Old and New

Big doings down on the farm
this week..
Lookee what I got!!
A Foley mill!
Now, this might not rock everyone's boat,
but it's rocking mine.


Look how shiny!!
Stainless steel! Oooooooh!
With a thingy that goes round and round
and everything!
This little gadget makes my
preserving chores into a fun
and easy event.
Ok.. maybe not all that great,
but look what I used to use
to remove those pesky pits
and peels...

Now you understand my joy.

The old way was a pain..literally.

My wrist and fingers would ache after

I gripped the collander and held it over the bowl

while mashing down against it with all my might.

My new Foley has clips that fit right over the edge of

my bowl or pot for easy processing.

And it is ever so much more efficient

than the spoon and collander.

I am feeding much less of the good stuff

to the birds.

I am picking scuppernongs

tomorrow morning and will be

cranking away on that handle

by afternoon.

I also picked up some

canning tools...real ones!

I no longer have to reach into the boiling

water with my hands to grab out

boiling hot jars full of stuff.

I have a jar gripper!!

And a new wide mouth funnel for

neater, cleaner jars.

I am so pleased!

You know, it is the little things

that make life worth living.

And for me to go out and get these

things is a big deal. I could have made do.

And I have made do for years without them,

but I am so much happier with them.

And this is our old woodstove..

A Boxwood by Vogelzang.

Now, when I was a kid the Boxwood

was a perfectly good stove, but then they started

making them in China.
This thing leaks air something fierce

and the first year all of the caulking

fell out and you can see fire in all

of the seams.

And if you look at the front

you can see a slide tray.

The slide tray is for allowing more

airflow into the stove. And you will notice

a coiled handle up by the stovepipe.

This is for the flue adjustment..also

for airflow.

Now, the one thing you just don't want in

a woodstove is airflow.

I cannot tell you how much wood we have stuffed into

this beast. And it will ot hold a fire overnight.

Nothing sucks worse than waking up in a Vogelzang

house, let me tell you. Cold, cold, cold!!!

Luckily, Sweet Husband is up long before me

and has had the fire going and the house toasty

before I crawl out from under my feathers.

And the new...

A FISHER!!!

Oh yeah!

A Baby Bear.

Airtight!

Holds a fire all night long!!

So, the house will be warm and toasty before

anyone gets up! Woo HOOOOO!

You will notice there is no slide

in the front and no coiled flue handle on the top.

These are the signs of snuggly winters and warm mornings

and fewer loads of wood to carry into the house.

I get so sick of hauling wood by the time February

gets here. We heat almost completely with wood and

I am quite sure that this winter we will be able

to heat every room but one with fire.

Now, the Fisher needs to be sanded and

given a fresh coat of heat resistant paint

but I am not complaining....

$100 off craigslist!



Are you sick of turkey pics yet?

It is just that they are all over me everytime they see the camera..

And these are my Jerusalem artichokes.

It is getting to be the end of the season.

They are starting to fall over.

If they are upright, they are taller than me.

I will harvest after the first frost when they get a bit sweet.

And on a sad note..

my smallest lamb died.

I do not know why.

He never really grew, just stayed small

and delicately formed. He also had testicular troubles.

They didn't descend until just a week or so before he died.

We are guessing that there was something

not quite right with him from the get go.

The other lamb is lonely,

but growing and I look forward to lamb stew

this winter..cooked on my ... new woodstove!!

And we are enjoying the sheep so much

that we are thinking of

getting three ewe lambs in the spring

and just making our own from now on.