Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[jvls1942]

Quote:
that is what we do.. small batches.. after one or two sessions, you will know exactly how many you need to fill 7 jars.. (that is what the canner holds)..

If you are going for thicker results, scoop out the seeds and cook just the pulp..

and you DO NOT have to peel tomatoes.
I don't know what old spinster with too much time on her hands ever invented that one..

I run my tomatoes thru the food processer first, then I pour the juiced up tomatoes into the pot.. I hate chunky tomatoes..

I did 90 quarts in one day all by myself once.. I think we are still using them up .. LOL that was 14 sessions in the canning pot..

tomatoes will turn red after being picked.. HOWEVER, once they are picked, they cease to ripen.. Red does not mean ripe..

.........jiminwisc.............

 

[Hens and Roos]

Finished the 4th unit early today and the 5th one isn't empty yet-tenants still have items to move out, it is easier to wait and then get it ready-have to paint a couple wall and make sure it is clean for the new tenants. As of now we are down to 1 unit to rent out!

Came home and now working to get our place picked up and back in order.....

, went and picked pickles and now making Bread and Butter pickles-waiting on the pickles now as they are cut and sprinkled with pickling salt and sitting for 3 hours- receipe is from my grandma and DH likes them.

Have to pick DD up tomorrow afternoon

and then get her and DS(9) ready for 4-H camp on Sunday. They will come back Wed. so it will be different at our house for a few days-this is the first time 2 kids will be gone- I'm thinking I will have 1 velcro buddy for a few days. Planning to get the turkeys they sold at fair dropped off to those who purchased them.

Best get moving on the paper work needing to be done.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

My chickens somehow got into my garden and couldn't figure out how to get out! So I'm throwing all the tomatoes in the woods that they ruined when I look down and see a young rabbit laying on its side dead. The eyes are open and still glossy and he's still warm so I pick him up. Blood starts coming out of the nose and he peed. I looked him over and he was missing some fur in one spot and maybe skin, but it wasn't bloody. And he had a big air bubble the length of his spine that moved when I pushed it and made a sloshing sound. Poor thing was covered in fleas. I tossed it over the fence into the weeds, which was dumb because the dog will probably eat it! I hope it didn't have some disease or internal parasite the dog can get.

 

[MustLoveHens]

DH-"what are you reading?"
ME- "Oh I'm catching up on my forum. 5 pages to read from last night! Man these guys are chatty!"
DH- "Like a bunch of old hens cackling..."

Evening all!
It has been a hectic day here and I have nothing to show for it except a loaner car from the Chevy dealer. Where did this day go?!
I kept hearing the Malibu run like the engine was over taxed. Told dh and he finally took it in to the dealership. Apparently, the tires needed to be rotated and such, so we had them do the oil change rotate the tires. It's only about 6 months old, so we go to pick it up, got it and on the way home, dh who was behind me, called my cell to tell me we needed to go back. "It sounds like I'm dragging a body". Went back to the dealership and dropped it off. They looked at it and it did make the noise dh was hearing so they will fix it tomorrow at no charge because they created the noise in the first place! We also found out there was a recall on the passenger side air bag system so they fixed that as well. It will be interesting to find out what the noise is.....

I'm so glad I drive a Dodge truck.....*sigh*

WCc-that's to bad about the farm dog. I can't understand people sometimes.

BBP-sounds like that rabbit was dead or just passing when you picked it up. Peeing is a reflex of the muscles relaxing after death. Same with the bloody nose. I would guess he died from a broken back and the stress of being hunted. Rabbits are rather delicate and sometimes it just does not take much to stress them out to the point the have a heart attack and die. But with the bubble you felt, I would guess that he broke either his neck or back and it was not disease related. Fleas are a way of life for wild? rabbits.

DrH-good to see you.....I was starting to wonder if it was something I said!!! LOL!!!!

Well, I just wanted to stop in and say "Hey", the laundry needs a folding....when did I ever get a chance to do laundry??

 

[WIChookchick]

Evening All.

