Cows and Cabbage.....in that order!

We moved our cows into the new pasture two days ago and by the looks of these girls they

are happy!  There isn't much left in the field for nutrition, but Scott wanted them to get in the swing of moving from field to field.  We just wind a hay bale out in the middle of the field and let em' at it!

I picked and picked and picked and picked the cabbage!!

What was I thinking last spring?

How much cabbage can one family eat?

It's hanging from the barn rafters surrounded in hay and pine shavings!

I'll spritz the roots once a week and they should be happy for quite some time!!

Happy Cows

Our cows are so happy to spending all their time in their little pasture!

We should have their second field all fenced in this week.

Then they can really stretch out and roam around.

The two on the left are pure Angus steers......... Rico and JC, the one in the middle is a Dexter steer....Jimmy Stewart, the two on the right are our Angus/Hereford heifers Eleanor and Elsa.

Our lawns have been flooded with Robins! They are on their way south and won't be back

until spring! It actually makes me a little sad!

Happy Cows!

Eleanor and Rico snuggling! :)

October Snow

We have a tradition in our home. The first snowfall of the year we play Christmas carols...

This year happens to be on.....

October 14th!!!!!

A Beautiful Fall Day

Dean showed up this morning after working his shift at the rescue and asked if I wanted to go hunting. 

Hmmm....let's see......spend time with my oldest son??

YOU BET!!!  So off we went!

Dean wanted me to shoot a bird or a squirrel.  When he heard a squirrel sounding off he stopped the truck and told me to get ready.  He looked up in the trees and found this looking at us!!

It's a Pine Martin, and Scott tells me that they are a very 

private animal.  He has been hunting and trapping for quite some time and said he has never seen one in the wild!

They are pretty cute, but I wouldn't want one around my chicken coop! 

We rounded the corner and Dean saw a bird! 

The sky was so blue and the colors at their peak!

The lighting was so saturated!

Looking for birds and squirrels!

All In A Days Work

Scenes from this afternoon!

LOT'S of chicken broth!!

I'm currently waiting for the last canner full of chicken. 

I Love Lucy!

The lighting made her hair just the right color and the red lipstick....

Reminded me of Lucy!

Canning chickens

I couldn't do half the stuff I do around here if it wasn't for my mother helping me!

I have learned so much about canning from her this summer.

Today we are canning chickens and she has taught me how to cut up a whole chicken into pieces like you get at the grocery store.  Easy, easy, easy!!  I am currently writing this from a stool in my kitchen watching the pressure cooker gauge....

So we prepared our jars....(sent them through the dishwasher) and started boiling the chicken pieces.

We are canning the chicken with the bones.  

We packed the jars as full as we could!  Sometimes only getting one chicken in a jar, and sometimes a little more.

Packing the jars.....

Boiling the chicken.....

Cutting up the pieces....

I had to have mom hold this so you could see just how big some of these birds are.....

This is just the thigh from one of the birds!!!

The drumstick!!!

Well a long afternoon and evening ahead.....but I'll be looking forward to this chicken all year long! 

It smells amazing!!

Here Chickie Chickie......

It was a nice day despite the rain.  Scott had the crew here today trimming windows in the basement and fixing the fireplace.  We have had a fire in there for 4 years every winter, every day.  That is a lot of heat!! So the mortar needed some repair!  

Scott, David, Acelia, my mom, and I processes some chickens today.  21 to be exact!

Acelia was busy holding bags, running back and forth with the bowls and delivering chickens!

Scott got a new set of knives today in the mail.  Just in time!! They are so sharp that some

of the meat had a nick or two!  

Mom and I put them in the fridge and will can them tomorrow.  We also froze the hearts, liver, kidneys,  and necks for the dogs raw food.

We have about 25 more to do and those we are going to try to pluck and leave the skin on.

I can't believe how big some of these were!!! We have several that will fill up my roasting pan.

We've raised chickens before but they were around 3-4 lbs.  These, we are guessing are around 5-8 lbs.

We raised Freedom Rangers this year for the first time and loved them.