A Snowy Day is Good for Popcorn!

Today it is snowing!  Yes, I said snow.  We don't need any more rain or snow during this harvest time!

It is snowing today at Two Squaw Lake

So I thought I would process the popcorn that we have been drying in the basement.   Harold built a large screened box and we put a fan underneath to dry the popcorn.   We've had the fan running 24/7 for about 2 weeks and the popcorn is ready to put through the sheller.  The basement is nice and warm, too, because we've had the heat on for about a month now. (We have radiant floor heat).

I'm putting the popcorn ears through the hand-cranked corn sheller.  I put a sheet on the floor to catch stray kernels.  The kernels that fall outside of the sheet into the corners of the kitchen become bird and squirrel food.  Sometimes the kernels have a mind of their own and fly everywhere!

The shelled ears become compost.

I've only done 2 buckets of popcorn ears, and have already filled up about 1/3 of the tub.  I have about 4 or 5 buckets to go yet.   We won't have as much popcorn as last year, but it will still be a goodly amount.  It was a bad summer for growing things - too much rain, early frost, and the hailstorm last month.

The next step in the popcorn process is to dry the kernels further in trays until they are ready to pop.   We "test pop" small batches until most of the kernels pop well.  Then we know it is about the right moisture.   I then put the kernels in wide mouth glass canning jars to store.   In the early spring when our market booth begins again, we will have popcorn to sell. 
     Now...........back to cranking out those ears!.................

Backyard Critter

This morning I looked out of one of the kitchen windows and saw something dark moving on a piece of roofing tin that my husband had measured out to put on the roof.   Grabbing my trusty camera I rushed out to see what it was.   It was a salamander!  Searching through my Audubon series field guide books, I discovered this was a species of Tiger Salamander.  There are hundreds of species of salamanders, and the coloring of Tiger Salamanders can vary a lot, too.  This little guy (gal?) was about 7 inches long and about 2 inches wide.   I got some good photos of him/her and was glad that I got a chance to view some backyard wildlife.   So often we miss these small moments in life.  If I had not taken the time to look out the window and observe things, I would have missed seeing this little creature!  It was learning experience anyway.

A Tiger Salamander on a piece of roofing metal in the back yard.  Kind of a "cute" little guy/gal eh?

Another view from the other side.   It looks like a piece of grass stuck to its body towards the rear.

A close up of the little critter.  I wonder if this is a male or female? 

After I snapped the pictures the salamander crawled off the metal and onto the grass to.....? wherever it came from in the first place?   I sometimes see these crawling across the highways up here, but I haven't seen them in the yard.   We have had a lot of rain lately, and they like to eat earthworms and beetles in moist areas.  Besides all the deer and larger mammals around here in the woods, we have had many snapping turtles, owls and eagles and now salamanders paying a visit to the yard!  I always consider it a treat to observe nature close up like this.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

It has been snowing all day long, a very wet and heavy snow.   It's way too early for this kind of weather!  The weather guys are predicting 3 to 5 inches of snow by tomorrow morning for us.  We are also supposed to have low temps tonight in the mid 20's.  I had to bring in all the pumpkins and squash I had on the porch so they would not freeze.   I had no real place to put them except in the living room by the bay window.   Our basement is not cold as we have our radiant floor heat down there.    It is supposed to warm up in about a week, so I'll be able to put the pumpkins and squash back out on the porch soon.   I gradually bake and puree the pumpkins to put into the freezer for future baking.  Meanwhile my living room looks like a pumpkin patch! (To quote Charlie Brown, is it a "sincere pumpkin patch"?)

Just some of the pumpkins in the living room.  These are Winter Luxury pie pumpkins.   I think they make the best pies. 

With all this pumpkin to use up I began to search my recipe files for good ideas on how to use them.   I already made a pie, but I wanted to do something else today with pumpkin.  So I decided to modify my cinnamon roll recipe and make Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls.   This is the time of year when everything seems to have pumpkin in it, right?
     Well, the rolls turned out delicious.  It was a good thing to do on a cold snowy day.  It warmed up the house and made it smell "homey and cozy".

One of the pumpkin cinnamon rolls.   The dough took on a yellow-orange tint from the pumpkin in the mix.  And the rolls were nice and moist. 

