What I've Been Up To

Seems like this week has been a flurry of activity,

and, gosh, it's only Wednesday.

The bear trap has left us...

the game warden came and picked it up yesterday.

No bear.

Just a silly old coon and a nasty looking 'possum...both of whom

probably still have sick bellies from all those sweets!

So, for now we will try peaceful co-existence with Yogi...

bringing in the bird feeders every night

and keeping a watchful eye on our pups after dark.

The blueberry bushes are loaded with ripe berries.

Yum, our favorite fruit....blueberries.

These are the 100 bushes (freshly mulched by me) we planted four years ago.

This will be our very first year for a large harvest from these bushes.

Each row is a different variety, with a different ripening time.

From left to right is from early to later ripening.

Oh, and by the way, this lovely job of mulching around the bushes,

will be all for nothing in a couple of weeks, as our chickens love to 

scratch in the mulch and send it scattering.

We've been picking daily and will soon have enough for a big batch 

of blueberry lime jam.

Not to mention some fresh baked blueberry buckle.

(I'll post a picture and recipe when I bake it.)

Here is last evening's pick....

picked under threatening skies with thunder rumbling in the distance.

We could use a little rainstorm to help with the watering.

Of course, no chore is ever done without a bit of company.

And nearby....TomTom, who, by the way, recovered from his

polyp removal quite well.

He is breathing easier now and spending his days hunting.

I may have shown you our basement larder some time back.

Here we keep a couple of large freezers filled with local grass fed beef,

and frozen produce from the garden.

Yesterday I picked up 30 large chickens from a local Amish farmer

who raises pastured poultry.

Each year he takes orders and then when the chickens are ready,

butchers them.

With my truck full of coolers of ice, I picked up our 30 birds 

and brought them home to pack and freeze.

Two hours later, our freezer looksed like this...

By the end of the summer we will have the rest of the year's worth of food

stowed away.

With that much in the freezer,

it's good to have a back up, propane-run generator in case the electricity goes out.

(Which is does quite often, living in the country!)

I received a question about the terrain in central PA.

This is the view over our pastures....

rolling hills everywhere.

We have mountains, but none of them are very high...

mostly just rolling hills and valleys with more rolling hills.

We are very lucky to live in a lushly green area,

populated with small farms.

When I talk of our "neighborhood",

well.... this is it.

I wouldn't trade this for any other place in the world!