It took some convincing but...

We have MEAT BIRDS!! I am very estatic we have meat birds. We went into Tractor Supply Thursday for animal food. As soon as we walked through the door we could hear peeping. It is always tempting to buy chicks when Tractor Supply has them in.
I was so happy to see they had meat birds!
We now have 6 Red Rangers and 6 Cornish Cross chickens.

Now to just convince him to get a pig and a cow.....🐷🐮

Visit and a little DIY

Saturday my parents stopped by for a quick visit on their way to Grammie's from GA. They gave the boys some fresh peaches. (I dont like peaches but all of my boys loved them) Thanks Mom❤❤

Tuesday I plan on going up and visiting them before they head back Wednesday.
Today I made dishwasher tablets for the first time and they worked really well!

I am so impressed that I made these. Silly as it sounds, I do not have to worry about running out and can even make some for gifts.
I plan on making laundry soap as soon as I get a covered pail big enough to mix it in. Thanks Mom for the recipe and explaining how to make it! 

Wednesday my blueberry order will be in so I will be busy making jam, pie mix and freezing some.
Im hoping this week a lot of my tomatoes ripen so I can begin canning sauces. I have a few that have ripened but not enough to begin canning.
Our pumpkins are turning orange! I plan on canning some pumpkin and making pumpkin pie over the colder months.
I have wanted to farm/homestead for years but I really didnt care about the self-sufficiency part of homesteading. I guess I never thought about how the two go hand in hand. My next big goal for myself is essential oils.
Enjoy your night and I will post pics of my laundry soap when I make it.

Berry picking

Today while the 4 older boys were helping their dad at work the youngest two boys and I picked Raspberries and then they picked Blackberries. We only picked a quart of each but it certainly was enough to make Taspberry Jam and Blackberry Jam.

For supper tonight I made a chicken stew with potatoes from our garden.

Today I met up with my childhood friend and was given lavender she grows. I can not wait to make tea and soap with it. Maybe even a lavender/vanilla candle. Part of me is not ready for cooler weather but another part of me cant wait to do crafts!

Canning

Today I am in the middle of canning 4 pints of peas. I was planning on blanching and freezing them, but I had a last minute mind change.
This weekend I plan on finish packing up my homeschool stuff for my cousin. This paat weekend she got half of the boxes I had packed awhile ago.
Once all that is done and the boxes are gone I will be organizing shelves with my craft stuff.
One book case down there will have all of my canned fruits, veggies and jams on it.
Later this morning my youngest 2 boys and I are headed up to the high school to see if the blackberries are ready to be picked. With those i will freeze a couple quarts and make jam out of the rest.
I plan on going to a place in Corinth to pick raspberries. I wish I knew of a place near here where they grow wild but I also dont mind supporting a local farmer.
We have around 8 pumpkins growing and I can not wait to can pumpkin pie from them.
Each morning I have been going outside to the garden and picking the tomato horn worms off my tomatoes and feeding them to my chickens.
I suppose, I need to watch the canner. After that I'm meeting a friend who grows her own Lavender as she is giving me a bunch.
Have a great day!

A First For Me

Today I am using a pressure canner for the first time!! I am going to be canning 5 quarts of purple/green beans.
I am very nervous using one without my mom or grandmother here with me but, I've read the instruction manuel twice. My glass top stove manuel said I am able to use a canner on it. This canner is able to be used on glasstop stoves so the stove top should survive!
Once I've done it the first time I'm sure I will be ok canning from now on.

Next I plan on canning beets.

Today's Harvest

It is slowly beginning to become harvest time.
I am drying some lavender and aome chamomile to make my own tea.

This is what I have gathered for peas and beans so far

Visit to Lancaster County

For my birthday this year we took a 2 night trip to Lancaster, PA. That has been on my trip bucket list for quite some time and I am so thankful my family chipped in to send me there.
It is an absolutely beautiful area. For a very busy city it was very clean.
The amish in PA differ from the ones here in Maine. The married men in PA are very stoic and have an air of protectiveness. Almost all of the Amish look away from you when driving past them even though they may wave.
Their farms are beautiful. One of my favorite aspects of the Amish farming is some of them farm barefoot!!
Here are a few pics I took while on a bus tour.

Gardening

I am beginning to harvest a few things from our garden.  The boys have been helping me weed as the rain we've been getting makes them pop out everywhere.
My strawberry patch is doing well. Ive noticed my plants are getting long shoots off them. It looks like my raised bed is full of plants now.
Last Thursday my oldest son, his girlfriend and I went to my grandmother's house then the 4 of us went to Stone Wall Farms to pick strawberries.  We ended up picking 56 quarts of strawberries. I did a lot of canning Thursday and Friday. We made Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam and Strawberry Jelly. Grammie also let me pick some of her oregano which is now sring and chives.  My herbs I planted arent soing that well so in the fall I will make sure I add stuff to the soil.
While weeding the garden I did notice I have around 4 cabbages growing and 10 varrots. Im disappointed in those. I plan on plantinf more carrots amd seeing if they will grow.
 My peppers and tomatoes all have blossoms. My pumpkin plants are really big as well.  Here are a few pics of the last few days.

Our First Harvest from the Garden

Today I was able to cut some spinach from the garden. I left 4 qts of it in the fridge and we froze a quart to use later.

We also harvested chives. With the blossoms I am making a flavored vinegar. Some we put in the fridge and the others otheothers we froze.

I noticed today we had a very few carrots growing. Hopefully more pop up soon!

Today's Project

Today I plan on making Rhubarb Jam and xanning it. My boys have been asking me to make a cake that my grandmother makes amd she put Jam between the layers.
I still have quite a bit of rhubarb left to save for Strawberry Rhubarb Jam and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie filling.

(This bag is still half full of rhubarb)
Tonight for Father's Day we are going to th3 Drive Ins.  This is an inexpensive thing we so each year as a family.

Few gardening updates and a few pics

These are our first strawberries from our garden. There are a few more we are waiting to ripen. There will not be enough to make any jams or jellies from but we certainly will enjoy them as a snack.

Our 3 ducklings have grown so much in the last couple of weeks. We can actually hear these 3 quacking when we are in the laumdry room. Our muscovy ducks hissed but rarely quacked.
We have green pepper blossoms right now.

Next year I will plant more than 6 plants if tjese continue growing well.
Most things are growing great in our garden. The only things not up yet are carrots and cabbage. Our green beans have not done well this year but the purple beans are growing great.  All of our peas and corn have popped up.
The tomatoes seem to be growing taller. I have one that is blossomed. I really hope we get enough tomatoes to can as well as make salsa with.
Today we cleaned the ferret cage.

I finally picked rhubarb today and need to go wash it off. I'm hoping strawberries where i normally pick are ready soon as one place where they are ready charges per pound. When you want to pick 15 qts that adds up quickly!