I Must Be Turning Into An Old Softie!

In addition to the Lemon Queen Sunflowers I planted in the garden, I planted another flat of flowers that we planted just outside the garden on either side of the bridge leading into the vegetable garden.  I got some assorted Zinnia seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Company.  I had seen zinnias bordering a vegetable garden in South Lake Charles when I used to commute that way and figured I'd do the same this year.

About a week ago we planted the seeds into some seed starting mix on the back patio.  The warm weather made the little plants leap from the soil.  They've really grown quickly and are actually kind of "leggy" as they stretch out to meet the sunshine.  There is a solitary Genovese Basil seedling in there as well that we'll transplant into a terra cotta pot and leave on the back patio for convenient access to the kitchen.

Zinnias & Basil

Father's Day proved to be a beautiful day.  After lunch and relaxing coffee and chocolate time, I asked if Tricia, Russ & Benjamin would come help me plant the zinnias.  I had a perfect spot for them picked out.  We have a spot between the house and the garden gate and pasture gate that Tricia calls "The Grove."  It is a shady area under the pecan tree and water oak trees that provide shelter from the sun to Big Boy as he digs his numerous holes.  The trampoline is in that area as well and it has provided hours of fun for our kids and the neighbor's kids.

I lined the low spot or swale with cinder blocks to keep the soil from eroding away in rains that is loosened from Big Boy's incessant digging.  While the cinder blocks has proven to be successful in stopping erosion, I always cringe when walking by as I think that it is an accident waiting to happen.  Someone could step into the holes of the cinder blocks and break an ankle.  Then a synapse fired in my brain and a light bulb went off.  Why not fill in the holes with potting soil and plant the zinnias right in there?  So that's what we did.

Flower Power

We planted zinnias in about half of the holes before we ran out of plants.  From what I read, it is very easy to save zinnia seeds, so if we are successful, I'll save a bunch of seeds and we'll have more than enough to fill all the holes next year.  This year we'll plant in 12 of the holes on either side of the bridges.

Benjamin & Russ helping out their old Dad

In addition to the ease of saving seeds, zinnias are mighty colorful, drought tolerant and heat tolerant since they thrive in the southwest, and they are low maintenance.  That's a good thing.  We'll see if zinnias can change my old rule that I only plant things that you can eat.  ETA: I just Googled and found that zinnia flowers are indeed edible and are most often eaten in salads or in tacos.  Gotta check this out.  I'll post an update when they bloom and when we feast on the flowers...

More Things To Do With a Bumper Crop of Tomatoes

The 2018 crop of heirloom tomatoes are still coming in.  Numerous varieties.  Some big and fat.  Some little. Some deep, blood-red, some yellow, some orange and some almost black.  I have fun growing them.  Lately, however, when I bring yet another bucket full into the house, Tricia almost groans.

We've canned forty-something pints of diced tomatoes and about the same amount of tomato sauce. 

Tricia makes an Italian tomato salad that she likes and we've made numerous batches of pico de gallo.

Today we'll be drying some tomatoes in the food dehydrator.  It is a simple thing to do.  You simply core out the tomatoes and cut them into quarters and align them on the dehydrator trays.  I pack them in pretty tight.  They will shrink up.

You want to get them close together to make the most of the space that you have.

I'll liberally shake kosher salt over the tomatoes and then I went outside and picked a whole bunch of rosemary.  I skinned the needles off of the rosemary and sprinkled lots of it on top of the cut up tomatoes.

Once I have all the trays prepared and ready, it is time to get them dehydrating.

It takes only about a day for the tomatoes to be dried.  All of the water has been removed and it leaves behind a concentrated flavor of tomatoes, salt and rosemary that is like candy to eat!

We've made several batches.  Once totally dried, we store in mason jars and zip loc bags and snack on them.  I'm not a big fan of raw tomatoes, but dried tomatoes are quite good.

We have a few jars of dried seasoned, herbed tomatoes put aside and many more on the way!

The smaller tomatoes actually make the best dried tomatoes. 

Father's Day 2018

Friday as I was driving home from work, the talk radio host was playing Father's Day themed songs.  One of the songs that was played was "Daddy's Hands," an older country music song that was written and sung by Holly Dunn and released in 1986.  She wrote it as a tribute to her dad.  Holly Dunn actually passed away in November 2016 from cancer, but her song lives on.

The song made me think about how my Dad always showed me love and provided a stable home and I'm very thankful to God for what a great Dad (and Mom) He's given me.  Farming wasn't an easy occupation and Dad worked hard to provide for us.

