Rainy Day Blues

Actually I'm not really blue, but it has been raining all day and I have a bad head cold. So I'm taking it easy today. Husband I went out this afternoon and did our grocery shopping plus looked around for a crock with which to make Sauerkraut and Kimchi in.

Tomorrow I'll be making mincemeat with our green tomatoes to can for future Christmas baking. I'll also be making dilled carrots and then freezing the what is left of the carrots. And preparing the cabbage for sauerkraut. We have not yet built a cold storage room so right now everything is still in the garage which it cool, but it is definately not an optimum produce storage area.

During the week I canned cherries, canned pears, made dill pickles, made nectarine jam, canned corn off the cob and baked 2 fresh peach pies. Husband was in the Okanagon and brought home several boxes of fruits which don't grow in our area, so I had to get busy.

For my birthday Husband had bought me a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer which I love, and today we bought the extra attachments to go with it (food grinder, pasta maker, fruit & vegetable strainer, slicer & shredder)! I couldn't believe our luck as the package of attachments was on sale for $100 off the original price!

This is my mixer above - the Kitchen Aid Artisan in silver.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

As most people with gardens, I have an abundance of zucchini that I need to use up.

We like zucchini bread and I wanted to make a chocolate version, but I couldn't find any healthy type recipes so I kind of made up my own. It is really good and not too sweet. This recipe make 4 loaves which I need for my family as they eat it like crazy. So without further ado, here is the recipe....

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3 c sugar
5 duck eggs (I realize most people don't use duck eggs so use 6 chicken eggs)
1/3 c oil
1/3 c apple sauce
4 T water
2 T vanilla
5 c shredded zucchini
3 c flour
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c unsweetened cocoa
2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
2 t ground cinnamon
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Grease four 4x8 loaf pans

In a medium bowl beat together sugar, eggs, oil, apple sauce, water and vanilla until well blended. Stir in zucchini.

Add dry ingredients and stir until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter between the four pans.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick near the centre comes out clean.

Cool in pans for 10 minutes then remove from pans. (If you don't let them cool first the bottom of the loaf will rip off when removing)

The Sly Fox

I love to watch the wildlife in our area and since we have been living here we have often observed a fox coming to visit our property. We know that she/he has a den across the road from us and it usually comes to check out the compost, but we haven't seen it for a about year or so.

The other day as we were working on the pole barn, Son came with a wheelbarrow full of gravel to pour into the holes. As he dumped it, the hens and one of the roosters came running towards us. We thought that they must have figured to was food that we were dumping - that is until Daughter yelled "A FOX!" We looked up to see the fox standing 20 meters away from us with one of our ducks in its mouth. We ran at the fox brandishing our shovels and screaming like a mob of angry villagers.

Luckily it dropped the duck and ran. She appears to be okay other than walking with a limp. We put the birds immediately back into the henhouse enclosure. That night I realized that I didn't remember seeing one of our hens (she stands out as she is a very silvery colour). The next morning I checked and sure enough she is missing. The night before we also had a hen die which had seemed fine all day - perhaps the fox had tried to get her and she managed to get away. I had looked her over and she seemed fine, but perhaps had internal injuries or died of shock?

Now the fox just keeps hanging around. The other day it walked up the driveway, sat down and scratched at its fur. It then walked over to our kitchen window and looked in at us. The dog was barking and going crazy, but the fox seemed completely unperturbed. He continued on along the side of the house and at this point Husband ran outside to scare it away. He was yelling, a shoe was thrown, and the fox just trotted away not frightened at all.

Later that same evening as Daughter went to feed the birds, she saw him hanging around the hen house. She grabbed the water hose and sprayed him full force!

The day before yesterday he was back. So cheeky! He came up to the front walkway only 10 feet away from our front door, sat down and again scratched at his fur and began grooming himself. Daughter ran out and scared him away.

I'm beginning to get a little frightened as this is a wild animal with obviously no fear of humans. I don't know too much about fox or if they can become aggressive towards people, but I think we may have to do 'something' about him.

Erecting Poles for the Barn

Husband has been wanting to build a pole barn since we finished building the house. Finally, the long wait is over and construction has begun.

Yesterday he rented an auger for the Bobcat and dug the 2 meter holes (6 foot) that the poles will sit in. Today he used the Bobcat to maneuver the poles into place. Unfortunately, this morning Husband found a hen in one of the holes - she was totally covered in mud after spending the night alone in the pit. She gladly jumped onto the stick that Husband put down for her and seemed none the worse for wear as she was lifted to safety (other than being really dirty).

The videos below document the erection of one of the poles (I had to split it up as I needed to move around the equipment). The back of the barn will attach to the hen house (the off white building in the background) and the barn will house equipment, travel trailer and such.

In the video Husband is driving the Bobcat, Son is moving the poles, and you can catch a couple of glimpses of Daughter as well.

Now that the poles are all in place (12 poles in all), they must be levelled and the holes filled in with gravel. The poles have already been pressure treated with wood preservative so that they don't decay in the ground.

