Monday, September 22, 2014

Hello Fall!!!

This week is late, but better late than never!

Last week I had decided that I needed a break and I needed to try to get caught up on some things that were being neglected in the house. For the past few weeks I had been doing the Farmer's Market and a craft show the next day, it was wearing me out. I had canning to do and sewing for friends to get caught up on, things had piled up so fast that I lost track of the time. The grapes smelled so good on the vine that I knew that if I didn't get them canned soon, that they would be a lose to us, with no jam for the Winter season to come.
We made Grape Jam! I forgot how much I loved doing this. Last year we didn't get grapes due to a frost that came during the grapes flowering. This year we had the grapes, but I was running out of time to can them. I will share the recipe that we use for grape jam. It takes longer than making jelly but I like the texture of jam a lot better than jelly.

Grape Jam

You will need:
2 quarts of grapes
4 1/2 cups of sugar 
1 box of low sugar pectin or 3 tablespoons of low sugar pectin

That's it!
I start by soaking my grapes to let all the bugs float to the top. There are always bugs tangled up in the grapes after you pick them, so to not have that surprise when you reach into the bowl, I float the little guys out! 
You will then pop the grape out of the flesh into a bowl, put the skins in a pan that has about a 1/2 cup of water in it. You do this until you have done about 2 quarts of grapes. I usually have a quart jar in front of me that I fill as I work.
You will then put the grapes on a burner on low to med. temp. The temp depends on if you want to stay in the kitchen while the grapes cook a little. If you are there watching them then use med. heat, because you will need to stir with a wooden spoon so the grapes do not stick to your pan. Now the skins you will put on a burner the same temp and you watch them also being careful to not let the skins stick to the bottom of the pan. When the grapes are soft and you can mash easily with your spoon it is ready for you to put in a sieve or a food mill. You will then remove the seeds from the pulp of the grape by putting it in one of these.
Now this is where I differ from most who do jam, I will put my pulp in the same pan I used to make them soft. I then will take the skin mixture from the other pan and put it through the sieve. To separate the skins from the pretty purple juice it has made. My family hates the skins being in the jam, so I do this, I grew up with the skins being in the jam, so either way it is still very good.
Add the juice or skins pan to the pulp and then add your sugar with pectin. You will now cook the pulp and sugar, waiting for it to boil. You will then cook at a rapid boil stirring the mixture so it does not stick to the bottom of your pan, waiting for the mixture to reach it's gelling point. This can be from 10 to 15 min depending on the amount of sugar and pectin in the mixture. Once it is thick enough you will put the jam in your jars and then process in a boiling water canner for about 15 min. You now have jam! You will need to let the jars cool and leave them alone so it can gel properly. 

It was my Birthday last week and my Step- Mother gave me a new chicken for my ever growing collection of chickens. She is a bun warmer!!! Love it, and I think I may be trying to duplicate a similar one soon in the sewing room. They are just so cute.
I also received beautiful flowers from my family and friends. I just love cut flowers.

My Dahlia has bloomed finally. She picked Fall to bloom it is such a crazy electric pink color, just so pretty, I have never seen anything like it before.

My garden is on it's way out and I still have so much to do before the first frost, which at this rate if it keeps it up will be very soon.
I still have Kale coming up. I have beets that need to get out of the ground, along with my potatoes. Oh yes and the carrots!
I have also a lot of clean up to get the garden ready for Winter, just seems to be snowballing, but I will get it.

One morning walk, I found this Bumble asleep on the flowers in the garden. It was so sweet, I had to take a picture. 

Well we have officially run out of time this year so, the new addition to the barn will have to wait. At least we have the wood to start in the Spring! The goats will have to wait for their new pen and milking stall until next year.

