September: Children, Chicks, and Canning

With so many children, it has been nice to be able to pass down clothes. Rebecca looks nice in a dress that use to be Makala's when she was a similar age. I picked out the pattern and a friend (Vivian Boggs) made it for her.

 Some times the children get the camera and have fun taking pictures of each other. 

 Elizabeth is still in the stage where she thinks clothes are optional. We are working on the concept of "fully clothed"! But in the mean time we are glad she is not outside naked, again!

Rebecca

 Little Ellie taken by Elizabeth.

 Sometimes I get frustrated with the chickens and the mess they make, but we do enjoy the eggs and they are funny to watch. (They are also great garbage disposals for the kitchen scraps and garden left overs.) The hens are getting to be two and three years old, so egg production is dropping and by next spring will be even lower. We also lost a few over the summer. With this in mind, we got a few new chicks to mature over the winter and be our new layers come spring. 

There are two sizes of chicks. We bought them the same day, but 6 were day old, and 3 were from a earlier hatch and were almost 2 weeks old. The larger ones are Buff Orpingtons. They are a docile and friendly breed, and Andrew really likes them. They go broody (sit on the nest and try and hatch chicks instead of laying, which is not helpful, especially when there is no rooster around), but they add color to the flock.

 Hopefully, they are all hens. So far, we have always ended up with a few roosters in each new batch, even thought they were thought to be pullets (girls).

An Americuana, which will be a blue egg layer.

The other little Americauna. She will be a different color pattern, but still lay blue or green eggs.

 Andrew holding the Americaunas.

Two little Australorps. They will be black with a green sheen to the feathers.

 Andrew and a Buff Orpington.

Becca and her chick.

 Elizabeth

This little chick really is that fluffy!

A little Red Sex Link (a cross between a red chicken and a white chicken that produces females of one color and males of another color so they can be sexed at birth. This one will definitely be a girl.)

  To me, Fall means Canning! It is not the children's favorite time of year, but I love it. It is hard work to get everything prepared and the bottles filled. But it is such a feeling of satisfaction to see the finished product and to enjoy the yummy results!  

 This is one days work of 20 quarts and 40 pints of Salsa (and one jar of Dilly Beans!) that Makala and I and a friend made. We made this much twice. It helps when you have a lot of choppers, and a handy little grinder as well. The way I see it, if we are going to make a mess, we might as well get it all done at once! But we were still exhausted by the end of the day.

I enjoy making the jams and Jellies.

Apricot Jam, Chutney, Pear Syrup, Raspberry Jam, and one of our own Apples!

 This year we got our first apples off of our little trees we planted the spring after we bought the house. There was about a bushel on the one tree, and a little less on the other tree. It was exciting to make applesauce out of our own apples!

 Something new I tried this year was making chutney. It is a condiments for meats and other things made from a mix of fresh and dried fruits, onions, ginger, vinegar and spices and can be sweet, such as pickle relish, or have a bit of heat. I experimented with several versions of the recipe. "Survey says!" Appreciated by the adults, not so much by the children. But it was fun to make.

Peaches and Pears are over, but we will do some more applesauce and whatever else I can get my hands on. I am thinking yummy soups!