Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Monday, October 18, 2010

A Miracle - quick look!

Quick look! It won't last! It's a miracle...



...Our flock of geese - being well behaved. 


Next - my nemesis for this week...


 ...pears... lots and lots of pears...



Happy fall canning everyone! We're not done yet!

8 comments:

Mama Mess said...

Mmm, your pears look good! I don't much care for pears, it's a texture issue, but The Youngun and The Paintiff love them. I've been considering planting a pear tree or two to join my two little peach trees. Your honkers are so cute! Do they have tufts on top of their heads?

Grandpa said...

Very well-behaved indeed. How long did they actually stay that way?

Those pears, do you eat them just like that or cook them after canning?

Ohiofarmgirl said...

hey GW! I just love the geese and yes! They have little tufts. Their momma is half Roman Tufted and half Toulouse.

hi Grandpa! They stay that way for about 12 seconds. Geese = crazy.

The pears are lighted cooked before canning, and then the canning process cooks them a bit more. So they can be eaten from the jar. The US has very cautious canning safety recommendations.

Chai Chai said...

Those geese look an awful lot like decoys....

What percentage do you think your place is self sufficient?

You have such varieties of tree fruits, good harvests, and animal products, just curious.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

OK CC, you caught me. I have a host of those fake ceramic geese - you know, the ones folks dress up in funny little outfits our in their yards? ha!

Um... I'll have to think about our percentage. I usually say we grow/dress 95%-98% of our meat, more than 50% of our summer dairy (I eat a lot of ice cream), and a big bunch of our produce. We also have to consider the feed we gleen/grow for the critters which is maybe 30% or more?

Chai Chai said...

That is fantastic and would be an interesting post.

I was talking with the Commander tonight and we were wondering how anyone ever survived a winter here in Northern MN.

I think the only way to be self sufficient here would to be able to grow ones own hay.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

I guess our forefathers were some kinda tough - or nuts
;-)

Maybe you could barder/trade for hay? I'm sure someone around there would want a lamb for a big truck full of hay?

I'll work on a post - the problem with "self sufficiency" is there is always some yayhoo who wants to argue about what it REALLY is.. i mean do you eat chocolate or drink coffee? that you grow yourself? what about blah blah blah... so it usually ends up in a fight.

Whats interesting to me is how many people stand around and tell you that you can't do this or can't do that and that will NEVER work and dont know you... ha! usually this happens when some of us are actually doing it.
;-)

Chai Chai said...

We aren't trying to become totally self sufficient because it really isn't practical for what we have available here. We are definitely the definition of a "Hobby Farm". This winter will really be a learning experience for us as to what it takes for the animals to make it to the spring.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...