Cleaning Chicken coop #2 and 4h market steer.

Went out today and decided to clean chicken coop # out, it was a mess.  Chickens can be messy, but I enjoy having them. My Grandma Akers loved her chickens.  She would always get her chicken books in the mail and look though it for hours.   She always had them while I was going up.  She had this one mean ole rooster.   He would chase me every time  I would go over to visit her.  I may have only been around 4 years old but I still remember that ole rooster.  For the longest time, I was afraid of chickens, but finally I got over that fear and so glad I did.   We have had chickens off and on, for about the last ten or eleven years now. I guess, I get my love of chickens from my grandmothers.  Both of them raised chickens.

Cleaning out the chicken coops isn't one of my favorite chores to do on the farm.   Today was a hot day to pick to decide to clean out the #2 coop.   It was a hurried job.  I usually give the coops two really good cleaning a year, once in the spring and once in the fall and get them ready for winter.  Then, the rest of the time, I just clean at them.  I have a broody hen and she was not happy with me cleaning out the nesting boxes.

Our coops aren't anything fancy. Most of the time, the chickens, free range and we put them up at night.  They still make a mess when they go on the roost for the night.

I use this putty knife to scrape poo off of the roosts and off of the nesting boxes.  It does a really good job. 

I scrape it all off with the putty knife and I wear gloves when I clean out the chicken coop too. 

Then I will rake it out.  It is dirt floor.  I like for them to have a dirt floor so they can scratch around in it during the winter months and it is a lot easier to clean out, well at least it is for me. 

After raking, I sprinkle some diatomaceous earth around the outside and inside of the coops.  They say it helps with keeping mites  and bugs.   

Lastly, I spread some wood shavings down.   We buy our wood shavings from a local sawmill by the truck load.   It is way cheaper than  buying them from a feed store by the bag.   I think, Sam gets it for $20.00 a dump tailor load.   Which is a lot.  We use it also in the barn stalls for the horses and other livestock. 

This is our daughter's 4h market steer for this year.   Our fair isn't till the end of August.   She needs to get him finished out with in the next few weeks before the fair starts, so he will be ready to go.  This will be her last year showing a steer in 4h.   He looks a mess in the pic,  she hadn't bathed him or curried him out.  She keeps him in a special stall, with fans and an air condition unit to keep him cool so he will keep his long and thick enough for the fair. 

Blueberry syrup, green tomatoes and some canning.

I have been trying to get a little canning done.   We have had so much rain our garden isn't  doing the greatest.  As soon as the tomatoes start turning, they start to rot.  We have never had that problem before.   As far as the plants go, they look great and loaded with tomatoes.   Everyone around here is having trouble with their gardens and stuff rotting.

5 qts of spaghetti sauce, 3qts dill pickles, 3 qts of green tomatoes and  4 qts of zucchini and yellow squash. 

4 qts of green tomatoes, and 3 pts and 4 half pts of blueberry syrup. 

With the green tomatoes, I slice them kinda thick, add lemon juice, salt and boiling  hot water.  I hot water bath them for 20 mins.   Most of the recipes, I saw said 7 mins. but I felt like I should do it for a little longer.   I wish I had wrote down my recipe down from last year.    The ones I did last year turned out great. 

Blueberry syrup was pretty easy to make.  Basically, it is just like making jelly except you don't add pectin.   Cook it down till it is as thick as you want it.   It won't be thick like syrup you buy at the store.  I have some syrups to make.  I wan to make strawberry and cherry.   I use the blueberry and blackberry syrup I made in tea and loved it.   It was really good on pancakes. 

Around the farm and blackberries

 We have a bunch of blackberries this year to pick.  I know there is no way we will pick them all.  We have already put several quart bags in the freezer.  I made easy blackberry cobbler yesterday and canned 4 pts of blackberry syrup and little over a half a pint of syrup to put in the frig to start using.   I use blackberries for cobblers, dumplins, pies, jam and jelly, and syrup. I might try and make some juice this year, if I can get the time.  Garden stuff is coming on and I will have other canning to do, plus my pet grooming business.  I want to pick some blackberry leave to dehydrate for tea.

Blackberry sweet ice tea.  I just made reg. tea, added sugar and some of the blackberry syrup I made.   It turned out good.

