Thanks Giving 2011

Well its thanks giving already.

The Farmer And The Farmer's Wife hosted the family at the farm.

Its so nice that the farm stayed in the family.

The farm is like the anchor that ties the family together.

Its the one constant during holidays that binds The Farmer's Family.

The Farmers Wife cooked the turkey this year.

The Farmers Kids piling it on.

Ramses is enjoying the cooler weather.

The Farmers Mother checking out The Effingham.

The boat her grandchildren built.

The Farmer found a giant puff ball.

The Farmers Family weren't all that keen on the flavour.

But one has to try eating puff ball once in their life.

The Farmers Son and his very best friend made jack-o-lanterns.

The Farmer and The Framers Wife have been planting garlic as well.
They started with a template with 5 hole spacing but have added more.
The template now has 7 spaces wide.

The count is up to 4956 pieces in.

Mouse vs Chestnut

The Farmers Wife was out picking up sweet chestnuts the other day.

She stumbled upon a tragic scene.

 The Farmer and The Farmers Wife 

have often been hit in the head by falling nuts 

and burrs while picking up the chestnut harvest. 

But their heads are much harder than mice heads.

 Maybe the poor thing is just knocked out for a while.

Tomorrow it will have a splitting head ache and have learned a lesson.

Chestnut trees in the fall can be deadly to tiny creatures.

Or maybe the Farmers Cat left it there as a joke.

Jalapeno Kitty

The weather on the farm is taking a turn.

The Farmers Cat isn't to pleased.

But the Jalapeno and chili peppers are keeping her warm

Now The Farmer will have to wash the peppers again.

The Party

The Farmer isn't much of a photographer.

He had more than 40 people over to the farm.

He carried a camera around in his shirt pocket most of the night.

He did occasionally remember and would snap a few random shots.

Here are a few samples of the fun time.

A portion of the party moved inside after dark for some musical entertainment.

A karaoke was part of the festivities

Meat

Well, its cooking day for The Farmer.

His birthday party is tomorrow and the annual X-Bocce tournament is on again this year.

That means apple wood roasted pork loin for all.

This year 50 or so friends and family are expected.

The weather isn't cooperating but the show must go on.

The Farmer has seasoned the roasts ahead of time with the secret dry rub.

Now they are on the spits.

The largest one will get it's own spit.

If you look closely you can see the rain.

It was pouring when The Farmer put the spits in the cooker.

The steam is also rising from the top.

The bucket is to protect the power bar from the rain.

Just a little peek

Oh alright then The Farmer will let us see inside.

Its to hot for a closer look but you get the idea.

The fat is charred pretty good.

All wrapped up and resting.

He forgot to snap the unwrapped version of the big one.

From apple wood to ashes in 2 hrs.

Now lets check out The Farmers beef.
He was planning on cooking 4 pork roasts.
After thawing them out he realized one was beef.
So here is the Cajun beef roast.
Dry rubbed in the secret mix from Club House spice co.

After slicing and making gravy The Farmer layers the slices in a chafing tray.

Each layer gets some gravy added. 

The drippings and grindings from cutting go in the Farmers Wife's gravy.

They have tried gravy on the side before but the meat dries out.

MMMMMMMMMM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wool Carding

The Farmer and Wife went for a drive out to Fiber Garden in Jordan today.

Since sheering the sheep this summer there has been some wool just sitting around doing nothing.

This isn't what the master plan was for it.

So carding and spinning had to be addressed.

They purchased a set of hand carders and a drop spindle.

This should be an interesting endeavor for both The Farmer and his Wife.

The Farmer carded a bit of the Romney fiber

It carded up nicely he thinks

This is what the hooks look like on the cards

The spindle is a rather simple tool it hangs stick down.

You spin it and feed the carded wool evenly as it is spun into yarn.

Sounds easy but the farmer isn't ready to show the fruit of his labour quite yet.

More practice is needed much more practice.

So for now here is a alternate fruit of The Farmers Labour

They look like candy don't they.

The Farmer took a very small bite.

Pickled Hot Peppers

The Farmer picked a small basket of Giant Chile peppers.

Seeing the basket as a challenge he decided they must be pickled.

He and the wife sat down at the kitchen table and peeled garlic for an hour or so.

The Farmer dug out the mandolin slicer and began the tedious job of slicing peppers.

They are so nice when sliced thinly and pickled with lots of garlic.

The garlic takes on heat and the peppers take on garlic flavour.

They each tame down enough to be eaten without cooking.

 Some of the garlic cloves are huge so they will have to sit a while.

Maybe with the Christmas lamb feast.

Fall is coming

The Farmer was a little sad today.

While surveying the garden he noticed that not much remained.

The manure pile has been distributed down the garden.

The sweet million tomatoes are in full swing.

 

As are the beef stake

The egg plant are ready to pick

The peppers are looking good.

The sweet chestnut burs are swelling nicely.

The chestnuts are a sure sign that the season is about to change.

The farmer and his wife have been harvesting them for years.

Its a nasty job back breaking usually raining and the burs...

Those needles can poke through a leather glove.

The farmer found last year that rubber exam gloves worked well.

The rubber gives just enough to not allow the spines to poke through.

Any way The Farmer feels fall in the air so get ready for the colours.