Getting stuff done

I am getting some things done that I guess I should not have put off this long. Such as, using up some deer burger we had left from last year, some deer roast, canning gumbo. But I did get started on it this week since I have been home. I got 10 quarts of chili made and canned with the deer burger on Monday. I have made and canned 14 quarts of gumbo today. Gumbo takes a good long while to get everything browned and mixed and make the roux and get in the jars ready to go in the pressure canner. It really has taken me all dang day. But it sure is gonna be tasty. It smelled so good before it even got pressure canned. Nice dark color too. Deb will be proud of me, she taught me well.

Now maybe Rodger can have a few quick hot homemade meals when I am not home. This amount of gumbo wont last long at our house. I am sure it would not have taken me as long to get finished if I had not went to help Jason work on his kitchen. But I managed to do both today. Now tomorrow its get the mustard and turnip greens cut and canned. Maybe help Jason again if he needs me.

Jason and Rodger have got the floor leveled and the sub-floor in and it wont be falling thru anytime soon.

As you can see from the photos above it was built to stand the test of time. This house is close to 100 years old. I am still amazed that the foundation material is still in this good shape considering we had a water leak for no telling how long. But all better now. I will post pics of the after as soon as I can get those. He plans to make up-grades to the house as he can afford it. Next will be new kitchen cabinets in the kitchen as the ones he had are severely water damaged from the leak that had soaked them from the bottom up.

Not much else happening here on the homestead. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Home at last

I am back home at last, at least for a while. Sorry about the long absence and lack of postings and updates. I just made it back home this evening. My uncle Tripp had ask me to house sit for him for the month of October while he was away and I did after talking with Rodger and concluding that there was nothing happening here on the farm that really needed my attention. So I headed to west Ky October 8th and just got back to my house today. It was a lil mini vacation of sorts for me but sad at the same time. I could sit on the porch at their house and felt like I was waiting on Aunt Ann to get home from work. Several times emotion overwhelmed me but at the same time I did find some comfort in being there. That big house sure is empty without her. Yet you can see evidence of her in every inch of the place. It is nice to be in my house again for a while. At least till the deer season starts and its back to the grind.

Back on the farm, Rodger went deer hunting and we have a few deer hanging that will get skinned an processed this coming week. So we have meat for the freezer. I still have some deer roast and burger left from last season in the freezer. I plan to use some of the roast in gumbo this week when I make and can more for Rodger. The burger I plan to use in making chili to can for heat and eat meals. We do eat a lot of soups, stews and chili in winter. Well actually all year round. Most weekends even in summer if we are busy we will have veggie soup or chili or gumbo for lunch or a quick supper. My version of convenience food only homemade. Rodger told me out potatoes are not keeping well in the cellar at all. I plan to go thru those this week and if they are salvageable I guess I will can up more of those. When we first dug them I did can a lot of the small ones. But dang I was so hoping they would keep in the cellar for use this winter. Guess I might invest in a big bag of Jasmine rice as our starch staple. I guess if we don't have our own taters we will just not be eating many taters.

It was too late when I got home to get to see how my cabbage were doing in the herb bed out front. I hope I have a few heads of cabbage to make a lil bit of kraut with. Kraut just makes my tummy feel so much better when I can eat a lil bit on occasion. Some fresh coleslaw would be nice too!! I could see even in the dark that the mustard and turnip greens will need to be picked and canned again this week. I just cut and canned a bunch of those before I left the early part of the month. I guess Rob and Amoy will get more of those delivered to Nevada in the spring when we make out trek out there next year. I am really sad that I have missed getting any apples at all this year to make pie filling or to freeze. But I hope I can dig in the freezer and find enough to make do till next season. Apples are far too expensive in the store to even think of buying any to freeze much less eat fresh. I do still have several jars of pie filling canned so I am good in that area.

