We have had rain today and its kinda cool out there. Sure does make the joints hurt a good bit. I think traveling in a vehicle makes me hurt more than standing or walking these days. Jason and I had to go to Lexington yesterday afternoon to check on mom. The nursing home here had failed to notify me that she had been sent out and admitted to the hospital with a gall bladder attack. Did I mention how pissed I am over that? They will hear from me in the morning and probably wont like it. Mom had surgery this morning and the doc said all went well with the surgery. I am sure it will be a rather long recovery for her with her being so uncooperative and all. Just pray she don't get pneumonia or other complications. I will be back down there tomorrow to check on her again.
As for things here on the farm. Rodger did get the rest of the corn picked yesterday while Jason and I were gone. We will have plenty of corn for cornmeal and what ever else we decide to do with it. We already have a good amount shelled for the chickens this winter so they will be happy when it gets cold. They eat more corn as the weather gets colder. The starch helps them produce body heat and they stay warmer and lay better too.
Yesterday while we were out of town and in the big city Jason bought me an enameled cast iron dutch oven that I had wanted for a long time. They are great for browning roasts and such and then can go straight to the oven with fear of unseasoned a regular cast iron dutch oven. I tried it out today and made a venison roast for a late lunch. It turned out great, moist, tender and tasty. I also made homemade rolls. Yeah I cheat and use the bread machine to knead the dough then I shape them and let them proof and bake. The 3 of us ate 18 large rolls.
Not much else happening here right now on the farm. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Home at last!
After 2 weeks of cooking at the hunting lodge for deer hunters I am back home to the organized chaos here at home. I did enjoy cooking for the guys and they seemed to enjoy the homemade meals as well. But we didn't have hunters scheduled for the last weekend of the hunting season so I decided to head on home. I left my aunts on Wednesday morning and intended to stop off and see my friend Rosie and her family. I called several times and didn't get an answer so I had to assume they maybe were away for the day. So I will go back sometime in December and visit with them for a day or so. I made it to my house about 5:30 last evening. I was worn out from driving 350 miles straight. Long trips are really hard on my body with all this arthritis. It is nice to be home. I vaguely remember laying down in bed last night till I was out like a light.
We had Thanksgiving dinner with Rodgers family today. I took homemade rolls to dinner. I talked to Rob yesterday and he and Amoy were cooking a turkey today too. This evening he said it was great, the first one they had cooked at their house on their own. Sure would have been nice to have them here with us for the holiday. Miss my kids a bunch.
When I got home Rodger and Jason had already processed the deer they had and all the meat was in the freezer. So I didn't have to do that when I got here. Next weekend we are killing hogs and some of that meat goes in the freezer. Then I think in mid December we get half a beef for the freezer. So we should be pretty well set for meat for the year. When I was at deer camp a fellow from North Carolina gave me a nice big deer. He just wanted the horns and not the meat and gave it to me. I am salt curing the hams or hind quarters off the deer. It should end up very much like country ham. I just mixed equal parts Kosher salt and brown sugar and lots of black pepper, cayenne pepper and rubbed it liberally into the deer meat while it still had some body heat left. It looks like it is curing well. So will let you know how it tastes. I sliced the back strap and froze that for steaks for us.
Rodger is hoping to get our corn picked this weekend. He was planning on doing that last weekend but we got tons of rain here. But it should be dry enough by Saturday to get it in. I am hoping. Then after the hog killing next weekend I can hibernate for the winter.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
We had Thanksgiving dinner with Rodgers family today. I took homemade rolls to dinner. I talked to Rob yesterday and he and Amoy were cooking a turkey today too. This evening he said it was great, the first one they had cooked at their house on their own. Sure would have been nice to have them here with us for the holiday. Miss my kids a bunch.
