[Ag-eq] Catching Up

Sat Oct 13 03:23:30 UTC 2012

Oh Susan, I can't wait until the farm cook book is available!

Have you thought about doing a blog?

Do you have any ideas on what would be a good first time canning project?

When you talk about Dog Wood Farm I get the most wonderful mental pictures.  I
grew up on a farm in northwest Arkansas that sounds similar.  My parents still
live there, but lease most of the land out now.  My Mom still grows a large
garden, has a small orchard and a green house.  There are several wild dog wood
trees there, that are quite beautiful.

I hope you are feeling better; take care.

Nella

Quoting Susan Roe <dogwoodfarm at verizon.net>:

> Hi Nella and everyone,
>
> I go to my own doctor this morning to check my blood level for the blood
> thinners.  I am giving myself a shot of blood thinner in my belly twice a
> day and a blood thinner pill in the evening until my numbers level out.
> This in addition to my everyday meds and insolin in my tummy as well.  Oh
> yay!  My entire belly and abdomin looks like a mule kicked me a good one.
> The only good thing about that is at least it doesn't hurt like as if that
> mule really did wack me a good one.  LOL
>
> Both Honey Crisps and Pink Lady apples grow in our mountain areas which is
> about a nice two hour drive.  We can go to Carter's Grove and either pick
> our own or by them by the bushel and half bushel box already picked.  I am
> really looking forward to the Pink Lady apples coming in.  You can find both
> of them in local stors, but they seem to be bigger straight from the fields.
> That is why I nearly pushed my husband out of the door to get my Honey Crisp
> apples from our produce guy because he had just gotten them off the truck
> directly from the mountains!
>
> I have been canning all of my life ever since I was about four years old and
> could help my mother sort jars, lids and rings as she canned loads of
> vegetables, pickels, and jelly.  I love every step but do mostly hot water
> bath.  We have a pressure cooker and I will do all aspects of it except
> setting the rocker ball on top.  That job is left for my husband because if
> he blows the rocker ball off and lodges it up in the exhaust fan, like he
> did when he was a teen pressure cooking pumpkin, he can't blame it on me.  I
> didn't falloff the turnip truck yesterday, you know.
>
> Even my husband Matt loves to can.  He is in Seattle now visiting his
> brother and helping him clean out his garden for the winter.  His brother
> has friends that press their own cider and they did that this past Sunday,
> where he took home six gallons of freshly pressed cider and two garbage bags
> of apples.  He told Matt that he really didn't want to take all those apples
> and would probably just throw them away.  I would have loved have been a fly
> on the wall when big brother gave little brother the lecture on not waisting
> nature's bounty when it was soconveniently dropped in your lap.  So needless
> to say, they have already canned apple green tomato chutney and Matt was
> reading up on his brother's dehydrater and is sure to have that up and
> running today.  I reminded him that if there was a slow cooker that they
> could also do the apple butter as well.  Don has a steam canner that Matt
> was really interested in that uses only inches of water rather than enough
> water to cover the jars.  You only have to boil the water until steam comes
> out of small top vents and then start your timer accordingly.  I don't think
> this would be easy for the blind to use alone, but they could with someone
> else.  If I know my husband, we may be adding one to my canning inventory.
>
>  I'm glad my posts are being so enjoyed.  I do a bit of writing and have
> posted about fourteen articles to Matilda Ziegler Magazine.  I am really
> thinking about having a running journel style collection of "Views from my
> Front Porch" as a reference for what works and what fails miserably on our
> adventures here on Dogwood Farm.  We'll see what pops up in the near future.
> Still working on our farm cookbook and Matt has definitely been enjoying
> being our number one taste tester.
>
> Well buy for now, gotta get this morning started and morning chors done
> before heading out to the doctor office.  Then out to lunch with my sister,
> pick up a bail of hay for Homer, a few things from the grocery store, of
> course we can't forget the stop at the drug store and then home in time for
> evening feeding, feed ourselves and then crashing in front of the tv before
> heading off to bed.  LOL
>
> Susan
> dogwoodfarm at verizon.net
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
> To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 9:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Catching Up
>
>
> >
> > Susan:
> >
> > I'm so sorry to hear that your having helth issues.  I hope you are lots
> > better
> > real soon.
> >
> > Do Honey Crisp apples grow in your area?
> >
> > They are one of my favorite kinds.  I like Pink Ladies too.  I think all
> > the
> > apples here are shipped in from other states; Arizona isn't very apple
> > friendly!  We can grow good citris here, which will be ready soon.
> >