The song also made me laugh when it says, "Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I'd done wrong."  I can remember being bad in church one Sunday.  We were in children's choir and were in the choir loft singing the old hymn "Higher Ground."  There is a part in that song where it says, "Lord, plant my feet on higher ground."  My friend and I were pretending to have shovels and "planting" each others' feet on higher ground.  We were cutting up and got carried away with laughter up in the choir loft for everyone to see. 

When we got home from church, I got a good whipping.  I experienced my Dad's hands being hard as steel!  But I learned my lesson and learned how to behave and conduct myself in a respectful manner in church.  Even when I was getting a whipping, there was love in Daddy's hands.  He wanted me to learn right from wrong.

You can click the arrow below to watch the video, and I've also posted the lyrics to the song below:

Happy Father's Day!!
   

Written & Sung by Holly Dunn

I remember daddy's hands folded silently in prayer

And reachin' out to hold me, when I had a nightmare

You could read quite a story in the callous' and lines

Years of work and worry had left their mark behind

I remember daddy's hands how they held my mama tight

And patted my back for something done right

There are things that I'd forgotten that I loved about the man

But I'll always remember the love in daddy's hands

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin'

Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I'd done wrong

Daddy's hands weren't always gentle but I've come to understand

There was always love in daddy's hands

I remember daddy's hands workin' 'til they bled

Sacrificed unselfishly just to keep us all fed

If I could do things over, I'd live my life again

And never take for granted the love in daddy's hands

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin'

Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I'd done wrong

Daddy's hands weren't always gentle but I've come to understand

There was always love in daddy's hands

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin'

Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I'd done wrong

Daddy's hands weren't always gentle but I've come to understand

There was always love in daddy's hands

Putting Up Tomato Sauce

Lots of tomatoes have been coming in.  They fill the island and the refrigerator and they are piling up.  We pick them about a day early and let them finish ripening indoors, but pretty soon we have piles of tomatoes.  What to do?

The fastest way we've found to make a bunch of tomatoes disappear is to make tomato sauce.  We blanch the tomatoes, core them, remove the skins and slice them up.  Then we clean our jars, lids, and rings, leaving in warm water until we're ready to fill them.  We put a tablespoon of lemon juice along with a 1/2 teaspoon full of salt in each jar.

We throw the sliced tomatoes immediately into a pot and allow the chopped tomatoes to reduce.  A lot of the water will evaporate in the form of steam, leaving a flavorful tomato sauce.

We use an immersion blender to chop up any remaining pieces of tomato.  Some people remove the seeds, but we just leave the seeds in the sauce and continue cooking while the sauce continues to reduce and concentrate.

When the tomato sauce gets to the consistency you like, remove it from the burner.  It will be a nice, deep-red color.

Using a canning funnel we fill the jars.

We clean up the rims and then affix the lid and ring to each jar.

In the meantime, we have 3 quarts of water and a tablespoon of vinegar heating up in the pressure canner.  We load the pressure canner up with jars.

We put the lid on and wait until steam starts coming out.  After it has been steaming for 10 minutes, we put the 10 pound pressure regulator on the top of the canner.  When the regulator begins to rock, we time it for 15 minutes.  At the end of 15 minutes, we pull the canner off of the fire and allow its pressure to drop on its own.

We continue to make tomato sauce for use throughout the year.  So far we have several gallons made with more to come.  I'll show you something else cool we do with tomatoes next week.

When It Ends For Aging Hens

We still have a little over 100 hens.  We've had them for quite.  I wish I could remember the first year that we got the first flock.  The kids were younger and very excited when the birds laid the first eggs.  Time marches on.  The kids grow up, the world around us changes and everything, yes even us, ages.

Unlike our meat birds, we never butcher the laying hens.  A laying hen on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm has earned the right to live out her days on the pasture.  Some die due to predators and when we see the signs, we set traps and are very fortunate to have caught and killed the varmint killing our hens.

Some though, die of natural causes - of old age.  On Sunday morning I found this old girl that had kicked the bucket.

I googled the lifespan of a chicken and it says 7-8 years, but I'm positive we have some older than that.  It is next to impossible to determine how old our flock is.  Most every year I purchase 25 laying hens to replace those that died that year due to predators or old age.  This past year I did not do that though. 

At one point I purchased a tool to mark the chicken's feet by piercing a hole through the foot.  I quickly determined that this practice seemed a little cruel.  Mostly, though, it was impractical as I was not going to pick up 100 chickens to determine how old they are. 

