It takes A LOT of tomatoes!

It takes a lot of tomatoes to make tomato sauce!

And a lot of time!  Peeling and de-seeding the tomatoes was very time consuming. And just when I thought I had every single seed, one would appear in the pot!

10 cups of peeled, de-seeded and chopped tomatoes....

Reducing down at an alarming rate!

I wasn't going to season the sauce, my plan was to leave it plain.  Then I decided if I season it, it's ready to go, no more cooking!  And I ended up with two 500 ml jars of Marinara Sauce.  A lot of work but it's fresh, tasty, pesticide and preservative free!  Home Made Goodness!

Garden Clean Up....

The wind and rain has taken a toll on my garden.  It's no longer the lush, green, beautiful garden I was so proud of this summer.....

The tomato trees fell over AGAIN and crushed my pepper plants.  We had to tie the tomato cages to keep them standing.  The soil is soft from all the rain so the cages can't hold the plants up.

The Scotia, Early Girl and Big Beef tomatoes are all over, the plants have died and are a mess.  Time to pull them out!

We gathered all the green tomatoes that fell off while we were standing the plants back up...

And, of course, the meat chickens got their share of the garden goodies.  We gathered a huge bucket of over ripe, damaged tomatoes for them....

I am so happy to see them outside enjoying the fresh air.  I am also happy the grass seed I scattered in the run grew quickly!  It's looking good.

We picked the squash.  Not a bad lot for a little garden....

And these tomatoes are going to be made into tomato sauce....that's the next post!

What will winter bring....

As I putter around my kitchen cooking supper, I wonder what my blog will be about this winter.  The gardening will be done until next spring, the meat birds will all be in the freezer, the layers can only produce so much news.......

Maybe I will write about what I am cooking.....what I am using....preserved garden goodies, farm raised meat....  Maybe I will write about our plans for our little Farm next year....will we add pigs to our agenda.....what kind of pigs is always a hot topic with us, heritage or mixed farm breed... how many meat birds will we raise next year....

As I write this I'm watching the news, a highlight story is the Beef Recall in Alberta.  This reminds me to remind my husband to phone our Farmer Friend who raises beef and pork for at least a quarter of beef and a side of pork.....

We put our trust and faith in the "inspectors" to insure what we are eating is safe.  It becomes apparent all too often, this is the wrong thing to do.  Grow as much of your own food as you can, what you can't grow source close to home, preferably from someone you know.  Other than that, choose carefully.

And with that said, my breaded scallops are ready.....

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1 hour later.....  Supper is over.  The scallops were very disappointing.  One would assume you would get mouth watering fresh scallops in Nova Scotia, NOPE.  I am finding it near impossible to get mussels which are farmed at Indian Point Mussel Farms, our local mussel farm.  Most are imported from PEI.  I strongly believe if a product can be sourced in the area of the grocery store they should be forced to purchase that product to support the area producers.

Well, dear reader, that's all for tonight.  Again, I hope this post makes some sort of sense since I am still under weather.  And, for the record, it took me some time to finish this post, were weren't eating supper at 8:00 pm tonight, though it has been known to happen....

Take care!

A comforting bowl of chicken noodle soup...

Yes, I made myself a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup

Here's hoping it helps chase away this miserable cold bug.  Home grown chicken, celery, carrots and egg noodles.....let the battle begin!

'til next time!

wooo hooo!

No Frost Yet!!!

So happy we have not had a frost yet, extending our often too short Nova Scotia gardening season.  Though the temperatures are sometimes chilly the garden is surviving, not thriving but surviving.

I'm still enjoying fresh garden greens.....

And Butternut Squash, my favourite, picked fresh minutes before steaming.   So sweet and flavourful........

Our meat chickens are also enjoying fresh veggies from the garden.  This is a basket of garden goodies just for them.  Kayle, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Spinach and lettuce.....

These are Rose Buds, not from my garden, not from my yard.  Here's the story ....Today my family and I went for a walk in Lunenburg to have a look at the rebuilt Bluenose II.  As we were returning to our car I over heard a couple tourists having a conversation.  They were shocked by the large size of these rose buds.  The funniest part was, one of them was actually going to eat one, thinking it was a cherry tomato.  That would have been funny....I had to snap a picture and share this story.....

