A Year in the Life

May 19...you can just "row out" the corn

May 25, a little fuller and fluffier

July 1

September 15

Also September 15

This morning

Of a cornfield near Schoharie Crossing SHS where we bird nearly every day. We visited last night at just before dusk and the farmer had just started. By early this morning it was over half done. I'll bet the next time we get down there it will be all finished. I imagine they are rushing to beat the nasty snow storm we are supposed to get tonight.

Crew Cut

Corn is being harvested at a breathtaking rate around here. Corn crews are flying over the fields; the big corn trucks rumble down the roads at a scary pace, and the landscape looks different every time we drive by.

We went over to look at the stuff at the fall machinery auction yesterday and grabbed the video below of one of the big farmers actually chopping. Don't miss the bunnies late in the clip....they were in a big hurry to get out of Dodge.

What's up with That?

Looks a lot like work

Matt and Kegan stopped over yesterday and made us six gallons of apple cider from the fruit of the Winesap tree. It is delicious. We froze most of it, but there is a gallon in the fridge awaiting enjoyment.

They used an 1869 cider press Matt bought from the family of an area dairy farmer who was a good friend of ours, which the guys rebuilt a few weeks ago.

I have participated in cider making all my life, starting on our aunt and uncle's farm, and then doing it ourselves for years, making hundreds of gallons each year to sell. However, we always gathered apples to take them to a commercial press and then bottled them there. This was very different...same principal, but more hands on and smaller scale.

I got to play too, turning the crank a bit until I ran out of steam and feeding apples, one at a time, into the hopper. Alas, I have to tell you, I can't feed apples and talk at the same time...

It was great to actually use some of those apples! The poor tree outdid itself this year!
Winter nights will be better with a glass of spicy cider to enhance our dreams and chase away the cold.

Cider

Gallon of fresh-pressed in the fridge, new picked apples on the table and a jar of soft, sweet honey in the cupboard. The kids took a friend's toddler to the orchard to pick yesterday and brought us home some of their bounty.

What can I say but yay!!

Chopping Sorghum

Chopper man

Sorghum seeds

(where are the bobolinks?

they love them)

Pickle Pirates

We started digging garlic this week

We love Refrigerator Dill Pickles We made some last year from a great online recipe and then we lost it.

Today, after hours of searching, we found a substitute and made a batch from cukes Jade's grandpa sent down.

The house smells so good. Garlic, vinegar, dill and cucumbers........they sure go good together. It reminds the boss and me of when we were kids and our mamas canned. Do you remember coming home to the scent of bubbling jam, or new-made pickles or hot, sugary peaches? My mom made such wonderful stuff when we were kids and I love it when something we cook brings those memories back.

These pickles look good too.

They are supposed to season in the fridge for 24 hours, but an infestation of sneaky pickle pirates has been creeping around poking grabby fingers in the bowl.

I must confess, I am not immune to that syndrome, and besides, you really do need to check to see if a new recipe is as good as the old one.

I also admit to never actually following recipes, or at least not too closely, so there is no mustard seed in our batch, I used dried dill and cut the sugar a lot. Didn't have any of the first two and didn't want the pickles to be too sweet. Didn't bother with bay leaves either.

So far they fall on the irresistible side of the nomming scale and had to be securely wrapped up and hidden in the bottom of the fridge so that it may be possible to see how they taste tomorrow.

The best part is that I still have half a bag of cucumbers, so if the pirates capture these I can make more tomorrow.

Apple Strangeness (but goodness)

Last year we picked our winter apples on November 11th. This year we kept hearing rumors about an early harvest, so despite the debatable weather, Alan and I went up to our favorite orchard today. It is barely time to pick Pink Ladies, which are what we decided to store this winter (they were the same this January as when we picked them and we ran out before they spoiled).

When I asked if they were ready the nice orchard lady said, "Well, sort of."




Turns out that the two other large local orchards had serious frost damage this year so everybody went to our orchard. And they picked almost all the apples ready or not. We found the two bushels we wanted, but it took some looking.

The orchard was still busy and there were still some apples (we left you a couple of bushels of pink ladies up by the picnic area if you are looking for some.)

However, I suspect that they will be out soon. Alan had to hunt for a long time to find about 3/8 of a bushel of Granny Smith, which are now buried in one bag or another under Pink Ladies...we will find them sooner or later. One thing is certain though. They taste as good as always.

