Thanksgiving 2011

 November harvest?  What?  Dave brought this out of the garden in mid November and I couldn't believe it!  We've had frosts and freezes and some plants still survive. Amazing!

It really snowed, there is snow on the ground and I'm hoping this will be the last of the snow to melt in April or May. Everything is soft and quiet.  A few days later it was cold and crunchy.  I love winter!

I'm going out to work with the horses and I thought I'd get a shot of the winter fashion.  I absolutely love my winter riding pants.  Zippers, padding and suede where you need it.
Also winter riding boots make an amazing difference but I have never found riding boots good for + or - 10 above or below 0 degrees.  We'll see what this winter brings.  The jacket is one of Rose's old ski jackets and very warm.

 I have dreamed of driving Phantom for years and years.  Finally, here he is pulling a travois in the front yard.  The snow actually made it easier since the shafts slid on the ground so easily.  In the past I've been rather resistant to riding or driving horses in the winter because of poor circulation.  In other words, my finger turn white and hurt!  This year I am determined to KEEP riding or driving no matter what!  So I bought hand and foot warmers to have on hand if I need them. I also have my mothers fur coat to wear if need be.

Carving the Thanksgiving turkey.  I insisted that it be carved at the table while we were all seated just like when I was a kid.  The plates are passed around the table with the additions of dressing, potatoes, wild rice salad, fresh greens salad and cranberries as it passes from Cedric to Sophie to Karl to Grandpa to Patsy and finally Dominique.  None at the table had ever done it this way before.  It was fun!

 The Thanksgiving gathering for 2011. Shortly  Karl will head back to the U of M, Sophie to Perpich, Cedric is off the California in January and Dominique will join her husband Stephen in Kazakstan in late December. Grandpa thinks he may be mowing his lawn when he gets back to Fridley next week.  Minneapolis got up to 59 degrees on Thanksgiving.  The last time it got that warm was in 1939. 

Here we are the day after Thanksgiving, notice the snow is completely gone.  Phantom really enjoyed the walking and trotting with the soft footing of the front yard.  His hooves were trimmed yesterday so the grass feels much better than the driveway.  For the first time I drove him through the pasture with the travois and he handled it like a pro!
I just need to figure out how to build a sleigh for him to pull!

Phantom is just an amazing Welsh pony.  I just can't wait to be behind him in a sleigh this winter and then a cart next summer.  I have been dreaming about this for 7 years. Will I do it?  Can I do it?

First Snow!

The First Snow was pretty but didn't last long.  So if the snow doesn't stay, is it the first snow? I don't think so.  It was so pretty but the first REAL snow is coming this Saturday (November 19, 2011).  That beautiful tamarac lost it's top in a big wind a few years back.

"Alright, I'm coming down!"  I watched this hen hop up 13 steps, circle the deck at the top a couple times and confidently step down each step.  It is so interesting to me that one hen would do this.  Not at any other time have the chickens showed any interest in these steps.  Chickens really do have personalities.
I am sorry to say I have had to cull another hen as she showed unhealthy symptoms which didn't change after she was isolated.  A healthy flock is of the utmost importance if you are going to consider raising your own chicks and that is my goal!

I have named my three roosters.  Alpha is the biggest and the dominant one.  Bernie is the middle guy and Clyde is the smallest and easiest to hand feed as he never tries to bite me.
I think is was Clyde's week with the hens.

Patsy: "Alpha, what have you been up to?"
Alpha: "Yes, I tipped over my water bucket, what of it!  You opened the door an Bernie thought he could drink out of MY bucket!"

Bernie:  He started it!  I wasn't doing anything and he just got mad and wouldn't quit picking on me!  I don't like being stuck here with Alpha, he is such a bully!

 

 "You are such a bully!  If you come on my side I'm telling!

Sylvia Kubes passed away on October 25, 2011.  She was a gardener extroardinaire and a wonderful woman.  At her memorial, Rowan picked out these two ducklings that used to grace her backyard gardens.  They will find their way to Rowan's house before spring.

Here is my one and only Barred Rock enjoying an afternoon out eating greens.  With the help of a light timer and 14 hours of "light" they are laying 8 eggs a day.  I still let them outside to free range every day that it is possible.  It won't be long and everything will be covered with many inches of snow and the free range days will be over until spring. 

Welcome Autumn Brule Lundell

And the winner is...well I can't remember who the winner was.  One of Daddy Tim's cousins cut the baby wrapping tape to the exact measurement of Melanie's baby belly.  Shari Lundell hosted a wonderful baby shower for Melanie at her home in Princeton.  After an afternoon of tasty homemade food, treats, games and prizes we headed back to Duluth, our car packed with baby t-shirts, wraps, toys, clothes, crib sheets and more t-shirts, wraps and wraps and...Targets registry wasn't working so there were a few duplicates but we had a great time, laughed a lot, put names to faces, hugged hello and good-bye and wished Melanie and her coming little one well.

Welcome Autumn Brule Lundell, born Thursday, October 20th at 5:45 am.

 Melanie called Wednesday morning after her doctor's appointment to let me know the progression. I decided to leave work a little early, many thanks to my boss and co-workers who are all so supportive.  We spent the evening running errands, laughing about how she really could go another week like this.  I must say, she did have a convincing "duck walk" that night.  Off to bed with thoughts of grocery shopping and lots of cooking for the morrow.  My phone rang at 6am,  Tim Lundell was calling and naturally I figured they must be off to the hospital, nice of them to let me know.  "It's a GIRL!"  Tim said.  What?  She's here! And it's a girl!  They left for the hospital around 3:45am and Autumn arrived 2 hours later.  "Don't tell the kids, let them see for themselves."  So I kept mum. "It's a baby!" I said.  After feeding Oscar and Wally breakfast, waiting for Rowan to arrive home from her slumber party, we headed to the hospital.  They were excited to meet this little one and to  find out if it's a brother or sister!  We have dozens of fabulous pictures of that first meeting.  But this is my blog and this is my new grand-daughter!

This is now pre-Autumn Brule catch-up.

Fall has come and gone.  These leaves are down.  Thanks goodness for the evergreens!  The temp has dropped and it's dark in the morning when the alarm goes off at 6:30.  The spectacular beauty of the fall is rather short-lived but luckily I love lighting candles for dinner with the shorter daylight and even enjoy the stark silhouettes of the birch and aspen after the last leaf has dropped.

The reds, oranges and yellows have been replaced by muted grays and browns that I can barely make out on my early morning walk since the sun no longer comes up until I'm home doing a few yoga stretches.  It's chilly, frosty and dark as I hustle down the driveway trying to keep an eye on the dogs.  The white one, Kate, almost glows in the dark pre-dawn.  What are the names of those stars and planets that are the last to become invisible every morning?

 The task of throwing wood into the basement wood box has begun in earnest.  Karl, Rose and Dave always fill the wheelbarrow to a precarious heaping.  I would rather make twice as many trips and save my back.  Maybe I'll still be doing this when I'm 92!

Dave is off hunting for pheasants in ND and I spent all of yesterday cleaning and organizing inside. This morning, before I get sucked into the endless and thankless needs of housecleaning and kitchen maintenance, I am off to clear trails. The freezing rain and snow are coming.  It may be my last chance to get out and ride my horse with something real to do!  Phantom's favorite part of trail clearing is when I saw or haul and he grazes. 

We are back to post Autumn Brule.  I returned from the excitement of a new grand-daughter, rode my Zan who missed me enough to challenge all the routine warm-ups.  Jeri, Dave and I pressed another 18 gallons of apple juice.  I was definitely the apprentice this time, a little slow on the washing, plucking and slicing.  It seems the apple smoosher over-heats so we have to feed it more slowly with more cut apples. It rained long enough for Dave to put up the tarp but we took it down before we were finished pressing.

While we were pressing apples the hens were enjoying a little free range time with their rooster-of-the-week.  I'm keeping the roosters separate with each one getting a week in the hen house.  The first week went fine but when I exchanged roosters, the two left in the rooster coop fought till they were both bloody, the larger, dominant one clearly winning when I went to feed at 8:45.  They would have noticed each other in the daylight which means they duked it out for one hour, fifteen minutes.  The rooster coop has a divider so I closed the door to keep them separate but what a pain this could prove to be in the freezing cold winter and I have to keep three water buckets warm.  I hope they figure it out before too long.

Dave is filling gallon jugs to use for juice and the five gallon buckets will ferment for hard cider.  I think we should have a bottling party in a couple of weeks.  The color seems so much darker this time.  We quit pressing after six layers or two pressings.  The horses are thrilled with the apples I bring for them to munch every day as we had a bushel left after
pressing.

I am such a sucker for sunsets!  It was a spectacular sight. The fact that it had recently rained seemed to clear the air of debris, making the colors crystal clear.  It's been quite a week and the veggies are not yet in the root cellar, the gardens are not yet put to bed ready for winter, the meadow and hill crest fence lines have not been pulled, the flower gardens have not been clipped nor any tulips planted, the planters will crack with the cold if I don't get them emptied and I am ten wheelbarrows behind on moving manure to the compost pile.  Oh well, Autumn Brule Lundell has arrived and is perfect, my brother John continues to recovered from his motorcycle accident, Dave and I are healthy, willing and able,  Life is good!

First Egg and Odds and Ends

Wednesday, October 5 and I finally have the nesting box mounted on the wall of the coop.  I know the chickens should start laying soon since they hatched on May 6th.  I've been thinking for weeks that I'd better get that box back on the wall!  Hoping to have the day to hike tomorrow, I hustled after work and got the box dusted off and hand screwed back on to the wall.  Dave sold the driver just a few days ago but a hand held screwdriver actually worked fine!  Some clean straw, three golf balls and one painted rock later and the box is ready.  I've had trouble in the past with chickens eating their eggs, such a bummer.  Fruitless, fake egg pecking seems to convince chickens that those oval objects in the box are not worth their attention. Hopefully I've gotten the box up and the deception planted in time.  I was done with my work in the coop by 6:30  but when I went to check on the brood and close the door at dark there wasn't one single chicken in the coop. WHAT?  OK Don't panic!  Where can they be? A couple hens had tried roosting in the nearby cedar tree a few times. They really do have personalities and go through rebellious stages... Sure enough all fifteen were comfortably roosting the cedar tree, ten feet from the coop but invisible as you walk by. I must have disrupted the roosting timing and tradition!  Actually, this is perfect!  I had also prepped the old coop for the the roosters as I had planned to separate them from the hens tonight.  One by one I gently "grabbed" them out of the cedar tree and either headed to the new or old coop.  They were extremely cooperative with just a little squawking as they were disrupted from the tree perch.  Now I feel ready!

The very next morning I found the first egg!  There has been one every day since.  Quite small but beautiful, perfect, brown eggs will now gather in bowls on my counter and fill cartons in the fridge as they wait their turn to be used for breakfast, lunch, dinner and treats.

My plan is to let each rooster spend a week with the hens.  They play favorites believe it or not!

The onions and potatoes sit in the garage on pallets while they dry.  As soon as the temperature drops to a reasonable fall degree and we have the time, we'll move them to the root cellar.  I just hope the onions dry enough so they will keep well throughout the winter.  The potato harvest was rather limited this year.  Is it the seed potatoes we used, the placement in the garden, the weather?  What?  They were weeded and hilled!  What should I do next year?  This gardening, harvesting and storage feels complicated when things don't go according to plan.  What should we do differently?

Winter squash, green tomatoes and a few red tomatoes await their storage or use.  The cider apples are closest to the garage door as we keep adding to their numbers with every chance we get.  Our next pressing will be on the 22nd.  But then there is another baby coming.  Will I be home on the 22nd!  This new
grand-baby could arrive any time now.  Time will tell!




My carrot harvest.  Well, carrots ideally should be slender and tapered, easy to dig, clean and store.  These are a few of my favorite carrots although they do not meet any of the above requirements.  I was able to "sand pack" a few boxes of carrots but not near enough to make it through the winter so my carrot harvest is a bit of a disappointment. Even so, it is a wonderful feeling to have all the carrots dug and dealt with, whether they are packed in sand, cleaned and in the fridge, cleaned and cut for horse treats or composted!  I've dug carrots in the cold with gloves on and in the cold rain with wet muddy gloves and a hat on and this was much better with the sun warm on my back and the calm, bug free, autumn  breeze. Aren't they cute?

Cider Hay Ride

 Bottled apple cider!  Hard cider with a little fizz added that is.

We have never done this before so after purchasing a few supplies and scraping the labels of many-a-bottle, it's the night to bottle the apple juice that's been brewing in the basement for a couple weeks. Siphoning off the juice proved to be more difficult than we thought.  After sucking down a bit more cider than I planned we finally corrected the connection and filled a few dozen bottles. Washing and sanitizing the bottles was by far the most time consuming part of the entire process.

 Filled bottles on the left and clean, sanitized bottles with 1/2 teaspoon of corn sugar (dextrose) added to create the bubbles, waiting to be filled on the right.  Notice the Seaweed Green granite?  The granite is from India and the process of picking it out took months!

Dave filled the bottles and I capped them with the handy, dandy capper snugger. It reminded me of putting snaps on kids clothes.

 So we bottled the cider until 10:30 pm Friday night.  Saturday morning I went to work at the Library, waiting for the call that Shawn Lahti.  He was coming up the shore with 230 bales of hay and would call when he was at Cascade State Park so I could head home to meet him. Shawn had no problems weaving this truck between the garage and a 3 foot drop off, inches from the well and spruce tree which protects the gas tank, and finally between the run-in and the barn door. 

 How did they get the hay up there?

Watching 230, 70 pound bales of hay slide off that  truck was impressive.  This is a very cool flatbed truck! 

Tyler and  Brandon worked for 5 hours getting the hay from Lahti Farms stacked in the barn.  Alright, they had a couple cookie breaks but they really worked hard.  I don't know what I would have done without their industrious help with this hay!  Lahti Farms, which is down near Duluth, has been in business since 1931, selling hay and straw.   In 1931 they used horses to pull the wagons hauling the hay.  Shawn had a business card with a photo of a hay wagon, his teenager father standing on the hay and grandfather as a young man standing next to the load. 

 A winter's supple of hay, oh what a feeling!  You probably can't imagine the relief I feel having the hay stacked in the barn!

 Dave and I butchered the meat birds this morning but I'll leave those pictures for another day.  It was so wonderful to go for a ride up on the ridge with my friend Vicki.  I was tired from the morning's work and nervous wondering how Zan would behave.  I just haven't ridden her more than a few times in the last month and she doesn't have that much trail experience.

 Here we are on top of the ridge with the lake in the background.  It's another world up there and the fall colors are beautiful.  The footing was not soft nor easy for my four hoofed companion but she was a real trooper and really enjoyed being out and about.

Zan would not cooperate with a pleasant look for the photo.  She would much prefer munching on the dry, wild  yellow grasses growing in any rocky depression that might hold a bit of organic matter and moisture to support their growth.

It was really a spectacular view!  Without the direct sunshine the colors were muted and calm.  It's October 4, 2011 and the colors are at their height. This is a ride I would like to repeat any time of year.

Butchering Day

 We decided last night that Tuesday morning would be the day. (October 4) Dave left early to pick up the plucker while I prepped for butchering.  Get the chickens in place, twine for tying, electrical cords in place, sharp knives, bucket of warm water, dishsoap for the dipping water, fill the canning kettle with hot water, wipe down the granite block, what did I forget?

 We've butchered without a plucker and with one --- I wouldn't do it again without! Spinnlers made the plucker and loan it out to those in need. It works amazingly well.  Just flip the switch, drop in the "dipped" chicken, spray the sides with water, wait and watch about a minute and shut it down.  One clean plucked chicken ready for the next step.

