It’s hard to believe we are half way through December already! Ken and Bill have been busy tackling things on our list of farm jobs that have been in the “Later Maybe Never” column all season. They cleaned out the lean-to of the workshop. It was so full it was impossible to even walk to the far end let alone find anything. They also filled a huge scrap metal container, as they cleaned up behind the workshop in what Michelle called “tetanus alley”, and gathered up various pieces of derelict farm equipment that Ken had stashed away. Yesterday, they finished the job of replacing all the nails with screws on the metal roofs of the workshop and middle barn. Bill’s help has been a huge boost to Ken and allowed me to be free to pursue other things.
I feel as if I have retreated to the kitchen…I started by cleaning out the freezer of all the berries I didn’t have time to deal with in the summer. Our pantry is filling up with jams and juices. Black currant juice is Ken’s favourite. Since the Fall CSA is over and we no longer have a ready market for all our eggs we did our annual cull out of the old laying hens. I have been busy pressure canning chicken and chicken broth for future soups. I’ve also been making butter, yogurt, quark, sour cream, cream cheese and cheese with Mabel’s milk. We have taste tested the first Gouda. It had only aged two months, but it was quite tasty and I am encouraged to keep going on my cheese making endeavours. I get quite a charge out of going to the grocery store and waltzing past all the dairy products! Mac is growing well and still enjoys his 2 quart bottle of his mama’s milk twice a day. Now it’s time for me to change my “domestic focus” and get out my sewing machine. I have a little Christmas dress I want to make for now six month old Della Jane, who is coming for a holiday visit with her parents. We are looking forward to her Uncle Grayden being here as well. Ken is getting his workshop ready for some wood working projects and has at last got a stainless steel chimney for his workshop wood stove.
