Mushroom hunting

I can remember hunting mushrooms with my dad when I was a kid. We used to tramp around in the woods mostly in the fall looking for several kinds. The one that he always wanted was a "puffball". But we never could find one that hadn't gone to "seed". The spores on these start in the center and if too mature they will "puff" out a plume of brown spores if you kick or squeeze them. I once got sent up this tall stump of a tree to retrieve one that looked great but when I got there it puffed all over the place. I found this one and it was a little too brown in the center to be good. Too bad because it must have weighed three pounds for sure. Well I will keep looking and I bet that dad was smiling .

Change of luck!

I finally had some success deer hunting . This doe came in this morning headed right for my dinner plate. It was worth waiting for..but what happened next was better! This is my son Matt with his deer that he got just a short while after I got mine. Wow two in one day. We were both on the ground and walking to get my deer,when he shot this giant in a creek as I watched!

We used the four wheeler to hoist it up in a tree.

Matt lifting as I run the machine. I was 162 pounds dressed. That is well over 200 pounds live.

A nice end to a great day.

Click on the photo.

Bow season is in full swing now and I am spending a lot of time sitting staring at the ground as I sit in my tree stand. The spot that I have picked out is not doing so well yet. I spend a lot of time thinking. Too bad I couldn't get paid for this. Humm.
I went over to the dark side of the force this year. I got a crossbow. My shoulder has been giving me trouble and Michigan made them legal this year so I did it. I do feel strange using it..like an Indian sin or something. Maybe that is why I haven't seen any deer!
It is an awesome weapon. At 50 yards I can hit a soup can lid most of the time..a shot that I would not make with my bow. Well see what happens. We need to replenish our venison supply and this is the tool to do it. Now all I need is a volunteer!

Digging Sweet Potatoes

I planted sweet potatoes this year just to see how they would do in our Michigan weather. I didn't think that they would amount to much...but was I surprised to see how well they did! This is from two plants that I had in one of my raised beds. Mostly sandy soil that I had dug in the back of my property. I think that the nice soft loose soil may have helped. First time picking it was interesting to see how the tubers were straight down in a clump right in the center of the plant. Nice meal ! One of them is more that the wife and I can eat. These will be great this winter and I still have one more to dig before the ground freezes. I will have to plan on planting these again. I think I need more raised beds...humm

Mia's Granola Bars and Making Bread with Polly

I happened upon a site called "Aspiring Homemaker" that I enjoy visiting very much. It is published by an "18 year old African American home schooled girl living in Georgia"as she states on her blog. She is one of the most remarkable young girls that I have come across! I was first drawn to her site because of the great photography...something I enjoy..but quickly realized that she has insight beyond her years. Ginny and I both follow her site now. She had a recipe for granola bars that looked great so we make them and they are wonderful! Thanks Mia!

To check out her site.. http://aspiring-homemaker.blogspot.com/

Yesterday I got a call from Cliff's sister Polly because she wanted to make bread the way I do so I offered to get her started. This is Polly and Tim, her son, getting ready and enjoying some cider. Polly is around 78 and has made bread before of course but she likes mine ..which makes me feel pretty good. She still gardens and puts up a huge amount of food . Some lady.

She wanted my raisin bread so we got started and she did pretty well. I just got her started and left the rest up to her. This batch makes five loaves. This is starting the first rise.

Covering the dough and placing it on a heat mat to rise is a good trick when it is cool in the house(October in Michigan) that I use. We had a good visit and I left her to finish up,now I am awaiting to hear how it turned out.

I like visiting with her and Tim . She always talks my leg off and has to show me all that she has done since our last visit . I always learn something ...which is nice.

Kids wooden peg board toy

My granddaughter loves to help me with my projects and follows me around in the garage like a shadow. I had a piece of wood that I drilled some holes in and let her pound in some nails. Well that didn't work so well ,she had to hold the nails to hit them and it was bad.
So I made this peg board that she can pound on to her hearts content. One hand ,with her tiny hammer. When she pounds all of them in she will just flip it over and start again. I can hardly wait to give it to her. If you make one be sure to make the height so that when the pegs are pounded in flush they hit the surface that it is on so the pegs won't drive all of the way out. The hardest part is drilling the holes(3/4 " in this case) so the pegs are snug but not too tight for easy pounding.
I made the pegs out of an old broom handle and the rest is scrap lumber and paint. The tiny hammer I had but will be looking for a small wood mallet. Sometimes the simple toys are the best and the price was just right!

Cliff's Barn and Vegetable Storage Pit

I've been helping my friend, Cliff,build his "Barn" which is more like a giant fancy garage with a 16 foot door and metal ceiling panels. Shown here is the ceiling about 3/4 done. It took a crew of friends to install the long metal panels....hard to handle. We used scaffolding on two farm wagons that we pulled along together with small tractors.

This is Cliff cutting the panels to fit. I think that Cliff is one of the best builders that I have known. Everything is perfect when he is done.

We stopped for the day here because Cliff wanted to get ready to harvest beans . We will leave an opening because he is blowing in insulation above....yes he plans on heating this barn!

Ginny,going out to the back with Macy to dig some potatoes.

Macy refuses to wear hats so I try to make it fun for her. Maybe she'll get to like them, maybe not.

This is my experiment site. Looks just like a pile of old hay doesn't it. Well I have all of those cabbages in the garden and I need to store them somehow and this is my attempt.

I have been reading online about storing vegetables outdoors in pits and thought that I would like to try it so this is my setup. I read about it here http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/ho-125.pdf

This is one of those large trash can that I cleaned out and buried in the ground at an angle,then covered with dirt and hay bales.

This is my helper doing the demo on the storage pit. She ,or maybe I should say WE had a ball doing it. She played the princess in trouble and I was the hero giant guy to save her. Over and over,and over. She loved climbing on top and sliding down. I wonder if she will remember these times when she is our age? I hope so. I'm glad that I have the time and energy to make it happen. Life is good.

Fall is here and the garden is in retreat.

It's getting into fall and the garden is starting to show it too. I have Basil growing in a raised bed shown here. I am wondering if it will make it thou the winter and it will be interesting to see how it fairs. If anyone has any experience here let me know. Right now it looks great. We use it to season our cooking and it is sure a nice feeling to just walk out to the garden and pick fresh.

The raised bed with red currants . They are looking a little worse for the wear....I should have put some good dirt in this one too. I put in sand from the back trying to save some $$ and it was a mistake although the sweet potato's loved it.

The rutabagas are doing fine as you can see. Most people don't eat these ...they have a bad rap and I don't know why. Seems like most people have a narrow selection that they eat and don't venture from it too much. The slipper is just there for size comparison . I haven't figured out how to grow them yet. I tried once but got the size wrong!

The end of the tomatoes. These are great for hamburgers. I ordered beefsteak seed but these are what grew. They turn pink when ready and are very meaty with few seeds. I had a lot of trouble with Gurney sending the wrong seeds this year and will go with someone else next year.

All of my cherry tomato seed turned out to be Roma. Poor QC. on their part.

I am pulling up the peppers as we use them and planting late stuff like kale,chard,and beets.

This is the last harraw for the garden. I got them in late and am hoping that at lest the lettuce makes it . These are Beets, Kale, Chard and Lettuce. Hope lingers.

Above is the herb bed and some bibb lettuce on the end. Doing good.

The lettuce had outdone its self and we have more than we can use. The cabbages are still growing and I think that they will make it . They say that cabbages taste better after a good frost. We are eating some of the early one now and they are great. I love cooked cabbage.

Anyone need some lettuce? We won't be able to eat it all.....and I planted more!

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