The rest of the pan of rolls.   Yum!

In case anyone is interested, here is the recipe:

PUMPKIN CINNAMON ROLLS

1 T. (or 1 pkg) yeast 

1/4 c. warm water 

1/2 tsp sugar

Let this proof until foamy. 

Meanwhile, in a large non-metal bowl, 

1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

1 tsp salt

4 T butter (half a stick)

     Microwave this mix until hot, to scald.  

Then add 3/4 c pureed pumpkin 

2 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla 

Add bread flour about 3 to 4 cups until you have a soft dough to knead.  Knead on a floured board for just a few minutes gently.  Sweet roll dough should never be kneaded very long or very strongly as that toughens the dough.  Knead just enough to make the dough not sticky.  Let rise in an oiled bowl until double.  Then punch down and roll out into a 12 x 15 rectangle (about, this isn't exact!)

     Spread the dough with 2 T of softened butter.  

Mix together:  1/4 c. brown sugar, 2 T. white sugar, and 2 tsp cinnamon  and sprinkle this mix over the buttered dough.  

     Roll up and cut into 12 pieces and put into a greased 13 x 9 pan.  Let rise until almost double and bake in a 375 oven for 23 to 25 minutes. 

Make an icing with 1 c. powdered sugar, 2 T. softened butter and 2 T. milk.  Mix well and spread over the rolls. 

 *********************************************************************   

My next pumpkin recipe to try will be pumpkin dinner rolls or a yeasted pumpkin bread.   When cranberry season arrives, I love the combination of pumpkin and cranberries in breads and muffins.   Pumpkin is also good eaten like a vegetable, topped with brown sugar or maple syrup and pecans.  Of course my husband thinks pumpkin "only belongs in pie" - and his favorite pie is pumpkin!

  I will probably end up giving away many of these pumpkins.   We had a bumper crop of them and I don't think we need 29 pumpkins' worth of puree in the freezer!

Popcorn Harvest Day

After weeks of rain and cold, we finally had the chance to harvest our popcorn for the year.  From the sound of the weather report, we only have today and tomorrow and part of Wednesday before we are back to rain, cold and...........dare I say it?..............snow?  This has been a very difficult harvest season not only for us, but for the area farmers trying to gather in the sugar beets, soybeans, edible beans, and corn.   The fields are just swamps with standing water.  Harold usually has been doing the sugar beet harvest for almost a week by now, but this year nobody has even started, as the fields are completely wet.  
     But we are enjoying our 2 or 3 days of sunshine!   A couple weeks ago the big hailstorm we had damaged everything and shredded the popcorn stalks.   But the ears seemed to survive and from the looks of the harvest we will have a good crop of popcorn this year. 

The recent hailstorm shredded the corn stalks and beat down the plants.  But the ears survived.

Harold sits on the tongue of my little "zippy wagon" and shucks popcorn.   We ended up with a pretty good crop in spite of the weather this summer.

We both spent a couple hours in the fall sunshine shucking (or is it husking?) corn ears.

We had a very full wagon load plus -  of corn to shuck.

The popcorn ears looks very good, nice and full!

Harold is still happily shucking popcorn ears!

When we have all the ears shucked, we put the ears into a large screened box with a warm fan blowing air into it.  When the ears are dry enough, we put them through the corn sheller to strip the kernels off the ears, then dry the popcorn further in trays until it is ready to pop.  Then we store the popcorn in wide mouth quart jars until we sell the popcorn at our market booth early this spring.

Time To Put Summer Away

The calendar says it is the beginning of the fall season, but up here in northern Minnesota it has been "fall" for several weeks.  Nobody here is ready for winter - not mentally, not physically.   It seems like we just began summer, and poof.......it's gone!  It is only 49 degrees outside now and a frost is expected for tonight.  I am done with canning and now it is time to begin preparations for winter.   We need to clean up the yard, take tomato posts and stakes out of the garden, mow everything short, and till up the gardens for winter.   Today I am also decorating the house for fall, and doing the "summer/winter clothes switch".   Time to put away the short sleeves and get out the sweaters.

