In Constant Motion

I don't think the truck ever cools completely off before we are jumping in again and heading somewhere else. If we are not on the go then we are out back working. There is never really any down time for us because if we had the time to sit then we just wasted that moment to do something productive or fun. Sitting ain't fun for me.
Between birthday parties, night fishing, working and running around, I think we got our monies worth this weekend and no sleep. 

The Mini Farm is alive with babies everywhere, I will post some pics later. Almost every hen has several little chicks chasing after them. When a hen hatches out, I see free money. I didn't have to do anything for that profit. The ones in the incubator have some overhead attached to them so I won't make as much.
The pigeons are even setting. They are fun to watch because the male takes the day shift and the female takes the night shift by sitting on the eggs.
The rabbit tractor is doing great. I need more rabbits though. I am not having to move it but every four days with only three does in it. I need five more to have the breeding stock I want. I am almost ready to start breeding, but I don't know if I want to breed them all at once or stage them out.

This weekend we harvested the rest of the corn and the carrots. We now have enough of each to last us awhile. I am planning on planting some more in the fall gardens to have enough for the rest of the year. I will also be planting many more things to provide for us through the winter.
This weekend I was at my mom's and she fed me Zucchini spaghetti. It was the first time I have had it that way and I think that is the way I am going to eat it for now on. Goodbye pasta and hello squash.

Sunday we did a wedding rehearsal for my cousin and her soon to be. The wedding is planned for the 4th so I bet it will go off with a "bang". This will be the first wedding I have officiated so I am busy writing notes and figuring out what I want to say. They both wanted it Rednecked up a little so I am wondering if they got the right guy to do it because I don't know if I can do that.
(That was funny right there and if you didn't think it was you need to quit reading this. LOL)
The setting will be at my Dad's farm, on an island out in the pond. I'll show some pictures when we get it done. Yup, I will be wearing a suit.       
All the women folk will be over at my house the night before to have a girls night. I don't know what I am going to do, but you can bet I won't be anywhere near the house. I may sleep in the bathhouse or something. Oh, by the way, the bathhouse is up and running again. The water is better than ever. 

Other than that, I will be having a four day weekend coming up and there is no telling what I am going to get myself into.

I will get those baby chick pictures done tonight,
See ya tomorrow.
MDR

Corn, Already?

I was really surprised when I was walking through the corn and squeezing the ears that I found some ready to be pulled. I figured another couple of weeks at least.

This year we planted a sweetcorn called peaches and cream and as you can see it is not worm resistant, but I am use to that as long as they leave me some.We tried all the natural ways to keep the worms out, but so far nothing completely works except engineered corn or harsh chemicals and we don't use either those. 
We just cut the ends off then process the rest, no big deal.

This first harvest round will already be enough to feed us for several meals and we have a couple more rounds to go. We do not grow a huge crop of corn, just enough for about fifty meals for two people. I guess we could grow more and make our own cornmeal and all that, but that is a lot of garden room I don't have and a lot of corn to grow.
For every pound of cornmeal, it takes about 50 square foot of garden space. That's about a 7'X7' plot. If you are wanting to store fifty pounds of cornmeal for the year then you would need about 2,500 square feet of corn. That is about a 50X50 plot of corn. For some that's not a lot, but for my space it is.

Plus, some of the corn never makes it into the house. It seems like every time I walk through the gardens I graze, sampling whatever I can find. I really love fresh husked corn eaten in the garden.

Before I go,
I wanted to welcome Mike Marlow to the Modern Day redneck family. This guy has a great looking web site with a large amount of information. So if you get a chance please run over and check out Mike Marlow's Family Preparedness & Survival Blog
 

Harvest Time

With all the partying behind us now, it is time to get back to work. Yesterday the wife went out and did the first big harvest of the year from the gardens.

This will be enough onions and carrots to last us all year. We still have some from last year we need to eat up and make room for this bunch.

The onions will be put in cheap panty hoes and hung up. The carrots will be cut up, blanched and frozen. Last year we sliced and canned them, but this year we are going to do it different. I am needing more shelf space so whatever I can put in the freezers the better. This is under half of what is still to come. The rest of the carrots need a little more time.


The garlic has already been harvested and stored, the corn will take another two to three weeks then it will be ready. The peppers are making, the tomatoes are just starting to turn and there are blooms on the cucumbers. The soil less potatoes are actually making potatoes now, who would have thunk it? This weekend I plan to rob some and see how they taste. 

The heat has hit us with force. We will have the first 100 degree day tomorrow with 98 for today. The good thing is we have been lucky enough to have had rain every couple of days for the last month so the rain water tanks are full.
As it stands at this moment, most everything is good even though I apparently can't cook BBQ anymore.

Rain Days Are Still Productive

With the rain this week it has been tough to get much going. We needed the rain and I am thankful for it. I am also glad it came slow and easy this time instead of the way has been.

Even though I did not need it, the time off from work was welcomed. The wife and I took the time and got busy in the kitchen putting away some of the garden stuff.

She forced me into making two cases of pickles yesterday. I say forced because I do not like Dill pickles. So the way I figure it, being that I helped on the Dill, she has to do some Bread and Butter for me.

We also put up several bags of Green Beans, Squash and Tomatoes.

The peppers are all being dried right now. We either leave them in slices or grind them down almost to a powder and store them in the pantry for future use.

I also picked some Sweet Pumpkins yesterday so the wife can make me a homemade pumpkin pie. I hope that happens this weekend.

I don't have a clue about what I am going to do this weekend. I guess I will let whatever happens, happen and go with the flow so to speak.
I do know that it's date night tonight so I think the wife is wanting to try out a new Chinese Buffet place that just opened up here in town.
That makes me wonder, the last time I was through town I did not see as many stray cats running the roads as I usually do, hmmmm.......
Oh well, put enough BBQ sauce on it and it will taste just like chicken.       

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone on the input about the books. I think I will start the first one on the Hand Powered Washing Machine this week.