Before we leave the subject of canning meat, I want to just say a word about bone or scrap broth. Anytime we're canning or working with a lot of meat, we try to ensure everything gets used. Our goal is to have the least amount of waste possible. When canning all of the meat lately, I tried to ensure that the scraps were set aside to be used. It's normally even better when we have bones but this time we only had a few turkey bones.
After I did all the trimming of the pork prior to canning, I put all the pork scraps in a covered bowl in the fridge. Later, when I had a chance, I filled a pot with the trimmings and covered everything with water. I then simmered everything for 6 hours. I strained the contents of the pot into a tupperware bowl. My dog Summer doesn't get excited about ice cubes, however, dear daughters dogs do - as long as they have some flavor.
I never use pork broth. Not sure why, it just isn't something I'm used to doing. So I sent the bowl home with our SIL so they could make porksicles for Hagan & Avon. She's been making pork bone broth and then freezing it for them to eat as treats for a couple years. It helps with weight control for the dogs and they don't even realize it! The bowl I sent to them will last for about a month. After all the fat is skimmed off, they will dilute it before freezing.
I do occasionally can a couple pint jars for "medicinal use". When the dogs become ill, especially with ear infections which they are prone to get, they refuse to drink. This can quickly complicate things because dehydration causes all kinds of issues. So years ago, when one of the grand dogs was sick and refused to drink, we came up with "grannies magic broth". So far, unless a dog is severely ill, they have all managed to drink the very dilute broth. The benefit is you know that it isn't loaded with salt and other things they don't need. You can make the broth out of any meat or even veggie scraps you choose.
For the more common types of broth you buy in the grocery; veggie, beef or fowl, we keep that for our cooking needs. If we have a huge amount or it's something like pork, it's generally frozen right away or canned as a concentrate for future dilution and freezing. Just be sure to skim all the fat so you don't further irritate a dog's system.
Hope you find some benefit from this post for your pets. God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Canning More Meat
This week, the local grocery not only had turkeys on sale, they had pork tenderloins, pork loins, ground beef, Italian sausage and bacon. Jackpot!!
Spent some time this week canning most of what I bought. The bacon went in to the freezer. There are some blogs that reportedly have had success with canning bacon. But it's not recommended by the USDA so I just freeze mine. As long as you use it within about 6 months, you don't even have to re-wrap most brands. And I always try to have bacon on hand.
I purchased a 15 # turkey, a 5# pork loin, 2 packages of pork tenderloins; a family pack of ground beef & 4 packages of sweet Italian sausage. With the exception of the turkey, which I baked yesterday, everything has been canned. I only had quart jars left and I filled 13 jars. Each jar will provide enough meat for 2 meals for Papa & me.
Here's what I did. First, I prepared all the meat. Trimmed the pork, cooked the ground meat, etc. Then I filled all the jars. I poured in the boiling water and then cleaned the rim/mouth of each jar really well. It is really important to clean the top of the jars because any grease at all will prevent them from sealing. Finally, I put on the lids and loaded them into my pressure canner. I vented the canner, brought it up to pressure and processed for 90 minutes. Be sure to read & re-read not only the canner manufacturer's directions but also an up-to-date Ball Canning Book or the USDA's online Complete Guide to Home Canning http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/INTRO%20section%20Home%20Can.pdf before canning meat. The thought of opening a jar of rotted food or poisoning my family makes me pretty vigilant when canning and especially with meat. One other note about canning meat. It can be "dry" canned, with just the meat in the jar. It can be canned with the meat and boiling water. Or it can be canned with the meat and broth. I find the "dry" canned meats to be dry and don't taste a big difference between using broth or water. I use broth with turkey because it is very useful when making dumplings, soups and gravies. Otherwise, I use water because it is easier.
So, I had 2 packages of tenderloins. There were 2 tenderloins per package. I cut off all the fat & connective tissue. Each tenderloin was cut in half. I laid the clean jars on their sides and slid 2 pieces into each jar. After standing the jars back up, I got them ready to process.
I cut the pork loin into 1/2 inch chunks after cutting off all the fat & shiny connective tissue. The chunks went into the jars leaving plenty of head space. Then I finished getting them ready to process using boiling water.