We had a VERY bad hailstorm last week that did a lot of damage.  We had quarter to golf ball size hail that came down in heavy sheets of hail for about 5 minutes.  It accumulated on the ground like snow.  In some places the piles of hail took 3 days to melt!  The hail dented our metal roof, put new dents in my old car, took out our porch light, broke two windows in the old trailer house we use for storage, broke some of the plastic dashboard on my riding lawn mower, dented our wooden porch, and destroyed most of our remaining crops in the garden.  We had not harvested all of the tomatoes and winter squash yet, or the beets, or the rows of beans we had saved for seed.  We did harvest the pumpkins and put them in the back of our pickup truck.   But they were all damaged by the hail.  Some of the squash is beyond hope.   The acorn squash seemed to fare just fine, though.  We were not able to sell most of the winter squash at our farmer's market booth because it looks terrible.  I know it is still edible, but it may not keep very well because the damaged rind will become soft quickly.  

The damage to most of our winter squash crop.   Almost every piece was pock-marked by the heavy hail.  

Some of the hail by our back door.

The hail looked like snow in the yard. 

This pile of hail by the house took 3 days to melt.  It was 5 inches deep.

The hops that we grew for my son's brewing hobby were severely damaged by the hail.   The vines were completely stripped off the ropes and were left hanging in shreds.   My greenhouse plastic was dented but only one tear resulted.   I am thankful for that!  The beehives had no damage either, so that was good.   The trees with all the beautiful fall colors were stripped bare, even the green leaves.    We also had several large branches in the road, and some trees go down. 

Before the hail came, I was in the greenhouse watering things.  I stepped outside to put the hose away and heard a strange 'hissing sound'.  I had never heard anything like that before and it seemed to be getting louder and closer.  I didn't quite make it back to the house when the hail began!  And ouch!  Those hailstones really hurt!  My cats were scurrying everywhere looking for shelter, even the little kittens.  Within seconds the hail was so heavy you couldn't see anything out the windows.  Fortunately all the cats made it to shelter!

Next week Harold begins the sugar beet harvest.  Everyone is busy cutting firewood now, too.  Snow flurries are predicted for late next week also.   It was a short summer and an even shorter fall! 

An Abundance of Produce (and Work!)

At this time of year everything ripens and is ready in the gardens, orchards, and fields.  I've been busy the last few weeks with canning, but now I will be working with fruit and corn for a while.   Yesterday I picked most of the apples off of our trees, and also picked a bucket full of apples from a friend's trees.  I also was given some large apples that are good for pies.  I will be making applesauce from many of these apples and then canning up the product.   I will certainly keep plenty for apple pies, and for dehydrating slices for my favorite winter snack.  If I want more apples (highly doubtful!) , I know of two farms where I can get more.   Today we picked plums from a neighbor's tree.  Over the weekend Harold and his brother in law Tom picked all the wild plums from our tree in the pasture.  I will be juicing these up and saving the juice for jelly making.  Plum jelly is so delicious!  This afternoon we also picked all the ears of corn from our garden.  I will be putting this corn in the freezer, cut off the cob.
     In addition to all the canning we still are trying to finish putting on our new metal roof.   I also need to cut grass now that the rain has stopped (it pretty much rained every day for a couple weeks).  The grass is about 6 inches or more high.  Then we need to clear out the garden, bottle up more honey, pick all the pumpkins and winter squash that is ready, and clean up bee equipment from this year's honey processing.  After all the honey and sticky canning season, I will need to really scrub the kitchen floor to remove pieces of wax and bee propolis, and re-wax the floor.  Harold's tractor/loader has a broken starter, so he needs to take the tractor apart to fix that! Then I also need to get the greenhouse ready for winter by taking out all the overgrown plants, tilling up the soil, planting garlic for next year, and covering it with straw.  Another job is gathering all the dry beans in the garden and podding them out and drying the beans in trays. 
      As if this isn't enough to do, in two weeks Harold will be doing the main season sugar beet harvest.  He works by driving a truck in the fields hauling the beets to the piler.   This job takes several weeks in October.  When all the main canning is done, then I work on making jelly in October from juices saved during the summer.  This year I will be working with apple, plum and cherry juices.  When the jelly making is done, then we gather the popcorn ears and shuck them and dry the ears, then put the dry ears through the corn sheller and dry the popcorn until it is ready to package.  A final job will be saving flower seeds from the spent flower heads and putting them in envelopes.   Whew!  Do we know how to make work for ourselves, or what?  But this is the way it is when you grow your own food and live a homesteading lifestyle.   I wouldn't have it any other way!  The whole schedule of seasonal chores keeps life interesting.  No boredom around here!