While I was away Jason had a catastrophe at his house(the old farm house). They found a leak under the kitchen sink that had been leaking for a long long time. Water had soaked the particle board flooring underneath the linoleum and rotted it really bad. I was so worried that it may have weakened the structure of the house. So when I got home I went to check on Mary Kay, whom they had left to pull nails while Rodger and Jason went to purchase new floor material. And I was so relieved an happy to see the floor joist are as solid as the day they were put in about 100 years ago, and they are REAL 2 by 8 floor joist. Oak at that. Not to mention the sills are probably 10 by 10 inch squared timbers that are still solid as can be.  My grand dad and great grand dad may not have used a square or level to build but by hell they built strong. Some older houses can sometimes, with age, get to the point where you are almost better off to tear down and completely rebuild than to try to remodel, but I do believe this house is a perfect candidate to be remodeled. It does need a few minor repairs such as a couple floors leveled in the kitchen and dining room, the bath needs to be remodeled an expanded farther down the south side to encompass a bit more of the porch and add a utility room on. Jason would be wise to invest in doing those things and will end up with a good sturdy solid house. So the fellows will tackle the floor job tomorrow and get it fixed and as Jason has money he can do things to upgrade now that we know its on solid footing.

Not sure what I will tackle first tomorrow, get taters out of cellar and sort the bad ones out, make an can gumbo, make an can chili, just not sure yet. But I am sure I can find lots to do to keep me busy.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Sometimes I feel like the Clampets house

I guess if you are on a farm everyone has those times. Somehow this summer I have managed to inherit several orphans here. First it was the lil kittens with no momma. They are doing fine. After the last post I started setting out a bowl of food (home canned chicken and stock) for them early in the morning and late evening and they have learned to sit nearby the food dish in the weeds and wait for feeding time. They will sit and watch me put their food out but still wont come to me. Thas OK tho as long as they eat. I have to make sure they eat before I let the chickens out for the day or they steal the food. All the while I have to make sure Luna and her lil girls have food out so they don't take the kittens foods. Kinda tricky and time consuming to get those critters fed. Then I let the big chickens out after the kittens eat so they can do their thing. Which usually includes dusting under my shrubs. They move a lot of dirt but the base of some shrubs are sure weed free. Not to mentioned fertilized. So its all good. I let the chickens out today and checked on the hens with the babies. The first babies are about a week and a half old and doing good. I had one lil fellow that hatched out late and his momma didn't want him. I had him in the house with me one night till he got stronger and then took him back to the hens. Not sure what problem one of the hens has with the lil one but she kept beatin him up every time he got near her. I cant have that crap so he is back in the house in a box and is very happy not to have his lil head pecked for living. So now I have to make sure he stays warm so he don't fuss all night and keep us all up. Cant imagine how this is all gonna end. I can see me having a chicken that sits on the front porch with me because he don't know hes a chickens. Then the morning care includes making sure the meat birds are cool enough and doing OK. Yesterday I had to take a box fan and put in the building with them to move the air a bit in there. They were getting too hot. Those Cornish do not tolerate extreme heat or cold well at all. They do suffer. So this morning when I checked in on them they were doing what most chickens do, sitting in front of the fan where its nice and cool. Our temps are supposed to cool some this weekend and first part of next week so that will help the birds some. It gets to be a full time job keeping water out so all the critters have access to fresh water all day in the heat.
We are hoping for rain soon. Even tho the gardens are doing well they sure could use some rain. We did enjoy the new taters with our sugar snap peas last week. I had wilted lettuce and onions with bacon one day for lunch. Dang I could eat that every day for life I think. Just one of those comfort foods I grew up on. I usually just fry up some home grown bacon that I have cut in lil tiny pieces till it gets crisp. Drain off some of the bacon grease then toss in some sliced green onions till they wilt and then put the lettuce in the skillet till its wilted a lil and toss to coat well with the fat. Put in a big ole bowl and dig in. I put the bacon bits back on top of the lettuce after it wilts down good and for me thas a good meal. Especially if ya have some leftover cornbread to go with it. Can we say HOG HEAVEN!!
I have to tell ya about my lil observation this evening. After I had fed the lil orphan kittens and they had ate I saw our older white momma cat (the only momma we have now) had went down below the house in the yard with her kittens which are older. The momma cat and her kittens were playing with the lil orphans. When it was almost dark I saw the momma luring all the kittens back up toward the house and out back toward the outbuildings where her kittens have been staying. Kinda makes ya think that if humans don't interfere with nature, nature will take care of its own. I have to wonder if the momma cat knows the lil kittens (her grand kittens) are orphaned and is tryin to lure them back up to the house to stay in the company of her kittens so they can show them where the food bowl stays. I always feed the momma cat and her young on the back deck under a picnic table and they know there is food there. And we think animals are dumb. All animals have God given instincts and teach their young to survive. Even in watching Luna with her lil girls is amazing. She led them up here to the house where she knew there would be food when they were old enough to start on solid food. As long as she was nursing them before they were ready to eat, she kept them down across the road under the old house, safe, dry and cool. If I had leftover rolls and such I know Luna enjoyed I would give them to her in her morning food bowl. I watched her several different times take one of the rolls in her mouth and take off down the yard, across the road and take the roll to her puppies. I guess she knew it was soft enough for them to learn to eat and after about a week of this she started bringing them up to the house. I was watching her when she brought them up the other morning and she would walk slow ahead of them occasionally looking back till she led them to the water bowl I had out for them. So now they know where the water bowl is at. I feed Luna in her bowl and put the lil girls food in another container near hers. She will growl gently if they get in her food, they will just sit down an watch her. Then they will go eat from their bowl. I have noticed that she don't eat the food from their dish even if hers is empty. She will come to me when I go out on the front porch and with her body language let me know her bowl is empty. I am always amazed at the awesome work of God and his creations.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

