Farm Update: July 3

I haven't done a farm post in nearly two months. I have various excuses: rain, rain, and then a bit more rain. A wedding. The outrageous heat. But truthfully, I had energy for one blog, not two. There you have the unvarnished truth.

For future reference, here are a few stats:

*3 chicks survive from the May clutch. I think two are hens, but unsure still. They are nine weeks old today.
*Ethel is broody on four Ameracauna eggs, one week in. 
*It's a bad tomato year. I have about 25 plants in the garden, but the Mini Orange plants are performing badly because of excessive rain - rotten fruit. The 2 plants in pots with drainage did better.

*Matt's Wild Cherry tomato plants are doing okay. The 3 plants that overwintered on the porch have done extremely well. I should try that again. I had abundant cherry tomatoes all through June, which is early. The rope trellising is not a good solution for tomatoes. We need a new plan. Cages are too short for vining varieties.
*Cucumbers are bearing very well. The pickling variety turn yellow quickly. But the rope trellising is perfect for cucumbers. We will do that each year.

*I started my Blue Lake bean plants too late. I have 8 plants in a bed fenced against rabbits. Difficult to weed. Pepper plants also in there, and growing well.
*The greens bed was fabulous. We could not eat or sell even a majority of it.
*Babies' Breath and Chamomile did not grow well. Heavy rain destroyed the first and heat/weeds destroyed the second.
*Carrots appear to be growing well. No sign of orange root yet. I sowed seeds on March 29.
*A good year for onions, which were put in as sets last fall. At the end of June their tops were down enough to pull them. They're curing on the front porch. Then I think we'll store them in the frig.

* Each year our potato harvest improves. Adam harvested them today. He'll brush off the dirt and we'll store them in the spare bedroom.

*I've had decent farm sales at the market, selling nearly everything. 
*I have so much tomato sauce left over from last year that I'm cooking it down and turning it all into tomato paste, which Adam uses most readily in cooking.

Reduced by half, after simmering for a day

*We ate some peas this year, but did not freeze any. We don't tend to remember what's in the deep freezer, and garden produce sits there for a long time, uneaten. Need to improve on that.
* I made a batch of tea tree soap in February, one of lavender in March, and just made a mixed batch last week. I've steadily made batches of Healing Herb Ointment, Bee Balm, and Insect Repellent Lotion Bars, all of which sell well. I'll make a bit of ointment for ourselves today because we use it so often.
*Herb beds are doing very well, if weedy. I made a large batch of herbal tea (mint, lemon balm, tarragon, lemongrass), and sold the first tin of it at the market on Saturday.

*Adam's willow tree starts are doing extremely well. Thicker wands have grown better than thinner ones. 
*My seven loofah vines are looking very good. They won't bear until autumn. I sold almost all of my last year's loofah scrubs.

I think that's about it! If you want to know more about what's happening in our lives -- the roof, the wedding, the dogs -- skip on over to my other blog, Through a Glass Darkly. Thanks for stopping by!

Apple Butter

I mentioned that my brother Marshall gave us some apples (about a bushel) from their orchard in West Virginia. At last this morning I have a few hours to devote to making apple butter from them.
Beautiful apples:

My mother and I split the Jonagolds and Golden Delicious. I chop them in half.

And load them into a big stew pot with a little water in the bottom -- not much, because you don't want watery, tasteless applesauce or apple butter.

Here's my apple spoon. A strong, sturdy, unbreakable spoon is needed to push the apples down as they cook and implode. My oldest brother Max made two of these spoons for me many, many years ago, before either of us were married, I think. It's stronger than all my metal spoons. I love them.

While we're on that topic here's a set of salad servers he made for me too. I love things made of wood.

I've posted about making applesauce (but cannot for the life of me find those blog posts right now!), and I've used WalMart apples to do so. They work, and the sauce is certainly better than any you get on the grocery shelf. But here's a comparison of apples:

Left: WalMart Ginger Gold; Right: Marshall's Jonagold

Quite a difference in size. And all that volume difference is apple flesh -- the good stuff.
After the apples are soft and mushy, I put them through my food mill. It presses the apple flesh through, but keeps the stems, seeds, and skins above. It saves so much time not having to peel and core the apples! I bought this nearly 20 years ago in Iowa.

This metal paddle squashes the mush apples and presses the flesh through the little holes.

One the bottom of the mill a thin metal wand rotates and scrapes the applesauce off the bottom and into a bowl underneath.

A crock pot FULL of applesauce! I'm following the advice on this site, cooking it on low with lots of sugar and spices for about 11 hours, until it's dark. I've made lots of applesauce, but this time ...

I want apple butter!
UPDATE: The next morning ...
I used the AllRecipes site because I wanted to know whether I should leave the apple butter covered or uncovered for the long, low cook. Hmm. The site seemed to indicate to cover it, so I did ... all day long. For about ten hours it cooked, and it did darken some. But it was still the runny consistency of applesauce.
So Adam recommended removing the lid, but this was at 10:00 last night, so my only option was to leave it cooking on low overnight, with no lid. Made me nervous. But I did it. And in the wee hours this morning, I found this:

 Lovely, dark, thick apple butter. I had it on toast this morning.

Apple butter calls for much more sugar than apple sauce. I didn't measure. I also added a good amount of cinnamon, and smaller amounts of clove, allspice, and nutmeg. The flavor is quite good.
I canned two-and-a-half quarts of it, saving a bit for immediate use. This is a perfect item to make around Thanksgiving. So glad I have this on hand before next week, when the house will be full to busting! Our whole family will be here. I'm so happy!