Now that the honey processing is done and the rain has stopped, we set the extractor outside in the sun for the bees to clean up.  They gather every bit of leftover honey in the extractor and in the frames.  When it is all cleaned up by the bees, we use a pressure washer to clean it, and store the extractor until next year.   The hive boxes of supers are stored in a grainery building with moth balls to discourage wax moths over the winter.  You can see about a thousand bees here working hard to clean up the equipment.

Some of the apples I will be working with to make applesauce.

Here are domestic and wild plums I will be cooking and juicing for making plum jelly.  Plus more apples for making dried apple slices.

Harold sits by the pile of corn harvested from our garden.   We shuck this on the front porch and I cut the corn off the cob and freeze it for winter use.

Here are large piles of parsley harvested from the greenhouse.  I will dry and crumble this to store in jars for winter cooking.   I have already dried and stored the dill, oregano and basil for the year. 

Canning Pears

Besides all the honey extraction of the past week or so, I have been working with pears, canning them up.  I bought 4 boxes of pears and had them ripening all over the house.

This is one and a half boxes of pears.   I worked with 4 full boxes this year.  When the pears have lost most of their green and have become somewhat yellow and slightly soft to the touch at the stem end, they are ready for canning.

When the pears are ready for processing, I peel, quarter, and core them, and put them into a lemon juice/water solution.  Then they are packed into jars with a light sugar syrup of 2 cups of sugar to 6 cups of water and processed in a boiling water bath for 25 minutes.

These are the pears I did yesterday.   I did an equal amount the day before.   The winter pantry is looking good these days! 

Honey Extraction 2019

For the last week or so we have been busy extracting honey for the year.  We ended up with about the same as last year - about 300 lbs - but we had hoped for more since we have 8 hives this year.   However, the summer was very wet, very windy, and also cool.  This affected the bees' activity.  This year's honey is excellent in taste though!!  This 2019 honey has more clover in it, less basswood, and probably less wildflower such as birdsfoot trefoil  .   It still has a bit of tang to it, but is sweeter and thicker.   The 2 acres of yellow sweet clover we planted definitely had an influence on this year's honey.   We have already sold quite a bit of it at last week's Farmer's Market.  We have about 200 lbs of it left to bottle up.
     Here are some photos of this year's processing.  Harold rigged up a sort of motor for the extractor this year, so we wouldn't have to crank by hand.   That sure helped us old folks a lot!

We had family from Oklahoma and Texas to help us this year.  In this photo Harold's brother in law Tom is helping to take the full frames of capped comb out of the hive boxes and Harold is cutting off the wax cappings.

Sometimes the bees do strange things!  On this frame of honey, the bees must have had just a little bit more "bee space" and so they filled it out with burr comb.  This makes cutting off the wax capping a little  more difficult.

This is what Harold rigged up as a motor for the extractor.  He took a part from an old snowblower, a gear reduction unit, and added some rods and a couple of Timpken bearings to the handle shaft.  The gear reduction unit was a 10 to 1 gear reduction so Harold could use his DeWalt variable speed drill as the motor. 

This is how the drill and gear reducer worked as a motor to spin the extractor.   Assisting Harold in this photo is his sister Becky and sister Skip's friend Reggie.

When the honey is spun out quite a bit of it accumulates in the bottom of the extractor.   We filter out the wax and bee parts through a 600 micron filter, into a bucket.

All the cutting and spinning and filtering took us several days.   My kitchen was a disaster for quite some time.

Harold's sisters Skip and Becky watch as Harold uses the drill to get the extractor running.

We had nine honey boxes to work with.   Each box holds 9 frames of honey.   It took a while to work with 81 frames!  We have wax galore after this process.   We filter out all the wax cappings, and I use that honey for cooking with.  Then we render the remaining wax and sell it in blocks.  Harold is using a hot knife to cut off the wax.

Some jars of this year's honey.   It has a nice color and is very thick and sweet.