Blackberry cobbler, and syrup

The cobbler recipe is easy.  1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, 1 cup self-rising flour, and mix.  Add 1 stick of butter to your baking dish, stick in the oven to melt while you are mixing up your ingredients.   Once your butter is melted, add your mixture.  Then add you berries.  Bake for 1 hours at 350 degrees. 

Yesterday, after picking blackberries, just a few minutes after being home it started raining and raining hard.   We just got back off the hill in time or we would have been caught in it.   I was working around in the kitchen and Hannah was helping, and I looked outside and the water was rushing off the hill and into the creek and the creek was starting to over flow.  It was crazy, I have never seen it do that before.  

That is coming from a little ravine off the hill. 

That is our road.  I was worried it was going to wash out our culvert. Thankful it didn't. 

It was running fast. 

Then yesterday morning I  thought I heard a noise outside, but is wasn't really loud.   I thought, maybe it was the fedex guy delivering my package, and that was him setting it down on the porch.  Zeus started growling and barking, so I went and looked.   Didn't see anyone outside. I decided to go out and check the mail.   We have to drive down to our mailbox, they will only deliver it so far up the holler.    As I walking out the door to get into the truck, I could see what  made the noise.  A huge tree fell across the pasture fence, right between our stock trailer and horse trailer.  Just barely missing our horse trailer.  Looks like it will be an early start to our firewood season. 

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I will be doing some canning this week.   I hope to can green tomatoes for frying and green beans.  Not going to can as many beans this year as I usually do.   I might try and get 21 qts., that should be enough.  I already have a bunch canned up from last year.  I hope our corn does something, so I can can up some.   I would love to make up a big pot of veggie soup and can it. 

Salting, Curing and Smoking your own meat

Tim Farmer of Ky Afield on PBS - KET video.    Love to watch the show when I'm able to.  I was looking youtube videos and came across this one on salting, curing, and smoking your own meat.  One of our little project we want to do is build a smoke house.   I can remember my grandparents talking about their smoke house, and how they grew up smoking their own meat.    My grandparents grew up in  large families, so they raised and grew all their food.    I wish they were still around, I have so many questions, and I know they would have the answers.  I miss sitting on the porch and listening to their stories.  I hope you all enjoy the video as much as I do.

Make Bologna in Your Own Kitchen

Tim Farmer youtube video on making your own bologna.  Sounds like a good recipe  and I would like to try it.  I can remember my mamaw making souse or hog head cheese.  Not big on it.  Hope you enjoy this video.

Canning 101 - The Basics for Beginners (Episode #217)

Tim Farmer Country kitchen.  I love watching his youtube videos.

Canning and dehydrating time.

I started getting my stuff out and cleaning it up, and  ready to go for the garden stuff coming on.   Looks like I will be canning green beans this coming week and probably green tomatoes.   I haven't been able to get out in the  garden much because of my knee I hurt over a week ago.  I  go Monday for an mri, and  hopefully they find out what is going on.  But anyway, I got the dehydrator out tonight and started dehydrating zuchinni.

I just thinly slice them and put on the dehydrating trays and started the dehydrator.    I have seen where some people season their zucchini, I have never tried that before, but I think, I might try it on the next batch.  Unless something happens, I will have a bunch of zucchini and summer squash.  
 
Having a time keeping a momma deer and her baby out of the garden this year.    She has her baby bedded down in the field in front of our garden.   Guess she knew where to start staying, and they could eat good.  Japanese beetles are awful this year.   I can remember them when I was little and then seems like for a few years we never saw any and now they are back.   They have just about ate the leaves off my beans.   Between all the rain, and my knee injury, I haven't been able to get out and work in the garden, like I need to be.  The weeds are taking over, as well.   Always something on a farm.  I'm always thankful with what we are blessed with and we always have plenty.

I also made some zucchini bread.  I plan on baking up some more loaves and putting them in the freezer.     

Emerald Salad Recipe

My grandma would make this salad for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year and everyone in the family loved. My mom, and aunts make it now. We all still love it. I thought, I would share the recipe.

