Blueberry Jam

After our trip to the U-Pick we had quite a few blueberries in the freezer.  I had wanted to make jelly but didn't have a fruit press or jelly bag.  Apparently you can't buy one here in Albany either.   So we made jam out of the blueberries.

We put them out on cookie trays to thaw out and then Logan and Paige loaded them into the food processor.

 A quick spin in the food processor and we had blueberry mush.

 The recipe is pretty simple.  6 cups of "prepared blueberris" also known as blueberry much,  7 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and a box of pectin.  Mix everything but the sugar and bring to a boil you can't stir down.  Then add all the sugar at once and stir to a rolling boil.  Boil for 1 minute then scrape the foam and fill the jars.

 I used 2 big bags of blueberries and ended up with 34 jars of jam.  I probably would have had a full 3 cases but quite a few of the berries were eaten while they were thawing.

Apple Chips

We had a bag of apples that were starting to go wrinkly on the counter so I thought the kids would enjoy making some apple chips in the dehydrator.  On one of our trips to Chattanooga we stopped at an indoor flea market and I found an apple pealer/slicer for $7.00.  Not bad, normally they're between 20-30.

Logan and Paige got a kick out of peeling and slicing them at the same time, and I got free labor.

We put all the slices in a bowl and gave them a quick squirt of lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.  Paige tool all the peels and cores out to the (extremely happy) chickens.

Then all the slices were placed on the dehydrating trays. 

And into the dehydrator they went for about six hours.

The kids really liked them.  Only about 1/2 made it into the jar.

Begin prep for fall

It's the middle of July and the garden is dead.  The peas were pretty much a flop due to the chickens eating the seeds........ twice.  We did get a good size harvest of green beans but only harvested two of the beds.  I've been running at work lately and had to go to Ohio for a week last month.  The garden suffered pretty bad.  So the weeds took over.

This fall I am planning on planting a garden full of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.  So I have to get the weeds out of the garden.  I spent the afternoon today starting down the long road of cleaning up the garden beds.  It was a nice cool 85 degrees here in Southwest Georgia.  With my big blue umbrella it was bearable to sit out there for a few hours.  Four down, twelve to go.  

I'm going to cover them with preen fabric to keep the weeds away till we plant in the fall.  The plan is to just cut a slit in the fabric where the plant is going, then cover each bed with agri-bon to keep the bugs away from the young plants.  The agri-bon is necessary because with the fall garden you're placing nice tender shoots in the ground when the bugs are at their peak.  It will also extend the season further into the first frosts.

First hatching of mama brooded turkeys

After the first batch of turkeys were hatched in the incubator I decided to just let them sit on what they laid after that.  Last year only 2 hatched from the clutch the hen was sitting on.  Within a few weeks we had 4 broody turkeys sitting on 3 nests.  Yeah, 2 turkeys are sharing a nest.  Not taking turns, sharing.  You can see them at the bottom of the picture .  Usually they are on top of each other but were a bit upset that I was taking their picture.

The hen on the right is sitting on her nest.  The hen on the left is leading around 11 poults.  So much for the 2 that I was expecting.  Hopefully we don't end up with 33 turkeys.  I have a feeling we'll be having a lot of turkey meat next year.

If you click the pics you should be able to see the poults walking around.

Blueberries!

Danielle and the kids went to the U-Pick blueberry farm today.  It's a nice place here in Albany called the Busy Elves Christmas tree farm.  Behind the trees they have a nice sized blueberry patch.  They had a great time, especially Lillie who quickly made friends with the owner who fed her peaches and blueberries the whole time they were picking berries.  When they left he gave Danielle some free peaches that were delicious.  Of course, when you feed a 2 year old, that has no full switch, peaches and blueberries for a few hours you eventually will see them again...... Get the spot bot!

If I ever get some time off work I'm going to make Blueberry Jelly.

Spring chicken harvest 2014

We've talked before on the differences between frankenchickens (Cornish Cross) and heritage breed birds.  Above is an example.  To the right is a 9 week old frankenchicken.  To the left is a 6 month old heritage bird.  See the color difference, that's called flavor.  We don't get flavor any more from the supermarket.

Processing!

Parts in their final rinse.

The harvest, packed and ready for the deep freeze.

Another angle of the harvest.

Packing Green Beans

After cleaning the beans last night it's time to pack them up and freeze them.  We start with a quick blanch and an ice bath.

Then they are added to bags.

After a quick vacuum and seal they are ready for the freezer.