Freezing and Canning ~ Garden Bounty Once Again

Today I froze 2 quarts of Swiss Chard, 2 quarts of tomatoes, 2 quarts of green beans, and I canned 4 quarts of homemade salsa.   And we haven't even gotten to the squash yet.  I'm sure I'll have yellow squash, zucchini, and acorn squash.  We also picked 4 spaghetti squash prior to today's rainfall.  We are surely loving the garden, and I can't wait to enjoy some salsa tonight!

Meet "Charlie" ~ The Second Rescued Dog

Here is a "before" photo of Charlie, the second dog for us to rescue.  When the humane society absolutely refused to help, we decided we had to do something.  The only option they gave us yesterday, was to keep him as our own (duh!) or take him to the dog warden.  Their reasons for not assisting in this dog's care, were contradictory and lame.  They pick up abandoned strays themselves, and this is an abandoned dog.

After we had a vet look at him, we discovered he has testicular cancer, and needs medical help.  We are praying we can get his weight up enough to withstand surgery in a week.  Then we will be able to test for heartworm and to check of the cancer spread to his lungs or not. 

Looking at Charlie today, you'd never know he was sick. Unless you looked at him from behind that is.  He is full of energy today and is very alert.  Last night when I was petting his head, then stopped, he pushed his head under my hand for more.  He's definitely been someone's dog, and a neglected one at that.  The owner may have not had the money to care for him, or the owner could have just not cared too.  Either way, Charlie is now being cared for by us, regardless of the situation.  He has no way to defend himself, nor care for himself.  He's relying on us now.

We are taking it one day at a time.  We are praying he does not have heart worm either.

Nurturing a Malnourished Dog ~ Another stray that came to us

In just a few short weeks after we took in a stray puppy, we now have this stray dog.  We found him late last night.  He had wandered onto the property early in the day, but then disappeared.  My son found him laying in the woods, unable to walk. 

The good news, is that he's up and walking, has been flea combed and treated, had his very long nails trimmed, and is about to go see the vet for overall check up.  He's a very loving dog, and is anxious to come inside.  A visit to the vet is needed first, as we already have 3 healthy dogs inside.

I am sure the dog warden was looking for him yesterday.  After we saw the dog wander around the barn, and disappear, the dog warden's van was driving up and down the highway, and up and down side streets about a mile or less away.  He even sat in our driveway for a time, looking directly at our house, but never knocking on the door.  I am certain, that if the dog warden had found this dog, he would have put him to sleep.

Thankfully, the dog came to us, and it was us who found him.  Now, it's just one day at a time, nourishing him back to health.

Photography ~ Learning the Skills

While studying photography with the merit badge program with MaryJanesFarm, I snapped this neat photo of the yellow and black butterflies in one of the flower beds.  The barn in the background made the photo even more beautiful.  The bad part of this, is now I want a better camera (ha ha ha!).  I guess I'll have to put it on the family wish list for now.  My oldest daughter has encouraged me to continue with photography.  When she sees something outside, she'll often say "what? no pictures of that?" and she'll point to something worth photographing (like the blossoming apple trees etc.).

Another photo to share with my Farmgirl Sisters.

Garden Tales ~ Tomatoes and Cantaloupe ~ And a Naughty Raccoon

It's that time of the year when the tomatoes are turning red all over the garden.  The downside this year, is that a raccoon keeps eating my beef tomatoes.  I've been able to get about 5 this week before he/she did.  I think it has to do with the corn fields this year.  Last year we were surrounded by corn crops.  This year that is only one across the street.  Many raccoons have died going back and forth, but one seems to keep eating away on just one type of tomato.

However, we are getting a lot of roma tomatoes. I've been using them to make our homemade salsa, and many dishes.  I have frozen some too.  Yesterday I decided it was time to make tomato sauce from scratch for the very first time every.  While one daughter was away on a camping trip, I enlisted the help of 3 more kiddos.  They all helped remove seeds from about 8 pounds of small roma tomatoes.  This was torture to them (he he!).

We made the sauce with fresh basil from the herb garden, onion, garlic, and even oregano.  We were quite impressed with the final outcome, however it did need more seasoning.  We like to get crazy with the spices.

