Sunday, September 30, 2007

Busy with the harvest

First of all, I apologize for not having any photos up...I took some last weekend, but haven't learned how to download them onto the blog yet...hopefully, by the next blog we'll have some colorful pics to share.

I finished canning salsa and we pulled up the tomatoes. They got hit with a blight so we didn't harvest as many as we had hoped, but I got about 2 gallons of salsa put up for the winter...or until Marc eats it up. He's a salsa fanatic and has a bowl of it with tortilla chips every afternoon.

Katelyn and Jonathan have enjoyed harvesting carrots and eating them as they play in the backyard. Some carrots got mixed in with my flowers so they pick flowers for Mom while they pull up carrots.

Matthew harvested all the Indian corn. He has a beautiful collection of purples, reds, yellows, whites, and some that have a bluish tint. He set up a stand at the end of the driveway. A man stopped today and offered to buy all the corn at half the price Matt has them marked ($1 per ear or 4 for $3). Wayne told him that he'd have to ask Matt (who wasn't home). The guy said he wanted them to sell on e-bay. He gets $ 0.75/ear and $2./cornstalk. He told Wayne that if the weather continued to hold, he was sure Matt would be able to sell all he had displayed.

Our gourd crop is looking great. We have such a neat collection of different colors and shapes. We have several that are going to make great bowls once we dry/cure them. Hopefully, we'll be successful in our first attempts at gourd crafting.

Matthew, Marc, and I went and visited Aleatory Alpaca Farm (they have a website if you do a search by their farm name--it's on the AlpacaNation weblink) this afternoon...not to see their alpacas, but their Nygerian Dwarf Goats! The boys are seriously thinking of adding goats to the farm and they wanted to check out this breed. They are cute little things...about the size of our dog Brittany. These goats were very friendly--like Brittany!!! One tried climbing up into my lap once I started petting her. Sharon spent a great deal of time explaining how she raises her goats and then we got talking about alpacas (no big surprise!) and then chickens.

Sharon wants Marc to raise her some chicks next spring because she doesn't have much success with chicks but does fine once they are full grown. Then she got telling the boys how they should look into raising guinea fowl and pheasants. Before we left she had given them several ideas on farming ventures.

If the boys decide to get Nygerian Dwarfs from her, they'll let her know and she'll plan her spring kidding season by the total number of people interested in purchasing. (The does will be bred in November and deliver in May)

Tuesday we're going to visit a nearby Alpine goat farm where the owner makes goat cheeses.
If nothing else, we're learning a LOT about goats.

Rachael cleaned out a lot of the perennials that were past their prime. The gardens look much better, but very empty. I harvested some of my herbs to dry for a herbal wreath for our porch. I made one several years ago and it made the porch smell so nice. Right now the mudroom is a bit overpowering with all the herbs drying from the overhead beams.

This week I've spun a bit of Mystifier (rose/gray) with angora blended in. I'm really looking forward to seeing how that yarn turns out. Between working at the office and appointments this week, I didn't get as much spinning done as I would have liked. Maybe this week...but...

Monday Marc is having his big toe operated on...an ingrown toenail got infected and the doctor is going to cut part of it out now that he's been on antibiotics for 10 days. Tuesday Brittany gets her physical...she has several growths on her belly that need to be checked out. Wednesday Nathanial goes to the eye doctor and Marc goes for an allergy injection. Thursday Wayne goes to the chiropractor. Friday doesn't have any doctor's appointments...yet! I have a hand spindle that you spin horizontally that I need to learn how to use. At least then I could be spinning in all these doctors' waiting rooms.

Until next time...

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