The Italian sausage was in links. I cut off the casing and put the sausage in a skillet. I added some cold water because it helps to break up the sausage. I cooked the sausage until it was mostly done. I drained off the remaining water and as much grease as possible. The meat went into the jars which were then filled with boiling water. While the sausage was cooking, I also cooked the ground beef using the same methods.
Finally, the brats. I turned the clean jars on their sides and slid the brats into wide mouth jars. Then I stood up the jars and filled with boiling water. This was the easiest one to process.
Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'm going to wrap this up and start thinking about baking yet another turkey. And canning the turkey I baked yesterday and more sausage and more brats.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Spent some time this week canning most of what I bought. The bacon went in to the freezer. There are some blogs that reportedly have had success with canning bacon. But it's not recommended by the USDA so I just freeze mine. As long as you use it within about 6 months, you don't even have to re-wrap most brands. And I always try to have bacon on hand.
I purchased a 15 # turkey, a 5# pork loin, 2 packages of pork tenderloins; a family pack of ground beef & 4 packages of sweet Italian sausage. With the exception of the turkey, which I baked yesterday, everything has been canned. I only had quart jars left and I filled 13 jars. Each jar will provide enough meat for 2 meals for Papa & me.
From L - R: pork tenderloins, pork loin chunks, Italian sausage, ground beef, whole brats
Here's what I did. First, I prepared all the meat. Trimmed the pork, cooked the ground meat, etc. Then I filled all the jars. I poured in the boiling water and then cleaned the rim/mouth of each jar really well. It is really important to clean the top of the jars because any grease at all will prevent them from sealing. Finally, I put on the lids and loaded them into my pressure canner. I vented the canner, brought it up to pressure and processed for 90 minutes. Be sure to read & re-read not only the canner manufacturer's directions but also an up-to-date Ball Canning Book or the USDA's online Complete Guide to Home Canning http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/INTRO%20section%20Home%20Can.pdf before canning meat. The thought of opening a jar of rotted food or poisoning my family makes me pretty vigilant when canning and especially with meat. One other note about canning meat. It can be "dry" canned, with just the meat in the jar. It can be canned with the meat and boiling water. Or it can be canned with the meat and broth. I find the "dry" canned meats to be dry and don't taste a big difference between using broth or water. I use broth with turkey because it is very useful when making dumplings, soups and gravies. Otherwise, I use water because it is easier.
So, I had 2 packages of tenderloins. There were 2 tenderloins per package. I cut off all the fat & connective tissue. Each tenderloin was cut in half. I laid the clean jars on their sides and slid 2 pieces into each jar. After standing the jars back up, I got them ready to process.
I cut the pork loin into 1/2 inch chunks after cutting off all the fat & shiny connective tissue. The chunks went into the jars leaving plenty of head space. Then I finished getting them ready to process using boiling water.
The Italian sausage was in links. I cut off the casing and put the sausage in a skillet. I added some cold water because it helps to break up the sausage. I cooked the sausage until it was mostly done. I drained off the remaining water and as much grease as possible. The meat went into the jars which were then filled with boiling water. While the sausage was cooking, I also cooked the ground beef using the same methods.
Finally, the brats. I turned the clean jars on their sides and slid the brats into wide mouth jars. Then I stood up the jars and filled with boiling water. This was the easiest one to process.
Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'm going to wrap this up and start thinking about baking yet another turkey. And canning the turkey I baked yesterday and more sausage and more brats.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Canning Turkey
Continuing on the theme of canned meat, let's talk turkey. During parts of November and December, turkey is usually marked way down as a means of getting people into the stores to spend more money. Our local Meijer store currently has whole frozen store brand turkeys 50% off - 54 cents a pound. That's some very cheap protein.
Last year, I cooked 3 extra turkeys in the week of Thanksgiving & after. One was for our family Thanksgiving dinner, one was for us to pick at when eating leftovers. The final 2 were specifically to can. After a few days, there were a few leftovers and bones left from the 2 that were eaten. I made bone broth with the bones, strained it and added back the leftovers. This was used for soups, etc.