The last butchering is done

As I posted a few days ago this weekend was the end of the hogs. We got them both butchered on Saturday. The hams, shoulders, and middlings were all trimmed and had the cure on them before days end. We actually worked them up individually not killing them both and then doing all the trim work. So by dark-thirty we had the lard cut, tenderloin sliced, ribs cut, sausage meat ready to grind then loaded up an came back here to the summer kitchen. That is where we ground the sausage and got it packaged for the freezer. After we got all the stuff put in the freezer that needed to be except grinding the sausage we did get a lil break and had time to eat a sammich. It was not a long break and then we got after the sausage. Jason, Josh, Daniel and I finally got in the house for the night around midnight. That was a long day and we were worn out.
Just a few shots of the butchering process so look away if you have a weak stomach.

 

Saturday was a nice day to butcher, not hot but not freezing cold either. This is the first hog after we got him cleaned. They were a lot bigger than I thought they would be. The crane on the work truck was sure handy this weekend. 

 

I got the camera as the guys get started gutting the animal. But sometimes only one person can work at a time.

 

Of course when we were cutting the hogs head up to make souse meat the fellers thought it was a good time to play. Kinda gory looking at best. Actually Daniel took some photos to send to his young daughter Gracie that would have loved to have been here to do this stuff her self.

 

This looks like one of the characters from the movie Ice Age. Some parts of the hog head don't get put in the souse.

Ah ain't Jeremiah cute with his lil hog hair mustache?   I think we were all tired enough to be silly.

We made lard today. I had my jars ready and after straining out the cracklings I had Jason just ladle the hot lard into clean half gallon jars and we put the lids on em. As they cool they will seal and this keeps the lard fresh for much longer.
All this activity took place at Jason's house and I could not resist giving his dog Dehlia the pigs tail when we got it cut off. She was in her pen and after we gave her the pig tail she started whining. And when Jason went to check on her she had the tail in her mouth. He opened her pen and let her out and she made a beeline to the woods to bury the pigs tail. She didn't have a good place inside her pen to bury her goodies so she was begging to get out. She is a sweet girl.
As of now the meat is all taken care of except the souse making process. That might take place tomorrow if I can move once I get out of bed. All this hard work has been really hard on my body. Maybe a good nights rest will help some. Not much else happening around here right now, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Trying to see the pretty things

Dang with all this rain and storms we have had since I don't remember when, I guess I am blessed to have anything left to bloom and look pretty. We have had several pretty good rain showers today and after it stopped I got out and took a few pics here around the house. The big plus with the pretty stuff is I can see it and think of the wonderful friends who have shared seeds and plants with me.