In the Dark

Yeah, tis the time of year for chores in the dark. O-dark thirty in the morning and after dark in the evening. It isn't too awful when it is clear. Kind of neat to be out in the night. However, during monsoon time it is pretty darned grim. They say it is supposed to clear off this afternoon.

I am ready.

On the feeding side of things Alan came up with a good plan. We were chopping Sudex and second cutting hay and feeding it green...a reasonably workable system. Then we got this rain. No idea how much, but it is still raining after almost two weeks, the driveway is gone again after just being repaired, the four-wheel drive is down and the John Deere can't do the job. We didn't want to open any of the 150 or 200 foot long bags the men have put up for winter, but the girls gotta eat.

I suggested to the guys that next year they should think about putting up two or three little bags first thing in the spring, so if we get a spell of bad weather or a break down we don't have to commit to feeding out winter feed when it isn't winter. (Once you open a bag, the feed spoils if you don't keep feeding from it.)

Alan thought a while and said, good plan. Then he suggested...."why don't we pull the bagger off the bag we are filling now and just close it up and start a new one for the rest of the fall harvest?. Then we can feed that instant "short bag" right up."

Yeah, brilliant idea, so that is just what they did. The cows had big golden mounds of partially ensiled Sudex for supper last night and they really liked it. We let them eat in the barn instead of outdoors so they were actually dry when we milked them, which is not an issue for them, but it sure is nice for the cheap help. They went back to their pasture last night, but heaping mangers await them as soon as it gets light enough to find them and bring them in.

Had a calf born yesterday too. We were watching Camry like a whole family of hawks. The past two times she has calved she has been afraid of the calf or something and tried to give birth while running away from the process. This is not a workable plan and she nearly died with her first calf. things were pretty dicey last year too even though she calved right by the barn and we were right there.

Thus the plan was to keep her in the stable when she looked close and be right there to assist. Like many plans made by mere mortals this one was foiled by a higher power. She looked fine yesterday morning, no sign of labor, so we turned her out with the rest of the girls. Last night when we brought them down to dinner she was leading a shaggy little black and white heifer, a daughter of SWD Valiant. I guess she finally figured things out. Just in case she hadn't quite we kept them both in the barn last night....

Stuck

Or....Sometimes your morning coffee is the best part of the day.

We are back into monsoon season here in the Great Northeast. Never really got out of it actually, although the weekend wasn't too bad. So harvest has come to a dismal halt and the guys are getting stuck. Me too

Stuck with the skid steer....all you can do is dig yourself out and try to smooth over the hole so the next guy doesn't bury it.

Stuck with the tractor, chopper and forage wagon...all you can do is unhook, pull the wagon out backwards, lug the chopper out somehow and go find some place else to chop for the cows.

Stuck in the garden...all you can do is pull your now bare foot, mud-be-sloshed over the ankle bone, out of its flip flop and then dig the darned thing out. Bah! But the last of the tomatoes must be brought in... to ripen on every surface in the kitchen.

(Made meatloaf last night with extra-sharp Cheddar on top, covered with thin slices of ripe tomato sprinkled with Parmesan and home made Italian seasoning...took every body's minds off the mud for a little while at least...also apple crisp...ditto..)

And last but not fun, stuck in the barnyard while opening the gate for fifty-odd large, hungry animals that want to go through that gate and NOW. (Rubber barn boots get stuck worse than flip flops and in the barn yard the stuff you get stuck in is not nice black garden dirt)....all you can do is cling to the gate and pull like heck on your foot...hope your boot doesn't come off...hope the cows wait a second while you get your foot out and get out of their way.

Am I ready for it to stop raining....um.....yeah....I do believe that I am.


Meanwhile, the kitchen is the best place on the farm to be, if you have an excuse to be there. I have several....

Cashin's Opened Yesterday

Guess what Alan and I did. What a difference a year makes. With the nasty late frost last year and the relentless rains, they only picked five days at our favorite self pick farm. We never got any berries for jam. I bought a few organic berries across the river, simply because they were all that I could find, but they were absurdly expensive and sour...probably because of the weather.

Thus when the kids said the sign was out just down the road on 5S we went right out and picked ten quarts. I made two batches of jam and froze most of the rest. (Some simply must be eaten....on ice cream...not on ice cream...right out of the berry box...on the way home....)

