August Ramos Up

The harvest is beginning. Forget whatever you've heard about "Fall harvest". The harvest is here. That means busy time for farmers and families alike.  And Croteau's Corner is no different. At the same time we are getting ready for back to school and all the preparation that entails, we are canning and preserving the fruits of the earth. Just this week we put up green beans, carrots, beets, and pickles. And I tried my hand at canning a vegetable soup with chicken broth made from the unfortunate rooster that walked up the driveway last weekend. 

Which said rooster and the positive experience we had at Wilcox Poultry Provessing in Brown City has inspired us to keep some meat birds for the last quarter of the year and put up some chickens of our own for the winter. I can't wait for the experience. And I am still anticipating the arrival of the goats in the spring. 

But this week I have grandkids Matthew and Jacob here, and they are learning some of the tricks and skills of home food preserving alongside me. I had them out in the garden pulling the beets, they helped snap beans, and watched the pressure gauge on the canner while we canned the food. They watched as the bags of raw food on the counter dwindled, and the stack of filled canning jars grew. They ate the homemade chicken soup and pronounced it "great." They begged for more homemade treats. It was a wonderful experience for me to expand their horizons. 

With all the foods available I am trying new recipes and new opportunities to preserve food. Tomorrow I am making zucchini bread (nothing new) but I am also looking at preserving some hamburger in cans, and taking some of the pressure off the freezer. Out here (as well as in the city) the freezer is, of course, dependent upon the vagaries of the electrical grid. If the grid fails, we have about 36 hours to use the gas stove to can up the meat in the freezer. So rather than wait for that to happen, I'm going to try pressure canning the meat we have now. Many people have inspired me to try, and I guess it's time. 

So there's much to do and much to learn. As I was talking with my cousin Debbie this afternoon, I mentioned how I was forging new territory that my mother never tried. I learned to can tomatoes, peaches, pears, and chili at her knee. We had a summer kitchen in the basement so we could can in more comfort. But she was afraid of the pressure canner, and stuck only with the kinds of foods she could safely water-bath can. I hope she would be proud of me for stretching my wings even now, and continuing to learn and try new things. I hope she would appreciate the ways I am preserving the harvest and the traditions of the farm with my grandkids. I hope she is looking down with approval this August and nodding her head and smiling and understanding that all I do I rooted in what she taught me. 

So the harvest rolls on. 

Dog Days

Mark says these are the dog days.  No more enthusiasm for the chores and responsibilities of summer.  No enthusiasm for preparations for the coming winter (and you know it's coming). No energy for keeping up the farm, the gardens, the interior, the exterior.  Just the lethargy that long hot days brings.  

I look today out at the farm and I see so much that didn't get done that is now too late.  Seeds that did not make it into the ground.  Earth that did not get worked.  Weeds that are taking over the fields.  Work that still needs to be done.  Harvest that is still burgeoning and preparing to ripen to fruition in the coming weeks.  This is the push now, the downhill days to the fall preparations for the cold.  Tomatoes that will be made into sauces, beets and cukes to pickle, beans and carrots to preserve.  Corn to pray for, eat, and save.  Fruit trees to buy and plant to prepare for next spring.  Always looking forward, looking to what went awry this year, and plans for fixing it for next year.  

Still need to put the gutters on the house.  Have to buy the pipes for the two new wood burning stoves.  Footings must be dug and poured for the chimney for the house, block laid, stones placed.  Stoves must be installed and wood procured (from our woods or purchased).   The goat house must be planned for early in the spring, the chicken house must be insulated and heated for this winter.  Plans, plans, and no energy.  

These are the days for planning, and waiting, and poising on the brink, alert for the first crisp breeze, the first cool rain, the changing of the leaves that signals the need for action, the moment when these plans must be implemented, the move made in order to be prepared.  The signal that says, now.  The dog days are over, and now is the time for action.  The hot, sultry summer is waning and the need to act is now.  

And so we wait.....