This is the beautiful hollyhocks that Rosie gave me the seed for and they were planted last year. They are just starting to bloom. In the foreground is fever few that she also shared with me. Later on in summer it has beautiful white daisy like lil flowers on it.

The flower border at the back of the house is filled in with plants from my friend Madeline. The old porch rocker is one I sat in as a lil child on the porch of the old home place. It is more for sentimental value than sitting as it is about rotted down. Maybe a few more years left in its life.

The grapevines are loaded with lil grape clusters again this year. They got pruned heavily this spring and are still sprawling.

The border to the left is Lariope (monkey grass) that my aunt Ann had given me last spring. It will thrive almost anywhere and makes a nice edging for drives and such. The herb bed has a lil fence around it now to keep some animals from walking thru it. The new herbs in there are starting to take off now and grow. Still have more young ones to plant in there too.

This is the new bed extension in back of the house. It is planted with leeks and the new strawberry plants from my friends Gretchen and Carl. I am still short 1 bag of mulch to even this one out and eliminate the bare dirt spot.

v

This is the banana pup that my friend Deb sent me from Mississippi last week. This is the musa basjoo variety. This banana tree is grown for fiber and not the fruit. It has gotten 2 new leaves on it just since I got it. I think they are capable of growing up to 2 ft per week in the warmer summer months. It will also flower when it has 35 leaves or reaches 10 ft tall. I am thinking in a few years it can be moved to a place where I can put a hammock chair under it and have shade.
Anyway not much going on here today will the rain. All I have succeeded in doing is getting my hair cut and just stayed inside. The cool rainy weather does a number on my joints.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Hillbillie Saturday night!

Life in the country and on the farm probably is not for everyone. But dang for us its really the good life. Let me give ya the whole story of this picture. We butchered our hog in January and it was cold, too cold in my opinion for the meat to cure like I wanted it to. I would have been happier with it if we had not gotten so much really cold a couple days after we butchered thus allowing the cure to penetrate better. So today I took the hams in an we sliced them up and put them in the freezer. Better safe than sorry later.

After we cut into them, hind sight, I think they would have kept OK. But we decided to have country ham and biscuits and red eye gravy for supper tonight. So that is what I fixed. Dayemmm talk about good. That stuff make ya take back stuff ya didn't steal. Any way Jason had went home to get some old corn and cobs and stuff out of the big corn crib at the old home place and burn them. I thought he was posed to be here for supper. But he still had too big a fire to leave so when the biscuits got done I took the biscuits, ham and a bowl of red eye gravy and went around to hang out with him. Pretty nice weather to sit outside eatin ham biscuits and dipping em in the red eye. Red eye gravy as we call it would send most cardiologist into cardiac arrest just thinking about the fat content, but oh well! Easy to make and so good. When you fry your country ham use lard in the skillet, preferably cast iron, dont take much extra lard and brown the ham. Remove the ham to a plate to keep warm. Drain all but about 4 tablespoons of the fat from the skillet making sure to leave all the brown bits in the bottom. Add about 1 cup of cold leftover coffee to the grease. Sprinkle in a bit of black pepper and stir to loosen the bits from the bottom. Simmer to get really hot and pour into a shallow bowl. Make your ham biscuit and proceed to dip it in the gravy with each bite. Not recommended for the faint of heart, this stuff will make your taste buds do jumping jacks. Sure don't take much to keep us occupied on a weekend.

                                                 (Dont he look like a happy feller!!!!)


The fire was nice and warm after the sun went down but the air was kinda cold for me. But earlier in the day it was sunny and really nice an warm out. Good weather for yard chores if have em to do. And goodness knows I got plenty things to get done around here.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Winter wonderland out there

We got a total of 8 inches of snow last night after mid-night and it is a winter wonderland outside today. Pretty to look at but hell if ya have to be out in it. The guys headed out for work this morning and they made the only tracks that have been made on our road here. Jason took some pics of his house (the old home place) this evening after he got home. This was done while he was out feeding Petunia.