The 2 birds purchased to can were treated differently. Rather than fully cooking them, I cooked for between 1/2 & 2/3rds of the total time. I removed as much meat as possible from the bones & put it in 2 covered dishes in the fridge. One contained the dark meat and the other the white meat. Then I made bone broth out of the 2 carcasses in 2 large crock pots. The broth cooked overnight. The next day, after it had cooled, I strained the broth & picked out any bits of meat. All the white meat went into a pot with a little over 1/2 of the broth. I brought it to a boil & cooked for about 5 minutes to heat through. Then I packed the jars with the meat & filled with the hot broth. I processed in pint & quart jars according to my Ball Canning book. Then I repeated the process with the dark meat and remaining broth. Finally, I canned the left over broth. See my previous post regarding my epic fail with the 1/2 pint jars of broth.
The turkey turned out beautifully. There were a number of Quart jars with large chunks of breast meat. We even used one of them for sandwiches. After we boiled the meat for 10 minutes, we drained & reserved the broth for other use. The turkey was moist and fresh tasting. We've made Turkey Tetrazinni, turkey & dumplings, etc.with most of the jars. The only 2 jars I have left have much smaller pieces. And the fat around the top comes from cooking the turkey with butter and not scooping it all off.
Last week, we bought a turkey to use for several meals. Then Papa went out of town the same day I cooked it. There was way too much turkey for me to eat so I canned the leftovers. Because the meat was thoroughly cooked before canning, it was a little more shredded than last year. It will still work fine.
So go ahead, get adventurous and try something new. Look for deals and take advantage so you can save some money for other things.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Last year, I cooked 3 extra turkeys in the week of Thanksgiving & after. One was for our family Thanksgiving dinner, one was for us to pick at when eating leftovers. The final 2 were specifically to can. After a few days, there were a few leftovers and bones left from the 2 that were eaten. I made bone broth with the bones, strained it and added back the leftovers. This was used for soups, etc.
The 2 birds purchased to can were treated differently. Rather than fully cooking them, I cooked for between 1/2 & 2/3rds of the total time. I removed as much meat as possible from the bones & put it in 2 covered dishes in the fridge. One contained the dark meat and the other the white meat. Then I made bone broth out of the 2 carcasses in 2 large crock pots. The broth cooked overnight. The next day, after it had cooled, I strained the broth & picked out any bits of meat. All the white meat went into a pot with a little over 1/2 of the broth. I brought it to a boil & cooked for about 5 minutes to heat through. Then I packed the jars with the meat & filled with the hot broth. I processed in pint & quart jars according to my Ball Canning book. Then I repeated the process with the dark meat and remaining broth. Finally, I canned the left over broth. See my previous post regarding my epic fail with the 1/2 pint jars of broth.
The turkey turned out beautifully. There were a number of Quart jars with large chunks of breast meat. We even used one of them for sandwiches. After we boiled the meat for 10 minutes, we drained & reserved the broth for other use. The turkey was moist and fresh tasting. We've made Turkey Tetrazinni, turkey & dumplings, etc.with most of the jars. The only 2 jars I have left have much smaller pieces. And the fat around the top comes from cooking the turkey with butter and not scooping it all off.
2013 canned chunky all white turkey
Last week, we bought a turkey to use for several meals. Then Papa went out of town the same day I cooked it. There was way too much turkey for me to eat so I canned the leftovers. Because the meat was thoroughly cooked before canning, it was a little more shredded than last year. It will still work fine.
2014 canned turkey - mixed light & dark meat
So go ahead, get adventurous and try something new. Look for deals and take advantage so you can save some money for other things.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Friday, November 21, 2014
Canning Meat
Last fall I took the plunge and started canning meats. After a couple years of experimenting with purchasing and using canned meats from the grocery store, it was time to introduce some variety by canning my own.
Soups, beans, lentils and casseroles all lend themselves to using canned meats. I've used canned hams, turkey, beef, tuna (yes it is fish not meat) and Spam. Chopped Spam is very useful in a pinch but it's not something I would want to eat 3 or 4 days a week. We try to keep a variety of canned meats at both houses just in case. Due to my chicken allergy, you will notice an obvious lack of chicken in this discussion. Remember that you can pretty much interchange chicken for turkey or pork & vice versa.