Emerald Salad

1 c. drained, crushed pineapple
1 pt cottage cheese
1/2 c. chopped pecans or English walnuts
2 boxes of Lime jello ( 13 oz) or 1 lg. box
1 c pineapple juice, if not enough to make 1 cup add water
1/2 pt. whipped cream or 1 pkg Dream whip, whipped ( you could use cool whip)
2 cups of mini marshmallows

Mix jello using 1 cup hot water plus 2 cups cold water. Add pinapple juice and marshmallows. Chill in refrigerator. After chilled until just thick, whip slightly.

Fold in pineapple, nuts, cottage cheese, and whipped cream. Put in 13x 9 inch pan. Refrigerate till it sets up. Serve and enjoy.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July.

My grandmother's Old time stack cake recipe

Not sure where my mamaw got the recipe from but she would make her dried apple stack cakes from it.  I remember papaw building her a drying stand outside.  He took old tin roofing, four tree posts, and make it for her.  He had two layers of the tin.  She cut up apples and placed them on the tin and he built a fire underneath the tin.  He made the stand pretty tall, well, it looked tall to me at the time.  I was probably around 10 yrs old.   I just remembered it gave the apples a different taste.  A couple of years ago, I was up at my aunts house and she had this big glass jar full of some of the apples my grandparents had dehydrated.   They probably were over 34 yrs old, she had me try one.  Yes, I was brave and tried one.   It tasted  just like it did when they first dehydrated them.  I was surprised.  They had kept them in glass jars, with clear plastic over it, then a lid.  No mold, or anything.

Mamaw would cook some of the apples down and made almost like applebutter and that is what she would use between the layers of the cake.  I tried making one, but I had to use applebutter between the cake layers of mine.

This is the one I made. Not as pretty as my mamaws was, but it turned out pretty good.  Wrap in clear plastic and let set couple of days, it tastes a lot better. 

Here is the recipe for the cake part. 

3/4 cup of shortening

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of sorghum 

1 cup of buttermilk

6 cups of flour plus extra to roll

3 eggs

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ginger

Preheat oven to 375

Sift dry ingredients together.  Cream shortening, sugar, sorghum, eggs and milk together.  Add flour mix until stiff.  Put dough onto floured broad, small portions at a time, roll thin.  Cut out with 10inch lid or pie pan.   Bake 10 mins. or until golden tan.  Put layers together with dried apples or applebutter. 

Makes 12 layers. 

I have one of her old recipe books that she had wrote some of her reciped down in and it was little hard to read,  If you try this recipe, I hope you enjoy it. 

Our Daughter's Country Wedding

Wanted to share a few pics our oldest daughter's country wedding.   She and her husband were married August 3, 2013.  It was a small country wedding, in a small country church.  My daughter is a lot like me, she likes to keep things simple and she is pretty frugal to.   We didn't spend a whole lot and we did just about everything ourselves and the help of family and friends.

I love this pic of them.  She was really close to her great-grandparents and they both are gone, but she want to have them in her wedding.  She had a memory table set up with their picture, my stepmoms and Kurt's grandpa picture. 

I love this one with just her holding their picture. 

 I was so happy that a long time friend of mine Pastor Scott was able to perform the wedding for them.  He did an amazing ceremony.  He was my neighbor for years, we went all the way through school together, from K-12, and he has been our pastor for years.  Pastor Scott and his wife Michelle, has truly been a blessing to our family. 

Pastor Scott saying  a prayer over them for their marriage. 

Beth with her brother and sister.  Love these kids more than they will ever know. 

Beth with her matron of honor and the bridemaids.

Kurt with his best man, ring bearer and groomsmen.  They wanted camo vest. 

Beth with her Marton of Honor, bridemaids, and flower girl 

Her daddy walking her down the aisle. 

 I did her wedding cakes, I also did the food for it.  My mom and aunt helped with making some food too.   They had baked ham, chicken, rolls, green beans, corn, garlic potatoes, broccoli salad, baked macaroni and cheese, sliced tomatoes,  sweet tea, lemon aid, pop and coffee. 

The happy couple before cutting the cake. 

I almost forgot this is the boutonieres we made.   The guys loved them because the were made with shotgun shells. 

Tables set up for the reception.  We did all the flowers for the wedding to along with bridemaids flowers. 

This is how we did the center pieces, each one was done different. 

 I thought she was abeauitful bride and had a beautiful wedding.