Uh, If Anyone Needs Me, I'll be In Da Hole!

In my spare moments (ha!) I'm still trying to get stuff OUT of the veggie garden. The last couple days, I been in Da Hole! I'll show u what I mean....


Couple months ago, we decided to start on a shop for the Gman. He's wanted one forever and, it being such a big project, it became easy to put off....we decided to get a start on it and hope we can get the foundation poured before the snow comes. Then we'll put the brakes on until next year. As we can afford it, we'll build it.










So here's a couple of pics....Whenever I get time, the Gman and I will post proper pics along with a description to give you an idea of what we're up to....in the end it will be a 26 x 34 foot shop, suitable for the Gman to use to work on vehicles....a sideline business, hopefully.

Corner pins, see the orange ribbon? Man, we've spent a Lot of time in that hole!

A Step in the footing....

then came stringing wire, putting up bracing, all kinds of stuff....

Later, the wall forms get assembled...finally, late this afternoon, we crawled out of the hole....










After we finished for the day, I threw together a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (which the Gman has been asking for the past several days!) a pot of Chili and a loaf of bread....I'm tired, lol!

(My jars on salsa Still sitting on the counter)











Garden wise, the good news is I have finally pulled every single last potato out of the garden...the bad news is, they're still sitting in my kitchen (these are Russets). They've been there for 2 days and I still have to pull my seed potatoes out of there before I can move the rest down to the Cold Room. Maybe I can get that done first thing in the morning.....you can see I still need to deal with the rest of the apples. I gotta get that done quick too!

Please send me good thoughts tomorrow....I'll be in Da Hole! Sphere: Related Content

Answering a Few Questions People have Left

Man, I got no time! Every few days, I think take an hour and go thru the Comments....but I am soo busy either canning, freezing, drying, building, scraping shit....etc etc...that I just can't seem to get to the Comments.

But I know a few people have left either good suggestions or have asked questions, so I'll try to sift thru and answer them here.....

We appreciate your comments - we like the idea that some of you good folks read this blog on a regular basis, and maybe, just maybe, you'll use some of our ideas tips, mistakes, etc....when you homestead. Once the snow comes, I'll get a better chance to read thru YOUR blogs, and answer comments in a more timely fashion.

Here goes:

First of all, a big Hi to Michelle and I hope you are feeling better these days. I check out your blog often! About the garlic - we plant in Fall because of the cold cold winter, you may be better off to plant in the Spring? We get lots of snow and cold temperatures in winter here.

JJJ - I check yours out too, and can only hope you have those pants hemmed by now :) - Have u updated your garden pics yet?

sues2u2 - I'm keeping your blog addie and it will be one of the first I check out when I come out of gardening mode!

Linda - I'm sorry I'm not hanging out near enough over on The Journey - I have it listed as one of our Links, there is Soooo much good info over there from knowledgable folks! Other readers should give a click over to your forum..... (the link is over there on the right)

GarlicMan - took your advice on the mulch for the garlic bed, thanks again!

Sooz in NV - I like the idea of the wider rows, but I don't have the room, especially since I increased the amount of garlic bulbs! And yup, our Wolfie is doing just great....I try to take pics once in awhile, but he won't sit still! I'll try and take some more for you soon! He has been busy being spoiled rotten by our parents....

Kathryn from Surrey - Thank you for your kind comments! We know Surrey quite well, and we are both from the Island originally. Best wishes to you and your family as you keep working towards getting your property!

Paris Cowgirl - Thank you as well! Glad you came out of lurk mode and left us a comment!

SingingFeather - Thank you! We are very serious in allowing our animals to grow and have as happy a life as they possibly can...and we don't care if we spoil them! They may not be with us very long, but we like to think there is no place they would rather be! Did u get a chance to try making the pickles?

Hyd - Congrats on getting a farm!! Where abouts are you located? Thanks for reading!

MuddyBoots - Yep, we have greenhouses, but I use them for all the tomatoes....I did try to start 3 sunflowers inside, and then transplanted them outside. They should have done better, because I see people around here with blooming sunflowers quite often....so obviously I need to try harder! Would make awesome protein for our laying hens!!

Robin - I like my Dad too, lol! (for other readers, Robin has an awesome blog....click on SeasonsEatingFarm on the right side of this blog....) How is your Dad feeling? I'm thinking it's been a few weeks now, so are the meds helping?

Aunt Krissy - I had a laugh when I read your comment, my Dad is same way, but I forgot to put it in the post! The following day, he came in for a coffee, and he realized the Gman's Mom washed the coffee cup (she didn't know yet about his...quirk) my Dad looked sooo disappointed!

Christy - Looks like apples are on my agenda today again! Yep, here's a link to a few posts about our greenhouses....

http://countrylivinginacariboovalley.blogspot.com/2008/06/planting-in-greenhouse.html


http://countrylivinginacariboovalley.blogspot.com/2008/06/greenhouse.html

http://countrylivinginacariboovalley.blogspot.com/2008/05/planting-my-tomatoes.html

Man, that's a lot of great comments, thanks everyone! And sorry again for taking so long to get back to each of you.....