The big barn at the home place has a lil creek running in front of it. The water in this creek would be safe to drink. It starts on the farm and there is no runoff or pollutants that run into it.

The old log barn where Petunia lives. A barn my dad built when I was very young.

The old farm house where my son Jason lives now. He takes care of that end of the farm.

 The house and shed that is in front of the old smoke house.

We obviously had wind last night to blow snow in on my front porch. Pretty sure it snowed on Luna too. Her bed is out of sight to the bottom right.

When I got out today to shovel the back deck here I measured 8 inches of snow. And this was less than what actually fell due to the wind blowing it around.

Luna loves this stuff. Probably the only time she is actually cool all year. She is sitting on the back sidewalk.
Now on to spring as far as I am concerned. I don't like snow. Or cold for that matter. Although it did not get as cold as was predicted. It was about 15 here this morning.
I have not done much else but the snow shoveling today. Although I do have some candy recipes to share with you as well. Very easy to make and taste great. I love these things. Not to mention the fact that you can alter the flavor just by changing out the orange juice concentrate for a flavor of your choice.

Christmas candy

1 box of vanilla wafers, crushed really fine (think food processor)
1 16 oz bag of powdered sugar
1/2 cup soft butter
6 oz of orange juice concentrate

Mix all together really well and roll into balls and place on a flat pan and chill for at least an hour. I make mine the size of large grapes to make em bite size. When chilled dip in your choice of Candy Quik or a small bag of chocolate chips melted with 1/2 bar of paraffin. Dip and place on wax paper to harden. Store in the fridge in single layers or with wax paper between the layers.

To make pina colada candies, sub bottles pina colada mix for the 6 oz of OJ, same with strawberry daiquiri mix. You can also add cocoa powder to make chocolate, add coconut to make coconut ones, add nuts to any of the above. Really there is not way to mess these up. As long as you don't get too happy with liquid. My faves are the pina colada ones with added coconut.
So till next time, enjoy and blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

We babysittin this week

We are baby sitting, well actually puppy sitting for Rob and Amoy. Rob is on his way to Nevada to do his internship for college and Amoy rode there with him and will fly home next week. So we got to keep our lil granddog. lol As you can guess we don't have grand kids yet but we have a grand dog. She is a sweetheart and a good lil girl. Papaw had to take her out this evening while I was busy in the summer kitchen. Now keep in mind this is a man who don't take kindly to little critters in the house. But this is his baby's lil baby.

I love my summer kitchen. I have already given it a trial run canning baked beans  and mustard and turnip greens out there. So nice to not have that mess in the kitchen here and keeps the heat out of the house. I did manage to get about half the mustard and turnip greens cut last night and canned. Maybe I can do the other half next week.
While we were in the garden last evening Jason plowed the ground up to plant more sweet corn and we got the cukes planted as well. My beans are up and look good so far. The tomatoes are coming along nicely and the peas are loaded with blooms. I should have enough salit peas to can some this year. I love good salit peas, the kind you cook hull and all with some bacon grease.That and a chunk of cornbread makes a good meal.
I will need to pick the strawberries again tomorrow as well, they are doing good this year. Might even get enough to make strawberry jam.
We have some new friends, Chris and Tammie, coming from Ohio to visit tomorrow to do a lil video for her blog. If I am permitted I will try to share that with you all at a later date. It should be fun. They will be staying in the old farm house here for the weekend. 
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

