Grapes, pumpkins and tomatoes over taking my dreams.

I have made so many grape pies in the past week, I swear my fingers will be stained until Spring. From deep dish grape pies to these wonderful muffin pan size mini pies. I even have my own secret recipe after messing around with a few I found online. Tweaked and played around until I come out with my own much less sugar recipe- about 1/4 cup to 5 1/2 cups pure unadulterated Grape juice and a few other little things.Shhh..

Our stove has been used nonstop for days now. After getting the great hook up on grapes last week I fell into another. While chatting about the upcoming Northeast Ohio Solar home tour with a friend (whose home is on the tour & I was invited to set up my breads and such at their place during the 2 day event), We spoke of grapes and she mentioned she had grape vines which no one picks or tends to. Organic grape score DEUCE! So I ventured out and discovered some bigger then the last grapes growing high into a choke cherry tree. I walked away with around 60pounds or more.
Between the Long Pie Pumpkins and these grapes, my Oven has been put into overtime:

While I was there, I picked a decent amount of Grape leaves for winter time Dolmas- I know the normal grape leaf picking is in the June July time frame so they are more tender but I am the only one besides Frog who enjoys a good Dolma. In the top left corner you can see the jar of about 50 leaves fermenting before they go in the fridge for a month before use. I posted the recipes and the link source for the method I used over on my Luna Gardens Blog.

And with all those delectable long pie's (also known as Nantucket pie pumpkins), I found myself with more pumpkin seeds then one can eat. So I decided to whip up some seed packets of my own and put a minimum of 10 seeds in them(average about 13 but put extra in the case of any non sprouting). Heirloom variety pie pumpkins and of course grown "Naked" in our garden.

I thought these would be cool to sell next to my Pumpkin empanada's which are made from scratch right down to the, of course, Long pie pumpkin filling.

I have been working on a few aprons, plan to do some of those local school craft shows and such.

I have San Marzano tomatoes (the sun dried type) in my dehydrator and need to switch the trays with fresh tomatoes. I have about 45-50 lbs of San Marzano's total for drying. Not bad at all for plants started well into growing season and will from now on be the ONLY red tomato I grow.mmmmm. Sun dried tomato Italian bread and flavored oils...

I ADORE Sun dried tomatoes and will enjoy this harvest bounty very much.

So much to do and so much going on right now. Looks like the fest I planned for tomorrow will not be happening due to family personal issues. Not sure if I will ever go into it, but know I have taken control and making sure everything will be O.K. I am still pretty numb at this moment and wonder where the reverse and fast forward button is on this thing....

Sweet dreams,

~Tammie

grape stomping and vintage chicken feeders

I LOVE it when the husband comes home and say's "Honey I got you the hook up!"

A co worker of his has a home which was built by his wife's grandfather and has been in the family since 1901. There were 3 rows of grape vines planted there and are now 100 yrs old- they have it dated according to a picture showing the one vine at 3 feet tall dated around 1910.

He had to remove 2 of the rows and left 1 which is 25 feet long. I was welcome to come "play farmer" and tend his grapes in exchange for all the grapes I want. They are just happy someone can use them instead of going to waste while preserving the family vines. In just 1 1/2 hours of picking I got about 40 or so pounds in concord grapes. That was maybe a 1/4 of what is there.

I will be making juice for the kids and a few more grape wines but the rest are being utilized for my upcoming market in Randolph. There is a festival going on and their farmers market is having an all day event which I will be selling at. Found a great recipe for Grape pie so 6 pies will be whipped up. My neighbor and good friend Jeannie will be making grape jelly and pumpkin woopie pies to sell with me at the stand.(I am so excited how I have influenced her with the gardening and canning. How awesome it is to see the pride she had when showing her full pantry of jars filled from her garden bounty.) I will be adding Ciabetta bread and beer yeast rolls to the goods I normally sell along with 5 or so of my Farm Chic aprons.

After that I was invited to sell my breads at a home on the Ohio Solar home tour here in town the following weekend then after that the Township Harvest Festival. So my weekends are booked until mid October. YAY!