And now, if you'll excuse me...I gotta go scrape some shit, lol! Sphere: Related Content

A Link I Get a Kick out Of

Ha! Here's a link I get a real kick out of....see, I LOVE real estate....I like looking around on http://www.mls.ca/ - I like reading through the local real estate rags...I like driving around looking at houses and property....I dunno, I just love real estate, what can I say?

Anyway, I found this blog, not even sure where...but I usually get a good laugh out of it when I check it out..... these are actual real photos taken by real estate agents, and then put into the listings.....ha! Guess some of them ain't too bright, some of these photos are absolutely ridiculous!

Check them out here - http://lovelylisting.blogspot.com/

Hope u get a chuckle out of them too! Sphere: Related Content

Salsa, Apples, BLT's, Peppers and Pork!

What a title, heh! Lots of food choices here!

Yesterday, I grew tired enough of all those red ripe juicy tomatoes staring at me, so I used them all up. I made 10 half-pints of salsa...then I got the rest ready for the deep freeze. I still have about 5 or 6 big paperbags full in various stages of ripening. BUT, I have tomatoes out of my hair again for the next few days.

Last week, neighbours were headed out to the Okanogan and were taking fruit requests....weeeee! Here comes 32 more pounds of apples! I'm going to take an hour this morning to get a bunch sliced up and tossed in the freezer to make pies with over the winter. I already have 7 bags in there, but that won't be enough! We love apple pie and also apple crisp, so I need more!!!

You can see a few pears in there too, our friend added those when she learned the Gman loves pears!

Lunch the other day - Totally HomeGrown BLT'S....home raised bacon, homegrown tomatoes, homegrown lettuce, and homemade bread, yummmmy!

Drippy, messy, juicy, nuttin like a BLT!

Here's a photo of some of our peppers drying. I slit them in half, and set them fairly close to the woodstove....they are drying nicely! You can see we don't even take the seeds out...the Gman loves HOT peppers, so he likes the seeds in.

When I make pickled eggs, I just throw one half into the jar for some added zing....

The other night while the parents were here, the Gman cut a pork roast into chops....check out that beautiful meat! Boy, was it good!!!

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Happy Birthday Nman!!!

It's a Special Day today, it's my youngest sons birthday!! I was looking thru pics last night, and thought I would share a few.....

Ooooh, he was a gorgeous baby, with those dimples of his....he really had some jowl action happening at a young age!!!

Check out those cheeks!

As he grew, he went thru a stage of wanting to wear his ball cap OVER his face....the trend was kinda catchy, as a friend of his thought it was a cool idea too!

He was also into suspenders and clothes that didn't Quite Match....

He enjoyed archery, and hit a bulls-eye!

Furthering his "athletic abilities" he took up cycling, and obviously did so well, he was on the Canadian Olympic Team!!!

He enjoyed hanging out with his older brother...dapper young men they were, I tell ya!

After high school graduation, he went to College in Calgary Alberta and became a Network Engineer (computer stuff)....In doing so, he cemented his future as his Mom's "Help Desk". He can solve any of my computer problems, (as well as setting the time on her VCR). After graduation, he looked again to the West and wanted to head back to the Coast....

He was offered a good job in the Educational field, and so he was off to the Big City. Now, he has a home and a car! He's been a Mercedes dude for a long time now, and of course, nuttin but da best for my boy!

And he has a girl, a sweet lady.....they've been together since they were teenagers.

Happy Birthday hon! The Gman and I wish you all the Best.....sure wish we could be there with you today!

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Sorting Tomatoes

The Gman's parents headed out this morning....I spent the rest of the day catching up on a few things around here. This afternoon, we sorted thru the tomatoes that I have sitting in paperbags, ripening away in the corner of my dining room.

Turns out that what I put in the ice cream bucket in the background equals 6 pounds...so, another batch of salsa will be cooked up in the kitchen, maybe tomorrow evening....then I guess it's time to move onto Tomato Sauce....

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Mulching Garlic

When I blogged about getting my Garlic planted, GarlicMan left a comment, suggesting that I mulch heavily with straw, IF I didn't want to spend as much time weeding....great idea, thank you!

I did it yesterday! One little tiny area of the big garden all put to bed already!

My parents left this morning, and Gman's parents will be here for a few more days. Barb's helping me out in the garden and kitchen, and The Gman and his Dad are working on getting the footing forms made for his shop. We'll be posting pics about the shop building process, so you can see how far along we are!

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Saving Seed for Next Year

Yesterday, the Moms gathered some Marigold seeds to take home with them....they each took a packet of yellow seed, and also one of orange marigold seed.

Barb also gathered carrot seed for me. I had planted a few carrots in the strawberry bed Last year (can't remember why!) then forgot to pull them at the end of the season.

So this year we just let them go, and after they flowered, the seed heads started to dry.

Now I should have lots of carrot seed for next year, I think they are Nantes Half Longs.....








And...this morning I carefully dug up some Sugar Beets and some Mangels. I will still need to dig up a couple of rutabagas and a few more Mangels.

