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The risk of pressure canning... Please comment below. Have you ever used one? Weights or gauge? Have you ever had something blow up? Have any great recipes to share? Pros and cons of canning vs. freezing?

Luffas, crushed pepper, seeds

We went to the Walk for the Animals this afternoon and Dia did really well. People and children came up and petted her and she sniffed lots of dogs and she was very well behaved throughout.

*Sidebar: Roger just came in from mowing to report that he saw a chicken catch a mouse and now the flock is out fighting over it. Good chickens!


We're in the process of drying lots and lots of red chili peppers to make crushed pepper. We have about 3 pints of crushed pepper right now. These plants don't stop!



We now have three dried Luffas. We have probably 10 more on the plant still growing. We are also saving the seeds from the Luffas.



We're saving seeds from just about everything. We're packaging them in packs of 20-40 seeds. We'll be selling them hopefully at the Winter Market this winter. We'll also be selling the crushed pepper, the luffas, and dried basil and catnip.



And lastly, we caught an Opossum in the live trap yesterday. Woodchucks aren't terrible because while they dig huge tunnels and endanger the barn's foundation, they don't eat chickens. Opossums eat chickens. We also have noted mice, moles (which Jeza actually caught one and brought it up to the house), rats, and the neighbor says he has spotted a raccoon by the barn. Raccoons are particularly bad news.

We've talked about getting a barn cat. Of course, the first problem with that is that the cat has to somehow know that rats and possums are good to eat and chickens are not. Also, we wouldn't want to get a barn cat unless it was a feral cat. We'd feel guilty leaving a domestic cat outside at night. So where does one get a wild cat? It's something we'll have to look into further. Of course we'll wait until spring.

What to do with tomatoes

What to do with tomatoes... we had a very cool summer here and all of a sudden we had one really hot week and all the green tomatoes that had just been sitting on the vine refusing to ripen all turned at once. I'm talking a hundred tomatoes. Easily. We chopped and froze several quarts, made a dozen jars of salsa, and made chili sauce. Still deluged with tomatoes. So I give you...

Tomato Pizza.
Instead of sauce, we used thinly sliced tomatoes, some basil, and olive oil. Cover with mozzarella and other stuff from garden. Eat with ranch dressing.


Also... Dia at campfire. She's going real camping with us in October. We're going the weekend before Halloween and everyone decorates their campsite. Really decorates their campsite. I'm talking graveyards and blowup ghosts and sound sensor music... the whole nine yards. I think Dia should go as a Hellhound. No costume needed.

Preserving

Onions in stockings, dried tomatoes, dried herbs, and a Dia guarding the path.

Roger makes a path, large produce prizes

Roger has mowed us a path back to the end of the property. He then mowed a large area under a tree and dug a fire pit. We have chairs and tiki torches out there now. It's the best place in all of Indiana to sit, I swear.




We are drying tomatoes from the garden, tiny apples from the neighbor's trees, and chili's to make crushed pepper.



We also have some really large produce! I took pictures of these... a huge pink tomato and chili and jalepeno peppers.

Dia has a friend

So Dia has been packing on some pounds. She's getting rounder. We think she's wandered into 'overweight' zone. We've cut her food back half a cup for two weeks now and haven't been giving her treats. No visible results. Today we discovered why.

While we're at work, she lets herself out of the backyard by opening the gate. She then goes over to our neighbor's house, where she sits with him and he feeds her. She goes back in the backyard before we get home. Apparently, this is a ritual they've had for a long time now.



We have corn! It's really great: fat and sweet. You can eat it raw and it's so good.

We also have a bumper crop of banana peppers. We've responded to this by stuffing them with a cream cheese and hot sausage mix. Goood stuff.

I canned seven cans of pickles today. Two quarts and four pints of lime pickles.

Basil, the farm at night

Rog took some good photos of the farm during the sunset.

We have another intruder in the barn. It has been digging tunnels. We filled in the tunnels, and it redug. We laid chicken wire, and it ATE THROUGH THE WIRE. See pictures. Any hints on what the hell this is would be helpful.

We also trimmed back some of the basil and are in the process of drying it in the dehydrator.