Acreage All Sorts

Weather: Last weekend the temperatures began to cool off and we finally received more than just a short drizzle of rain. I can't believe how quickly it has changed from a super hot summer to cool and fall like in just a couple of days. The leaves have begun changing colour and even the mice seem to know autumn is on its way. The great white hunter (aka Son) has been trapping the mice families that are trying to move into our garage and crawlspace. Daughter seems disgusted and wants us to just catch the mice and turn them loose in the 'wild'.

This morning we received our first frost.

With the rain the forest fires have be brought under control and the choking smoke that was plaguing our city (as well as others) has finally dissipated.

Garden: Most things are growing well and I have been picking beans, peas, tomatoes and peppers like crazy. We will have to assess our produce at the end of the harvest to see what seeds did well so we can re-order in the spring. Some things we did not have luck with this year namely radish, spinach and beets. I think it is perhaps because we ordered short season varieties and then the hot summer pushed them into seed right way.

Some of our produce picked one evening after work

Preserving: Needless to say with the garden producing like crazy I in turn have been preserving like crazy - pickling, freezing and canning. I have also made salsa and relish.

Pickled green tomatoes and peppers

Perfect pearls of pea perfection (just a little alliteration for you)

Dog:

Who's that conehead?

Kaiser was once again at the veterinarian. He got into a fight with the neighbour's Bull Mastiff and he was on the losing end. Kaiser is not a vicious dog, he just wants to play with everyone but doesn't understand that not everyone wants to play with him. His front right leg was bitten quite severely and became infected after a few days. He now has a drain tube and is on heavy antibiotics. We are seriously investigating and researching electric dog fencing.

Wildlife:

Moose: The moose have been out again at night. We noticed their tracks going on the path between the garden and berry garden. They stopped to have a look at our produce but continued on their way - I guess the fence around the garden helped after all. The next night one was back and walked over the berry garden fence and through the berry bushes and out again. Luckily it didn't squash any of our strawberry plants or berry bushes.

Grouse: We have been seeing quite a few grouse around lately. Usually they are in a flock of 4-7. This one was on the road - she stopped and stood still thinking I couldn't see her while her friends took off into the bush.

Bear: The bears are out in full force. Since April there have been over 700 reported sighting within the city. The expect that in fall there will be quite a problem because the hot dry summer has dried up their food source of berries. Now they will be coming into town to look for other goodies to eat - garbage, fruit, and whatever else takes their fancy.

I spoke with a lady that lives in our area and she said to watch out as there is a grizzley in the area. I hadn't heard about it, but now I wonder if that was the bear my neighbour across the road saw the other day. She telephoned us to say a HUGE bear was in her yard and was heading across the street to our property. We never did see it, but I waited for 30 minutes befdore heading out for my daily walk.

Pioneer Week Challenge: Well it wasn't a huge success this year, but I did okay. Obviously we cooked at home other than one day when we had Indian takeout. I didn't purchase anything other than a few groceries that I needed, and a pair of Birkenstock shoes to wear in the house as my feet were killing my from standing in the kitchen at length. I combined all my trips into town to cut on my fuel consumption.

Pioneer Week

A new Pioneer Week Challenge hosted by Crunchy Chicken. I've been so busy I almost missed it!

Pioneer Living Rules (as reposted from Crunchy's blog)

1. Food: During Pioneer Week, you must make all your meals from scratch. This isn't really as hard as it sounds particularly if you start now. That's right, I'm letting you prepare meals ahead of time to freeze if you won't have time during the work week. But, anything prepared ahead of time must be made from scratch.

2. Energy usage: Keep your energy usage low by keeping the A/C (or heat if you live in the other hemisphere) low or off, use only one light in the house at a time (or at least turn off the lights when you are not using them) and line dry your clothes. Since you'll be doing a lot of cooking at home, try to coordinate when you are using the oven to take advantage of baking and/or roasting items at the same time. I don't expect you to unplug your fridge or freezer, so don't worry about that.

3. Conserve water: Since we don't all lug our water from the stream for home use, we'll have to do a few things to help conserve water. Besides taking shorter showers (5 minutes or less or take a military style shower) and flushing less often, you can create a great reminder about water usage by turning the water off on most of your sinks so when you go to use them nothing comes out.

4. Transportation: Walk or bike as much as possible. This will force you to support more local stores if you can't drive across town. If this isn't feasible, then drive or take public transportation. Most importantly, try to combine trips and if you really don't need to go out, stay home!

5. Rethink your entertainment: Instead of spending the week passively watching television or movies, try to engage more with the people you live with or neighbors within walking distance. Get the family back into playing games, music or just sitting around talking and telling stories. If you aren't in the mood for socializing try picking up that long lost craft hobby or start a new one.

6. Watch your wallet: Think of this as a Buy Nothing Week. Since you'll be pretty much eating at home all week, you don't really need to buy anything, now do you?

RAIN

It RAINED for about 10 minutes this afternoon!!!!!!

I was in the grocery store and that is all everyone could talk about.

Who knew one could be so happy over just a little rain?