Month: October 2018

Double-sided

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Most of the kittens are pretty easy to describe.  We’ve got the tuxedo, Doom Guy.  The grey tabby, Corvo.  Two orange tabbies, Jim and Bob.

Then there are the calicos.  Or are they torties?  Or something else entirely?

It doesn’t help that one of them is double-sided.

Here is Rosencrantz (or Guildenstern), side A.

20181021.kitten,sideA This is side B.  20181021.kitten,sideB

It’s like two different cats!  When I see her (him?) from this side, I sometimes mistake her for Corvo, until I see the bits of orange.

Today has turned out to be remarkably warm – 13C!  Well above the predicted high.

Time to go outside and enjoy it. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Gotta be careful!

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Seeing our furry visitors, it reminded me that, when I was out in the yard earlier in the day, I had noticed the cat kibble was almost gone.  So I decided to top it up for the night.

We keep the kibble in the Old Kitchen now, so those were the doors I went through.  The kittens were on the swing bench – 6 of them!  They seemed to know I had food with me, which made their responses to me rather funny.  There’s Doom Guy, who comes right up to me.  The cautious ones, like Jim and Bob, sortof hang around, but are still not comfortable with me coming close, even with a bowl of food.  Then there are the super shy ones, who are clearly torn between wanting the food they can see I have, and wanting to run away from me, at the same time!

As I went for the outer doors, however, they all dashed ahead of me and started for the bowls outside.

Just to be cautious, I looked around, and sure enough, there was our Pepe Le Pew, hanging out by the steps of the clothes line platform.  Making himself look big at me!

So I put the food out for the cats, then got some video.

Just so you know, I am NOT really that close to him.  This is zoomed in a bit.

Getting back through the sun room took a little more time than usual. ;-)

The Re-Farmer

Furry visitors

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I got called over to check out the skunk, from the living room window.

2018-10-20.skunk When I got to the camera, I could tell something had his attention.

Oh, that’s what it was…

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Checking each other out!

Then I saw the other one…

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And my husband kindly shut off the TV so the camera could focus beyond the reflection. :-D

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The skunk continued around the back of the house, closely watched by the deer.  The deer hung out under the crab apple tree until something else startled them.

So beautiful.

The Re-Farmer

Warm

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While checking around the yard, to see if any other branches came down during the gusts of high winds we had yesterday, I came to the remains of our straw bale.

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Beep Beep and her boy, taking advantage of something warmer than the ground! :-D

Smart kitties.

The Re-Farmer

Small Batch Grape Jelly

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During the summer, as my mother’s grapes ripened, I gathered them and froze them.  I didn’t even bag them; just put them in bowls and stuck them in the freezer.

We’ve been nibbling on them, little by little, ever since. ;-)

I had originally planned to put them through the juicer, but for the amount we had, it just didn’t seem worth the effort.  So I went back to something I wanted to try, earlier.

Making jelly.

20181019.grape.jelly.spoon This is a new thing for me – we made jam, when I was growing up, never jelly.  I got the recipes and instructions from my copy of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (affiliate link).  It’s a great book for small batch canning, with recipes that are easily modified for quantity. I’m rather pleased with how it turned out!

The frozen grapes made for 5 cups.  The first thing I had to do was extract the juice. For this you need a large, stainless steel saucepan (you need room for the boiling liquid to expand), a jelly bag or a colander or sieve lined with layers of cheese cloth, a deep bowl, and a way to hang the bag over it.

Grape Juice for jelly

  1. Wash and drain the stem-less grapes.  Place into saucepan with just enough water to prevent scorching – about 1/4-1/2 cup for every 4 cups of grapes.  (For my 5 cups of frozen grapes, they were already washed, so I gave them a rinse, left them to thaw in my saucepan, then used about 1/2 cup of water.)
  2. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat, cover loosely and boil gently.  Stir often, crushing the grapes if needed (my frozen grapes split in the freezer, so it wasn’t really needed), until just softened – about 5-10 minutes.
  3. Transfer into a dampened jelly bag or cheesecloth lined colander, over a deep bowl.  Hang and allow to drip for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

 

That’s it! I used a large measuring cup as my bowl, and let it hang overnight.  The 5 cups of frozen grapes yielded just under 2 cups of juice.  I then put the pulp outside for the birds. :-) To make the jelly, you’ll need a stainless steel saucepan – this will bubble up a lot, so have one big enough to give it plenty of room – sterilized jars, rings and lids, a spoon to stir with, plus a cold spoon to do the gel test*, and a canning funnel. 20181019.grape.jelly.jars

Grape Jelly (based on Old-Fashioned Jellies, pg. 120, in the cookbook)

2 cups juice
1 1/2 cups sugar

(ratio of 3 cups sugar to 4 cups juice)

  1. Combine juice and sugar in a large, stainless steel saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Keep at a hard boil, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to sheet from a metal spoon*, about 25 minutes.  Remove from heat and test gel*.  If gel stage has been reached, skim off foam.
  2. Quickly pour hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar and screw on ring until finger-tip tight.

After this, you could can them, as per your canner’s instructions.  I don’t have a canner, but the 2 cups of juice made barely 1 1/2 pints of jelly, which were left to cool overnight.  They will be kept refrigerated, instead.

* Sheet test for gel

Dip a cold metal spoon into the boiling soft spread.  Lift the spoon and hold it horizontally, edge down, and watch how the mixture drops.  When the mixture reaches the gel stage, it will begin to “sheet”, with the jelly breaking off the spoon in a sheet or flake, rather than pouring or dripping.

20181019.grape.jelly.leaf.bowl

We taste tested the jelly this morning.

Now, this is where I admit, I don’t actually like jams or jellies.  I find them too sweet, and the texture off-putting.

I love this jelly!  Using our own grapes, this jelly has a sweet-tart flavor that is just awesome.  It also gelled really well.

Obviously, the flavor will always depend on the type of grapes used, but using grapes that had been frozen first would have changed the flavor was well.

I am hoping that, next year, I’ll be able to free up our grape vine from the spirea it’s surrounded by, and be able to trellis it, for increased productivity.

Over the years, I plan to get more, and different varieties, that can grow in our climate.

Next year, I invest in canning equipment. :-D

The Re-Farmer

Not sure how to fix this…

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While out and about this morning, the kittens were out in full force.  Including Doom Guy, who can’t seem to figure out that, if he wants me to pick him up, he has to be in FRONT of me, not behind…

20181019.climbing

I’m going to have little puncture marks, all up the back of my legs, thanks to him. :-D

Yesterday, I was able to clean up the platform to the clothes line.  The line itself needs a bit of maintenance before we can use it.  A bit more, if we want to set up three lines again, instead of the one that’s left now.

20181019.platform

Whoever rebuilt this platform did a good job of it.

The original platform doubled as a dog house.  On the side, where the mock orange is growing now, there was an opening, and we kept it filled with straw for the dogs.  I even remember being able to crawl into it, myself, for some canine snuggles!

The cats can squeeze under the stairs.  At least, the smaller ones, can.  I don’t think Rolando Moon could fit through there.  Nor the skunk.

Of the stuff that was on the platform, I’ve only kept the bin, as a potential shelter for the cats in the winter, and a piece of eaves trough that I am wanting to re-purpose, but doens’t fit anywhere else right now.

I noticed, however, that there is stuff underneath, so I used my phone’s camera to see what it is.

20181019.platform.under

???

Why is any of that, there?

Who thought it was a good idea to shove it under there?

The only way for any of this to be there is by pushing it through the opening under the step.

How am I supposed to clean that up?

The Re-Farmer

Productive

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What a gorgeous day we had today!  We actually hit 19C!

I don’t expect we’ll hit above 10C again, for the rest of the year.  It’d be nice, but I’m not going to count on it!

Which meant a final run around the yard.  I took out the string of lights that wasn’t working, then hauled away a few more loads of pruned and cleaned up branches from the spruce grove; what hasn’t been cleaned up are in piles that can stay the winter.  Mostly, I wanted access to the larger, less noisy, wheelbarrow!  The straw around the old dog house I prepped for the cats to use over the winter had settled, so I added three more wheelbarrows of straw around the outside.  I also finally cleaned up the platform for the clothes line.  Some of what was on there went to the junk pile – we won’t be able to get that hauled away this year, unfortunately.  There was a plastic bin under the bench seat on the platform that had some plant pots in it, sitting in half frozen rain water.  The pots went into the shelf we’ve left by the sun room – that thing has been too handy to haul away.  The bin itself was put back under the bench, but on its side, so it won’t collect water.  Bricks that had been lying around went inside it, to ensure it doesn’t get blown away.  One more little shelter from the weather for the cats, though they also go under the platform itself.

The tools and equipment have been put way, but into the sun room, not the garden shed.  That shed will need to be hauled away with the junk, after we clear it out of whatever is not broken in there.  I’ve put the garden hoses in there, but I hope to replace those next summer.

It looks like getting the trees done will have to wait until the spring, after all.  The pump for our well has been making some strange noises when it first turns on, but I’ve never been able to get to it to record it, before the noise stops.  We’ve been listening for it, as it doesn’t happen every time the pump turns on, and it seems to make the noise only after the pump has not had to turn on for several hours.  So, mostly, when the first shower of the day is started.  Before contacting the plumber I emailed my older brother about it.  From the description, he says it sounds like the foot valve is letting water slowly leak down.  If it has long enough time to leak, when it turns on again, it will make the grumbling noises we’ve been hearing, as it tries to prime itself.

If that’s what it is, it’s a job for the plumber, because fixing it would require taking the pipe out of the manhole outside.

I’ve asked the girls to let me know before the first one of them showers tomorrow morning, so I can go downstairs and start recording when the water is started, and hopefully catch the pump making the noise when it turns on.  Then I can call the plumber, play it for him, and it will give him an idea of what it is.

This is one of those things we can’t take a chance on.  If the pump goes, we have no water.  Better to have it fixed now, before winter gets here!  I’m just hoping we can pay for that, and still be able to get me to a dentist. :-(

Renting a wood chipper this fall is also out the window.

*sigh*

20181018.lights.fixedOnce it was dark enough, I went out to check the lights again.  One string shorter, but all are working!

I’m really happy with how the whole fence line is looking.  After I took the broken string of lights down, I took the time to cut away the small underbrush I’d left behind, since I was focusing on getting the fence itself clear of the big stuff.  There was enough of it to be in the way while walking back and forth, with the lights.

That done, I spent some time walking around, just enjoying the warm and peaceful night in the yard.  Gosh, it is so nice!  I really missed this, when living in the city.  You can actually see the stars, and it’s so quiet.  Even when being chased down and having my calves tackled by a Doom Guy. :-D

I played around with the “pro” settings on my phone to try and get some photos.  Here’s one of them.

20181018.night.yard

You can actually see a star next to that moon!  I’ve resized the image, and some of the detail is lost. The lights on the bottom right are the solar lights I’ve got on each side of the vehicle gate into the yard, and you can see the moon reflecting on the metal roof of the garage.

Anyhow.  As for as outside the house goes, we’re ready for winter.

It’s been a good and productive day!

The Re-Farmer

Standoff!

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While working in my office this morning, our Mama cat started getting all agitated, and going up to the window.  That’s when I realized I was hearing a low growling noise from outside.

This is what we saw.

20181018.standoff

It’s a dad-cat standoff!

No wonder our Mama wasn’t happy!

20181018.dadcat.blackandwhite

I’ve never seen this cat before, though I think the girls have.

20181018.dadcat.grey

This is the one that showed up in the sun room, one day. :-D

It should be interesting to see how things pan out with these two, over the winter!

The Re-Farmer