The theme of this month was half-finished projects. Things don’t always go as planned but we are getting back on track now as we enter September!
The eggs have been flying off the egg stand lately so we’ve kept the incubator going and also ordered a few more female chicks that should be arriving early next month. And while sales have slowed a bit at the farmer’s market, I am still there weekly selling our freeze-dried skittles!
It was also my first time ever canning peaches and making a pie – blueberry to be exact! – this month. And it was our first time butchering meat chickens. We love learning new skills! At first, the learning curve is not fun but once you get over that hump, it is just so incredibly fulfilling and rewarding!
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Butcher More Rabbits
We butchered 36 meat rabbits that had reached about four months old. It was a busy couple of days but now they are all in the freezer and will keep our bellies full this winter!
46 more rabbits were just born and moved over to the grow-out pen. In a couple of months, we will be butchering them, but for now, we get to enjoy their cuteness and have fun with them.
Butcher Meat Chickens
This was our first year raising meat chickens and we sure did learn a lot during the 9 weeks we raised them! We actually had a pretty good system but there were still a few things we would like to change up for next year. Be on the lookout for a blog post soon with those details.
We’ve butchered chickens before, mainly roosters we no longer needed, but this is our first time using a de-featherer/plucker. It made the job so much easier! The whole process took about 7 hours between the two of us. We broke it up into two different days which made it much more manageable.
We only lost four birds in total for butchering day, which means we have 57 birds in the freezer! We are thinking about raising an extra 60 birds next year to sell! Would you be interested in purchasing them? Let us know!
Harvest and Preserving Season
We’ve been loving the garden produce that has been rolling in. I think freshly picked green beans that are then steamed and coated in melted coconut oil and lemon pepper seasoning are my new favorite food!
We also still have lots of zucchini rolling in, corn just starting to peak, acorn squash and tomatoes ripening, spinach needing picking, and our cool weather crops growing! The snap peas and the little bit of mustard kale are the only things completely done for the year. The cool weather crops include lettuce, carrots, kale, and beets.
Plus, we can’t forget about the summer apples we are getting early from one of our trees! The apples are falling early so we’ve been collecting them and storing them early by freezing them in our chest freezer in the barn. Then, throughout the winter we can pull them to make sauce! (At least that’s the plan, I’ll report back on how it goes!)
The garden harvest I am getting this year is the perfect amount to stay on top of and manageable with two little girls in my arms and at my feet. I hope to slightly expand the garden next year and I already have ideas of improvements I want to make.
As the garden grows over the next few years I know that harvest season and preserving season will take on a whole new meaning!
Winter Prep List
Landon made a big list of everything that needs to get done before winter. With the tractor broken and a few other things not cooperating, some projects are half-done or on hold. But, he has been able to chop almost all the wood we need to be stored up, about 5 cords!
Other things on the list are maintenance or clean-up projects. But, we’d also like to get a third chicken coop built and a shelter for the mill and our trailer. We’ll see what gets done before winter and if we can complete the list in time! Let’s hope…
A few days this month have really felt like fall already. It’s hard to believe that summer is nearing an end so soon! See you again next month friends!
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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