There were 2 reasons for beginning to can my own meat. The first was based on reading a blog where the writer lost electricity for 2 weeks. All their meat was in their freezer. Since the loss of electricity was due to a storm, they knew they were not going to get it back on anytime soon. So they immediately began to can all the meat in their freezer. They were able to save almost everything. While our electric service is pretty reliable, it has been off a number of times due to severe weather. The second reason has to do with the instability of our country. What would happen if we needed to be more self sufficient overnight, if there is a weather emergency or civil unrest? While there are many ways to preserve meat, one of the easiest seemed to be canning. We'll get to the others eventually in other blogs.
So last year, I purchased extra meat for several months and tried my hand at canning a variety of meat using different methods. Things that turned out well included pre-browned ground beef, pre-browned ground beef and onions, dry packed pork loin cubes, dry packed beef cubes (used a variety of cuts all successful), pre-browned Italian sausage crumbles and pre-cooked turkey. Things that were not so successful were boneless dry packed pork chops and Italian sausage crumbles. The pork chops fused into a large hard block of meat in the jar. Not sure if I'm even going to try pork chops again. The success of pre-browned Italian sausage crumbles seemed to be dependent upon the brand which is likely due to the spices used. Johnsonville Italian sausages, removed from the casing, was our favorite.
Not only was the canning successful but the quick dinner prep is a real plus. Any recipe calling for ground beef or sausage crumbles can be fixed much more quickly. We've used the canned meats for tacos, Sloppy Joe's, spaghetti sauce, pizzas, casseroles (like Shepherd's pie), soups, stews, lentils, beans and the list goes on & on. It would be so convenient to have many jars to use this summer when the bulk of my time will be spent outside. Just don't forget to check the seal, check the smell/appearance and boil the meat for 10 minutes (or the equivalent) before serving.
Which brings up my really big fail from last year. I made beef broth and turkey broth to use in the hot pack method of canning the meat. What was left was canned to use as broth for soups, etc. There are so many recipes that call for a cup or two of chicken broth that I thought it would be great to have 1/2 pint jars of turkey broth on hand. I removed as much fat as I could and canned 10 of the 1/2 pint jars of turkey broth. In addition, I did several pint jars. After 24 hours, all the jars looked sealed so I removed the rings, wiped down the jars, tested the seals and put them in the guest room closet with a lot of the other canned goods. Several months later, I pulled out the first 1/2 pint jar when I needed some "chicken" broth. On inspection, the top inch or so of the liquid was fairly cloudy. To my dismay, the lid came off easily so it was evident that the seal had failed. I pulled out the entire box and all the 1/2 pint jars were in the same condition. Fortunately, the pint jars were OK. So I had to throw out the entire batch of 1/2 pint jars.
Has anyone had success with canning broth in 1/2 pint jars? If so, did you do anything special? More on canning meats in the next post.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Soups, beans, lentils and casseroles all lend themselves to using canned meats. I've used canned hams, turkey, beef, tuna (yes it is fish not meat) and Spam. Chopped Spam is very useful in a pinch but it's not something I would want to eat 3 or 4 days a week. We try to keep a variety of canned meats at both houses just in case. Due to my chicken allergy, you will notice an obvious lack of chicken in this discussion. Remember that you can pretty much interchange chicken for turkey or pork & vice versa.
There were 2 reasons for beginning to can my own meat. The first was based on reading a blog where the writer lost electricity for 2 weeks. All their meat was in their freezer. Since the loss of electricity was due to a storm, they knew they were not going to get it back on anytime soon. So they immediately began to can all the meat in their freezer. They were able to save almost everything. While our electric service is pretty reliable, it has been off a number of times due to severe weather. The second reason has to do with the instability of our country. What would happen if we needed to be more self sufficient overnight, if there is a weather emergency or civil unrest? While there are many ways to preserve meat, one of the easiest seemed to be canning. We'll get to the others eventually in other blogs.