After I finished the sauce (which took 2 hours to cook), I decided to slice up a garden green pepper, a zucchini and a yellow squash.  I added that to the sauce without cooking it prior, like I usually do.  I topped it with a lid and boiled up whole wheat spaghetti noodles.  We loved it!  It was bit watery, compared to store bought sauce, but that's why you bake up homemade bread sticks - to wipe the plate clean.

I have to say though, I will need a lot more tomato plants if I ever want to can tomato sauce.  It did take time to remove seeds, but at this point I have no intentions of buying a "sauce maker" as requested by my husband.  I'm sure it's electric and it would, at this point, just take up space.

We've also been enjoying the very juicy and organic grown cantaloupe, from our melon patch.  We've eaten about 5 nice sized one so far, with the largest about 7 inches in diameter.  Prior to the season, we added sand to the melon patch.  So far, it's helped us grow nice sized cantaloupe.

As for our watermelon, we have enjoyed about 3 of them so far.  It takes longer for them to ripen.  And even though I warned my husband that we should not pick one yet, he did.  It was, of course, not ripe enough.  It did have a wonderful flavor, and we ate most of it anyway.  The rest went into the fridge, and was chilled.  We then cut it into cubes and treated our chickens with an nice cold snack, to help keep them hydrated in this extreme heat.  They loved it!

As I sit here they type this, a stray dog has wandered into our driveway.  He looks very much like one of our dogs, with a sickly look to him/her.  The kids are outside right now, trying to entice him/her with a treat and fresh water.  Then we can see if he/she has a collar and tags.  It appears dehydrated, poor thing.  I hope it doesn't run off without getting a drink of water.  It was over 90°F yesterday, and the only water source nearby is creek water.  Not good for a dehydrated dog.  If they are successful at rescuing the dog, I'll be sure to post an update. My heart breaks when I see a stray, hungry, and dehydrated dog, especially when it's extremely hot out.

Today, I am making another batch of liquid homemade laundry detergent.  I've tried 2 types of soap - Zote and Fels-Naptha soap.  I prefer the Fels-Naptha, even though Zote offered a more pleasant smell.  It's melting away on the stove, so I can later add the borax and washing soda.  Making it has become a natural choice for us now.

 

Honey ~ The Bee's Business ~ More Garden Tales (if you can stand to hear them)

We were researching honey and my husband found a local harvester.  To give it a try, we bought a quart.  When he asked me if I wanted a gallon, I thought he was crazy!  A gallon?!  Who in their right mind would use a gallon of honey?  Well, I think we will be using more of it.

After reading all about the benefits of local harvested honey vs. store bought, I was shocked.  Today I made a Honey Apricot bread with 1 cup of it.  We have yet to slice it.  I sure smelled good, and the recipe came from a Bear Wallow recipe book.

We also dug up more home grown carrots and peas.  This is the first year to use heirloom seeds and we started with the peas.  I can't believe the color and the taste.  I will definitely add more to my garden, so we will have more and even more to freeze for the winter/spring.

While the bread was baking today, I made another 2 quarts of homemade salsa!  Yum!

While the girls helped chop tomatoes, I ventured out to the garden to pick more.  Only I found that Mr. Raccoon made a visit to the tomatoes last night.  He pushed a few stands over and munched on a few tomatoes.  That must have been what upset the barn cats last night.  There was such a racket of noise, cats snarling and hissing, we wondered what happened.  Here, the barn cats were guarding the garden.  They are so funny in that way.  Protectors of their land, that's for sure.  As for the raccoon, I'm wondering if it's him that's splattered on the highway today (blech!).

Recommeded Reading ~ Living Smart and Simple

Cookbooks

Tomato, A Fresh-from-the-Vine Cookbook, by Lawrence Davis-Hollander

Quick-Fix Healthy Mix, 225 Healthy and Affordable mix Recipes to Stock Your Kitchen, by Casey Kellar and Nicole Kellar-Munoz.

Gardening Books

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control, A Complete Guide to Maintaining a Healthy garden and Yard the Earth-Friendly Way, edited by Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara W. Ellis, and Deborah L. Martin

S.C.R.A.P ~ Recycling and Reusing Book List