Chickens Chickens

The kids have been talking about and planning for chickens since last year. Reed was much more excited about it than Millie at first and he was researching and reading books about taking care of them. When the time got closer to getting them, Millie was excited too! We had several failed attempts of actually getting them, twice the store told us they had them but then they didn't when we got there. Then we went to Florida and wanted to wait until we returned. Then Rick wrecked his motorcycle (no fault of his) and ended up with punctured lungs and 12 broken ribs. So finally, even though the ribs are still very much broken, we got the chickens. It only took them a few minutes before they were scratching around in the fresh chips and eating and drinking. We ended up with 6. 3 look very healthy, 2 are kind of lazy and one hasn't moved from under the heat lamp and won't stop chirping. We are a little concerned about that one but the kids knew going in that chickens come and go and that they need to understand that.

Around The Farm

Just helping around the farm. Dad was teaching Reed how to shuck corn and of course it's firewood time.

You can never have enough.  Some of this wood has been in here for 20+ years.

Down the chute, into the cellar.

Reindeer Games and Moe

Millie's Fusion team has had a few tourneys and earned a few more trophies. At the Reindeer Games in Santa Claus, they got more than a trophy, we came home with Moe, our new kitten.

Millie had a teammate stay with us at Rick's parent's house and they went to visit his Uncle Paul's farm one morning. Well, Brooklyn, Millie's friend, found kittens and brought one back. So now we have Moe, a combo of Millie and Brooklyn's last names.



He adorable and likes to do homework.

Bridge Building

Rick had big plans for our woods when we bought this place.  I saw it simply as a buffer to any nearby houses and a source for firewood and the kids to play.  Rick envisioned running trails and biking ramps.  Well, with over a week off for Christmas, Rick and Reed got busy with the first bridge in the master plan. 

I think Reed was out there for most of the entire time, hauling lumber and helping Rick. 

So of course, when the bridge was complete and ready for the grand opening, Reed was the first to run through ribbon.  Millie had a friend over that day and she helped open the bridge as well.

Harvest 2013

Dad had a good harvest this year. He sold his combine and used my grandpa's 1 row picker to harvest. It picks it on the ear and dad stores it in the corn crib. He only kept some of it and sold the rest to a neighbor who raises buffalo.

The picker dumps it in a gravity wagon. We raise the gravity wagon to dump the ears in the elevator that shoots it into the corn crib.

Blood Sausage

I'm just seeing these photos for the first time. Reed enjoyed butchering with Rick and his family in January. Rick said Reed wasn't too sure about mixing the blood sausage but the boy sure does love to eat it!

Who Needs The Road Department?

We had some pretty strong winds on Sunday and on the way back from a Halloween event (post to come later) the kids and I were stopped in our tracks by a large limb down across the road. We got turned around and made it home and told Rick he had work to do. We had already been sawing, splitting and stacking fire wood all weekend so the kids knew to grab their gloves and get to it.

The kids starting pulling limbs out of the road and throwing them in the ditch while Rick sawed and I stacked.

The benefit of clearing the road ourselves instead of waiting on the road department was we got a load of fire wood. Of course that's not why we did it but it was just a nice little bonus.

Good thing we had those big guns on our team to help out!

Mamo's Ketchup

Mamo's Handwritten Recipe That Her Mom Used

Mamo's Ketchup was always a staple in our home growing up.  Mamo was my Grandma, she lived next door on our farm.  Before she made it, her mom made it, Big Mamo. I was there as much as I was at my own house.  Every summer she made ketchup and it smelled wonderful when she cooked it.  The flavor was nothing like Heinz's version but it was super yummy in a totally different way.

My Aunt's Handwritten Recipe That Mamo Actually Used After Modifying Her Mom's (They Are Nothing Alike)

This year since I am now living back in my home town, I was able to help with the ketchup making tradition.  My dad is now the ring leader and was teaching me how to do it.   Many of you asked for the recipe but there's more to it than just the recipe, it's a whole process.  Here it goes...

I guess the first step is to plant a bunch of tomatoes, green peppers and onions.  I guess you if you don't garden, you could buy all of those ingredients but what's the fun in that?

Wash and core your tomatoes either peeling first or not, that is your preference.  Cut them in quarters or so and toss them all in a big cooking pot.  Cut up your peppers and onions and toss them in too.

Cook this mixture for about an hour at a heavy simmer.  You need the peppers and onions to be soft and for all the flavors to mix together.  Do not add water!  This will make lots of juice but stir occasionally to prevent burning.

After that's all cooked, you need to separate the juice from the solids.  This endeavor not only makes ketchup but you will have juice to can as well.  You will also have a very messy kitchen and lot of dishes to wash but that's just a little side bonus.

After you drain your juice off and smash your solids to a nice thick pulp (that is the hardest part and no, I don't have a good recommendation on how to go about it), it's time to cook.  Grab the recipe and add in your seasonings.  Put it on the stove and let it cook at a heavy simmer/low boil.  Stir ofter, do not let it burn!

This is when it gets good.  This is how you know you're making Mamo's Ketchup.  When I got off the school bus as a child I knew when it was ketchup making time because I could smell it cooking all they way to the road.  So good!  You really have no idea until you have smelled it.  It's amazing.  This is the step in the process when I picked Reed up from school and before he got the door to the house open he said "Wow, what smells so good?"  It made me so happy to hear him say that.  He knows a good thing when he smells it.

You need to cook it for about 1-2 hours.  It just depends on how much liquid was still in the thick when you start cooking.  If you did a good job and it was pretty thick to start with, you may only need to cook an hour.  If it's pretty thin, you may need to cook longer.  This is also when you can can all that wonderful juice you separated out.

We Spiced This Juice Up A Bit - Can Anyone Say Bloody Mary?

After it's cooked and cooled down a bit, bottle it up.  Any glass bottle will work as long as it's not a new fancy twist off type of bottle.  It has to be a good 'ol pop off type bottle.  We keep and reuse our bottles from year to year.  Can you tell?  Hard telling how old some of these bottles are.  Beer bottles, coke bottles...we don't care what they once were.  All we know is now they are ketchup bottles.

Find yourself a cute boy to help his Grandpa GG operate the bottle capper and you are good to go.

My favorite thing to put this ketchup on is a big old bacon sandwich.  Just bacon, ketchup and bread.  Perfect sandwich. 

And as an after note, most of these photos were taken with my phone because I forgot my good camera, bummer.