So last year, I purchased extra meat for several months and tried my hand at canning a variety of meat using different methods. Things that turned out well included pre-browned ground beef, pre-browned ground beef and onions, dry packed pork loin cubes, dry packed beef cubes (used a variety of cuts all successful), pre-browned Italian sausage crumbles and pre-cooked turkey. Things that were not so successful were boneless dry packed pork chops and Italian sausage crumbles. The pork chops fused into a large hard block of meat in the jar. Not sure if I'm even going to try pork chops again. The success of pre-browned Italian sausage crumbles seemed to be dependent upon the brand which is likely due to the spices used. Johnsonville Italian sausages, removed from the casing, was our favorite.
Not only was the canning successful but the quick dinner prep is a real plus. Any recipe calling for ground beef or sausage crumbles can be fixed much more quickly. We've used the canned meats for tacos, Sloppy Joe's, spaghetti sauce, pizzas, casseroles (like Shepherd's pie), soups, stews, lentils, beans and the list goes on & on. It would be so convenient to have many jars to use this summer when the bulk of my time will be spent outside. Just don't forget to check the seal, check the smell/appearance and boil the meat for 10 minutes (or the equivalent) before serving.
Which brings up my really big fail from last year. I made beef broth and turkey broth to use in the hot pack method of canning the meat. What was left was canned to use as broth for soups, etc. There are so many recipes that call for a cup or two of chicken broth that I thought it would be great to have 1/2 pint jars of turkey broth on hand. I removed as much fat as I could and canned 10 of the 1/2 pint jars of turkey broth. In addition, I did several pint jars. After 24 hours, all the jars looked sealed so I removed the rings, wiped down the jars, tested the seals and put them in the guest room closet with a lot of the other canned goods. Several months later, I pulled out the first 1/2 pint jar when I needed some "chicken" broth. On inspection, the top inch or so of the liquid was fairly cloudy. To my dismay, the lid came off easily so it was evident that the seal had failed. I pulled out the entire box and all the 1/2 pint jars were in the same condition. Fortunately, the pint jars were OK. So I had to throw out the entire batch of 1/2 pint jars.
Has anyone had success with canning broth in 1/2 pint jars? If so, did you do anything special? More on canning meats in the next post.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Odds & Ends November 2014
The weather continues to be unusually cold. While it may be boring for others, blogging about the weather gives me a record of unusual circumstances. Hopefully I'll be able to do some tracking of our insane Indiana weather for future comparisons. It's been much colder this fall than usual. At 6pm tonight, our temp with wind chill was 2 degrees and we had more snow falling. It appears we've already had about 3 inches but it is melting somewhat due to ground temps. Low Tuesday night is 14 degrees. Have no idea what the wind chills will be. By Saturday, the high is supposed to be in the 40's and in the 50's by Sunday. Insane!
I'm still in the city due to my sinus infection. Papa, who's at the farm, has not had any luck with his hunting. It has been bitterly cold with sleet and snow. He says the deer are not moving at all that he can tell. He's not hearing any gunfire which means no one else is seeing anything either. Due to recent back surgery, he's decided the better part of valor is to stay inside so there's no chance of slipping and falling.When it finally warms up toward this weekend, it is supposed to rain so our chances of having venison this winter are getting smaller and smaller.
With that in mind, tonight I canned 6 quarts of turkey and another 6 quarts of turkey bone broth. During the days around Thanksgiving, turkeys are usually fairly cheap. This year, one of our grocery chains is selling them for 58 cents per pound with a $20 purchase. That's pretty cheap protein. Hopefully, I will find the time to can another 2 -3 turkeys before they go off sale.We tend to eat more turkey than most due to my chicken allergy. Generally, we just substitute pork or turkey in our favorite chicken recipes. Whenever at least one of us can arrange to be at the farm full time, we're hoping to add some animals. Guinea fowl will be our first addition.