More odds and ends

Today was one of those that consisted of just trying to do odd things to get bigger projects completed. The guys made all the trim and finishing pieces for the summer kitchen today. We had lots of scrap lumber and made good use of it. The lumber was all cut on the table saw and run thru the planer and then thru the router to make the molding and baseboards. Then I painted all of it a light beige color to coordinate with the wall board. It will look really nice when it gets installed.
Earlier in the day I went to the old farm house and spent some time there just thinking and organizing things a bit. It was one of those days when you dont want to spend too much time thinking about things, like your childhood. My dad has been gone 6 years as of last Friday and it seems like only yesterday. But he is finally at rest, and I wait my turn. Dad always said the older you get the more difficult things become. And dang I know now what he was talking about. The older I get the more I see me being like him. He was one to always stand on his own, never asking anyone for anything, dealing with his own burdens as they came, relying on God and his own hard work to get him through. A fine man that passed down that strength and will to me. For this I am thankful. It has kept me sane through some trying times in life.
After I came back to the house I went to the greenhouse to water the plants. Repotted some of them that were growing slow in the peat pellets and brought the leeks up to transplant. Well thats when I started painting trim pieces and didnt get time before dark to plant the leeks so thas a task for tomorrow among about 10 others. Now I need to get another propane tank to use in the greenhouse tonight for heat with temps predicted in the low 30's again and for several more nights. All of a sudden I am behind and have things to do backed up around the corner. Oh well thas the story of my life. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Closer to spring

I think we are a lot closer to spring now. The weather today was really nice too, sunny and about 55 degrees. My little crocuses are blooming now, finally. Last year they bloomed a lot earlier. I think they know spring is here.
We got the water lines fixed at the rental house today and no leaks now. I got the floors swept and maybe tomorrow I can go back an give it a good cleaning an be done with it.
Hopefully we can get some post cut an the chicken fence built as well. Would be so nice to get them moved to green grass for a while and out of my flower beds. I have my incubator in the house warming up so I can put eggs in it tomorrow if all goes well. We shall see. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Not much happening

Not much happening here on the farm this time of year. It was rather cold this morning. Think the low last night was about 22 or so. I really don't take the cold like I did when I was 20 for some reason. They tell me age plays a big part in that fact. But none the less even in winter there are minor things that need to be done here. We finally got some firewood hauled and put on the front porch in case the power goes off. Or even if it don't we still use the fireplace to help cut down on the power bill. A nice fire in a fireplace kinda reminds me of my youth when I was growing up in the old farm house we heated with wood and coal. The coal was mostly used when the weather got bitterly cold as it produces more heat than wood. The smell of coal smoke takes me back a few years. Strange how smells can do that to your mind. I remember when I was very young, in summer time the railroad company would come through replacing cross ties in the tracks and dad would always talk to some of the men working and tell them they could leave some of the pieces along side the tracks on the farm. Then he would put an old chain on his chain saw and cut them up then split them to use to heat water at hog killing time. I can still remember the smell of the creosote as it burned to heat the water. When dad farmed with mules, the mules knew that smell all too well and it meant they would be dragging a dead hog to the scalding platform soon and they would get jittery. Then the smell in the spring when dad would smoke the country hams with hickory. Ah such a good life that was.
My task for the day was to get moms laundry done up and taken to the nursing home for her. That was a bigger job than I had anticipated. I ended up doing 8 loads of laundry, all of which had to be taken to her and some of it taken back to her apartment till she needs it. The next several days will consist of cleaning and straightening the apartment and packing some of moms stuff for storage. Sadly she wont be able to live there anymore with her health declining. So I have my work cut out for me I guess. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Playing in the dirt

We have been playing in the dirt for the past few days around here. The root cellar is finally covered over and we are now ready to start seeding the ground to hopefully prevent it from washing down the hill to the house. The drainage ditch is dug out, the landscape gravel is back in front of the outbuilding so we don't walk through mud going in there. I have to say it does look better. In the process of moving the dirt back with the dozer, several huge rocks were unearthed. Those were placed behind one retaining wall as water breaks. Maybe I can get some kind of ground cover planted there to make it look better. Also there are 2 areas in front of the cellar that will probably be herb beds and maybe some kind of vining fruit to cover the front of the cellar in summer to keep it cooler. But first order will be a coat of paint on the front of the concrete. Still several little projects to do but progress is being made.
I did finish painting the inside of the old farm house and got the trim done. Still need to change out the tub fixtures and call it quits. Lots to do before cold weather. Till then, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Still keeping on

