It is a foggy morning this morning. I've been keeping myself busy with supply teaching here and there and the ongoing garden produce. Unfortunately, the little germ factories passed on the "scourge" to me with a sore throat and such. It was inevitable.
This is still my world:
The Roma tomatoes have already been canned, but the other "regular" tomatoes remain in my kitchen, on my window sills, etc. Today I am going to tackle many of them and I am DONE with actual canning. I think I will just skin them, squish out the seeds and ziplock bag them for the freezer (even though I still have some from last year!). It was a good year for tomatoes, which makes me happy.
I did one last round of pickled beets yesterday, making only three little half pint jars. For the first time ever, I made pickled jalapeno peppers. I had such an amazing crop of them from just one plant.
Here they are in all their glory, prior to the pickling process. I wore gloves to cut them up. Son is very pleased. I didn't think to take pictures of the finished jars, but this made four half pint jars.
I am continuing with my elimination diet (specifically low fodmap) and have successfully reintroduced wheat. Today begins dairy.
On a different note, I seem to have a broody hen. She is one of the lavender orpingtons. I've always just referred to her as "little comb", for good reasons. Poor thing has lost her tiny chicken mind, staying put in a nesting box, fluffing herself up and trilling every time I go near. She's not even laying (I don't know if that is part of being broody, but seems counter intuitive to me). She can sit there forever, but nothing is going to happen, as I don't have a rooster. I've been trying to gently break her of her broodiness, as I think it is hard on a hen to limit her food and water and not even end up hatching anything out, by lifting her off her nesting box and putting her out in the run a few times a day. Yes, again, I realize I have codependency issues.
Silly bird.
We have had some excitement in our lives recently. This isn't unexpected, but nice that it is official:
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Our eldest is now engaged! No wedding date is set yet but we are very happy for both of them! I will be a mother-in-law in the months to come and have a married child (she's 27, not exactly a child...). It's humbling.
Congratulations to your daughter and her fiance! Maybe not a child, but always a one in your heart.
ReplyDeleteWow, your jalapeno did very well, as did your tomatoes. Enjoy your canning day. As for the chicken, I have no experience with the birds. Good luck.
Thank you. I may just have to let the chicken run her course. I've heard they will sit for about 21 days!! Yikes.
DeleteFamily congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI have tomato envy! My Roma tomatoes have eventually started to ripen, but the crop is pitiful. Not enough insects around, wrong weather at the right time...even the paintbrush didn't help!!
If you were a neighbour, I'd come over with a basket!
DeleteThat's anothr milestone - congratulations to the happy couple.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Yes, they are indeed a happy couple - well suited to each other.
DeleteHappy news.It is what we all need.Congratulations from me.
ReplyDeleteBarbarax
It is some good news we need!
DeleteCongrats to the happy couple!
ReplyDeleteI’ll pass it along!
DeleteWould any of your friends or neighbours have fertile eggs she could nurture?
ReplyDeleteOh I don’t want chicks. I don’t have the right space for them and I have enough hens now.
DeleteGorgeous ring and what a pretty hand! Congratulations to the happy couple and commiserations to the poor broody hen!
ReplyDeleteHa, I always tell her she should be a hand model! She doesn't get those delicate fingers from me.
DeleteWishing every happiness to your daughter on her engagement. Wedding planning will be good fun for you both. Your harvest is amazing and the tomatoes and hot peppers did extremely well.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what kind of wedding they are thinking of. No date is set as of yet. We shall see!
DeleteCongratulations on the engagement! So exciting. And I'm so sorry you've been sick. No fun. And then there are those tomatoes! What can I say except WOW.
ReplyDeleteI've never had much luck breaking a broody, but maybe you'll do better. They can certainly be stubborn about it.
Despite taking her off the nest throughout the day, she is still steadfast in her quest.
DeleteGood for your garden and your canning ability and for your daughter and her husband to be.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joanne!
DeleteCongratulations. Great news for your family
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you!
DeleteWell done re the wedding plans, all of you :)
ReplyDeleteI know not every person wants to marry, so I didn't push at all when our sons were younger. But I was soooooo thrilled when they announced their engagements :) And I was even thrilleder (sic) when they announced their first pregnancies.
Well, these two have been going out for TEN years, so we were kind of wondering... so it was lovely when they announced it. No grand children yet.
DeleteCongrats on your daughter's engagement and on your produce. One of my seramas is what I call a serial broody. Most of my girls are not too committed and lifting them out regularly is enough for them to give up but not Sugar. She lays six to eight eggs then goes broody and is determined. I have tried leaving her to see how long she would go but after a month I broke her out of it and now always break her. I put her in a dog crate in the shed which has a perch in it. Leave her food and water and put her back in the run a couple of times a day for exercise and dust bathing. I put her on the perch in the crate at dusk and it takes two nights, occasionally three for her to come out of it. Two weeks later she starts laying again and six eggs later the process starts over. She is the most broody girl I have ever had. It's no worse being in the crate than a nest box and it's better than sitting for a month or maybe longer. Hope that's helpful.
ReplyDeleteI do have a crate I could put her in, but it feels like I’m putting her in chicken jail. This is unusual for me, I’ve only ever had one hen ( many many years ago) go broody, but we had a rooster then. Not a single egg hatched!
DeleteOn the chicken forums and my blog comments we actually refer to it as chicken jail. It feels harsh but I always tell myself it's no different to her sitting in a nest box all day and it takes two to three days whereas she would continue to sit for a month or maybe more. If no other girls are laying I leave her in the run and close the nest boxes and she will just sit in the run or near a nest box. Although it takes three weeks to hatch an egg some committed girls like my Sugar will continue to sit for a lot longer because nothing has hatched. Having her in the crate at night is the most important bit as she won't perch in the chicken shed and even if I perch her she will just keep dropping down to the floor. Sorry for the long comments but I have dealing with Sugar for years.
DeleteLots of envy from here in your ability to grow (and ripen!) all those luscious tomatoes. Enjoy, as I know you will. Congratulations to your daughter and her intended. Lovely ring. I know you'll be one of the "good" mother-in-laws. (Doesn't always happen :o\) Oh, and then perhaps to think of being a GRANDMOTHER some day. What a joy that will be!
ReplyDeleteThanks, we have a great relationship with our soon-son-in-law already. No grandchildren yet!
DeleteCongratulations on the engagement. That will be such fun to look anticipate. And I feel for your broody hen. Poor thing. She wants to be a mom? I don't know much about hens! But it's sad. Seeing your tomatoes and hearing they freeze intrigues me. That really works? They don't taste weird after? Just skin them, squeeze out the seeds and freeze the "meat" in bags? I bought a half-bushel this year and got 4 bags of sauce made but I still have a lot left and haven't felt all that inclined to get back into the sauce biz again. So, I've been using them one by one but they're beginning to get a little soft and I need to do something and soon. So, that works?
ReplyDeleteYour comment went to spam! Silly! These are tomatoes that would go into chili or soup or some other multi- flavoured sort of concoction. They seem fine!
DeleteCongratulations to your daughter and soon to be son-in-law.
ReplyDeletePickled jalapenos are very tasty.
God bless.
ho ho ho never mind the red nails I want those toms !
ReplyDeleteLovely looking tomatoes, and the peppers are so very green. Christmas colours in September! Congratulations to the happy couple. They grow up so fast.
ReplyDelete