I sure hope this all makes sense and I don't reread this in a few days only to think "what am I talking about".  I am currently suffering from a mind numbing head cold.  I will reread this at a later date and make any grammar and spelling corrections that may need to be made haha.

'til next time!

I'll Huff and I'll Puff.....

All the rain and wind we've had this past week has reeked havoc on our little farm.

My "tomato trees" are leaning over, even with the sturdy Vesey's tomato towers supporting them.

The garden has gone wild!  Grass growing everywhere!

The moisture has caused some of the tomatoes to crack and rot....

A bonus from all this moisture, the little baby peppers I was hoping would have time to grow before the frost starts are coming along very nicely.....

Some of the tomato plants are pretty much finished...

Just when I thought there would be no more cucumbers we got a week of rain and more cucumbers!

And, for supper tonight....Acorn Squash....just haven't decided exactly how I am going to prepare them yet......

I thought this was such a pretty bloom...

All the rain also caused our meat bird "coop" to get very moist and messy.  Our other "coop" has been empty since the other birds were butchered, airing out and drying.  I spread 4 bags of shavings on the floor, moved over the feeders and water and viola, happy meat birds again......

Our newest addition of mixed breed layers are out and about, free ranging....

I love the colour of this bird....

My camera had a hard time focusing on this little one, it blended in so well with the surroundings.....

We left these two little ones with their momma free ranging, they are doing great...

So far today, no rain but no sun either.  I'm glad to have the meat birds to a clean dry coop, a good job done.  And that's my update on our wind and rain soaked farm!

'til next time...

hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go......

After enjoying a lot of family time during my recent 2 week vacation I am back to work.  Surprisingly I fell back into the swing of things very smoothly, sometimes it can be rough.  We didn't buy take out once this week.  Yay us!  Money saved and healthier bodies because of it.  Planning ahead is key, sometimes it's hard to do....

It has been raining for the past few days here in NS.  When I got home today I decided it would be a great idea to make Epicure Selections Chocolate Pudding.  My Son was so happy.  Very proud of his chocolate pudding, he did the stirring.

Speaking of take out, it's almost supper time.  I am resisting the temptation to order pizza.......  I had plans for hot chicken sandwiches (yes, with our home grown chicken and Epicure Selections Turkey Gravy) but the bakery was closed when I got off work so I didn't get bread on my way home.  So, I'm trying to figure out what plan B is....I guess we could always eat chocolate pudding for supper....?  Just kidding.....

'til next time!

Things that make you go "hmmmm".....

So, today an event in the life of our family has made me think about how I am dividing my time.

My initial reaction was "I'm not spending enough time with my family, I'm working too much, worrying too much about cooking, baking and cleaning the house and not worrying enough about family time".....

As I prepared a Cherry Pie for the oven with my Son by my side helping me, I had to rethink that thought.......Does he not also need to see us working?  Does he not also need to see us keeping our house clean, cooking meals and baking goodies?  Those tasks can also count as "time spent together".  Not all family time can be spent relaxing on the beach......  As I am typing this he is gathering his toys and putting them in his toy box.  As I am typing this the Cherry Pie is baking in the oven.....

We worry worry worry.  We worry about bills, we worry about working too much trying to pay those bills, we worry about feeding our family well, we worry if the things that we are doing to feed our family well is taking up too much time, we worry about spending enough quality time together, we worry about getting the big clean up garbage out to the road or it will be in our garage for another 6 months (haha), we worry worry worry.

I think the biggest problem is the worrying.  There's so much pressure on us all to be perfect parents, perfect employees, perfect spouses, perfect perfect perfect....  We're human beings, life is short, we should be enjoying the moment no matter if it's walking to get the mail or gathering up big garbage day stuff.  We need to relax more in the sense of not being so tense all the time.  Let some of the pressure go.  This is what I have to work on.  Stop, take a deep breath and move on.......  I get so overwhelmed by my "to do" list that I feel like going back to bed and doing nothing at all.  Eventually that "to do" list gets a little smaller but then grows long again.  I guess, that's just life.  The "to do" list won't end as long as there's a home and family to care for.  The grass keeps growing until the snow needs shoveling, it's a vicious cycle.