Well we have all been hard at it all day today with various projects. The root cellar finally got covered over and is now officially under ground. Just hope it don't rain till we get all the minor leveling done with the dirt. Still need to open drainage ditch to carry water away from the deck and back of the house. Some very large rocks need to be positioned to slow down runoff of water when it does rain. I will still need to get the one flower bed dug out so I can have a rock patio put in its place before winter. I can feel the blisters starting on my hands already from the rake and shovel.
I have painted all day at the old farm house and still have the bathroom to paint and some trim work to do before calling it done. Then some cleanup and I will quit, maybe.
Tomorrow Rob and Amoy will be here so Rob can help with the finish work on the back area of the house and around the cellar. Can always use another strong back and muscles. The kids are really good to come home and help out when they have time off work to do so. Guess I will have to feed some of "moms home cooking". Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Another day in paradise

Its just another day to try and get a lot of things done before the weather changes into fall. We have gotten most of the old farm house painted inside, still have 2 large rooms and a bathroom to paint and then the trim to finish. While out of town to a dentist appointment we had to do some shopping and picked up some paint at a discount store. It was a good name brand for $25 for a 5 gallon bucket. It was a light beige color which works great for the house. Also got 3 other gallon buckets of white paint for the trim. All really good quality paint and saved a bundle of money on it.
We have the dozer back here to get the root cellar covered over so we can plant grass on it before too late in the season. The top of the cellar will end up having about a foot of dirt on it to help maintain an even temperature all year around.
I have been wanting to get some pears off the tree to ripen so I can make pear preserves and haven't done that yet, so maybe I can do that tomorrow after I finish painting at the old house. The mustard and turnip greens I cut a week or so ago have grown back and need to be cut again. I have to get some straw next week and finish mulching all the plants that need to be mulched before winter. Dang I only have a week to get all this done as I am leaving on vacation October 10th and will be gone for a couple weeks. A much needed break before I have surgery on my elbow and am house bound all winter. Not looking forward to that at all.
Jason got the final mowing done on the farm yesterday and day before, it looks nice and tidy for a change. I noticed lots of fallen leaves got chopped up with the riding mower. The trees are starting to change into their coat of many colors for fall. And with the big full harvest moon, makes want to find a warm spot and curl up for a good long nap. Maybe that's a good plan. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Started mulching

I finally got started mulching the ornamental plants in the yard today, getting them ready for winter. There is a wide place on the side of our county road where the tree trimming companies unload wood chip when they do tree trimming here in the area. This makes really good mulch for ornamental plants and as a bonus it free. All you have to do is take a pick-up truck and shovel and load up. My son went and got a load of the chips for me today and helped unload them so I could mulch the plants. I am taking out one flower bed and probably will make a rock patio on the back of the house. Some of the flowers taken out were put in other beds and at the west end of the house. Luna, our Great Pyrenees really helped with the digging process, but she wanted to dig where there was nothing to dig up. She was more interested in playing than any thing else. Now all I need to do is find some seed free straw to mulch grapes, strawberries, and asparagus with and the mulching will be done. That will have to wait till Friday, we have a dentist appointment out of town tomorrow and wont get anything done. While I am out I am going to be looking for paint to paint the interior of the old farm house so it will be move in ready. Did I mention I hate dentist appointments? Well I do, but its just one of life's little annoyances. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Lose ends

Seems as though I have spent this day just finalizing little projects here at home. Finished cleaning the old farm house and getting it ready to paint. Picked the last of my bell peppers and got all the Serrano chilies off the plants to dry. I had planted a bunch of different gourds this summer in the garden and they had tons of gourds on the vines. Some of them appeared to be dry till you pick them up and if ya touch them the wrong way they shatter like paper. I went ahead and pulled some off that were still green and brought them in to see if they will dry or rot. Only time will tell.