When I got home Rodger and Jason had already processed the deer they had and all the meat was in the freezer. So I didn't have to do that when I got here. Next weekend we are killing hogs and some of that meat goes in the freezer. Then I think in mid December we get half a beef for the freezer. So we should be pretty well set for meat for the year. When I was at deer camp a fellow from North Carolina gave me a nice big deer. He just wanted the horns and not the meat and gave it to me. I am salt curing the hams or hind quarters off the deer. It should end up very much like country ham. I just mixed equal parts Kosher salt and brown sugar and lots of black pepper, cayenne pepper and rubbed it liberally into the deer meat while it still had some body heat left. It looks like it is curing well. So will let you know how it tastes. I sliced the back strap and froze that for steaks for us.
Rodger is hoping to get our corn picked this weekend. He was planning on doing that last weekend but we got tons of rain here. But it should be dry enough by Saturday to get it in. I am hoping. Then after the hog killing next weekend I can hibernate for the winter.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Up to date and now out of town
I think maybe over the weekend I finally got some things caught up on the homestead and ready for the winter. Well with exception of the things that have not been killed back by frost. In our area down on the river we have not had a good killing frost yet this fall. My strawberry plants are still green and making runners like crazy. Really don't want to put mulch on those till they get killed back or they will freeze out when it gets cold because they try to keep living under the mulch and don't go dormant. Same with the asparagus bed. I did get the herb bed dead-headed and all the junk raked off it last weekend. It does look better and not so much like a jungle in the yard. It will get a layer of mulch as soon as we get a good frost.
I had an eye doctor appointment this morning and then left town to come to west Ky to help Aunt Ann with her hunting lodge and cook for the deer hunters. I will likely be here till after Thanksgiving.. Most likely leave the Monday after Thanksgiving and head over to central Ky to visit my friend Rosie and spend the night then on home the next day. I will only get a couple days to rest up then we butcher hogs. Maybe I can take a long break after the second week of December. All that kinda depends on whether or not Rodger gets our corn picked this week. If it is dry enough he is going to get the corn in and if not that will get put off till later. Deer season for modern fire arms opens this coming weekend here in Ky and every male I know is heading out somewhere to hunt. Rodger will be hunting with Josh the first weekend of season and then Jason will hunt with Josh the second weekend. Hopefully they will get a few deer for meat for the freezer. It cost a small amount to travel to hunt but is cheap as compared to buying the same amount of meat from the grocery and much more healthy for you. If they get more than a couple I know I will have to can some of the meat as we wont have freezer space. It will be close with some hog meat that needs to be frozen and then a half a beef in early December. But we will be set for the year. With that in mind, I may not get to rest when I get back home from working out here. I may be busy as a cat covering it up canning venison. But that's a good thing.
Will up date as the week progresses here and try to keep you all abreast of what is happening on the homestead too.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead on the road.
Stella
I had an eye doctor appointment this morning and then left town to come to west Ky to help Aunt Ann with her hunting lodge and cook for the deer hunters. I will likely be here till after Thanksgiving.. Most likely leave the Monday after Thanksgiving and head over to central Ky to visit my friend Rosie and spend the night then on home the next day. I will only get a couple days to rest up then we butcher hogs. Maybe I can take a long break after the second week of December. All that kinda depends on whether or not Rodger gets our corn picked this week. If it is dry enough he is going to get the corn in and if not that will get put off till later. Deer season for modern fire arms opens this coming weekend here in Ky and every male I know is heading out somewhere to hunt. Rodger will be hunting with Josh the first weekend of season and then Jason will hunt with Josh the second weekend. Hopefully they will get a few deer for meat for the freezer. It cost a small amount to travel to hunt but is cheap as compared to buying the same amount of meat from the grocery and much more healthy for you. If they get more than a couple I know I will have to can some of the meat as we wont have freezer space. It will be close with some hog meat that needs to be frozen and then a half a beef in early December. But we will be set for the year. With that in mind, I may not get to rest when I get back home from working out here. I may be busy as a cat covering it up canning venison. But that's a good thing.
Will up date as the week progresses here and try to keep you all abreast of what is happening on the homestead too.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead on the road.
Stella
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