Big Goings-On

We had a busy week. Harvest time continues apace and we worked on several Big Projects. On Monday I picked our first batch of green beans. I blanched them and froze them. The plants are producing prolifically. We will have plenty to eat fresh and to freeze for the winter. I also picked two cabbages and made our first batch of sauerkraut. The cabbages were perfect, solid, and juicy. The kraut should be ready in about four weeks. There are still a lot of cabbages in the garden so I know I’ll have enough for several more batches.

The first harvest of green beans.

Getting ready to make sauerkraut.

Slicing cabbage.

In the crock.

On Tuesday we had a bit of rain in the early afternoon, which was nice. Later on the weather cleared  just about the time Stacey and Josiah got home from work. They decided it was time to butcher some roosters. We have (had) six extra roosters from this year’s chicks. Josiah wanted to learn how to butcher and Stacey is the best teacher for that sort of thing. She took a 4-H class when she was a teenager and has always done all our poultry processing. We went down to the barn and corralled all the young chickens in the middle part of the coop. We selected three roosters and put them in feed sacks and brought them up to the house. Stacey and Josiah set up a butchering station in the side yard. Stacey did the first one to show Josiah how to do it and then she talked Josiah through the other two. Stacey takes butchering very seriously. She wanted to impress upon Josiah the need to be quick and respectful when killing them. The roosters were not big – they were not a meat breed. Stacey showed Josiah how to cut chicken strips and they fried them and we had them for dinner. It took all three to make a meal. There are still more that need to be butchered.

Josiah learning to process poultry.

The lesson continues.

Frying chicken for dinner.

Our neighbors two houses over, the Smiths, have a flock of sheep and last week they put them to pasture in the field that lies along the edge of the Shillig’s yard. There was an electric fence already there from when there were cows pastured there a few years ago. At first the younger lambs were coming under the fence to graze in Shillig’s yard. Kurt and Julie didn’t mind, but the Smiths didn’t want them getting out so they added another lower strand of wire to the fence. I like to look over and see the sheep grazing. It’s peaceful.

The neighbor's sheep.

On Wednesday afternoon, Stacey and I set out on an adventure. Our cuckoo clock stopped working a few weeks ago and we wanted to get it repaired. Stacey did some inquiring and found that there is an Amish clock repairman up in New York State near Woodhull in Steuben County. We set off after she got home from work, not sure exactly where we were going. We drove up to Wellsville and then headed east through Andover to Jasper where we stopped at an Amish furniture shop and asked the man there if he knew where the clock repairman lived. He did and gave us an address. We used our GPS and drove on to Woodhull. We found the man and left the clock with him and then drove home. It took us about two hours round trip. That would not be especially interesting except that it was a lovely evening and as we drove across Allegany and Steuben Counties in New York and then home again, I was in awe at the beauty of the land. We drove through small, picturesque towns, past old well kept farms, fields of corn and beans, and mowed hayfields dotted with bales of hay. We drove over rolling hills and through forests. It was astoundingly beautiful. It was picture perfect America, a place I love with all my heart. I know that in places across the nation there is commotion and violence. I know that things are not normal in our society right now. I wonder if they ever will be again. But driving through that beautiful countryside, my heart was gladdened and refreshed. The world looked idyllic, peaceful, and normal. I felt the latent goodness of this land and its people. It gave me new hope.

Thursday morning when I woke up it was 39°. I had to look twice at the thermometer and check the battery. Yes, it really was 39°. In August. It made me shiver for more than one reason. I dressed in sweat pants and wore a jacket when I went out for my morning walk. I could see my breath. As the morning advanced it grew warmer. By midday it was up in the 70's again and the rest of week we had normal temperatures, but that cold morning made me realize how quickly summer is passing and how much I dread the cold returning. We’re already discussing plans for restocking the wood pile. Ugh.

