strong? We have the smallest patch of prolific berries on the farm and they produce from mid August until the middle of October or until the first frost. We have been more diligent at picking the ripened berries as quickly as they turn black because the weather this year has been a little more unpredictable than usual. The berries just need to be rinse thoroughly, drained, stored in freezer proof containers, labeled and frozen. Then when the rest of the harvest is put up, we will make syrup and jelly and jams and blackberry cobbler and blackberry muffins with our frozen berries. Of course there has been plenty nibbling of the fresh berries as they are picked and rinsed!

Green Beans

Here are a few photos of the time with green beans!


We have picked and snapped many, many green beans this summer. The beans are such a treat especially during the holidays when the family is gathered close. During the busy canning season, the green beans seem to offer a pause in the busy summer schedule because they require snapping.


They are often a filler during the day while watching the pressure canner. We have taken our canner outside and put it on the campstove to keep the kitchen cooler during the hot summer days.


Don't forget how tasty the beans are cooked with a little bacon and onion!

Apple Goodness

The apples are earlier this year than in years past, so we began picking in early September.


We have seven different varieties of apples on the farm. One of them is the old fashioned gravenstein apple. They make delicious applesauce, pie, crisp, etc.


You can't go wrong with the old time flavor of a Gravenstein. We also have Crispins or Mutsu, Golden Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, and Jonathan apples.


With the late frost snapping many of the blossoms, and our water shortage this summer we feel especially lucky to get as many apples as we did.

Some were much smaller than they might have been with a steady, adequate water supply, but they sure have a great flavor.


There are plenty of tasty apples for sauce, fresh eating, pie, and apple crisp. It takes about two hours for a large batch of applesauce to cook down. We don't add too much to the apples other than a splash of water in the bottom of the pot to keep them from scorching.


This batch does have a sprinkling of cinnamon and some freshly grated nutmeg. The spices seem to strengthen in flavor after the applesauce is canned, so less is more for our taste buds.


Now there will be plenty of sauce for our homegrown pork!

Dill Pickling

We have been busy, busy, busy on the farm! There is so much to harvest and put away for the winter months and as always, everything is ripening at the same time. Then there is the yearly rush to gather in all the good foods before the first frost.


Here are some of the goodies from the garden all gathered together for one pickling! The red peppers, dill, cucumbers, carrots, celery, and garlic all gather together for the tastiest, snappiest delightful dill pickles!


Once all the ingredients are pulled together and scrubbed clean, it is time to prepare all the vegetables for the jars. Peeling, slicing, trimming keeps everything looking and tasting delicious.


It also helps tremendously to have a wonderful husband who helps with all of the chopping, peeling, and canning!


Then layer all the spicy, aromatic deliciousness into the clean, warm jars. Dill on the bottom, garlic, cucumbers, carrot strips and celery sticks to make them extra fancy, more garlic, more dill and then the vinegar brine.


Once these jars have set for at least 6 weeks, put a jar into the refrigerator and let it get nice and cold. These pickles really taste the best at Christmas time and they go so well with any left over or full course meal you might have with the family. These pickles can also become a meal with some fresh bread and butter!


Mmmmm-mmmmmmm!