sunday is cooking day

sunday's are my day to play catch up in the kitchen. i like to cook for the week on sundays when i can. many times what i prepare only lasts for a day or two and not a week, like a dessert or roast, but at least there is something in the frig for us to grab in a hurry when we are hungry. i've already made eggs salad, pudding and cookies. i plan to make a big pot of leek and potato soup this afternoon. i should can sweet potatoes and more yukon gold potatoes from our garden today. the last of the pears are dangling off the tree, waiting for us to gather them. i'm planning on making more pear butter this week too since it was so yummy and i need more christmas gifts.

i'm off to get something done here today. after my road trip to rome, georgia on friday, i'm finally back on schedule and ready to get something done.

get ready for the MMMEEEAAATTTT!!!

yes, it's almost time to start our winter meat csa. we are very excited about it. the first beef and the chickens are in the freezers. man do they look great! two hogs go in for processing Monday morning. the first two lambs go in mid-November. i'll be both sad and happy to see the lambs and the pigs go. the lambs are cute and fuzzy. but they are starting to be obnious. the pigs have been obnioius for 2 months now, but lulu the lipstick pig has been my friend. shep our sheep dog loves the pigs. actually he's now a pig dog. he accidentally got himself locked up in the pig pen the other night for about 6 hours. he wasn't any worse for the wear and i bet he really didn't mind.

although i have butched lambs before, i'm glad we aren't doing large animal butchering at this time. the hardest part is loading the animals and getting them to the processor. our primary processor is in cardington, just 5 miles away. it's nice and easy with the lambs.

i made more noodles today for saturday's share drop. hope you enjoy!

still canning...

i'm still busy canning and putting up food for the winter. yes, i'm a squirrel. over the past few weeks i canned up tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, beef soup stock, chickens and chicken stock. i made noodles yesterday. i took some frozen spinach from our garden, pureed it and made spinach noodles, along with thick egg noodles and tomato noodles too. i've still got sweet potatoes to can. moles have taken bites out of several sweet potatoes, and i hate feeding them to the pigs, so i'm cutting out the bad spots and canning the rest for us. farming organic can be troublesome at times.

the frost sunday morning took all the rest of our fair weather crops. we still have some lettuces and spinach left in the garden. now the chickens and pigs get all the frosted left overs. they just love the produce! just because there was a frost doesn't mean we are done with the gardens. we need to plant a cover crop on the garden, this year it's ryegrass. cameron is planting garlic this week. we are adding a soft neck garlic this fall for harvest next year. i love those garlic braids and want to do some up for our csa.