Thanks for letting me express my thoughts today.

'til next time!

End of pickling season.....

Yesterday I decided to pick all my remaining cucumbers and peppers (large ones, lots of small ones still growing!) and use them to make Mustard Pickles.  With impending frost and cool temps I'm not confident the growing veggies will make it big enough to harvest.  So, this is the end of pickling season this year....

The recipe called for cauliflower but I wanted to use up only what I had grown in my own garden, so there's only green pepper, onion and cucumber....

All bottled and waiting to hear the seals "POP".....

The chickens enjoyed the seeds and peels from the cucumbers.  I didn't get a picture of it, I was too busy trying to finish up my work :)

'til next time!

a little update on the newest meat chicks....

So far we have lost 4 of our new meat Chicks.  We received the vet medicine yesterday and we're hoping this cures the bug.  The remaining 36 birds seem to be healthy, eating well.

We had a mouse or some sort of critter nibbling on our acorn squash so I cut them through and fed them to the meat chicks.  They enjoyed them, nothing but shell left when I checked on them later in the evening.

Even though we have hit this bump in the road as far as raising "organic chicken" is concerned and we have to feed them meds to cure this bug, they are still getting garden veggies, they will still be enjoying the sunshine in a few weeks time and they will still be happier healthier birds.

'til next time!

How much is that chicken in the freezer......?

Our meat chickens are home and in the freezer.  Here is the breakdown of what raising and butchering this flock of 24 birds cost us:

15 bags of feed $16.50/bag = $247.50
Butchering/cut up fee = $133.00
Fuel to take them and pick them up = $100 (approx.)
Total "cost" = $480.50
Cost per bird $20.02
The average bird weighed 9lbs = $2.23/lb

Keeping in mind the above "cost" does not include our many many hours of labour, the equipment ie feeders/water founts, trucking shavings, "di cal" to keep the bones strong, etc etc etc!!!

These days it's hard to find a good cut of chicken in the grocery store for under $3.00/lb so we didn't do too bad as far as our monetary cost is concerned.  Having your own home grown meat in the freezer, fed garden veggies and raised in the sunshine is priceless!

I am very disappointed that our up and coming flock are having health issues.  They have been put in a new room where no other birds have been before so they are not contracting it from exposure at this point.  They may have caught something from the smaller pen they were housed in but talking to the processor today she said they have to start out with something wrong sometimes as they sometimes die at 3 days old.  This we knew but since we have had problems with losing birds to the previous mentioned parasite in the past we assume this is what has hit these birds.  We have lost 3 new chicks so far.  What really bothers me is that we have to medicate!  But, as the organic activist said on Market Place, medicate when necessary.  And, this is necessary or we will lose the remaining 37 chicks.  We do not intend to feed medicated feed until they are butchered.  We will get this illness cured and then return to non medicated feed and garden veggies.  I am freezing tomatoes to feed them when they get bigger, they will have squash and pumpkin and maybe cucumber if they grow quickly enough.

We were told a trick by the lady that runs the farm where we had the birds processed.  Feed them food grade D.E. from chick to processing.  It's natural, not a medication, it coats their gut and helps prevent/ward off many parasites and illnesses.  So, for this flock we can add a container of food grade D.E. to the cost of raising them!  Sad we didn't know sooner, may have saved a few of our chicks.

'til next time!

Garden is still growing!...

We have been eating tomato sandwiches for breakfast at our house!  Home made fresh salsa is also a favourite.  I wish I could put my garden in a huge bubble and protect it from the winter so I can enjoy it all year long!  I love the temperature this time of year but it makes me sad to know my garden goodies will soon be destroyed by frost.  

This is my little "fall garden patch".  I have spinach, kale, yellow beans and leaf lettuce planted here.  Our plan is to put up a little shelter to protect it from the frost so I can hopefully enjoy fresh garden greens well into the fall.

