Well, we blinked our eyes and summer is coming to an end! This means cooler weather (finally) and the ability to catch up on all those chores we didn’t want to do when it was crazy hot. It also meant my garden was getting ready to harvest and I started putting some preserving techniques to good use. We started by freezing some corn and although we needed to buy a new Vacu-Seal (we got tons of use over 10 years out of our last one) it was pretty easy once I got the hang of it. One decision I did make early on after tons of research was I was going to try freezing without blanching. I know conventional wisdom says to blanch but I don’t like the end product so decided to try it without blanching. The key is to make sure your vegetables are bone dry before you freeze to avoid crystallization. I will let you know in the winter how it turned out.

I also picked some green beans and froze as well. I was shocked by how many beans were hidden in the plants and got several bags worth. Moxie came out to help (she loves the garden) and scared me a couple of times when her head popped up. Yes, she can go outside now but only during the day, and Jack goes outside to babysit her. We did this over the course of a couple of weeks while supervised and now she will come back when I call her and can go out alone if she wants. Also, we know summer is coming to an end because Moxie caught her first mouse!! She didn’t know what to do with it other than play with it so ultimately I took care of it and heaped lots of praise on her. Yeah Moxie the Mouser!

The absolute best part of freezing veggies is I can give the bad pieces or ends to the chickens, and they love them. Actually, almost all of my vegetable waste is going to the chickens which makes me so incredibly happy. Not only does it reduce my purchased feed costs but it’s also good for the planet and seriously feeds my soul.

While training the cat to come, and the chickens to come, I also decided I wanted to train the goats. The man I bought them from suggested getting a bell (I am a lousy whistler) and within two days I had them trained to come in from the big field. They love corn mix so it’s a great motivator for them but even I was surprised at how easy it was. They are still pretty skittish, but will all feed from my hand now although they draw the line at me touching them much. I’ll keep working on it.

In the midst of all that I had a birthday, and Lee’s parents bought me the cutest things. Denny got me a bird fan which I absolutely love and Dede gave me a tiki man tissue box. I can’t get away from all things artistic have to have a purpose but that’s working fine for me!

What else? Lee finally worked on some cool outdoor projects. He built a roost and “litter box” area underneath for the chickens which has completely solved my poop in the nesting box issue and has made it much easier to clean the coop.

Another big job we both worked on was getting the center stall ready for winter. It was full of broken pallets and was actually kind of dangerous, so we pulled everything out and stacked hay on one side and straw on the other and Lee hung up all my tools. This way when winter comes things will be close by. We still have the large tent for additional hay and straw but it has holes so we put a large tarp over it.

In between my asks, Lee also went to a barn my Dad is tearing down and pulled out a hundred or so oak panels and giant doors. He spent a whole week doing this but now we have enough wood for many, many projects. My Dad was also thrilled the wood wasn’t going to waste.

I also tried freezing eggs which I heard was a good way to save summer eggs for the winter months when laying slows down. You use muffin pans and add 1/8 tsp salt for eggs you will use for savory recipes or 1/8 tsp sugar for eggs you will use in sweet recipes. General consensus seems to be that they work great when added to a recipe not as well for a standalone meal. I’ll let you know in the winter when I try it.

It hasn’t all been at home stuff though. We have been attending estate sales every Saturday which we really like and we took advantage of clearance sales to stock up on all the seeds we will need for next year. Even deeply discounted it was still $90, but good seeds are worth it because the two knock off seed packets I bought produced nothing. To get them organized I bought a super cool seed storage box and then Lee gave me his labeler to mark each box with the item and the plant dates. I feel so organized!!

It hasn’t all been work though because for the first time in forever I have been able to decorate for the fall. We didn’t have room in the RV for many decorations, and it has been a blast picking things up at estates sales and going all out. My whole life I wanted to live on a piece of property where I could have straw bale decorations for fall and now I have it!! Lee even bought me a pumpkin yard sign to add to the motif. It’s been busy and hard work but really fun and I have no regrets about moving back into a house.

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