Rufus NEVER went out on the road, EVER, not in the 6-7 yrs I have known him. He was not allowed to go across when Joan went into the hay field across the road, OR even along the big grassy area when she would feed "on the hill", because the entrance to that paddock faces the road.
He would go 3/4 up the drive and bark when a car came up but would not go across the road.
Joan and the handy man Jason found tire tracks right up to Rufus, and he was off the road in the grass/dirt.
Also until very recently he never would go out of the house after 10 pm at night, Joan would go out with him at 10 and have him come in.
Jason started to sleep in the machine shed off and on and Rufus would go up into the shed and sleep near him, if she kept him in, he would bark and carry on as if some one had pulled in, or was coming into the house. This was a very NON normal thing, and Rufus would not let himself go with strangers.


I am just putting this out there, if anyone has a female shepherd mix, collie or Border collie mix, or purebred they want to go to a good home, she has her dogs licensed, shots, rabies, whole nine yards.
AND the dog would be kept IN at night and when she was not at home.
She wants a dog we can train to bark at the horses and keep them from the gates when she goes through to feed hay, the horses are already dog trained so don't chase OR strike at dogs.
needs to be good with cats, geese, other dogs and horses.
PLS let me know.
Carol

 

[Terri O]

Good evening...just got done with a 3 hour session with the hedge trimmer going all around my electric fence and chopping down burdock, thistle, Queen Annes's lace and roses...

I have a beginning blister in each palm from the handles of the shears. Then I plug in the fencer and....NOTHING! I am wondering if it got struck by lightening in one of those storms? If it did then it wasnt working for a while because it usually burns the weeds off the fence; I had to cut a LOT of weeds. I will test it tomorrow and buff up the connections. Maybe that is the problem?
That is a tall order for a dog Carol! I wish mine did all that for sure. I still havent found an adequate dog to replace my stock dog...some day.
WOW Jim--that is quite a burst of energy! How many waterers did you have to wash anyhow? Ya know, I have heard that if you keep them clean they arent so hard to maintain! That is what I am trying to do anyhow...bleach once a month and rinse well daily. These new waterers really help too! (thanks again Brent!) Sorry to hear that you lost a Buckeye hen

--I am really loving the breed!

Hey, what do you guys think of putting pigeons in with guineas? I have a group of young guineas that are not ready to be out running with the older ones yet and I keep them in a cube made from PVC pipe and chicken wire that I picked up in the trash. It is 6'x6'x6'. I also have some young pigeons that my racers raised and I was thinking about putting them in there so they could be outside and I could use their pen for the newest baby. My thoughts are that since the pigeons usually are up roosting and the guineas are on the floor of the pen it might work like quail and finches together. Any thoughts?

BBP--maybe your chickens attacked the bunny? That would probably be enough to give a youngster a heart attack I would think! I had a nest of rabbits in my garden before tilling last year...of course I let them grow up and vacate before I tilled.

Those are probably the ones that ate my crops later on in the year! LOL--oh well. Speaking of crops, I picked more zucchini and yellow squash...I just wish I had some mushrooms to do a saute...a few tomatoes would be nice too. My friend on the other side of town called me yesterday and said they pulled in a 5 gal bucket of tomatoes from their garden!

You should see this guys garden...not a weed to be seen! He heads out right after work every day and hoes rows to calm down after work I guess...at least that's what his wife says...
As I was walking around my yard today I couldnt believe how much everything has grown!I probably shoulda used that trimmer on all the weeds all over my yard! I think I need a brush mower or something--can you rent those? I definitely need to mow down my pasture--it is all chamomile flowers! I did let out the goats while I was chopping and they seemed to really like to eat them...guess I need to let them out more often. Only problem is that they go right through the fence! Maybe it wont be such an issue this year cause the neighbor didnt plant corn (for the first time in 22 years) next to my pasture! Maybe he didnt plant it because my goats and geese ate off two rows last year? (oops!) That was when my perimeter fence guys didnt show up...man I wonder what happened to the money I had saved for that job?

Guess I will make myself some popcorn and go out and close doors and gates. Long day tomorrow first cooking then a client then we are heading to the State Fair for DH's company get together then I am dog sitting for the weekend! Whew...cant wait until Monday! LOL! Sweet dreams everyone! Terri O

 

[Celtic Chick]

Cind, absolutely love that pic of Ruddy. And the kitten is so adorable-looks just like him. No wonder they get along. A mini Ruddy.

So glad you checked in, DrH. Sounds like you're up to yer eyeballs. Sure wish I had cukes this year.