I would have made a lot more jam, but there seems to be a Sure-Jell shortage. I had a couple of boxes left from last year but not enough to process ten quarts of berries....Alan found me some fruit pectin by Ball up at Price Chopper, but alas it is the no sugar kind. I have no interest in using it as you have to add other fruit juice. If I am going to make jams and jellies I am not going to buy commercial grape juice so I can do it. We are going to have to do a concentrated Sure-Jell hunt and soon, as the berry season is short and the jelly cravings are long. If you see any when you are out shopping I would be wildly grateful if you dropped me a note in the comments. Have a great day!

***Update, Becky found a goodly supply in Cobleskill. Thank you all for suggestions

Hay Day Maybe

I hope it is one!



Lots of hay this spring and summer will hopefully keep this guy busy all next winter. (Some of yesterday's corporate logos came from this truck and Dab Farms milk hauling owns it.)

Haying!

The men started haying yesterday and put 250 bales of beautiful, soft green first cutting in the mow. After a series of soggy springs some real haying weather is a welcome change.

Mowing Hay

If you Google videos for "mowing hay" this is the top entry that you find. It has been viewed over 6400 times.

Alan was mowing hay in our thirty-acre lot last June. He took the big camera up and took a video of himself. So much green, green alfalfa, green trees, green tractor. I thought it was pretty cool.

Wordless Wednesday

Apple A Day

Went to our favorite orchard yesterday to pick a bushel of apples to store. (If we get a chance I am going back for more before they close.)

We had the place to ourselves as the season is winding down. It is so beautiful up there. There is no place like home, but Bellinger's Orchard is sure a close second. There was no shortage of apples either. The trees are still weighed right down with varieties ranging from standards like Ida Red to new ones I had never encountered before like Ruby Jon.

We almost filled our half bushel bags with Northern Spies and Ida Red. Then came the fun part...wandering among the trees looking for tasty looking apples to test drive this fall to see if we want a larger quantity next time. Alan nibbled a dropped Empire that he picked up and was sold immediately. He probably picked half a peck of them just for his own entertainment.

We also grabbed a few Pink Ladies, a couple of the aforementioned Ruby Jons, some Ambrosias, Granny Smiths and some Winesaps. (It does look as if our tree in the yard is a Winesap as the apples look just right.)

To me a couple bags of good hard apples in the front hall is like money in the bank. No, better than money in the bank...it is apple snack season. We have been making applesauce whenever we get any apples. There is still time for more spiced apple jelly.......Liz bakes a mean apple pie. Alan has suggested expanding his pumpkin bar franchise to include apple bars....

Yeah, I think I do need to run up and grab another bushel before they close...which might happen this week.

A Bigger, Better Bird Feeder

The yard is alive with birds.




More than usual, even though there have really been a lot of them this summer. I went out yesterday to check on a yellow warbler that hit the big windows. (He was fine.)






And found that the mulberry trees are loaded with fruit. Cat birds, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, robins and just about everybody in the neighborhood are in full holiday mode. I hope they stay away from my laundry.

LIfe revolves around

Corn this time of year....Chopping it. Changing tires when they go flat. Filling the ag bags. Feeding it to the cows. Bringing ears like these down for the piggies and the hens. Mud, mud, mud (we are so sick of mud.) Forty acres to go and the weather is getting worse every day. I can't wait until they are done and it is all in the bag.

The Fruit Salad Tree

Years ago my late and much missed mother-in-law planted an apple tree. Her late husband, Grandpa Delbert to my kids, planted a grape vine. They were close together.

Too close in fact.





Now the grapes grow up the apple tree and hang down in festoons of luscious fruit, tempting, tasty, and just out of reach.





Enter a determined younger daughter, a nice long shepherd's crook, and the decision to make grape jelly today.





The Fruit Salad Tree


It took a while, but it is sunny and Indian summery and it was nice to work outdoors. If you watch the video closely you can see apples caroming around as Becky pulls on one of the grape vines after hooking it down with the crook (now you know where by hook and by crook came from). I think maybe the apples high on the tree are finally ripe, so maybe I can make more apple jelly with them.
Anyhow for the first time ever I made grape jelly that actually set! Yay!