We had a beautiful weekend last week. The sun was out and the temperature was so nice. I love when Fall blows in and it did this weekend! The animals also enjoyed the beautiful weekend by putting a hole in my fence!
Ms. Bella had decided that it would be a great day to put a hole in the fence so they could all reach the weeds on the other side. I then had to move EVERYONE, to the Winter field. Birds and goats had to be on the other side. The goats loved it but the birds, that was another story.
Every bird stayed at the gate waiting for me to put them back. Ms. Coal my broody hen, would growl and pace back in forth, but despite her discontent, they stayed on the Winter pasture, until I had help fixing the fence.
Oh Ms. Griffin and her brother Luther,
Absolutely loved the new field. I never saw their heads off the ground the whole night.
It took awhile for the birds to agree that this was a good thing.

The grass had grown so high in the Winter pasture that poor Short Stuff looked really small. She actually was weaving herself in and out of the weeds like it was tunnels made just for her.

Ms. Silver loved the new grass after her own fit about the pasture being closed off.
She would peck at the seeds on the grass. She almost looked cross eyed from trying but she kept going.

Oh yes the Stooges, stayed close to me. They followed me all around the new pasture, they were so sure it was evil and something would happen very soon to them. They didn't say a word during the move, just quietly followed behind me ducking and weaving through the weeds. I swear they are the funniest birds I have ever owned.

After the hole was fixed in the Spring pasture, everyone was allowed back in! The birds were ever so happy and laid out in the sun all day. 

Ms. Pico wasn't as happy.
During these couple of days, she was ruler of the Spring pasture and didn't have to worry about chickens chasing her out, but that soon came to an end. She was not pleased at all.

Halloween has moved on to Cranberry Acre!!!!
Anyone who knows us well, knows we love Halloween. Yesterday we started to decorate the inside and outside of our home. I will get pictures of everything soon, when it is all done. Spooky house and I think this year the goats and chickens will fall victim to Halloween. I see photo ops of animals dressed up!

This weekend I was able to get one of my favorite kitchen aprons done for the shows coming up. This apron is the "Nana Lou" apron. named after my Step Grand Mother, I have her old aprons that she had made, so it inspired me to make one in memory of her. 
I've decided to make them Holiday ones or ones for special occasions. They will be for sale on my Etsy shop, Farmer's Market and the craft shows in the next few weeks. I'm so excited to bring these back after all these years.

Ms. Puffy Cheeks and Ms. Coal. If it wasn't for Ms. Puffy Cheeks putting Coal in her place I think the chicken yard would be in a constant fight. Ms. Coal has been pretty Broody so she has been quit mean to the younger birds, so Ms. Puffy goes over and breaks it up, I love that little girl. 
Another girl who has been grumpy, but for a different reason is Ms. Silver

She is molting and hates every min. of it. Bless her heart, she can't shake without loosing a fist full of feathers. Her new feathers are starting to come in, but it doesn't change the fact that she is irritable.

Well here on Cranberry Acre we will be pretty busy. I have apples to get off the trees and turn into apple butter and all the garden work to finish up for the Season. Seems over whelming really, but that is farming. I also have to get some more things sewn for the Craft shows that are coming up, so busy, busy, busy.
Everyone have a great week!























Monday, September 8, 2014

Chasing my tail!!!!



I have way to much to do this week.


I am canning today!! The season is wrapping up here on Cranberry Acre so I am in the rush of canning whatever I can get my hands on, so it does not spoil. Today's Blog will be short and sweet due to the canning and sewing that needs to get done today.

A little update on our old girl Ms. Silver, she is doing great!
She seems to have recovered from whatever she had, but now is dealing with a molt. Bless her heart, from one thing to another, but we will take it, since she is back to ordering around the younger birds. All is well with the Cranberry Acre Flock! Thank you everyone for your well wishes and prayers for the old girl.

With all the craft shows I have, there seems to be little time for Blogging, but I'm trying to at least tell you all what is up. I do promise to keep you up to date if anything is new. 
This weekend is the Farmer's Market in Independence and also the "Save Green Expo" in Galax. If anyone wants come down to either one and chit chat with me. I would love to see you all.
Until next week, everyone have a great week!