Off Topic: In about 2 1/2 weeks, our great nephew will be in the NBC Live production of Peter Pan. He's playing John Darling or the boy in the glasses and top hat. It will be airing on 12/4 and I'm really excited to see it. His sister has been on several TV shows and in a couple off Broadway musicals. She has even received several awards for her work. We haven't been able to visit New York to see our nephew's children perform so this will be special to us. If you get a chance to watch, let me know what you think. Oh, it was announced yesterday that he will fill one of the major roles in the 2015 spring revival of The King & I on Broadway. AMAZING!
http://time.com/3589109/peter-pan-live-allison-williams/
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
I'm still in the city due to my sinus infection. Papa, who's at the farm, has not had any luck with his hunting. It has been bitterly cold with sleet and snow. He says the deer are not moving at all that he can tell. He's not hearing any gunfire which means no one else is seeing anything either. Due to recent back surgery, he's decided the better part of valor is to stay inside so there's no chance of slipping and falling.When it finally warms up toward this weekend, it is supposed to rain so our chances of having venison this winter are getting smaller and smaller.
With that in mind, tonight I canned 6 quarts of turkey and another 6 quarts of turkey bone broth. During the days around Thanksgiving, turkeys are usually fairly cheap. This year, one of our grocery chains is selling them for 58 cents per pound with a $20 purchase. That's pretty cheap protein. Hopefully, I will find the time to can another 2 -3 turkeys before they go off sale.We tend to eat more turkey than most due to my chicken allergy. Generally, we just substitute pork or turkey in our favorite chicken recipes. Whenever at least one of us can arrange to be at the farm full time, we're hoping to add some animals. Guinea fowl will be our first addition.
Off Topic: In about 2 1/2 weeks, our great nephew will be in the NBC Live production of Peter Pan. He's playing John Darling or the boy in the glasses and top hat. It will be airing on 12/4 and I'm really excited to see it. His sister has been on several TV shows and in a couple off Broadway musicals. She has even received several awards for her work. We haven't been able to visit New York to see our nephew's children perform so this will be special to us. If you get a chance to watch, let me know what you think. Oh, it was announced yesterday that he will fill one of the major roles in the 2015 spring revival of The King & I on Broadway. AMAZING!
http://time.com/3589109/peter-pan-live-allison-williams/
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Early Winter
Winter is definitely here earlier than usual. The frost is thick on the grass this morning. Our low tonight is supposed to be 18 degrees. For the next 4 days, highs are supposed to be in the mid30's to the mid20's. Lows are supposed to be in the mid20's to the low teens. We're also expecting to have measurable snows over at least the next 2 nights. Not sure I'm ready for winter this early.
I'm still on antibiotics, trying to recuperate from the sinus infection and asthma that laid me low last week. Won't be going to the farm until I'm feeling better. Can't afford a 4 hour drive (there & back) when I can't get done what needs to be accomplished. Will be hanging out here in the city house doing some cleaning & chores that got missed when wrapping up the garden. And of course with the holiday's approaching, there is so much to do.
Found a new simple recipe for pumpkin pie. Perhaps it will work with the simple gluten free flour mix I found. Hopefully, there will be time to try it this week. Getting ready to put a turkey in the oven today. Will be canning most of the meat and bone broth, too. Turkeys are only 58 cents a pound this week. It will be handy to have the turkey and broth in the pantry. Since I have a chicken allergy, we eat a lot of turkey as a substitute.
Papa left for the farm yesterday afternoon. The deer gun season opened this morning. He was trying to decide where he will hunker down since he can't climb into a tree stand. We've seen a lot of deer on the farm. We've seen them down by the barn and seen where they have bedded down. They visited the garden across from the house & camper and helped themselves to some of the pumpkins a few weeks ago. Mostly, we've seen them in the south field. In fact, they hang out there a lot. We have to be careful coming up the drive, especially at dusk, since there are multiple trails that cross it. There are other areas where there are trails that they have been traveling, too. Last year we saw many deer until hunting season began. Then they all disappeared only to return a few weeks after it closed.
We're really hoping Papa can get a deer or maybe two this year. My allergies and our daughters have been increasing for years. We're hoping that the venison will be better handled by our immune systems. I'm ready to freeze and can all the meat. We may even dehydrate some of the scraps as dog treats.
Here are some pictures of the deer we've seen in the past 6 months or so.