Look at all the RED tomatoes.  This has been a fantastic year for ripening tomatoes.  I am so selfish when I say I am grateful the latest hurricane passed us by and spared my garden bounty!

Yes, those are the "tomato trees" in the background.  They are still growing!

Nothing beats a fresh garden tomato.  Such a wonderful summer treat!

'til next time!

Good Intentions....

This time we have struggled with the decision as to whether or not we should feed our meat chicks medicated starter feed at all.  With much thought, and after watching a program on the medications fed to commercial poultry, we decided to take the chance and feed plain feed without the medications.  We have had problems with Coccidiosis in the past with our layer chickens but we didn't think we were taking that big a risk.....well, turns out we were wrong!  We now know that since this parasite is in our soil we need to feed the proper amount of medicated feed for the proper period of time to get the chicks to a stronger stage where they can survive any exposure.  Our desire to feed no medications to the birds has so far resulted in the loss of one chick and several others are sick.  We have been in contact with a bird vet in the valley and he is going to get us the proper mediations to treat the sick birds hopefully before they die.  SO, our desire to feed no medicated feed which would be prevention has now resulted in us needing to give the medications to hopefully cure the illness outbreak!  sigh.....

The vet recommended we feed medicated feed right up until processing.  This is not what our plan is ever going to be.  We would be raising nothing different than what we purchase in the store.  We will fight this outbreak and cure the remaining birds, they will get strong again and will be fed garden veggies and non medicated foods like our other birds.

The problem with getting birds this time of the year is the cool weather.  When the chicks get a chill they are prone to illness.  We thought the cool weather would be a positive thing, sadly it's not.  If we get more birds next year this time of year we will need more heat lamps.

Sadly, it's a learning experience and lives are sometimes lost due to that learning as we go process.

'til next time!

Another has died :(  found it when I went to check on them this evening.  I think we're in trouble......we don't get the medicine until Thursday.  :(

The Long and Winding Road.....

Yesterday we took our May 23rd meat birds to the processor.  My plan was to take our son to his grandparents next door so he wasn't witness to us stuffing them into the crates (pardon the term but that's exactly what it was like in my eyes....)  He did not want to go to his grandparents, as usual he wanted to help Mommy and Daddy.  He was a bit curious as to what we were doing but not distraught in any way, thank goodness!

The 1 1/2 hr trip turned into a 2 hr as we made a few wrong turns.  Thank goodness the rains from the impending hurricane held off.  That was a big concern, we didn't want the birds to get drenched and catch a chill.

We had a tour of the processing facility.  Extremely clean and sanitary, which makes me very happy!  I need my food to be clean clean clean!!!!  And, they will cut the chickens up for me!!!  Yay!  So, 14 are roasters, 10 are going to be cut ups!

Roast Chicken with Sage and Apple Stuffing On Thursday!!!!  Yipee!!!

'til next time!

Murphy's Law....

So we phoned several chicken processors last week until we finally found one who could "squeeze us in".  She was very kind to do so.  Of course, last night our phone rings and it's the "local butcher".  We were then faced with the "what to do" dilemma, do we take them to Bridgewater or do we wait and take them to the Valley.  Even though Bridgewater is much closer, we have decided to wait and take them to the Valley.  This kind person helped us out in a pinch, we could not disrespect that by cancelling.  The only problem is, we have two birds "off their feet".  They are way over due for processing.  So, those two are losing weight as they cannot reach the food and water.  To keep them alive and keep them from losing too much weight I have been taking food and water to them.  It's sad to see them in such a state.  They are soon going to be 4 months old which is quite old for a meat chicken.  The ones who spend a lot of time outside seem to be doing the best, some hardly have any walking issues at all.  I do not like to see them struggling.

'til next time...

From day one, we are taught to share.....

Today we picked up a "tote" of chicken grower.  It weighed 503kg!  Yes, that is a lot of chicken food.  And, it cost us $285.00.  Yes, that is a lot of money!  Our entire day today was spent working on the chicken barn, going to the feed store and bagging the 503kg of feed into smaller manageable bags.  When I say the work is endless, the work really is endless!