So how do you know how old your chickens are?  It is not an exact science, but I have a few things I've learned to look at.  First, an older hen's feathers, feet, and comb are faded.  The bright colors are no more.  Kind of like graying hair in humans, I suppose.  Their egg laying slows down and they don't go out and forage with the other birds like she used to.  Then, where at one time they were perky and full of energy, they slow down.  They don't run at feeding time quite as fast as they used to.  In their last days, they sit around a lot, not moving very much, sometimes not even moving off of her roost.  Many times, the other birds pick at weak birds in the process of dying.  Finally, you find them cold and stiff like I found Old Sally in the photo above.

There's no need to be sad, though.  The hen lived a good life doing things that chickens like to do.  We were good to her.  While alive, she provided us with fresh eggs.  Even in death, she'll keep providing.  We'll bury her in the garden.  This fall I'll plant lettuce right over her and her nutrients will provide fertility in the soil and will grow...  Chicken Salad...  for us. 

Experiment in Drying Beans - Red & Black

Yesterday I posted about sunflowers, but realized at lunch today that I never hit the "publish" button; therefore, there will be two posts today.  This one tells of an experiment in drying beans.  Since today is Monday and traditionally "Red Beans and Rice Day," it is appropriate to start with red beans.  I knew shortly after planting that my red kidney bean harvest was not going to be great.  Only about 60% of the beans germinated - bad seed.  I'll try a different seed next year. 

However, I'm not one to give up easy.  I planted other beans in their place, but still watched the red beans.  The point of making dried beans is to dry them on the stalk.  They will load up with pods, mature, ripen and die.  The pod will turn brown.  You know it is time to pick them when you shake the pods and they rattle.

Dried and ready for picking

When you pop open the pod, big fat red beans reside inside.  They were hard and dry and their appearance confirmed it was time to pick them all.

Dried Red Kidney Beans

I picked a small bucket of the dried red kidney beans and brought them inside to shell them.  I like shelling beans.  There's something about transforming ugly, brown pods into shiny beans that excites me.  I'm weird like that.

Dried bean pods

As a kid I remember my mom buying Camelia Brand Red Kidney beans to make Red Beans & Rice.  They came in a clear cellophane wrapper that showed off the beautiful red beans inside.

When the shelling was complete, I had a small bowl of dried kidneys - about half a pound.  Tricia is going to have to supplement some store bought beans to make a good pot of RB&R.  I'll not save any of these seeds.  We'll eat them.

Red Beans with Criolla Sella Peppers behind them

A second, more successful experiment was with drying black beans - also known as turtle beans.  The germination was 100% and they grew and loaded up with pods.  I picked them when they were dry and we shelled them around the island in the kitchen.  The black, shiny beans were pretty, I think.

I had a big bowl full of dried black beans.  This will be enough to eat as well as save about 100 or so for seed.

For seed and for eating

I put them on the scale and the small patch of beans produced a pound and a half of beans.  Not bad for the little experimental patch I grew.

Tricia will make a nice pot or two of refried black beans - one of our favorite side dishes on taco night, along with sliced jalapenos and limes.  Mmmmm...

Have You Seen the Lemon Queen?

I broke with an age-old tradition that I've maintained for a long, long time.  This year I planted flowers in the garden.  GASP!  I don't dislike flowers.  I rather like them.  It is just that if I am going to grow something, I want to spent the time and energy growing things that we can eat.  Vegetables have beautiful flowers - the flowers of sweet peas and squash come to mind.

In going through my seed inventory this winter, I ran across a packet of Lemon Queen Sunflower Seeds that was included as a Free Item with my Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds order.  The seed was a couple of years old and so I was concerned the germination might not be good.  I figured I would plant it anyway and sowed it so that it bordered the Glass Gem Corn and Butternut Squash.  The Lemon Queen sunflowers grew and grew and grew.  I am not exaggerating when I tell you that some of the plants are 10 feet tall!

Lemon Queen Sunflowers 2018

The flowers keep coming and as you get closer to to them, you can see bees buzzing all around them.  The flowers are branching, meaning that there is not just one main flower on top.  The light yellow color of the lemon queen is a bit different from other sunflowers we've planted.

The light, but bright yellow of the sunflower contrasted against the red barn really stands out.

I must say that I have been a former flower skeptic, but I will likely plant these Lemon Queen Sunflowers again!  I even pulled a few and put them in a vase on the kitchen windowsill for Tricia to enjoy.

The next morning as the morning sun was filtering in the window, the flowers were still holding up well.  It is hard to be sluggish or unhappy looking at that bright yellow flower.

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  - Luke 12:27

Lemon Queen Sunflowers.  Yep, I'd recommend them - even in a vegetable garden...  I will attempt to save some seeds from the flowers.  I'll let you know if the seed saving was successful.