I trimmed the tops to just a few inches, and didn't even touch the bottoms. I just left the dirt on them, put them in a box and will put them down in the cold room.

Come Spring, we'll bring them back out into the garden and let them go. When Fall comes, we should be able to harvest the seed pods to use the following year! Sphere: Related Content

Apples, Apples, Apples!

The other day, while Dad was busy filling the woodroom, my Mom and I took care of apples. Since they stopped first in the Okanogan area, they offered to pick up some apples for us. They brought up 100 pounds....50 lbs for us, 50 lbs for themselves. After we were done, we realized we could have easily used twice as many apples....so next year, it will be 100 lbs for us, and another 100 lbs for Mom and Dad.

I had mentioned to Mom that she might as well bring up some of her canning jars, so we could take care of her apples as well while she was up here.

Here's some of the apples waiting for their turn in the kitchen......

You go, girl! Keep on coring!

All she did was core the apples, didn't even take off the peels...they'll be taken care of in the food processor.

Mom brought up her pressure cooker, she had a neat shortcut for turning the apples into sauce....we cooked them for only 3 minutes in the pressure cooker.

Then, I dug out my food processor, and ran them thru that, peels and all.

I cleaned out the processor between each batch, and got rid of the apple peels....none of us like peels ending up in the sauce.

I wanted some sliced apples to pop in the freezer to make into pies over the winter. Here's my Ziplocks filled with sliced apples (not cooked, of course, just washed, peeled and cored, then sliced.)

Chaos in the kitchen!

Ugggh....what a mess!

Apples in the processor, applesauce in bowls ready to go into jars, apples in the sink, apples on the floor, applesauce all over counters....

After going thru food processor, and before going into jars....

I added only about 1/4 cup of sugar to a big pan, just to sweeten it a wee bit more....

The bucket of cores and peels ready to go off to the piggies.....

Waste not, want not!

The quart jars were processed for 25 minutes in a boiling water bath (5 more minutes because we are over 1000 ft. elevation)

Peeking under the towel at the beautiful filled jars! We ended up with a total of 32 quarts (13 for me, the rest for Mom to take home) plus the 7 bags of sliced apples ready to turn into pies.....

This morning, Mom is doing up a batch of canned pears to take home with her. Once she's done, I'll be pressure canning another batch of green beans. After I'm out of there, the Gman is going to get started on making a wonderful roast chicken dinner.

The kitchen is in hot demand these days!!!

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The Wood Man

My parents arrived just the other day....they rolled in around 5pm, we had a nice dinner and of course, first thing the next morning, Dad was rarin to get working!

Here he is....Dad likes his women busy, and his coffee available at ALL times. He will take his coffee fresh, stale, hot, warm or cold. He doesn't care how long it has sat in the pot or how burnt the coffee tastes.

He has 3 demands....keep the coffee coming, don't move his favourite coffee mug, and last, keep finding things for him to do. Cuz if there ain't nothing for him to do, he is OUTTA here.

Remember that BIG stack of wood he dumped for him for his birthday? Yeah, uh huh, it's gone. It was split and stacked in about 2 hours his first morning. Since then, he's been buggin the Gman to buck up more wood, cuz you know, DAD just can't sit still.

He's been promoted to chain saw duty...now he can get his own wood.....and Boy, is he happy!!!!

I keep muttering things to him, like "Rome wasn't built in a day Dad" and "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"....he don't listen. He just keeps on going....we have tried to find his "OFF" switch, but apparently he just does Not have one!

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Here Comes the Tomatoes!

OK, the tomatoes are ripening and so we dealt with those ones today.....the other day, my Dad and I removed All the Tomatoes from the greenhouses. the overnight temps are freakin me out, and I don't want to take chances with all these tomatoes we have been lucky enough to grow.

Last thing we need is hard enuf frost to harm the fruits. So we put them in paperbags (there are Paperbags ALL over this house, it seems!).

This afternoon, Mom washed them up, removed the stems and any blemishes and handed them over to me.

I quartered the big ones (and quartered a few of them yet again, becuz the fruit was soooo big) and I halved the cherry tomatoes. I then threw them into Ziplocks and tossed them in the freezer.

Come November, when I have more time on my hands, I'll yank them all out and start canning Tomato Sauce.....

Ends, etc will go off to the laying hens!

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A Monster of a Cabbage!

The Gman took 3 cabbages out of the garden today, it's time to start pulling them, we have the odd slug showing up, and we don't want the plants attacked.....

Uh yeah, we put it on the scale....it went all the way around and then some....yup, just over 13 pounds! And, that's with a LOT of the outer leaves pulled off! guess we'll be eating lots of cole slaw and cabbage rolls!





My parents arrived late yesterday....and Gman's parents arrive later this week! Sphere: Related Content

Fishing Pics

We went fishing the other day.....didn't catch a thing, had one bite and that was it. Sure was nice to get out on the water again, tho!

A few pics....the lake is not far from our house, but it's defintely a 4 x 4 road at times!

Good thing I brought my new Vanity Fair magazine!

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