That Other Season

It's Food Preservation season.  That season between summer and fall.  Very short and busy.
Yesterday I used up the last of the crab apples.  I didn't want anymore apple butter and we have plenty of apple jelly left from last year, so I made up some vinegar.  What I learned?  Crab apples  are drier than regular apples and it takes more of them to make juice.
I also dried a bunch of kale.  What I learned?  Kale dries very fast as compared to other vegetables.  I was able to dry it and package it within three hours.
We have a wonderfully cool morning-50 degrees.  The lawn has grown overnight.  I saw it last night and it looked fine, looked out this morning and it looks like pasture again.
Dear donkey Sadie had something spotted in the field at 5:30 this morning.  She bellers like a truck horn.  I'm sure the new neighbors have already developed a fondness for her. ;)

Dear Sadie

Have a blessed day.

I Can, You Can

It's that canning time of year again.  You wouldn't think that it would take so long just to put some food in jars, but I spent the whole day in the kitchen yesterday, except when we went and picked crab apples.  And I don't have that much to show for it.

Don't you love the different colors?

The cellar always looks so colorful at the end of summer. (Don't mind the hand painted counter, someday I'm getting a real one.)

I put up a couple of quarts of dills, six pears, a few spaghetti sauce, some apple juice (from those crab apples), and the apple butter is still simmering in the crockpot.  I have more dills and some apple pie filling to get done today, but I would like to spend some time in the sunshine.

Have a blessed day, in or out of the kitchen.

From Glory Farm

First day on the new blog.
I've been blogging for years on a different site and decided it was time for a change. 
Introductions-I'm a wife and mother.  My honey and I farm in Northern Minnesota in hopes of sharing our resources and knowledge with others and bringing glory to God.  (It wouldn't hurt if the farm helped to pay for itself, either.)
We have chickens, ducks, sheep, Angora goats, dairy goats, beef cattle and a couple of donkeys.  We've had horses, llamas and alpacas, also.  We've decided that the dairy goats aren't for us.  We do have a dairy heifer that we've had bred this summer in hopes of having our own milk supply next spring.
We have a garden of almost an acre.  We do some foraging, mostly berries. 
I started making soaps about five years ago and found I really enjoy it.  We also use the fiber from our goats and sheep to make yarn and felt.
The Lord has blessed us more than we ever imagined.  Our children are learning His ways and are becoming great farmers, too!
From Glory Farm

What is a Good Day?

A good day starts out with the opening of the front door  at 7 am and your daughter comes in after driving up to see you from the cities.  Then-our family of six sits down at the table for a breakfast of Finnish oven pancake, all together!  It's sitting and talking over coffee after the breakfast dishes have been cleared.  It's having your mom come to visit for the day.  Sitting, more coffee.  Snapping green beans together around the table and canning them.  It's having your husband get the day off.  A family day with three generations interacting and sharing.  An unexpected blessing of a day.  That was yesterday.  Thank you , Lord.

The Harvest is Plentiful

Rain in the forecast through Saturday.  But come Sunday the sun should be shining and, Lord willing, we’ll be combining our oats and wheat.  We’ve had a neighbor combine our oats before, but we have our own combine now!  My honey has been working on it, and it should be ready to roll. 

 I’m excited because I planted a plot of wheat and it’s done now.  I was going to hand harvest, but decided to try the combine.  Less work sounds like a much better idea.  Growing our own wheat should help with our grocery bill considerably.  I usually by my grain through the local coop and it's $45 for 50 lbs.  I'm hoping to harvest enough for us for the year, some seed for next year and enough grain for my parents, also.

Time to hit the garden.

Happy Harvesting!