We had our first house showing which I scoured the house for 2 days in preparation, following the kids around with a dust buster and baby wipes...Not fun! All that work and then I disover something one of the kids "left" before I shipped them off to the neighbors while the people viewd our house. Of course I do not discover it until AFTER the viewing which means the people were given the same view as I did when I flipped the bathroom light on. The toilet lid was open with a big Deuce floating.....ARGH! I could not help but stare and think Oh my God,all that work and they still manage to leave a mess where I never thought to look AFTER they leave for a few hours.

I found some vintage chicken feeders which the woman bought from an auction 20 yrs ago at the old Seiberling Farm not far from here. I got 18 since the price was awesome. Why 18? I want 5 for our animals. I like having a few in the house so I can fill up the feeder either with their grains or food scraps to take out and replace the empty ones- no need to go out retrieve the the empty ones then come back inside to fill them. Also gives me extra for back up. The others I am cleaning up to resell at the markets I do with my aprons and such. These are the first feeders my animals have not been able to tip over, spilling their grain out. I LOVE them. They also make for a cute bird feeder hanging from the tree. I have decided to start attending Farm auctions and picking more vintage farm stuff up to sell at a few festival/craft markets. We will see how that goes.

The turkeys are doing great. I still love hearing their peeps and they love going into the garden which is mid process of being put to sleep for the winter. I let the poultry free range during the day and already they know the property lines and stay in them. As the sun goes down, they make their way back to their pen, waiting for me to close up the gate with their night time scratch.

I also love the fact I can call out "Turkey turkey turkey....come on babies...come on" and they come running to me and eat from our hands.

I still have lots of apples to work on into cider and more applesauce (which I add other fruits like blueberries, peaches or strawberries* see my recipe at this link** which I now omit the sugar). Plus some blemished pears I picked from Stotlers orchard on the cheap for more spiced Pear butter. So I best be off before those nasty fruit flies take over my kitchen.

Sweet Dreams,

Tammie

The farm house & Spring fed Pond...

I can not hold it in any more. I have to share.

During our ventures of looking at many properties, we have found one which left a major impact on us both. The Captain was in Love. I was in Love. And the ride home was quiet while we thought about the Farm. Then the talking of the place has consumed many conversations.

We are going to try for the place and hope to get our current home sold ASAP. Of course there are inspections to be had but I am not worried about the home or structure itself. We spent over an hour looking the actual house over and even the basement was amazing. Dry and immaculate. Original Large stone walls. Perfect for storing the home brew and canned goods.

Here are a few sneak peeks of the place on 14 acres- a 4 bedroom 2 bath almost 1700 sq ft home with a limited supply of free gas for winter heating- almost enough for the whole winter.

The roof is slate! This front porch faces the 1 acre Spring fed pond.

You can see the home and 5 car garage in the background of the pond, not to mention a wonderful long drive where no one can "surprise" us with their presence at the door:

You can see the large garage roof top in the below picture. See how far away other homes are? The land goes a ways back behind and beside the house.

So now you know what we have been day dreaming and hoping for. The Captain even said "I want to grow old and die there".

It's love alright...

Sweet dreams,

Tammie

Cider making and the New DON!

I misplaced the camera Monday and did not find it till just now, please forgive the absence of my posts. I had to have my pics for the post, right?! So Labor day had us picking apples from our tree and putting them through the fruit press/cider mill my Bee Man lent us. As you can see, our work station made it much easier and the fan was needed to keep the yellow jackets somewhat at bay. We pressed just over a gallon into cider- which is fermenting in the kitchen for some HARD CIDER.

We filled up my metal tub with our organic apples and the water kept the yellow jackets off and from hiding amongst them- nothing like grabbing some apples only to have one of those buggers sting you.

After coring the apples (the kids quickly lost interest in that part), we put them pieces through the food processor then into the thin woven fabric lined basket of the mill.

All the left over pulp and cores were put onto the compost piles and covered with grass clippings-farthest away from the animals and house of course.

