On Monday, September 29, we were back home and taking over the farming duties from our wonderful farm sitter Dani.

Tuesday I was noticing the size of the pigs’ butts.

The weather was beautiful.

I was feeding carrot and squash bits to the chickens.

Roscoe enjoys the scratching post but likes to knock it over.

That afternoon I was finally able to can pears.

On Wednesday there was a hen that hadn’t been acting well that died.  I then noticed the leg band was dug into her leg.  I am not sure if that is what killed her, but it certainly didn’t help.  So since that awful day, I have been removing the legs bands, starting with the larger birds and the ones with feathered legs.  And I will never use them again.

That afternoon our back pasture camera caught a bee flying around.

It is the time of year that the chicken aprons come out.  Here is the first hen to need one.

Tom left for hunting Friday morning, and I came home from work to do the chores.  I thought this hen looked nice among the daisy-like weeds.  Unfortunately the photo didn’t turn out so well.

I have been searching for a name for the rooster that Eliz gave me.  I even asked the grandkids.  But that morning I decided he would be Cocky Locky.

I had already decided that this hen will be my new Henny Penny.

In the afternoon my attention went to the garden.  The collard greens are huge.  This is my first time growing them.  Not sure what I am going to do with this amount.

Later in the afternoon the pasture camera caught the cows.  It was a nice demonstration both how Highland cows aren’t intimidated by barbed wire.

 

In Tom’s absence, I picked recipes that he would not appreciate, but I would like.  They are mostly vegetarian.  For Friday evening I made Italian Baked Eggs.  They were amazing!

Saturday morning I tried to get the chores done quickly so I could attend William’s football game in Lynden.  Unfortunately, I was a little late.  Here are the teams on the field.  William had already played some on defense but was on the sideline at this point.

Here he is.

Here he is in the game, playing safety.

At the same time, Tom sent me this photo of an old bottle he found in the woods while hunting.  It is pretty cool.

William was still playing and even got a sack. But it was a loss.

Here is the post-game team photo with the cheerleaders.  I love his smile.

I was partly there to give the grandkids presents from our Pennsylvania trip.  It was mostly candy from a couple of the farmers markets but also from Shane Confectionery, America’s oldest continuous confectionary.  It was close to our hotel there and was quite an amazing store.  We also gave them 2 of the pressed copper coins from Philly (one is on Franklin’s grave).

After the game, Ryeleigh and I met my old friend Jonathan and walked around Fairhaven.  We happened upon Stones Throw Brewery Fresh Hop Block Party.  So we stayed, had a beer and listened to the band.  The weather was gorgeous, and it was a nice time.  I had to leave though to get home in time for the Mariners game.  It was game 1 of the ALDS series, and all of the Fox commentators picked the Mariners to win the series.

I made Creamy Mushroom and Wild Rice soup from a recipe that came from a newsletter that our realtor Suzanne Jenkins sends out.  It was really good.  Unfortunately, the Mariners lost the game.

Sunday morning I appreciated a misted spider web on the llama stanchion in the sunshine.

Everything looked pretty in the sunshine.

The cows were curious.  Unfortunately I had nothing for them.  Plus Sonja is overweight.

Unfortunately I found this Bielefelder rooster with his foot caught in the goat feeder.  I was able to extricate him and moved him to a hutch to recover.  I did take his leg band off as well.

I just loved the expression of this hen.

In the afternoon I tended to the vegetable garden.  I picked ears of corn.  We didn’t have a great corn year but better than I thought it was going to be.

I also harvested squashes.  Unfortunately the rodents ate quite a lot, but I was able to save these ones.

For dinner I made Chile Egg Salad Sandwiches with Yogurt.  It was a tasty dinner.  And the Mariners won!

Monday morning while doing the chores, there was a GBH hangout in the cows’ field.  It let me get some photos without flying off which was nice.

That afternoon I rendered lard.  I love grinding it up some some reason.

I pulled the pickles out of their fermenting crocks and move them into jars to go in the fridge.

The moon rose above the barn roof outside of the living room window.  It was spectacular.  You could really see the details on the moon’s surface.  My iPhone photo does not do it justice.

I then grabbed my real camera to take photos, but it had been so long since I had used it, the battery was dead.  So I charged the battery and then headed out to the barnyard.  There was some fog on the ground, and the effect was spooky.  I still couldn’t bring out the details of the moon but still love the photo.

On Tuesday morning the lard was ready to go into the freezer.  I moved the pickles to the trailer fridge was well.

I had also been making broths, beef and chicken broths.  I also make dog broth.  Now this is not broth made from dog, but it is from random meats to give to our pups.

I have been trying to feed the pigs plenty.  They have been getting pressings from making apple cider.  Also this morning they got leftovers from processing the corn.

I found this in the barnyard.  Another treasure. Any idea what it might be?

For lunch I made Corn Salad With Tomatoes, Feta and Mint.  It was tasty and pretty too.

I prepared cabbage to be fermented into sauerkraut while watching the Mariners win.

There was another pretty moonrise.

For dinner I made a mushroom tart.  I had accidentally purchased too many mushrooms for the soup I had made so this was a good way to use them up.

Wednesday I did the chores, watched the Mariners lose and then headed to work for the night shift.  I came home Thursday morning tired, did the chores and headed to bed.  Tom came home in the afternoon.  We had leftovers for dinner.  He had leftover breakfast burritos, and I had my one failed recipe (Crispy Tofu Tacos).  I was intrigued watching the KATU livestream of the ICE facility in Portland.

This morning I started by picking Asian Pears from the tree that had fallen over in the orchard to feed to the pigs.  The tree is still alive so I have hopes of being able to stand it up again once the weight is off it and having it survive.  While I was doing this though, our beagle escaped into the neighbor’s blackberries.  Here is the hole she dug under the fence to escape.  Tom was able to get her, bring her back home and fix the fence.

I did most of the chores as Tom left to get his Covid shot.  He also went shopping for supplies for dinner tonight.  In good news, the rooster that got his foot caught in the goat feeder has recovered and is now back out with the flock.

I was able to see the bottle that Tom found hunting.  It is pretty cool.

Roscoe enjoys looking out the windows.  He is not terribly interested in going outside but likes to look.

I was weeding in the yard, and he was still at the window watching.

I thought our tom turkey was looking regal this afternoon.

I spent some time petting Diddley as well.  He is looking older.

I went to change the sheets on the bed, and Wally was enjoying them.  Note the cute orange toes.  I had to wake her up to get her to move though.

We were getting ready for game 5 of the ALDS.  Here is Tom’s sweatshirt from 1997.

I made Jalapeno Poppers from our peppers as an appetizer for the start of the game.

And then we made Seattle Dogs for dinner.  It was loosely based on the NYT recipe.  Tom had tried to find bialys but had no luck.  But he did get bagels from Whidbey Island Bagel Factory.  So I made mine with a bagel, and Tom used a brioche roll.  Tom grilled the dogs, corn and bread while I carmelized the onions.

This was to provide sustenance to root for the Mariners.  It was a 15 inning marathon, but we won!!!!!!