I picked two buckets of apples on Thursday afternoon, Yellow Transparents and Sops of Wine. On Friday I turned them into applesauce and yesterday we canned fourteen pints. There are plenty more apples ready and I will be processing applesauce all week.

Early apples.

Made into applesauce.

Canning.

Fourteen pints of finished applesauce.

I’ve pulled up one bed of onions and now they are curing in the woodshed. I had garlic curing there, but it was done and Hannah and I trimmed it all up. We had a good harvest. The woodshed smells so good with garlic and onions curing in it. It makes me hungry when I go in there.

Onions curing in the woodshed.

Friday afternoon we began one of our Big Projects, tearing off the front porch. It was in bad shape and we will have a new one built, but first we are in charge of taking off the old one. It’s a bigger job than we anticipated. We’ve torn off the shingles and most of the underlying boards. We’re chipping off the bottom step to allow for the new, bigger porch. We’re using Kurt’s little jack hammer and it’s slow work. We’ll be working at the whole thing all week. It’s a mess, but I’m glad the work is underway.

Tearing down the front porch.

Yesterday we also accomplished a Big Project that has been on my list for a long time. Three years ago, my children bought a greenhouse kit for me for my birthday. It’s been sitting in the woodshed ever since, waiting to be assembled. The biggest delay was that we didn’t know what kind of foundation to put it on. We thought of pouring a concrete slab, but that seemed too permanent and we have no skill with concrete. Then we considered using ground screws to anchor it, but that seemed too flimsy. Finally we decided to make a foundation of treated 6"x6" beams and then fasten the greenhouse frame to that. On Thursday we bought the beams and yesterday we assembled it. Josiah and Hannah did most of the work with some help from Stacey. Miriam and I supervised. It took most of the day. It’s a great little greenhouse and a great asset to my gardening efforts.

Laying the foundation.

A work in process.

Pausing for a popsicle.

The finished project.

My new greenhouse.

Yesterday evening we also began the first batch of pickle relish of the year. We were given some cucumbers (mine aren’t ready yet) and I have lots of onions. Stacey had to buy some bell peppers from the produce stand down the road (mine are having problems). Hannah and I chopped the vegetables and then Hannah ground everything and salted it. It is resting in the refrigerator today. Tomorrow I will cook it and can it. Pickle relish is a hot commodity in our house. I hope this is the first of many batches.

Cutting vegetables for relish.

Hannah grinding relish while we watch a movie.

Relish salted and ready to rest.

Last night, after all the work was done and we were retiring for the night, as I was walking through the dark house, I smelled a sweet fragrance coming from the music room. I knew right away that my night-blooming cereus was flowering. The last two weeks I watched with high hopes as buds formed on it. It is a gangly plant that takes up most of the lower shelf in the west window in the music room. It doesn’t bloom often – only twice before in all the years I’ve had it. Often it forms buds, but they fall off. This time there were seven buds, the most it has ever produced. I was sad when two fell off, but the other five kept growing. The buds look strange with lots of spiky tendrils. As the buds got larger, I knew it would bloom soon. I’d been checking it every night before I went to bed. The flowers open in the dark and are only open for one night and I wouldn’t want to miss them. I was tired last night and did not check it. I’m glad the flowers are powerfully fragrant. When I smelled them, I turned on the light and found that two of the five buds were open. I moved the plant onto the dining room table and called the family to come and see. The flowers are huge and very beautiful. This morning they were already closed and beginning to shrivel when I woke up. I think the other three buds will open tonight. It was a great way to finish a busy and productive week and begin another.

My night-blooming cereus.

It's a big plant.

And the flowers are huge and fragrant.

The weather this week looks perfect for continuing our projects and harvesting. This coming weekend we are going to the Foster’s to celebrate Sarah’s birthday (belated) and Hannah’s graduation. The Thayns will be there too. I’m looking forward to us being together. We won’t be home until late Sunday night, so the Journal probably won’t go out until Monday. I’ll tell you all about it then.