I canned some awesome dill pickles last year, but I didn't have a lot. I had a bunch of brine left over so I pickled some peppers (no shortage of those around here, ever, it seems), and they turned out great too. Pickling is now my preferred method of canning peppers, I think. Certain peppers, anyway. DHs cousins plant pepper seeds every year & wind up with literally hundreds of seedlings every spring. They are old & their garden gets smaller & smaller every year, & the family & neighbors are wise to their ways, so guess who always winds up with hundreds of pepper seedlings? Nobody I know wants more than a few plants, & I am such a sucker for not letting plants die, so I always have, shall I say, a bumper crop of peppers every fall? Well, this past winter, the husband passed on, and the wife moved down south with her daughter, so what did I do????? I let DH talk me into planting pepper seeds this spring. Yeah, have me comitted right now....... I had a gazillion seedlings coming up, but thankfully the 2 woodchucks found a majority of the seedlings to be quite tasty, so maybe for once I will have a normal size pepper harvest. Ya think?????? I sure hope so.......

I hear you on needing a gardener & a housekeeper, TO. I was trying to weed & do some trimming today, but that sun was hot! And then when the clouds finally rolled in, the squiters came out in clouds! I think I donated a pint & a half.

Score on the cukes, Kris! I can my tomatoes in small batches as they ripen. You can let some sit for a little while to let some others catch up, just make sure you turn them over a lot.

So much bad news today........Jim, sorry about the guineas & turkeys, & Ken's brother. Carol, that just completely ruined my day hearing about Rufus.

Sometimes I really despise people. I did not need to hear about fly strike (because it was depressing), but I guess it is very good to know/be aware of. TO, sorry about Turk. You did your best. FT, so glad to hear from you, but so terribly sorry to hear of the boy who died, Jonathan. I can't believe I didn't hear about that. Alpine Valley is really close to here. But I rarely watch the news in the summertime. Too depressing & too busy. (Congrats on the chickies! They are so cute!) And sorry about the roos, but at least it was roos & not hens, right?

Well, DH & I were going to go on a couple of bike rides this weekend, but now I'm kinda leery. I do not care to become road splatter. Wish me luck that we do not encounter any "inattentives".

 

[ElaineS585]

kristip: I always cut my tomatoes in half longways before freezing as I like to look at the inside before freezing. Some can rot & turn black on small parts of the inside and it's not noticeable from the outside. So I check the inside before I freeze them. I don't skin them either.... I also like to cook 'em reduced down in a crockpot (with the lid off or slightly off) to concentrate the tomato & cook off excess moisture. Sometimes I also drain off the clear liquid and freeze it for those days I'm sick or cold and want clear hot broth. It tastes as fresh as the day it's made.... delicious. .... Thanks, too, for the Landscaping with Fruit title. I've had it from the library once already but now after the farm tour, it's time to take a 2nd look at it.... Speaking of books, if you're looking for a good laugh out loud book that you can relate to, try Bob Tarte's "Enslaved by Ducks - How one man went from head of the household to bottom of the pecking order." It's pretty funny. I ordered it from the library after reading other reviews on BYC. Will check to see if library has his other book, "Fowl weather" as I'm sure it'll be pretty entertaining, too.

For those of you wanting to try to make a concord grape pie - it sounds harder than it is but it's well worth the (minor) extra effort. I'm sure you won't be disappointed and will keep making it after trying the first one. YUM!

Celtic Chick asked: "Are you sure the tiny ones were honeyberries? What color were they?" Yep, I'm 100% sure they were honeyberries, as that's what the owner called them, they were blue, looked exactly like all the pictures I've seen except they were about 1/10th the size I was expecting. Smaller (&flatter/thinner) than a SMALL blueberry, about the length of my pinkie fingernail. Good flavor but I think they'd be a pain in the rear to harvest and you'd need mega amounts to make anything. I have neck problems so I'm limited with how much time I can be peering under leaves or with my neck at a weird angles harvesting so unless I hear first hand from someone that a particular bush is super productive with decent sized fruit, I'm going to hold off on those for awhile. I do realize that the smallness might have just been the variety planted out on the farm, but it was disappointing regardless. (Although I'd much rather be forewarned than to plant something, wait years and THEN be disappointed.) Oh, I just looked at the website you included and read, "Often it will fruit the following season after being planted, even if very small" and that might be the problem. The fruit I picked were nowhere near the size shown on the plate on the link. Had they been penny sized or bigger, I would have had no complaints. They were super tiny!

