beans, beans, and more beans

Fall green beans.
Doesn't the color combination look nice?
Makes you want to pull out your cookbooks.
Last week's harvest in one setting: 2 1/2 5-gallon buckets!
And the bushes were still loaded!!
If you're not in the mood for green beans, could you be? :)

Eric's Endeavors ~

The cooler weather has really slowed down farm activity. Had to repair and replace a few cutting blades on the BCS sickle bar mower. Even had to buy several tools for that job. We spent the weekend getting ready for the Master Gardener event tonight.

gobble, gobble

Turkeys are much more fun than chickens. Loud, but fun! Anxiously awaiting fresh grass, they just trot right along with the pen. They've actually flown the coop a few times, but are always ready to go back without any trouble. We're starting to see definite turkey characteristics: blue head, snood, and wattle. But who can tell hen from cock? They all look the same right now, so let's hope we start seeing differences soon!!

Remember the eggs we set a few weeks ago? They started hatching Tuesday and we now have 22 chicks running around the brooder pen! The La Fleche are still hanging in there, too.

Lack of rain had us watering the garden several times this month. No more fall crops have been planted yet, either. All the cows take to the shade about 9:30 or 10 in the morning and don't resurface until mid afternoon. They must be part camel because they don't even venture for water.

Apples this week are of an unknown variety, but comparable to a Winesap: crispy & sweet/tart.

Eric's Endeavors ~
The BCS arrived last week. It's so easy to handle and takes very little effort. Using the sickle bar mower, I've been able to mow a walking trail around the entire 80 acres and around the pond.

[click on any photo to enlarge]

ready , set, preserve!

Green beans have started dangling on the plants so we harvested for a few meals. With preservation always on the mind, we though we'd try something we read in a Foxfire book. Pods are simply strung like popcorn for the Christmas tree and left to dry. So, we thought we'd try only one string and see what happens. Securing a button to the starting point, the largest of pods were carefully strung one by one. Another button was secured to the top, and then a loop by which to hang it. This bunch drops about three feet from the ceiling right smack dab over the game table. It may (or may not) be moved later and certainly makes for an interesting conversation starter!

Corn was next. Eric's parents drove up to the farm this weekend bearing gifts of cucumbers and ears of corn from their garden. (Rest assured that ours is on the way!)

Step One: Find a bundt cake pan and place the ear of corn over the hole. Cut the kernels off with a good sharp knife. The pan acts as a catch-pen.

Step Two: Push the shaved ear of corn through the hole in the pan. Give it some muscle and keep pushing until the entire cob has gone all the way through. Some ears are longer than others so you may need to pick up the pan and pull from bottom to get the job done.
Step Three: Divided into one pound portions, we threw ten pounds in the freezer. Throw the cobs in the compost pile. Or, in our case, feed them to the chickens! The Australorp rooster was proudly crowing and strutting through the barnyard with corn kernels scattered all over himself!

Eric's Endeavors ~
Equipment. The rototiller broke down last week causing a delay in planting fall crops. Our equipment is ranging from 10-15 years old and spare parts are now ordered on-line rather than being stocked at the dealerships. Since the rototiller is a critical part in gardening and maintenance of fruit trees & brambles, we are looking at upgrading equipment to insure continued progress year-round. We will maintain the existing rototiller, but upgrade with a new, more-capable piece of equipment. We are looking at purchasing a BCS two-wheel tractor. This equipment is driven by a power take-off [PTO] allowing us to replace several pieces of equipment utilizing one engine.

(click on any photo to enlarge)