Photos of fall around here

Today as I was outside just walking around checking on the herb bed and different planting here I did take some photos. For this late time in fall lots of things are still green and growing. My friend Sheri sent me seeds for Red House Free Standing tomato. It amazes me at how green and healthy the plant is after all the others are gone.

I even had a couple of tomatoes on this plant that were ripe. In the background of this photo is the parsley I planted this year that has done great and still growing.
The Castor beans are huge. These plants make risin in the soil to deter moles. I cant say we have even had moles in the whole yard this summer.

I am thinking I will have plenty of Castor bean seeds for next year. Folks around here call them "dog ticks" as that is what the seeds look like. We have not had any moles in our yard or my herb bed all summer and had bunches of them last year when I didn't have Castor beans. So maybe they work.

The photo above is my stevia plants. They are supposed to get sweeter with cooler weather in fall so they are still out. Just have to make sure they don't get frost bit.
Not a lot happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Typical Fall Week

The weather has been great this week, just typical fall weather. Not too hot, not too cool. Most of my week has been spent trying to recover from jet lag. Today I went to visit Mom and got back home around noon. We had rain yesterday and again today. With the gentle rain lots of the leaves have come down as well. Still lots of color and beauty around tho. Ah, my favorite season. As fall approaches and winter is close it only means for me a short time of rest. But before that there is still lots to do. The fellows are gonna be deer hunting this weekend. They have all their stuff together to hunt this weekend and I guess my job is to provide the food to keep em happy. I made 2 loaves of bread and some chocolate chip cookies this evening for them. I guess tomorrow they will decide what else they want to eat. They will hunt Saturday and Sunday then back to work on Monday. Next weekend some friends from BHM forum are getting together in central Kentucky for the weekend. I am so looking forward to that meet up. Should be a busy fun weekend for all of us.
After that weekend outing I should be able to be home for almost 3 weeks then its off the cook for a bunch of deer hunters in west Kentucky. That should be fun. I helped my aunt with that project last year and it was nice. That should keep me busy till the Monday after Thanksgiving and then I will be home for good hopefully. I really need to get busy and do my part of planning the menu for the hunting camp or my aunt Ann might get a lil nervous not having a plan. And she surely don't need more stress in her world. With the fellows out of the house this weekend maybe I can sit still and think and get a plan together.
I still don't have my cushaws canned yet. Rodger did put them in the cellar for me while I was away so they are OK. I would just like to have them all canned and ready to use. I think I will be taking some of them with me to the BHM meet up and some butternut squash as well to share with some friends there. Good thing I started a list of thing I need to take with me to that event.
Not much else happening here. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Home on the homestead again

I am back home at last on the farm. I had a wonderful week visiting with my son Rob and daughter-in-law Amoy last week in Nevada. When I got there the weather was really nice and warm, then by mid week it got cold and snowed a bit. There weather changes more than Kentucky weather I do think. Good thing I had taken my long johns with me.
They picked me up on Friday night in Salt Lake City, we had a late dinner and then drove on the Elko and finally got the their house about 3 AM on Saturday morning. I think we all slept in on Saturday and then they took me for a drive to the mountains. It is hard to believe there was still snow on some of the higher mountains in Nevada after all the hot weather we all had this past summer. But here is proof.

 

You can still see the white snow on top of the mountains in the distance. And it was warm enough at this distance up the canyon for short sleeves. When we got to the end it was cold enough for a sweat shirt.

Somebody is pregnant! Guess who? Yes we are expecting our first grandchild in April. Cant wait to be a Grammy. But that don't mean the lil grand dog will get replaced tho.

 

It was a really nice drive and the weather was good that day. Later in the week, well not so much. This is the view from Rob and Amoy's back door. I was not ready for snow and winter weather on my vacation.

I am sure the yard will look different in spring after they get the landscaping done and have actual grass instead of tumble weeds. In the mean time its a nice sandbox for the dog. 

When I got home to the farm it was short sleeve weather here but we are to get some rain later in the week along with cooler temps. While I was away Rodger got our garden turned under and its ready to seed down. Jason had bought some hard red winter wheat to sow for a cover crop. The plan is to only plow under part of the wheat next spring for a garden spot and let the rest of the wheat mature and harvest it for grinding. Rodger also picked the last of the bell peppers before he plowed and I got those all sliced up and in the freezer today. They also got all our potatoes put in crates and in the cellar. The sweet potatoes are still in the barn curing before they get put away.Rodger also stored my butternut squash and cushaws in the cellar for me too.  Tomorrow I really need to spend some time cleaning up my herb bed and getting it ready for winter. And its time to sow onion seeds too. So that will be on my list for tomorrow as well before the rain comes on Wednesday or Thursday. 

Not much else happening here right now, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Blogging from across the country

It has been a while since I last posted here. Gosh I am so slacking. But just to update a little bit. Last Friday September 30th I flew out of Lexington headed to Nevada to see Rob and Amoy and spend some time with my kids. Should be back on the farm about October 9th. They picked me up in SLC airport on Friday night and we had a late dinner and drove on to their home in Elko Nevada. Kinda made for a long night for them not to mention me jumping time zones. But we arrived home late and went to bed. I vaguely remember laying down. We have had really nice weather so far. On Saturday we drove up to Lamoile canyon just sight seeing. It was a nice drive. It always amazes me to see snow still on some of the mountain tops after the hot summer we have had. It is a nice change of pace to see different places of beauty that God has created.
I am happy to know the kids have bought a really nice home in what seems to be a good quiet neighborhood. It is good that they have bought a home because now there is to be a lil one in April of next year. Might not be hard to figure out that I am gonna be a Grammy. Oh my!! I have the lil granddog Abby and now a real lil baby. I do feel so blessed.
Not much happening out here this week, this gram will just relax and enjoy my vacation. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead on the road.

Stella

Butchering and canning

We have been busy this weekend. We did manage to get the fryers butchered off. So now we have about 12 pullets left and 1 rooster and meat in the freezer. I made stock of the boney part and canned that. I think I ended up with about 5 gallon in various size jars. The thigh meat was de-boned and cut in bite size pieces and canned as teriyaki chicken. Some really tasty stuff. I got the recipe from SheChef's blog here. It is simple to make as well for a quick meal.
Yesterday after we finished butchering for the day Jason left to go pick up feed for the hogs. The lady that runs the lil feed store where we all buy feed gave him about 3/4 of a bushel of nectarines. He came back and ask me if I liked em. Well heck yeah I do. So he brought in the box and no way we could eat that many fresh so I canned those while the chicken was cooking to make stock. I had 12 pints and 3 quarts of nectarines. They are really pretty as they make the liquid blush pink when they are cooked.
After we finished butchering today Rodger went to the garden and dug into the sweet potatoes to see how they might turn out. Oh my, they are big and there is several in each hill. I think we planted over 100 plants. I somehow think we are going to have too many sweet taters too. Hopefully we can sell the excess. We can use maybe 2 bushels in a year. It is the time of year we need to keep a check on the weather for frost. If it frost on the sweet potato vines it makes the taters rot in storage. Don't need that for sure as they have to be stored in the house.
Not much else happening around here for now. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Ooops!!

Yep I had a oops week. I did really good not smoking till we went to the grocery store on Saturday. Dang its hard to believe that grocery shopping could be that stressful. So I have had a few smokes. But NOTHING like I was doing. Rodger has done well too. He is only smoking a few a day instead of his usual 2 or 3 packs. He does have a rather stressful job. If I had his job I would probably be a drunk too. Anyway, back on the wagon now and feeling better.
Not much happening here on the homestead. I still have a bunch of chickens that need butchered. Most of those will meet their fate this coming weekend. So lots less for the fellers to feed an look after when I leave the 30th for Nevada to see Rob and Amoy for a week. Once I come back home the guys will be deer hunting after that cause by then deer season will be in full swing. Somewhere in all this we still need to dig sweet taters and get those in. We most likely will have frost before I get home from my trip and they don't need to get frost bit. We still have watermelons in the garden too. Not sure what the heck I can do with about 15 watermelons. Maybe freeze some for sorbet or something.
I got in the cellar over the weekend and straightened it up a lil to make room for all the crates that will hold our potatoes. I think we may try to get those in the cellar sometime this weekend as well. After they are in there I have no idea where I will store my cushaws and butternut squash. 
The tomato plants that I had planted around here in the beds near the house to save for seed are blooming again and have little tomatoes on them. I am gonna try to cobble up some kind of shelter of plastic to keep the frost off and maybe we can have a few more ripe tomatoes this fall. Before I leave for Nevada I would like to get some mustard and turnips sown and rutabagas as well. Then once I get home I guess it will be time to sow onion seed too. For this I will use the old flower bed near the driveway. I put black plastic over the bare soil to kill weeds and any remains of flowers that are in there. It is narrow enough that I can make a tunnel of PVC pipe and cover it over with plastic if I choose to.
Thas about it for an update on whats not happening here. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

I am gonna be a quitter

As of about 7 pm this evening it has been a whole 12 hours of not smoking. Yea I know that don't seem like much to most people. But when you have smoked for 30 years, anywhere from 1 to 3 packs a day, 12 hours with no cigarette is a big deal.  Rodger is quitting also and that makes it so much easier for me. But good grief, not sure how much of this chewing gum my jaws can stand.  I have cleaned some today and did some laundry to try to eliminate the smell of smoke in the house. Its hard to believe how much more sensitive my nose is after not smoking for 12 hours. I'm sure in a few days food will taste better too. AND that just might become another problem. Well the weather is still nice so I can get outside and not eat all the time.
Not much else happening here today, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella