It is with a VERY sad heart I say.......

Good bye and Rest in Peace Bessie.



As many you know she was approx. 19 yrs old. A month or so back she hurt her right ankle joint. Well, this never completely healed and with age she recently began having problems getting up. We switch her to Addy's stall, because it was bigger affording her more room to work at getting up, instead of getting up in a corner where she couldn't get up. She did well for several days getting up without much problem, that is until yesterday morning she had to try a couple of times and again this morning it was the same. We feed at around 6 am and she had trouble getting her back legs under her this morning, but she did get up on the second try. Later in the morning Cortney and I go out to let the girls out and clean barns( about 10 am) Bessie was lying down but just simply couldn't get up, even with our help. I called Mike, this is a situation we'd been discussing for a few weeks, and told him she was down and couldn't get up even with our help. He said to give her water and feed where she was at and watch her close. Around about 11 am it started to rain, and Bessie was NOT in her barn, but rather out in the pen. I tried to get her to rise with my help but she refused. I again call Mike he says he'll come home and put her down, I said No, call the vet you can't do that anymore than I could. The vet arrived within the hour and put Bessie down. Our vet said it looked as if she'd pulled a stifle out when trying to get up. No wonder she quite trying she knew it wasn't going to happen. I know it's for the best but it doesn't stop the heartache for loosing such a sweet,wonderful cow.

May you be grazing in never ending green pastures ole Bessie, we're going to miss you.

The energizer bunny is in serious.....

need of a recharge! I told Mike a few days ago I feel as if I could sleep for a week, no lie! Okay we're still canning, PTL, and working on garden clean up. The tomatoes in the bushel basket are ripening quicker than I'd hoped, we're able to run a batch through the Victorio Mill every other day. Yesterday Cortney and I decided Tomato Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches sounded good for supper, so we milled the tomatoes that were ripe and cooked down, adding seasoning and spices to get that rich homemade tomato soup taste. Just before serving we add a touch of table cream or heavy whipping cream to each bowl and stir in well. YUM, YUM! It hit the spot and what was left over I canned in 4 pint jars yesterday. along with qt. jars of apple sauce. Tomato Soup 4c. chopped tomatoes 3-1/2 c. chopped onion 2-1/2 c. chopped celery( I substituted in 1Tbsp. celery seed) 2c, sweet pepper 1c. sliced carrot 5 bay leaves( I substituted in 1 Tbsp. sweet basil and only added 2 bay leaves) 1/2 tsp ground clove 2 cloves minced garlic 1/4 c. brown sugar( I reduced this as 98% of our tomatoes were Roma and quite sweet on there own, suit this to your taste) 2 tsp sea salt Combine tomatoes, onion, celery, peppers, carrots, and herbs and spices in large pot and simmer until veggies are tender. Puree' in blender and return to pot adding sugar and salt, simmer 15 min. and taste test. To can ladle into hot sterilized jars leaving 1" head space. Process 20 minutes for lints and 30 min. for quarts at the needed pounds needed for your altitude( ours is 12lbs) Enjoy :o) Today we have so much to do, because there is a storm front moving in tonight. Our daytime temps. today are to be in the mid 80's F and the remainder of the week into the low 50'sF. We have apples to pick up before mowing the orchard areas. Mike mowed the main yard on Sunday while Cortney and attended a candle party and a Pampered Chef party. We've run out of bushel basket and buckets, so have to dump a basket of apples in our kitchen sinks. Laundry is about half finished and I'd like to set a goal to get it completely finished today and hung on the lines to dry before bad weather hits, otherwise they will be on drying racks around the house. We need to dig spuds and carrots and collect the remaining onions left out to dry before adding them to the cellar. We have 15+ heads of cabbage to collect as well, but I think if we tarp them they'll fair well as they are a cold weather crop. It seems old man winter is getting a leg in the door, just as Fall has officially begun. It's fore casted later this week that we may get SNOW! Well, the washer is calling and we need to collect clothes from the lines before hanging the two loads we have waiting in the basket. The wind is blowing, so this is a blessing. Take care and praying your day is as productive as we pray ours is.*wink*

Ready or Not Here I Come, Mr. Frost that is.....

You can see the beans got a case of freeze burn! The tomatoes,
pumpkins, cantaloupe, cucumbers and bush beans are now officially
done. It's a two sided coin of sorts, I'm sad to see it happen and yet
relieved to have an end to it as well.

Most of the flowers too a pretty hard hit too. Now it's time to let them dry,

and shake the seeds loose for next seasons flowers.

These are the ripe tomatoes, what was left on the pepper plants and a

portion of one hill of potatoes( needed them for supper)

Okay I'm almost ashamed to admit that both of our freezers are FULL!

We have a 21cu ft and a 16 cu ft. chest freezers and both are full. I'm

going to do some rearranging, and yes I'll defrost them both as

well. *wink*

We finally have had to buy store bought butter*sigh*, we've been dry

(milk free) for a year this Oct. I froze butter, enough it lasted almost 1yr.

Chopped up pepper and whole peppers for stuff peppers this winter!

Cheese purchases( 2 lb. blocks) for 3.99 each, on sale this past Spring

Pizza fixings, soup broths, pumpkin puree, grated carrots, etc.....

Now I have to figure out how to get three tom turkeys( all will dress out

32+lbs each) and four hen turkeys into these already full freezers.BTW,

this is the 21 cu ft. freezer.

The 16 cu ft freezer is mainly meat and some containers of broths,

soups, freezer slaw, baked beans, sweetcorn,etc....

The apples are two days worth of windfalls( 1-1/2 bushels). The

tomatoes filled 1-3/4 bushel basket and a milk crate full. If all these

ripen we'll be sitting okay with tomato canned goods, otherwise we'll

need to be careful to make our supply last until next season. PTL! we

still have the tomatoes going strong in the greenhouse. The plan is to

overwinter the plants inside our house.

Some candid pictures of our overworked pets! Casino taking his

Sabbath rest, doesn't he look comfy?

Tuffy prefers his crate for napping, he did open one eye for his picture.
Callie, snuck on the couch( she has one chair she's allowed on) was

looking oh! so comfy! LOL!

We harvested the last of the sweetcorn, 125 ears! We ate a few ears,

a few were cross pollinated with our Indian corn and the rest we cut off

the cob and froze.

Cortney was worried that she only had one mini pumpkin plant, well....

she harvested 41 mini pumpkins today!

We've begun pulling plants and cleaning up the garden in prepping for

composted manure spread and tilled under for the winter.

We still need to dig carrots, potatoes and the last 50 ft row of onions.

We've been pulling up the corn stalks and feeding to the cows and

horse, a row each day.

Well, it's getting late and I'm tired so will say goodnight.

Blessing for you day and rest of the week.

Recipes, some of our favorite!

Canned Apple Pie Filling 4-1/2 c. sugar( I use half this amount, because we watch our sugar intake) 1c. cornstarch 2 tsp. cinnamon( ground) 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp salt 10 c. cold water 3Tbps. lemon juice 6-7 qts. apples; cored and sliced to desired thickness Pack apples into hot sterilized qt. jars. Blend sugar, cornstarch, spices, and salt. Add water, mixing well. Heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat add lemon juice, mixing well. Pour hot mixture over apples, making sure the mixture goes to the bottom and all air bubble are worked out with a fork or spoon. Seal and water bath for 25 minutes or pressure can for 10 minutes at desired pressure for your area. Makes 7 qts. Herb Green Beans 4 lbs of beans, washed, and snapped to desired lengths and par- cooked( reserving liquid for later use) 2 c. chopped onion 1-1/3 c. celery; chopped fine 3 cloves garlic; minced 1/2 tsp. rosemary, if fresh chop and rub to release oil 1/2tsp. basil, chopped and rubbed if fresh salt to taste( we use 1/4 tsp per qt. jar) Add herbs, onion and garlic to reserved liquid and bring to a boil. Add par-cooked beans to hot sterilized qt. jars, add 1/4 tsp salt to each qt. Pour hot liquid over beans to within 1/2 of rim of jar. Seal and process in a pressure canner for 30 minutes at needed pressure for your area. End of the Garden Relish 3c. each of the following;cucumber,green tomato, cabbage, onion, green pepper, red sweet pepper, yellow pepper( sweet) green beans, carrots and celery. Chopping all to desired sized. 2 Tbsp. celery seed 4 Tbsp. mustard seed 3Tbsp. Turmeric 4-4/12 c. white vinegar( depending on your taste for sharpness) 4 c. sugar Soak cucumbers, peppers, cabbage, onion and tomatoes in salt water( 1/2 c, pickling salt to 2 qts. water) overnight. Drain and rinse and drain again. Cook carrots and beans until tender, drain well. Mix soaked veggies and cooked veggies and add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Place into hot, sterilized jars, seal and process in a water bath for 10 minutes for pints and 15 minutes for qts. Best ever relish! Makes approx. 9 pints. Dutch Spiced Red Cabbage 2 head red cabbage 1/2 c. salt 1 gallon vinegar 1/2 c. mild flavored honey 1 tsp. celery seed 1 tsp. pepper 1 tsp. mace, ground allspice and ground cinnamon Shred cabbage and sprinkle with salt, let stand for 24 hours( covered with a cloth). Press our liquid and let stand in the sun for 3 hours( covered with a cloth) Boil vinegar8 minutes with 1/2 c. water and spices. Add honey. Pour liquid over cabbage and pack into hot sterilized qt. jars. Seal and water bath for 15 minutes.

Good Morning!

We thought maybe you'd like to see the greetings we receive each
and every morning!

Ole' Bessie, not looking bad for 19 yrs old, Huh!
Button with her usual, "I'm Bored" look.
Addy, she's the lazy one of the three, taking her own sweet time to get

up. You see in the background, Button is already looking to play,

"Let's head butt", with Bessie. Bessie will play for awhile and then

simply puts her weight into Button and pushes her away, Button takes

the cue and looks to play with someone else then.

This is Clint( black), he's a Black Austrolop, with JR( mutt roo) in the

background.

This is some of what we'll be working on today. We're making, End of

the Garden Relish, Sweet Pickle Sticks and Herbed Green Beans

We also have enough tomatoes to run them through the Victorio

Strainer and can tomato juice, YEAH! Then there is corn to pick,

shuck, blanch, cut off cob and freeze and let us not forget the

raspberry patch that NEED to be picked daily now!

Some windfall apples from our trees. These will be washed,

cored and cut , then steamed for the juice to make apple jelly.

The wind blew last night, so we'll have double this amount now.

I'm praying they hold on the tree for a few more weeks, because

we need to make and can pie filling and sauce. We have plenty of

apple butter left from last seasons small crop.

The early sweet corn is finished, so now we're pulling up a row a

day and feeding it to the cows and horse, they love it!

Cantaloupe is ripening slowly, and they aren't as sweet as in

previous seasons, must be the lack of heat?

As soon as we get the majority of the garden wrapped up, we'll

get our sauerkraut started, the freezer slaw made, carrots,

and potatoes dug and in the cellar. The onions are already dug

and curing and will go into the cellar this week sometime.

We haven't harvested as many herbs this season, but we

have plenty left from last seasons garden.

The green house is full again with newly started herbs, for

fresh herbs all winter, and planters of lettuce mix and even

a planter of cat grass for Callie. Cortney experimented

this Spring with planting carrots in a planter, the results

were poor. The planter carrots were woody, and didn't

grow to any length. PTL! they store so well in the cellar.

We'll even have a few beets to store as well.

May your day be full of blessings and productivity. :o)

More Graduation pictures and misc. pictures

Did someone say cake and ice cream?
Can't have a party without balloons
A wrist corsage from Aunt Missy and she also supplied the balloons
and two beautiful flowering plants for the tables.

Isn't it beautiful?
Matched her dress beautifully.
Left to right: Phyllis, an old family friend and Grandma Nita( Mike's

Mom)

Our very special and of course favorite cousin, Jaylee. She came all

the way from ND with Grandma Nita and Papa Leroy for Cortney's

BBQ

Friends, neighbors all catching up on how everyone's summer has

gone.

Joe and Lisa, we've been blessed to get to know them both better.

Joe has helped us out more than once with our cows, supplies us with

straw and even gifted us a bum calf to raise up for beef.

Everyone enjoying a chance to visit and catch up a bit.

Our zinnias by the back door. I've mentioned this before, but a friend

swapped seeds with us this Spring, thanks Dawn! I'm waiting to

harvest seed for next season.

Cortney's snake gourd. It's in a pot and growing extra slow, so not sure

if it will get big enough to save.

Poor Tuffy and Casino, they were shut in our room during the party.

They are both terrible beggars and I still worry about Tuffy around kids.

Casino peering down the driveway as the last guest leaves. He

REALLY loves people and he missed all the excitement this time.

This morning, Cortney woke up with a head cold. Her nose is running

like a faucet. She's helped me get laundry folded, Mo's corral cleaned

and has rested, drinking elderberry/ echinachia tea, lots of water and

1000mg of natural vitamin C.

I decided I'd get some of last seasons tomato sauce used up, so

started a large pot of Spaghetti sauce, for canning. The house smells

wonderful, and guess what's for supper? I think I'll get about 10 qts.

from this batch. I'm being stingy with the tomato sauce, because so far

this season, we've only have two or three dozen ripen and of course not

all at the same time*sigh*

Well, it's evening chore time, Mike will be driving in in 30-40 minutes

and I need to slice the bread for garlic toast yet.

Have a blessed evening everyone :o)

Cortney's Graduation BBQ

Here are a few pictures of Cortney's Graduation BBQ party.
We have more pictures but need time to get them downloaded.
Here is Cortney's cake, she decided she wanted a Costco cake
and the rest of the meal was homemade. We served BBQ'ed
burgers( with our farm raised beef), baked beans, coleslaw, relish
items( fresh veggies from the garden) and two jello salads( my
Mom made for Cortney's party)

Some of Cortney's guests, enjoying the party( left to right;

A friend, who Cortney helps with lambing every Spring and her Dd,

my Dad talking fishing with our neighbor to the East, Larry.

It was a good turnout, about 26 people. There were 30 confirmed

but one family all came down with something and were nice enough

to call to cancel, so we all weren't exposed to whatever they had,

especially with this H1N1 flu in our midst.

Cortney getting ready to open gifts. She was blessed with very nice

gifts and some money too. Check out Cortney's new glasses, don't

they make her look older*wink*, after all she is now 18 yrs old

A dear friend of Mike's family made this beautiful quilt for Cortney,

knowing her love of horses. That's Dad( Mike in the background)

We will upload more pictures of the day later this week. Tomorrow is

laundry day, I have a case of peaches to can, corn to pick, water the

garden/ yard/ orchard, windfall apples to pick up and all our regular

chores.

On our agenda this week, pull corn stalks and feed to cows, pull loose

the pole bean plants, so they start drying, weed the garden( it's now the

Garden of Weed'n ) pick raspberries, cut lettuce/ mustard and

spinach, harvest rhubarb, cut two head of cabbage and make freezer

slaw, plant some herbs, carrots, beets, and lettuce in pots in the

greenhouse. When our temps cool into the low 80's and high to mid

70's F I'll start sauerkraut in the 5 gallon crock. I'm hoping to make

two or three batches and then keep the rest of the cabbage in the

cellar.

The garden is winding down and now begins the time of cleanup

and getting compost and manure spread and tilled in for the long

winter. I'm looking forward to the rest, I always do and then come

mid January I raring to dig in the dirt again*LOL*!