Papa is still moving slowly as he's still recuperating from his surgery. Hopefully, this will not interfere with his hunting. I'll let you know if he's successful.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
I'm still on antibiotics, trying to recuperate from the sinus infection and asthma that laid me low last week. Won't be going to the farm until I'm feeling better. Can't afford a 4 hour drive (there & back) when I can't get done what needs to be accomplished. Will be hanging out here in the city house doing some cleaning & chores that got missed when wrapping up the garden. And of course with the holiday's approaching, there is so much to do.
Found a new simple recipe for pumpkin pie. Perhaps it will work with the simple gluten free flour mix I found. Hopefully, there will be time to try it this week. Getting ready to put a turkey in the oven today. Will be canning most of the meat and bone broth, too. Turkeys are only 58 cents a pound this week. It will be handy to have the turkey and broth in the pantry. Since I have a chicken allergy, we eat a lot of turkey as a substitute.
Papa left for the farm yesterday afternoon. The deer gun season opened this morning. He was trying to decide where he will hunker down since he can't climb into a tree stand. We've seen a lot of deer on the farm. We've seen them down by the barn and seen where they have bedded down. They visited the garden across from the house & camper and helped themselves to some of the pumpkins a few weeks ago. Mostly, we've seen them in the south field. In fact, they hang out there a lot. We have to be careful coming up the drive, especially at dusk, since there are multiple trails that cross it. There are other areas where there are trails that they have been traveling, too. Last year we saw many deer until hunting season began. Then they all disappeared only to return a few weeks after it closed.
We're really hoping Papa can get a deer or maybe two this year. My allergies and our daughters have been increasing for years. We're hoping that the venison will be better handled by our immune systems. I'm ready to freeze and can all the meat. We may even dehydrate some of the scraps as dog treats.
Here are some pictures of the deer we've seen in the past 6 months or so.
There were actually 4 deer out in the south field on this day.
Deer in the south field very early in the morning.
In the south field, several weeks later.
Papa is still moving slowly as he's still recuperating from his surgery. Hopefully, this will not interfere with his hunting. I'll let you know if he's successful.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
Friday, November 14, 2014
Miscellaneous Pictures
The tiny farm, that we call the Auld Sod, is a once beautiful piece of property on the north side of a hill in Southern Indiana. When we decided that we wanted some property, we did our homework and made up our list of must haves, nice to haves, things to avoid. We wanted it to be about 60 miles (1-1.5 hours) away but agreed it couldn't be more than 90 miles (1.5 - 2 hours) from our city house, preferably to the south. We had a budget and looked at over 100 properties online. When we found 10 that looked like good possibilities, we took a closer look at each one to pair down to 3 before doing a site visit. There was one property that we agreed to keep in even though it did not have some of our must have's and it was at the top of our budget.
We headed out on a sunny weekend day almost exactly 2 years ago. We had plotted our course from closest to farthest. The first property was OK but not thrilling and we kept it on our list. The second property was part of an old quarry. There was no cell service anywhere on the property. We marked it off the list.
The last property, which didn't have a number of our must haves, was love at first sight. It had been unoccupied and hadn't been mowed for quite a while. After another visit, including Darling Daughter and SIL, we put an offer on the property and closed on 12/30/12. Here are some pictures to show just what we fell in love with.
We headed out on a sunny weekend day almost exactly 2 years ago. We had plotted our course from closest to farthest. The first property was OK but not thrilling and we kept it on our list. The second property was part of an old quarry. There was no cell service anywhere on the property. We marked it off the list.
The last property, which didn't have a number of our must haves, was love at first sight. It had been unoccupied and hadn't been mowed for quite a while. After another visit, including Darling Daughter and SIL, we put an offer on the property and closed on 12/30/12. Here are some pictures to show just what we fell in love with.
The beginning of the driveway, covered with leaves.
Looking down the driveway toward the road. There is a big hill just were it disappears.
The old camper, which was the only living space when we purchased the farm.
The outhouse. If you have to have one, it might as well be cute.
The view down to the barn from the field across the driveway from the camper.
View of another field down near the barn.
View down the hill from the barn.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
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