The original plan was to go to the garden and pick some corn for the chickens. And in the process of looking at the 2 different varieties of open pollinated corn that we planted there is one trait with the Turners gold that I don't like. Normally on most varieties the ear will drop and hang down after the stalks start to turn brown and die. This variety does not. The Boone County White open pollinated will point down when the stalks start to dry. This a something I like to see in the corn I intend to keep for making cornmeal. When the ears hang down and the fall rains, which we are starting to have, the rain water don't collect in the shuck and make the corn sprout and rot in the field. I noticed all the white corn was hanging down and the yellow ears were still upright. When we picked the yellow for the chickens most all the ears had water at the base of the cob and had started to sprout or were molding. So in conclusion the yellow is OK for feed but the white is best for drying and making cornmeal. Wont be long till the white corn is hard enough to make hominy. And that I intend to do this year. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

This is the view

I spent the day today again cleaning the old home place. This is taking longer than I thought it was going to. But as anyone who has done any painting or cleaning in the house knows it is a lot easier to do when the house is empty. So I washed walls and cleaned base boards today. This evening I decided to tackle the range and get it in a decent shape. That took some elbow grease that I didn't have to spend. Came back to my house and fixed dinner, ate a little and went back to wash kitchen cabinets. They looked so nice once they were cleaned and had lemon oil on them. I got to thinking again about my family that had built the house and took notice to the views from some of the windows. I am fairly certain now that they gave some real thought in window placement. The windows now may be new but the view is the same as it has been for years. One window looks out toward the big field where the family always raised corn, maybe my grandmother would look see when the menfolk were heading out of the fields to come in for lunch. And another window could give them a view of the old apple orchard. Yet another has a view to where the milk cows were kept. And the windows on the east end of the house gives a good view of the road so you knew when company was coming. I remember as a child looking out the windows and every one of them gives you a view of a part of the farm. Really you can look out and keep watch on most of the place in the safety of home. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

Its that time

Its the time of year when you get up in the mornings and need long sleeves and then off they go in mid day, then back on in the evenings. I love this time though. Just a comfortable time to work outside and get lots done.
We have spent all day working on the old home place trying to get it cleaned up and ready to rent. And as I worked and cleaned, I couldn't help thinking how my family before me had felt or how they lived when they were there. There are no doors in those old houses. You just move from one room into the next. I just wonder if my grandparents really gave any thought to where the windows were and the views from each or did they just put windows randomly in place. There were 6 kids raised in the house, 2 boys and 4 girls, and the way is see the floor plan, there are really only 3 bedrooms. Did 4 girls use one room? Or was private space as important then and we seem to think it is now? Maybe we just have more stuff which equates to less space for people. Maybe now days we build our homes to hold stuff and not to function for people as much. Oh well it was just my mind wondering again. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

Well its raining again

We are getting more rain this evening like we have every evening this past week. But there are still chores to do and get ready to settle in for fall and winter. I have a rental house here on the farm that the tenants have moved out of. And as most people who have owned rental knows they usually leave a mess. Not to mention the past unpaid rent. So today I got started picking up trash in the house and bagging up clothes and such that was left behind. That all goes in storage for a while. The son used the pressure washer on the siding and porch and it looked really nice. Maybe by the weekend we can get finished with all the cleanup and be ready to rent the house again. This house is the one here on the farm that I was raised in so it does hold a lot of memories for me. Although my dad had it remodeled while he was still living, and it went through a fire and was remodeled again. Its still your typical old farm house, the one my grandfather built. During the last remodeling process I got to see what the walls were made of and was pleasantly surprised. The walls are rough sawed 2 by 4's and most of them are oak. The walls have 1 inch boards on the inside and out side the wall studs. Now on the outside is also a layer of insulation and vinyl siding, so its pretty well insulated. We put drywall on the inside to finish it out. It now has propane heat, but when I was growing up we had a fireplace in the living room, a huge wood heating stove in the hall way and a wood cook stove in the kitchen. Wouldn't it be so nice to have those back. But for now they are just memories. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella