Ducks4you for 2022

[ducks4you]

Brie Arthur credited Rosalind Creasy.
Voted yesterday. Our county has opened up several new county wide early voting facilities. DH and I voted at one 5 minutes from his office, and I am going back there for next year's primary. It is off the beaten path, safe, plenty of parking, and a back route to go from/go back to the office.
I have lived away from the city long enough that I don't like lines and traffic.

 

[ducks4you]

Finished canning 11 pints broth. One jar was shy, so I watered it down, used a different jar (widemouth), and labeled it Beef Stock.
There is a controversy regarding what to call it, stock or broth. Since I label, I decided at MY house, broth is richer, stock is watered down. I reused the same beef bones, and added onion, crushed garlic and old carrots. Tastes the same. We'll see how we use it. I have 5 hot pints of stock sitting in warm water in my pressure canner waiting for the temperature to even out, then they will be pressured canned today, too.
I am boiling water to hot water bath can more tomatoes, probably in pints. Here is today's pictures, compare it to the first picture.

 

[ducks4you]

Can't have enough broth and stock!
The stock is more watery. I pressure canned 5 more pints yesterday. I love it that I can move the canner to the dishwasher with a towel and left it overnight.
I water bath canned 3 pints, one 1/2 pint tomatoes, but the water was cloudy, so I pressure canned them this morning, just to be sure. Instructions said 10 minutes, but I gave them 20. 78 1/2 quarts tomatoes now.
Dunno if there will be much more tomato canning. I may have to do something else with the next batch.
My pantry has open shelves, and wandering kitties. I put up a barricade with some loose fitting and long wood pieces on the 2nd and 3rd shelves, but the top shelf has none. It helps to box my jars, since I Have had to clean up a few broken jars on the cement floor in the past.
These are all that are left of my Fall tomato harvest.

 

[ducks4you]

DH loves chilimac. Steak N Shake, almost a dead food chain, used to make a chilimac that HE liked, though I thought it was too greasy. Now, he tells me it is inedible.
What to do?!?
Home made chili mac, like today, for lunch, spaghetti with our pressure canned chili.
I thought I would add that we ALWAYS check our lids--you should be able to pick up an older jar By the lid, smell the contents and to make sure.
Here is a little bit of research on botulism, a real concern, but it shouldn't prevent you from keeping food in canning jars.
Home-Canned Foods | Botulism - CDC

Prevent Botulism

You cannot see, smell, or taste botulinum toxin – but taking even a small taste of food containing this toxin can be deadly. Learn how to prevent botulism.

www.cdc.gov

***
1) If you have any doubt about whether food was canned properly, throw it out.
2) Throw out any canned food with signs of contamination. Never taste food to see if it’s safe.
3) Botulism is an emergency. Seek medical help immediately if you or someone you know has symptoms.
SIGNS
Home-canned and store-bought food might be contaminated with toxins or harmful germs if:

--the container is leaking, bulging, or swollen;
--the container looks damaged, cracked, or abnormal;
--the container spurts liquid or foam when opened; or
--the food is discolored, moldy, or smells bad.

Home Canning and Botulism

Home canning is an excellent way to preserve garden produce, but it can be risky—or even deadly—if not done correctly.

www.cdc.gov

***
You can tell it's gone bad by bc it should still smell fresh.
I once hot water bathed canned pumpkin. After 5 months I could Tell it had gone bad, so I tossed the contents.
If in doubt, put something like a star on it, and check it in 1/2 a year. THAT is plenty of time for any bacteria to have good growth.
I used two jars for my party chili this year from 2015. Those tomatoes still smelled like I just cooked them.
I canned today's lunch one year ago.

 

[ducks4you]

I started on the heavy task of stripping my horse's shelter, 16' x 19 1/2 '.
I tried to have a 20-something help me dig it out last year. We got halfway, and then he wasn't available.
He complained about how hard the work was.
Gee whiz! I will be 65yo next month!!
So..I started with a shovel and used it as a lever when the bricklike bedding + manure + hay/straw was pushed against the east wall. It has pushed in my sliding barn door, broken, but repairable, I can build a new one next year.
I worked for an hour on it yesterday, made some progress. Some of it is like cement that has hardened on top, but 2 inches down it's wet. I ended up grabbing an 18 inch piece of old rebar and a sledge hammer.
I had better succes with That bc I could pound with resistance, then it would pound straight through to the cement floor, and I could wrestle chucks out that way, then use a rake and shovel to move it out.
Hopefully th threatening rain won't happen today, so I can put in another hour.
I Will post pictures, but I would like to show the before and after, and that's gonna take a good month of work.
No tractor, you say? Not until I can fix thye contraption that hooks it into the hydraulics.
DH has suggested that I take pictures, make an appointment with the place where I am making payments on it (faithfully), and ask them to own up to their ineptness and fix it for me for free.
I can always ASK. Manager can always say no.
All I know is it is lightly used Kubota, from 2019 housed in a barn garage (so not out in the weather, and everything should work.)
Guess I will make my appointment for before Thanksgiving, and we'll see how it goes.
REGARDLESS, I will need to wrestle the bedding up and maybe hire my friends two teenage boys for their muscle to move it, either tractor bucket or tow wagon. They are really good kids and could probably use the $.
Hold me to this.
Thanks!!

 

[ducks4you]

Just had the electrician out. My ???yo florescents in the kitchen ceiling have given up the ghost, in fact, when they are on it looks ghostly. There are 7 additional 65 watt small floodlights in the partially drop ceiling, 3/4 walls and that has been lighting my kitchen for the past week.
After 22 years here, and 2x when I replaced the lightbulbs, I am ready for better. DD's had these put in their ceilings last March, like these:

Ultra Thin LED Downlights - Pancake Lights - Canless Lights

Maxxima ultra thin LED downlights are great for new construction applications. They are canless, IC Rated and include a j-box for easy installation.

www.maxximastyle.com

They each have 3 settings, one for low, one for medium warm, and one for daylight, and I am thinking the latter.
We also looked at the barn. My outside light hasn't worked for 6 years or so, and I have asked the electrician to look over Every cord, and replace any that are questionable.
Were there a fire my insurance would replace my barn with a crummy Morton building. Mine is all wood with siding. In the winter, where there is ice outside, often their water buckets haven't frozen. Kinda like the travel program where the mountainous dairy farmers depend up hay in the loft to insulate the floor below.and wooden buildings helped to insulate.
I bet they start work in the next 2 weeks.
ONLY things left outside are the cabbages and sugar snap peas along the first fencing, which I promised to cover
this evening until the lows in the 20's are over. Then I need to decide what to do with them.
I ALSO have my greenhouse kit. I will probably clear out the bed of the old truck and start assembly there, since it goes on the other side of the garage wall.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

very very smart. A home (3200 ft) just partially burned two days ago a couple miles away from me. Faulty electrical wiring

 

[ducks4you]

Glancing the electrician thought ALL of my wiring, house and barn, looked in good condition. The ONLY wiring that looks original is where somebody hardwired the flourescents into the kitchen ceiling and didn't use any new wires at the original box. Never really noticed it before, but, with the plastic ceiling tiles removed, you can look at it...and shiver!
When asked WHEN I want the work done, I replied, A.S.A.P.
I bet they start next week.
I still need to use the leaf blower on the cobwebs in the barn. Don't think I will get to any barn work today. I just pressure canned more dog broth, and I am reusing the same bones with an oniion, old carrots and fresh thyme for some Chicken Soup Stock. I need to go and buy some celery this PM, and I will add some to the crock pot and pressure can this tomorrow...before I make a test turkey tomorrow for dinner.
Didn't want to tie up the sink, so I have the turkey in cold water in a cooler on the porch. high of 38 degrees F today, snow last night, and the porch is now regridgerator temperature. I will check it, but I think it won't be removed until about 11AM tomorrow morning.

 

[ducks4you]

FISH

I had put comets (aka goldfish) in a big water tank bc I needed to water my oldest Montmorency Tart Cherry tree, and I didn't want to grow mosquitoes. DD said, "Are you going to let the fish die?!?"
So I bought a 10 gallon tank with a filter, top with LED lights.
It was missing gravel and a pump. DD remembered that we had that downstairs.
So, the fish that hadn't had any fresh water, besides rainwater, for most of the summer, now have lots of oxygen, and they are playing in the bubbler.
I had bought 20, and we brought in the surviving13 yesterday. (7 deadstock.)
Both DD's think there are too many fish for this small tank, but we'll see.
Here is me, freezing, with a bucket, their summer home, I fed them nothing since they went in the tank, I poured out the water by the bucket and it took getting down to the last 5 inches to catch Any of them. We put them in a 2 gallon ziplock bag and carried them in the house in a plastic bowl.
We had already decided that that would spend the winter on top of the buffet. We put a heavy duty clear plastic table cover on top and prepped the tank. My gravel hadn't been cleaned for...dunno...15 years?
I DID rinse it out pretty well through a sieve, but it was still dirty.
The water got cloudy from that dirt, but they are goldfish, and they were living in dirt and debris and 3 squirrels had committed suicide in that tank in the last month. What's a little bit of dirt to them?
We let the temperature stabilize in the bag,and now they are in their tiny tank.
I had to clean the filter twice now. Next week I am stocking up on filters. I think I will replace this one a little early.

 

[ducks4you]

This Kansas Farm Gives Veterans A New Path To Civilian Life

Joe Graham gave nine years of his life to the war in Afghanistan. Once he got home, he was faced with an overwhelming task: finding a new purpose and new community while battling symptoms of PTSD. “As a soldier, you serve, and you often see a lot of bad things,” he says. “Coming back into...

modernfarmer.com

This Veteran Farmer Continues to Serve His Community

After serving in the Vietnam War and retiring from his career as a therapist, Rick Ritter has found a new purpose in growing and sharing food with others.

modernfarmer.com