Thursday, October 29, 2009

Themeless Thursday

Sometimes I snap a picture or tackle a project and think, "I'll post about that." But life waits for no blogger, and by the time I can sit down at the computer and collect my thoughts, there is no way to round them all up into a cohesive herd. Some of those ideas fall by the wayside, never to see the light of a computer screen (such loss; such tragedy!), but sometimes I throw them all together like a tossed salad and serve it up to you. THAT'S what today's post is - tossed salad!

Out standing in their field. Notice the fresh dirt behind Jackson? Rick will NOT be pleased to see that he is digging holes in the reseeded pasture! Jackson is doing his best to turn Dozer into a proper farm dog, but thankfully Dozer's short hair is incapable of holding a bushel of burrs and a mountain of mud. Jackson is seriously tempting me to shear shave him for the winter; sure would make it easier to clean up him after every outside jaunt!

Oh, what a tangled web I knit.... I have cast on and ripped out that neat hat twice now, both times losing a length of yarn because the fibers in it get hopelessly enmeshed. I cast on a third time last night, and hope to get past the second row (isn't that pitiful?) tonight after Brian goes to bed. Working on it in a less than quiet atmosphere has been unsuccessful.

There's kraut in the house! Last night with a little help from Rick, I got both mammoth cabbages shredded, resulting in 20 lbs. of kraut in the basement shower and two big bowls of cole slaw in the frig.

Last night Rick came home with concord grapes and apples from a client (not the one who gave us the cabbages). May I just say again here how blessed we are by the bounty friends and clients share with us? And when we are blessed with bounty, I feel duty-bound to do my part and preserve it. After all, if I'm not contributing much cash to our household, I can at least make every effort to keep our grocery costs low.

Rick pressed about half the grapes last night; move over, Welches! Oh, sooooo good. The apples will be turned into more sauce on Sunday, and probably a batch of apple butter. I also need to make another batch of Green Tomato Salsa (I'm calling it that because it is much closer in taste to green Tabasco than sandwich relish).

This hanging scale purchased on eBay arrived yesterday; now I'll be able to weigh my lambs! I don't think doing so is essential, so I haven't been willing to shell out the cash for what Premier sells. But when I found a brand-new hanging fish scale with a 10-year warranty for under $20 (postage-free) on eBay that will give me that useful information, I thought it was a worthwhile investment. Now I just need to order ear tags, and I'm set for lambing season . . . in four or five months. :-)

Finally, here's my artsy-fartsy offering for the day:

That's it for now at . . .

10 comments:

Leigh said...

20 pounds of kraut! You're a braver woman than I. :) For keeping after fermenting, everything I've read says cold storage, like a root cellar or the coolest part of a basement. The lactic acid should keep it safe. And actually, you should just be able to leave it in that container and just help yourself as you wish. I definitely want a taste report!

Kathy said...

You and Leigh and the krauts...I feel like I'm living in Germany again. Yum!
Neat scale. I have a hanging one, but not that precise for lambs. I should look on eBay. Does the vendor you got htis one from have more?

Sharon said...

You and Leigh! What on earth are you going to do with all that sauerkraut?! I'm sticking with slaw. I laughed at your intro - so many times I'll flick out my little camera, thinking - that's a blog - but after the images are downloaded, I wonder what I meant to do with them.

~~Sittin.n.Spinnin said...

Funny, mish-mash was exactly what my post yesterday was about :) Too many pictures and too little time. I still need to tell everyone about my new... Oh! Can't tell you, I will post about it tomorrow ;-)
I bought a scale from Cabella's that goes up to 350 lbs for $35, worth every penny! I also have a lamb scale that goes up to 50, but when Jari was showing sheep we needed to know if they were going to make weight.

Dawn said...

zTry combining some applesauce with some grape pulp. It doesnt take much grape pulp to make grapplesauce as my son calls it. Hes 25 years old and he still begs for it.

Leenie said...

I always love dog photos, especially farm dogs. I always had one or two as buddies growing up. Best wishes on the knitting project. I hate it when things don't come together, but I love your colors. Your abundance of produce and preserving is wonderful.

thecrazysheeplady said...

I'm trying to get my nerve up to spend the "cabbage" for a walk on vet scale for my big sheep. Wish I could find an old one just sitting in a barn somewhere... Sigh.

Lois said...

Lovely photos....I am glad that you posted them this way. More like warm nourishing minestrone soup on a cool autumn day!

Laura said...

I love bulldog's and boxer's and that ilk of dog's hair - I swear it's coated in teflon. Not so with Aussies and Border Collies, unfortunately!

Kathleen said...

I always just canned my kraut in a hotwater bath after I decided that it had finished working in the crock. Seems to do the job well, but homemade sauerkraut never lasted long in my home anyway. We ate it too fast!

Your apples look beautiful! I can smell them..in my mind. Wishing for a frosty fall, but you know...down here, there is no frost.