Monday, September 1, 2014

Labor Day Weekend!!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

This time of year always gets me. There is so much canning to do and then on top of all of that, the craft fairs and festivals have started. I know why I needed to take a break for 2 years from sewing and doing all of this now. I have been canning tomatoes for the past 3 weeks now. Nothing but stews and chili I see for the Winter months! 
I finally had my Cosmos to bloom. It is really late in the season for them to just start blooming, but they look so beautiful. Just one of those moments to 
take in the beauty of the farm.
If you have been following my Blog, you know that the garden is now a jungle. Between going on vacation and then being diagnosed with Lyme Disease, the garden took care of itself mostly. In among the weeds I found these guys trying to show off their beauty. One of my most favorite flowers to grow are Zinnias. Even though the rest of the jungle is very hard to look at, this was a reminder for me that everything will be fine.

This I have no idea what it is, so if anyone has any ideas, please contact me. A plant started to grow out of my compost, so I let it grow, well at first I thought pumpkin, but now I know it is some type of gourd. Just a crazy, but wonderful looking critter, just have no idea what it could be!

This is Ms. Chocolate and Ms. Spot! After the rain had stopped, they ran out to the water bowl to drink. It was just funny to think with all the rain, they still wanted water from the bowl.

Ms. Griffin! She is a chicken chaser and tail puller, but she's cute. I have been trying to break her of it, but her mother JoJo seems to have been teaching her the ropes on how to do all of this. Let's just say I'm not winning and we have some chickens that have less tail feathers then they started out with.

One of the cutest little birds we have this year is our Silkie chicken, Ms. Coal. If she was candy she would just be to sweet to eat! Every night we put the chickens up. Ms. Coal and Ms, Copper have their own cage, Ms. Puffy Cheeks and Short Stuff also have one too. They are just so tiny that I get worried that something would happen to them in the larger coop, so we tuck these chickens in at night. Probably they only chickens to be tucked in every night in Virginia! 
Ms. Lovey the duck, also has a bedtime cage, come on she's blind, so she needs one too. I know, I have the worlds most spoiled birds! My husband is convinced I have lost my mind.

Ms. Coal allows Ayla to do whatever with her whether it is being put on a goat or on a toy, this time she is modeling the "Camp Migraine" sign. As I said cutie of a bird.
Update on Ms. Silver, after keeping her in the house for about a week, she seems to be doing better. We had her on Probiotics and a medicine called VetRX, which has saved many a bird in this house. I would recommend having this on hand if you have chickens, seem to be an all purpose miracle when I need it to be. Ms. Silver is pretty much back to normal as far as scratching and running the pasture, so she is now back out with the flock and she is really happy. Was a long and scary week for me.

Oh Happy Day!!!
We had some hay delivered last week and a couple of the bales were very loose and feel apart, so everyone in the barn yard got hay!

It was funny, because this was the first time the chicks have been able to play in the hay. They stood around for awhile watching the goats, chickens and the guineas play in it, but never tried to get in it it. They all did this until, Short Stuff came running into the pile, I guess they figured if a tiny bird like her was going to do it, then it was safe. They are so silly.

I gained new chickens for my collection!
My Step mother had these guys 
and
this guy in her house and they needed a new home so they are now on my front porch!!
The collection is growing fast.

I realized this weekend that I never take pictures when I go to these craft events that I go to, so I broke out the camera to show everyone what my set up looks like. It's funny how you get so wrapped up in going to the events, but forget to take pictures of it. 

Here are my pretty bird feeders on there stand that Wayne had made me. This stand has been a great asset for me at these events, I just love it.

My mason jar lights and some other things that I sell. I just realized while posting these, that I did not get a picture of the sewing goods I have. Maybe at the next event, which will be this Saturday.

We are busy, busy, busy here on Cranberry Acre, as I know every farm is right now. This week is canning grape jam and getting some new sewing done before the next event!! I do plan to have a tutorial for the jam, I just need to remember to take the pictures as I am making it! Oh how the memory goes when you get older, such a pain really. If you are out and about next weekend, Sept 6, 2014, come by the Matthews Farm in Galax, VA for the Quilt Show, Stories in Stitch. I would love to sit down and talk to you. The event goes until 4 PM.
Have a great Memorial Weekend and be safe.