The night before, we pressed grapes for a small batch of grape wine, which also is fermenting in the kitchen- and that reminds I need to call a guy who has 1 gallon jars from his wine making days for $1 a piece. I want to get as many as possible and I believe he has 30- which the tops fit mason jar lids/bands!

I also picked us up a new Don for the Ladies. The furry 4 legged ones that is.

Chubs and Momma- our 2 Californian does- have a new Beau. He is a New Zealand white buck from some of the biggest meatiest parent stock I have seen.

He is just 2 months old and is over half what our full grown gals are.

Meet the New Sir Don Julio:

Don't mind Mon Senior. That Roo is such a curious guy when I enter the pen. Follows me everywhere, talking away like he is talking to one of his ladies.

I have been canning and baking like crazy. Plan to pick up more blemished pears from the Kent Market-great price and makes some great Spiced Pear Butter. I have more of our apples to pick and will be making a trip over to Chris and Lisa's (1 acre homestead) to pick a different variety of apples to make more Cider. My plan is to have 15 gallons of Cider fermenting in the next 2 weeks Plus plenty of apple butter for the pantry and pies for the freezer.

There is 25 pumpkins waiting their turn and a new crop of french beans ready for picking- freezer is waiting! I have more garden clean up and a Beautiful 14 acre Farm with a Spring Fed pond to tell ya'll about. The Captain and I are in LOVE with the place and major motivated to get rid of this one to get the other.

I'm off to rake a pen and get those apples down.

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie

My ups and downs of Normal and unusual...

The new coop is up! Went with all wood and a metal corrugated roof. Cord wood will just have to be next time. Still have some things to add (like a sign which will read in black letters"Garden Coop" and some other trim touch ups and window painting.) I am planting Hosta's around the outside perimeter and adding a hanging basket hook for summer use.

Yeah..I know it looks crooked-it's on a slight hill slope. We built the structure on Panda's garden (the flattest spot in the area) and will be doing a slight lift with soil and rock left over from the solar pit job.

(Don't mind the mess- Things were moved out of the way while I painted and were not put back before pic time). I put the nest box's on the outside and still have the side covers to put on- hence the hillbilly air conditioning remark. I am actually happy with it. I used a lemon basil yellow color for paint.

Of course a door will come before the cold hits.

The wood was either free or less then $2 (as in the plywood) from the cull lumber cart at the hardware store. I think paint included, we spent $30. The windows were given to me from friends. The corrugated metal roof was also given to us from a friend.

I have been sick off and on lately. Headache, stomach issue. You name it. Not sure what is going on but I am not one to get headaches like this or even sick like this for that matter.

The pit is finally dry! Did the soil check this afternoon and it is ready. So I dug the footer and getting that cement in. I will not get excited until the block is being laid.

It took 6 months just to get to this point so my excitement will not kick in until close to completion. As you can see in the pic Panda demanded to take, it is hard tiring work. I still have the back and one side of the footer to lay, but the sun will be shining tomorrow.

I have the garden to put to rest since I gave up on it awhile back. Sure stuff is still growing....

So are the weeds. But the production seemed more a waste of time. Barely any harvest worth the time so I let it go. 80% of tomatoes were split or did so once they were picked. The beans did O.K. Nothing to write about though.The squash? Nothing much to say there. But the Long Pie pumpkins gave us over 20 to store for winter.Looks like the theme for many winter night sweets will involve pumpkin.

As every gardener knows -Next year will be better.
I ran over 3 of my grapevines with our ghetto mower. Yep. The gold rim painted tires decided not to turn when I wanted & whacked them down.... So not only am I down to 2 blueberry bushes (Thank lil' Man for weed whacking those things which were surrounded by a circle of fence for protection- lol) now I am down to 3 grape vines. All 3 different varieties at that. I wonder if they will come back next year.

I have paint to clean up and tools to collect before dark. A pen to rake and organize plus a silkie rooster to release since he likes to get me while I painted. And to think everyone says how docile they are...

Sweet Dreams,

Tammie