Which is one reason I am very torn as to whether or not we should "share" our home grown meat birds.  Not only is it a ton of work, it costs a lot of money to raise these birds. I am struggling with the guilt of not making others happy.  From day one we are taught to share....to give up your favourite toy no matter how much it hurts to see someone smashing it into the wall....that's sort of where I am at right now.  Knowing others would like some of our chickens has me torn, am I being greedy not sharing? 

My husband is worse than I am for wanting to give, give, give.  When we started this little farm I laid down the law "what we raise is for ourselves, for our freezer, we are not feeding the nation".  When someone asks him to "share" he can't say "no".  So, it's a debate right now in our household.  He never stocks our freezer, he doesn't buy the groceries so he doesn't know the amount of chicken we actually consume in a year.  Last year we had 10 birds, they were gone in a few months and they were left as roasting chickens.  I was actually purchasing chicken pieces from the grocery store on top of the roasters we raised ourselves.  And I would grab the meat we grew ourselves more often because I know it is the safest food in our freezer.  He is looking ahead at the 40 chicks we have growing now. 

My point is, you cannot count the meat birds before they're in the freezer!  God forbid, something might happen.  Even now with our 24 grown birds we could have an animal attack and lose the flock (praying that does not happen!).  We have struggled to find a processor, we finally found someone in the Valley and begged them to squeeze us in.  The amount of work and money we have put into building our barn this year to nicely house these birds, the beautiful run, the garden veggies they enjoy daily, the daily feed and water, trucking them to processing, driving back to the valley to pick up the packaged product.....the work only ends when they hit the freezer.  I feel we should be reaping the rewards of our hard work and keeping the birds for ourselves.  Deep down, that is how I really feel.  I don't want to sell a single bird.

So, dear reader, this is the struggle on the farm today, whether to share our beautiful, garden fed chickens or not......I hope you don't think harshly of me for wanting to keep every single one for my own family to enjoy.  It is the purpose of our farm, to raise healthier food for our own family......

'til next time.

The many hats we wear.....

My husband and I both have jobs outside the home, have a toddler, 2 small home based businesses AND our little farm (please understand, we are overworked and exhausted most of the time but we are not rich as far as money is concerned!).  Needless to say, we wear many hats!  I recently spent a whole day sorting orders for my spice business.  I enjoy the spice business, it's a little thing I do just for me.  I love to see the unique blends the company creates.  Every season there's something new and exciting.  We raise as much of our own food as possible and I want to season that food with a seasoning I trust.  Something that is not filled with MSG and other fillers we can't pronounce.  And the fact that it's a Canadian Company and is only sold in Canada is an added bonus.  I am happy to say, I am proud to sell this product.  :)

Normally, the orders aren't so large that they take me a day to sort and repack!  This was an awesome order, so much fun.  It's just like Christmas, waiting for that order to arrive.

Sometimes I wonder if we're too busy, are we taking enough time to "stop and smell the roses?".  Then I realize, we need to keep busy.  If we weren't doing what we are doing, what would we be doing?  Our son learns from what we do as well.  We always have wonder and doubt, no matter what we do.  If I were a couch potato and did nothing all day, I would probably wonder if I should be doing something other than watching TV haha!  So, we continue on.  Working away and making sure we squeeze in some much needed and much deserved family time.  Sometimes that family time involves building a new "barn" to house the meat chickens or a long drive through the valley with fishing lures, but it's still time spent together.

'til next time!

Live to grow another day.......

Our meat chickens from May 23rd still have not been processed.  We have had our name on a local butchers list for over a month.  He had a family tragedy and apparently is not doing any butchering.  We have made several phone calls but have been told every time "he's making calls tonight, he might call you".  So, that's life.....we have since made some phone calls and found a licensed processing facility in the Valley area.  It's going to be a long drive for our birds but they need to be done asap.  September 12th is the day they meet their fate.  Until then they will continue to enjoy fresh air, sunshine and lots of garden veggies/greens.