 This is the part that neither of us like.  Dave would much rather be hunting and I just feel sad.  I think if you experience taking the life of an animal you can't help but appreciate the food it provides for you in a more profound way.  When they are alive, some of them really do look you in the eye.  If they are allowed, they really do have personalities.  At some point during the butchering process I always end up crying. 

The kettle of hot (130 degrees) water is ready, the thermometer handy, hoses and buckets ready, knives sharp, paper towels just in case and my tea. There is the first bird ready for dipping.

 In the past when Karl and Rose helped, I could focus on the eviscerating,  With just the two of us we we did a bit of everything.  Well, I just couldn't do the killing.
Once they are clean they cool off in cold water, get picked over once more and then get wrapped loosely, placed in coolers, packed with ice and age for a couple days.  The process took 3 hours.

On Thursday, I double wrapped 11 chickens, a total of 64.4 pounds, and placed them in the freezer.   Most were 4 - 6 lbs so we are set for chicken for the winter.  I think it comes out to about $2.20 per pound for organic chicken. 

I'm glad the butchering is done, it's a hard thing to do. We will enjoy chicken dinners, chicken soup and chicken sandwiches this winter.  I won't worry about added hormones or pesticides when I feed my kids and grandkids the chicken that I've raised.

Lady the Wonder Dog!

I always wanted to think that Lady was on chicken duty while I'm away at work.  On the day I went to help Melanie with the tomatoes I found out the truth! 
My neighbor, Trilby, called while I was on my way down Hwy. 61 with the news that there had been a "chicken incident!"  Seconds later the call was dropped. (naturally)  My mind wandered to a couple years back when I lost nearly my entire flock to a rogue neighborhood dog.  Finally I see "bars" on my phone and return the call.  It seems my 15 Silver Laced Wyandottes showed up in her yard and her large eleven month old Shelti pup went crazy. He was chasing the chickens around and around their cabin with lots of squawking heard from the terrified chickens who are accustomed to chicken-friendly dogs.  Tribly was happily surprised when the "Wonder Dog Lady" came to the rescue, charging into the chaotic scene, drawing her dog off into the woods so the chickens could escape.  She said Lady was not at all aggressive with her dog, just persistent.  WOW!  But that's not all!  The following Wednesday when Trilby was heading back to the cities there was another "incident."  She was all packed up and bringing her pup to the car, but he had other ideas.  He took off through the woods for our place with Triby in hot pursuit.  I bet he's thinking these chickens are lots of fun to chase and might even taste good!  Trilby arrives to see Wonder Dog Lady charging and driving her dog off the property.  She came to the Library to tell me this and was quite impressed with Lady and in a bit of a dilemma as to how to handle her dog.  I wonder how many times Lady's chicken rescue episodes have gone unrecognized?

This is my favorite time of fall when the reds, golds and greens are everywhere!  This photo was taken at our maple stand where we tap trees in the spring.  This past spring we bottled about 3 gallons of syrup.  Each gallon represents about 32 gallons of sap.  I'll have pictures of the 2012 harvest.

With fall here, if I don't have the "barn" filled with the winter's supply of hay, I get nervous.  The barn has been unfinished for, well, I forget how many years, but it's been a while.  Dave is covering openings that I determined last winter, really were a problem.

Last year's hay, pallets and plastic to move.  A week to let things air and dry out before loading up the space with new hay.  In fact, at this moment I have two teenage boys out there filling this space with 230 bales of fabulous hay from Lahti Farms. Shawn Lahti delivered the hay this morning, driving from Toivola, Minnesota, which is northwest of Duluth.  The family has been farming and delivering hay and straw since 1931. 








I've had an unfinished cinch hanging on my closet door for one and a half years and I finally finished it!  I joined a class to learn how to make it but we ran out of time before the final mohair was in place.  My friend Vicki helped with reviewing the process to finish the piece.  She makes and sells beautiful mohair cinches and girths. Check it out on fb Traditional Mohair Cinches.