> > Sorry to hear about your garden.  My parents live in Arkansas and they had
> > an
> > unusually hot summer.  Mom said she got very little from the garden even
> > though
> > she was watering.  She also said the deer ate lots of stuff.  I think it
> > was so
> > dry they were just eating what ever they could.
> >
> > Do you can with a pressure cooker?
> >
> > I would like to learn to can, but the pressure cooker makes me nervous.
> > My
> > Grandmother used to do a lot of canning and my Mom still does some.  I
> > used to
> > help them, but mostly I filled and washed jars.  I have small hands that
> > can
> > fit in the jars, so I had to wash lots of them!
> >
> > If you have any tips for canning when blind I would love to hear them.  I
> > am a
> > good cook and comfortable handling hot things, just not sure about the
> > pressure
> > cooker.  Maybe they are different now.
> >
> > One of the chickens dug out of my run and was killed by a neighbor dog, so
> > checking the coops is a good idea.  There's always something to do!
> >
> > I'm looking for a buck to breed one of my dairy goats to.  She's just
> > finishing
> > her heat cycle, so I need to find one soon.  Maybe next year I will breed
> > one
> > of this years babies.  One of them has beautiful markings.
> >
> > Take care of yourself and please stay in touch.
> >
> > Nella
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Quoting Susan Roe <dogwoodfarm at verizon.net>:
> >
> >> Hi Jody,
> >>
> >> Well, considering I came home from the hospital tonight (Monday night) at
> >> 6:30 after going to the emergency room Saturday morning with another
> >> onset
> >> of blood clots in my lungs, I am doing pretty good.  We haven't gotten
> >> the
> >> already pregnant dairy goat yet.  I'm trying to hold my husband back
> >> until
> >> November 2013 because we don't have the milking area ready in the barn
> >> and I
> >> want it finished before we buy the female.  Give Homer another year to
> >> get
> >> settled with a routine of being tethered once a day for extra forage so
> >> we
> >> don't have to cut so much for him in the winter.  Then wehn we go to put
> >> both of them out, it might help the female if she can tell that Homer is
> >> not
> >> skiddish along with her.
> >>
> >> This fall, we're going to strip all of my chicken coops, checking for
> >> places
> >> where the chickens have been scratching a bit too eagerly to get up under
> >> their coops and for places where our farel cat population has been
> >> digging
> >> to get under the coops from the other side.  One day, they are going to
> >> meet
> >> in the middle underneath the coop and only one is going to come out the
> >> victor!  LOL
> >>
> >> We had our garden wiped out this year due to a bad storm that came the
> >> end
> >> of June and took our power for 7 days and we could not water whatsoever
> >> and
> >> our temps were in the low 100's.  But, luckily enough, we have a real
> >> nice
> >> small produce stand just up the road that took up where our garden left
> >> off.
> >> Matt purchased a half bushel peaches and Honey Crisp apples, so my sister
> >> and I made peach preserves peach chutney and 4 quarts of dried apple
> >> slices.
> >> We also dried two pints of banana slices.  I'm going to dry a few other
> >> fruits and then we are going to make our own trail mix.  The end of
> >> October,
> >> I am going to get a bushal of Pink Lady apples and we are going to do
> >> apple
> >> chutney, more apple butter, and maybe some spiced apples as well.  Matt
> >> is
> >> in Seattle visiting his brother and also doing some canning and pickeling
> >> with him as well.  They tried some apple and green tomato chutney and I'm
> >> wondering how that is going to turn out.
> >>
> >> There is a man who lives behind us who owns a large truck farming
> >> business
> >> and rents most of the properties he farms.  They have one of our fields,
> >> growing tomatoes last year and winter squashes this year.  He called
> >> while I
> >> was in the hospital to let me know he had several kinds of greens and
> >> turnips he was starting to cut and if we wanted any just to let him know
> >> when we wanted to come and get some.  I told him as soon as Matt came
> >> back
> >> home he would probably be there Sunday afternoon.   They are really good
> >> people.  They have kept our long driveway covered with gravel as parcial
> >> payment for using one of our fields.
> >>
> >> Gotta go for now, my own bed looks way more inviting than the hospital
> >> bed I
> >> was in for the past two nights.  I can hear it calling, "nighty night".
> >> LOL
> >>
> >> Susan
> >> dogwoodfarm at verizon.net
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Jody Ianuzzi" <jody at thewhitehats.com>
> >> To: "'Agricultural and Equestrean Division List'" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> >> Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 7:48 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Catching Up
> >>
> >>
> >> > Hi susan,
> >> >
> >> > Good to hear from you too.  That is a good idea to just as peet a
> >> > little
> >> > at
> >> > a time.
> >> >
> >> > How have you been?
> >> >
> >> > JODY
> >> >
> >> >
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