Open Pollinated Corn

This past week was spent gathering in more of the seasons bounty. All of the open pollinated corn was stripped from the stalks and hung to dry. The pigs were put in the field where the corn was grown to root in the remaining corn stalks. In Gene Logsdons' book "Small-Scale Grain Raising", the practice of hauling bundles of corn shocks to the barn to be husked at the farmers leisure during the long winter evenings, became a pleasant custom known as "husking bees". The husking was merely a by-product of a social evening. The husker who found a red ear in the bundle was allowed a kiss from a boyfriend or girlfriend. And in those days, corn did not have the dull sameness of today's hybrids so there were quite a few ears that would turn up red.

In the "old days" there were more chances for people of different ages to mingle and understand each other. The work of food getting was turned into fun; neither love nor labor was lost. We could do far worse today.

New Texel Ram lamb

This our 5 year old texel ram Grover loaded and ready for his new home in Knox County, Ohio. It's sad to see him go but he will have a nice flock of texel ewes to greet him when he arrives at his new home.

Eric and Kate Helt have a small organic sustainable farm where Grover will be hard at work continuing the texel breed known for their double muscle and conversion of grass to meat characteristics.

Here are the two ram lambs we brought home. One for ourselves and one for a friend. We chose the texel to cross with our Shetland mule ewes, because they produce lambs that finish on grass and grow fast. Oh, not to mention the meat is so tasty.

Stocking Up

During the months of August and September harvesting of vegetables and fruits begin. Today I will be finishing the peaches just in time to start harvesting the apples. My husband has already used the apple cider press 2 times for a total of about 12 gallons. Some of this goes in the freezer for later and some we drink. This year we will try apple cider vinegar with a batch of cider. We have Amish friends who are willing to share their cider mother with us to get the vinegar going. Kind of like brewing beer or Kombucha. We dug 4 rows of Yukon Gold potatoes last week and had nice large spuds for storage. If you haven't grown Yukon Golds you are missing a wonderful creamy, buttery flavor. The Vermont Cranberry beans were pulled and are drying on racks. When they are dry we will split the bean pods and store the dried beans for soups. We still have sweet corn growing and the ears should be ready at the end of the week for freezing. I am starting to pick some winter squash off the vines to harden for storage. Next time I will be posting pictures of late veggies that are started and growing in the garden and harvested vegetables ready for storage. Happy harvesting!