Critterhaven Farm

My hectic life...and then some...

I always start out with well intentions.  I have the day set the night before in my head.  Get up, do the chores, do what is on the list....then I wake up with an ear ache on the right side and a sore throat on that side too, and sigh..there goes all plans out the window. 

How do you do it? How do you train yourself to absolutely stick to what you planned for the day?  Organization is definately NOT one of my strong suites.  But we get by.  I just have to work on that part of our life.  Today I'm just NOT with it.

But yesterday I did get alot done.  After my daughter and I picked apples from my mom's house (ours are about a week or two away of being ready) I decided to make homemade applesauce using my grandma's recipe and technique.  I called it "Grandma's 3 day applesauce".  She didn't leave a recipe for it, but the whole family nearly fought over the last jar in her pantry when she passed away as the house was being cleared out.  For years I missed that wonderful taste, until I got my mom's pressure canner and grandma's stock pot and utensils, and decided I would try it myself.  The first batch was regular old applesauce.  So I started looking through my grandma's cookbooks looking for her recipe.  None there, so I found in the old 1954 First Edition Westinghouse cookbook she used one called Summer applesauce.  Still not quite there, so one day making it I was so tired I simply cooked the apples and left them in the pan, putting them in the refrigerator.  Next day, same thing...cooked them, and returned them to the refrigerator.  The next day I was bound and determined..so I mashed up the mushy apples...I was so excited!! The color was there!! Now for the test.  I put them through the sieve, got out the mashed apples, I added some cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little sugar....and voila...Grandma's applesauce!!

I'll put the recipe in the recipe section of my blog.

Since then I been too busy with life to think about canning.  Until this year.  And the first thing I did with apples was make the applesauce.  It is wonderful!!  It is almost like they have to ferment a little maybe?  I put up 12 pints of the stuff.  And as soon as my trees get ready I'm making more.  The kids love it, I love it....I'm thinking this will not be enough!

Today it's getting the kids rooms cleaned up and snapping and canning green beans.  I can do that in one day thank goodness.   The farmers market is Friday again and I will get more then, and hopefully some more plums and peaches to put up.  I'm going to make some peach jam and not just the plum peach I've made before.  This is the peach plum.  I did some as freezer jam, and canned some.

I need to rebatch the plum jelly I tried to make.  It didn't set but I think my batch was too big.  I'm dividing it into two smaller batches this time.

A lady who is starting in foster care (the human kind) came by and took all the toys we were taking to Goodwill.  I'm so glad to help out a family that is trying to help others in some small way.

We've taken in a wonderful little male CKC Shih Tzu to find a forever home for.  He is a doll!  He absolutely hates being alone but fortunately around here he never is!

Every once in awhile I get a sign to tell me I'm doing the right thing with rescue.  This go round, Molly is that sign.  I talked about her in an earlier post.  She has found her forever home and it is something.  Molly is going to Delaware to be a therapy/service dog.  I am so happy about this!  The person who is adopting her lost his beloved companion earlier this year, and Molly is going to fill the void in his life as he is filling it in hers.  She was rescued from a high kill shelter. And I think this new life is what she was meant for.

On a sad note about 2 weeks ago I backed over our oldest cat Scooter, and had to take him in to be euthanized.  He was a 16 1/2 year old outdoor cat.  Loved to lick! We called him Scooter Pooter, and he had survived everything in this area from cytaux to FIP, never catching any of it himself. He was never sick a day in his life, but he was getting slower and deaf as the days went on.  We would bring him in, but he wanted out.  It was his world.  We passed away quietly in my arms, and we buried him under the weeping willow tree in the back yard. 

It's been two weeks, and my heart still aches.  So today's blog is dedicated to Scooter, who was just one of the inspirations for this farm.

Goodbye Scooter Pooter.  Wait for me at the Rainbow Bridge. We love and will miss you deeply.

Mom

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02:02, Wednesday, July 16, 2008 .. Posted by gabbie427

Wow. You have gotten alot done!!! I am not a born organized person, and I definately didn't learn from mom either. LOL I am too much like her I suppose, I love to play with the kids and spend time with hubby, and the housework, takes third seat often times. But I have FINALLY figured out a weekly schedule that works for me. Do I stick to it every week, no, but I am doing so much better than before, and organizing is becoming a new hobby for me. LOL

I loved all the pictures of the jams and applesauce. You are lucky to havev gotten the recipe figured out. When my mom died last year, I told my brothers, that is the first thing I am going to do when I walk back into that house, is go and grab her recipe file box. I have made some copies of the family favorites for them, and for the grand daughters too, but this is my most prized posession of moms.......her recipes!

I am so happy to hear Molly will be a therapy dog. How wonderful. And so sorry to hear about your beloved Scooter. It is awful to loose a family pet!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

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03:33, Wednesday, July 16, 2008 .. Posted by Titus2Woman

One life leaves and another one comes... thus is the circle of life, isn't it. God bless you for caring for the animals. I am a rescuer too, although my rescuing is on hiatus for a little bit while I care for my dying mother. But I've always got a look-out for a stray that needs rescuing, especially in our immediately homestead area. I guess we rescuers are never really "off duty", are we?! :-)

God bless you~ Andrea