Another busy season on the homestead, Yes spring, summer and fall all have their projects to complete, many times fall is the one that doesn't get completed because by this time you could get snow in almost any amount at any time. We have finished digging our potatoes, our new wood shed is being constructed, we have been making cheese curd as well as butter and our garlic for next year has been planted. The shed may not get roofed, but it will be ready to hold wood soon and we may have to tarp it this year and finish it in the early spring because we have more logs to cut for milling. We have equipment to clean up and put away as well as get what we use in the winter serviced so it can do it's work too. I have been getting used to our band mill, I know, I have had it a couple of years now but this year we have had the need to do a little milling. I admit it is faster than my Alaskan mill an the time saved is nice, no I will not be parting with my Alaskan mill, it is just so handy in the area of being portable.
With the garden harvested it's time to move on to other things, the slaughter will come when the season comes, which again can come at anytime. Once the temperatures stay cool enough we can take care of the pigs, and the cow. The chickens have already been done and we have plenty of fire wood still in the woodlot that is down and waiting to get split, we hope to get to that this coming week once a couple things are done to the shed. Rainy days are spent in the barn getting it ready to house the animals, we have some repair work to do on it and the snow machines need to be pulled out and covered until we have the snow to use them. Small game season as started and maybe a grouse or a few grey squirrels would make a different meal. But with our freezer space going to be full it doesn't make sense to hunt larger game unless we decide to can it, but right now isn't the time to decide if we want to or not.
As Covid continues to dominate the headlines; I wonder if it is being used more as a political tool? What are your thoughts? Please comment if you would, I certainly am not looking for a political debate, I'm just wondering what folks thoughts are. I know many have fled the cities and gone to the country to get away from the virus, of coarse it has doubled land prices and I wonder where it will end up once that bubble bursts and how much will it change the culture of the areas being moved to. I know the influx from the 60's changed the culture here and it certainly wasn't for the better over the long haul. Another thing I see the virus did was to get people on the go with their own gardens as well as canning, Seed companies were running out of seed by April and the surge for canning supplies skyrocketed, jars and lids are still hard to come by and if you do find them they have doubled and tripled in price. It has been told the sales of canning supplies are up 600%, which is a good thing, it means people are canning and putting their own food by. Folks have had more time to be home and decided it was time to take the plunge. Another thing it may have shown folks is that maybe that job that turned out to be so fragile can't be as depended upon as we once thought. (I have said for years no ones job is safe.) To those of you that have taken the plunge and started doing for yourself I say welcome, don't stop when this goes away, and this will go away. Take what you have learned and keep going, teach your children if they are still at home, give them chores, get them off those computer games and teach them how to do it. It would be a wise choice, once things start to go back to normal if you continue what you started it will put you in a better place when the next disruption comes.
As a young boy I can remember my Mother had shelves in the cellar that were filled with jars of fresh beans, beets, carrot and so many other vegetables along with meats, I know when the freezer was full the extra meat was canned. This season we planted the whole garden again, last year we had cut it back, to half because our children have grown and not living at home. So naturally we figured we could do with half the garden but we had children coming home and asking to do their produce shopping in the garden, then they wanted to know if we could spare them milk. They love their whole raw Jersey milk and what's in the store won't do it. We were and are pleased to help them out, we also raised 4 pigs this year, one for sausage, one for our son and one that was supposed to go for a roasting hog for our younger sons wedding. Covid did that pig in so He and his new wife and his in laws get to share a pig. We have also decide that we will save this years heifer and breed her so we can get the extra milk, the idea is to have a cow in milk all the time, and to replace the one we have as she is getting older. We honestly thought once the kids grew up they would be on their own and they wouldn't bother wanting anything here so we could slow it down a little, but a lesson learned in pandemics or other reasons. You never know if or when family must be cared for. The homestead should always be their safe place if need be, a place to come home to in hard times. Or a place they can raid the garden, canning shelves or the freezer if only to help them save a few dollars, Your adult children should always be welcome. Those that have raided the freezer or the garden also came this summer to help out, so it was like the old days as we worked together growing what we eat.
Below are some photos of what we have been up to. We hope you enjoy our posts. Please join our e mail list if you want to be notified when we post.
God Bless.
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