Cindlady, what a cute kitten, just adorable. I can see why you gave it a home! Good for you!

Those pictures of the showgirls totally crack me up. I agree they're so ugly they're cute!

Thanks for posting the pictures.

Man, you have to have a stomach of steel to be part of this group, eh? Gee whiz. I'm going to have to really pay attention to when I read posts so it doesn't interfere with meals or give me nightmares. Between blow flies, bodily functions, flesh eating maggots, injured and decapitated pets.... makes me queasy just to recap!

(Ya, I'm one of those sensitive types that has problems getting bad images out of my mind.) We need GRAPHIC warnings sometimes, don't ya think? ha!

TO, sorry to hear you put a Turk down but I admire you for doing so.

It isn't always easy to let our little ones go.... The flower pic was beautiful and glad to hear the torts are doing good. Oh, btw, my friend who has the plant you liked with stripes on it said I could come get one for you. I'll get it on my next trip over there - or if you're coming to town sometime let me know in advance and I'll see if I can get one for when your in town ...

Well, more to respond to but I'm too tired so I'm calling it a night. Have a good one!
Elaine

 

[bigzio]

Evening All....busy day here. Working with the guys that are putting on a steel roof soffit and facia. Then this evening work night at camp. Few truck loads of wood stacked in the wood shed, and a bunch more split. Someone came and wrecked the gate to camp. Hooked on with a truck and pulled it down braking the cables...got that fixed back up too. They also wrecked the neighbors gate into c-ville bowhunters....Prolly kids thinking it was fun. It wasen't funny...it was somewhat costly.

Jim I have about 6 blades here that need a edge...wish you were closer. I still have your cooking tools too....Once I get this eye stuff done, I'll take a ride north from here.

Glad you like the waterers and the buckeyes. The roo's are the most manfriendly I've ever delt with....I never have a problem with mine, even in the spring.

Suzie did another gallon of nordge pickles today. Gonna take a grocery bag of nice ones and give them to the workers at the retina clinic....thinkin they will enjoy them....they loved the free range eggs we gave them. I love sharing stuff from the country in the city.

I'm sorry about Rufus too.

Sure miss my truck....don't know how anyone could survive without one.

Time for a bigger pantry Doc....you need to can more stuff. Wish lids were cheaper though. I think the amish corner store by me has a good deal on them. Years ago they use to be 10 boxes for a $1....ahhhh the good ol days.

 

[Dornes]

Man we sure are a chatty bunch! Come back from a couple hours away and have to read a whole page of super long posts just to catch up.

Carol - that is too bad about the dog. Who would do something like that? I like my animals more than most people, that's for sure!

Nasty - I just come in from locking up the chickens and such. I took the flashlight with and when I was coming out of the coop after doing a headcount there seemed to be these strange little black things on the ground. I thought that they looked a bit odd at a glance so I shined them with the light. They were little baby earwigs. LOTS of them, like crawling all over the ground. Those suckers must come out at night. Ick Ick Ick, and I had walked right over the top of them when I went to the coop. EEEEEKKKK!!! My feet are still crawling...

Gosh I hate those things. Too bad I couldn't coax the chickens off the roost to come gobble them up.

We live directly across the road from the Elroy-Sparta Bike trail. Today there was some bikers that walked into our corn field across the road and were taking pictures of the corn and the people. That corn sure is growing good this year (cow corn... not sweet corn). I am a whole 5'2" and you could stack 3 of me and the corn would still be taller. That's our best field. Probably some city folk never seen corn that tall before, had to take pictures to show all their city friends when they got back from biking

That is too bad about the gates, kids these days... no respect for anything at all. I seriously feel bad that I brought kids into this society that we live in. My kids better not EVER behave like that or they will not be looking forward to coming home answering to me and their dad - not at all!

Speaking of kids, had an Amish couple stop the other day. One of their sons ran away from home, headed off somewhere to find a job and leave the community. Were asking if we had seen or heard anything. Said if we did to let the local CO-op know. Felt bad for the parents, but I have heard some horrible stories from a lady who helps the amish leave the community (underground so to speak) - and I am pretty sure I would be running away too. And once you are found and brought back... well, lets just say they wish they were still "missing" and on the run.

Well, time to hit some paperwork. I will check in in the morning

Night all!