bigugli

Well, we had the whole clan over for dinner last night. They all requested jambalaya. Usually, I blend in fish and shrimp, but too many wimp/ non fish eaters in the family. Had to substitute with chicken. I made 3 gallons of the stuff, and by the night's end there was 1 meagre bowl left over. THat is a heckuva lot for 6 adults and 2 small children to eat!! Should have been enough for 2 days. Now I'm in the kitchen stewing another batch for the farm crew for tomorrow

In our old neighbourhood , trick or treating was for all ages. Mountains of goodies for the kids, and jello shooters up and down the street for the adults. Yes, we showed no mercy with the older kids. Kids stopped coming to our door for a few years. Some vague rumour about an axe wielding psycho?????

I am looking forward to reading your publication.

Healthy looking larder. We do our darndest to have enough to last us to the next harvest. We have to do more this year with a number of large family events coming up. Nee dlots of pickles and such for the showers, baptisms and weddings coming up. Tommorow will be a case of red currant jelly.

No such thing as waaaaaay too much chilli. Chilli with...... eggs for brekkie, with toast for lunch, with steak for supper, with nachos for snack. Now you need to rent an outhouse.

1... poppers are stuffed jalapenos or cherry bombs. Nice bite sized snacks from the smoker. 2... poblanos are a mild hot pepper and a staple in Mexican cooking. Stuff them any way you would a bell pepper. Personally I like a meat, rice, veggie, and salsa mix. 3...house is already getting pretty cozy with our children, their significant others and 3, soon to be 4, grandchildren. What the heck, we can always knock out a wall or two

Almost forgot. Got myself a 1/2 pig through freshtrax delivered last week. Some real good quality meat there. I put 2 different styles of sausage in my smoker to try out. let me tell you I was not disappointed. The farmer's and honey garlic styles were quite tasy. Nice big fat links too. I don't think I ordered enough sausage!!

I can't wait to start putting up pics again on a new puter. I've been a whirling dervish in the kitchen the past 2 weeks with all the harvesting going on. This past weekend I did up 4 different batches of stuffed peppers. Poppers in the smoker for Saturday. Hors d'ouvre mini peppers stuffed with 4 different cheese blends. White and purple bells stuffed with chicken or beef. Plus my newest fave, stuffed poblanos. I also processed another 1/2 bushel of bells, 1/2 bushel of maters, and a 1/4 bushel of habaneros for the freezer. Frost now has killed off the field peppers, but I still have lots of hots and mini bells in the cold frame to harvest over the next couple of weeks. Tonight I am finishing off a wicked hot batch of salsa that I only do once a year.

I still have a lot of fall perch and crappie fishing to do first.

I'm still hunting for that 16" that's out there.

I'm still running an outdated old Mac that has long since been incompatible with photobucket or my camera program. New computer is very low on my priority lists this year with all that is going on in the household..

Finally got to spend a morning on the water with the son, so we ran out to the river to drag harnesses. I figured the waters would still be a little murky and opted for darker blades. Robert opted for bright and white. He guessed wrong. My half of the morning was great. In 4 hours I would land walleye, pike, smallies and sheephead. The highlight of the morning was another PB. Got myself a 30" pickerel. Not my heaviest, but certainly my longest. She will be coming soon to a place of honor on the wall.

I have been selling a lot of reapers and white ghost over the past 2 weeks. Can't keep up with demand.

Sorry for not adding a lot of input lately. Harvest is big this year in volume and quality. That also means a lot of canning. SO far we've put down dills, bread & butters, and sweet & sour pickles, peaches, pears, and a few cases of salsa. For a first, we're even trying our hands at making baby food for the little ones. Stuffed another batch of poblanos for the freezer. That is one simple recipe well worth keeping.

Couple of things come to mind. First, make deep 4-6" stabs into the meat and insert garlic segments. Infuses flavour all through the the hip of beef. Simple brine mop of cider vinegar, worcester and soy liberally seasoned with garlic, mustard, salt, pepper, and paprika. Lastly, timing is everything. The longer the cooking time at lower temps is ideal. Depends on the time available.

Zebras were already quite noticeable some 12 years back, thanks to the flow from the Severn R.

Tonight, will be poblanos stuffed with brown rice, chicken, onions, garlic, shredded carrots and cheeses. and seasoned with a couple of jars of salsa. All I need to do is get someone to put them in the oven, and hopefully finish harvesting/picking before the sun goes down.

Layzee Acres campground on L Dalrymple is pretty good.

It's not that bad. With all our canning I go through some 20kg of sugar a month. I think it works out to $1.40 per 2kg store bag. But yes, one does go through a lot of sugar when making booze. Just finished harvesting the last of the elderberries.

A man after my own heart.

Often you will not get that many seeds from the monster tomatoes. How big was the root core? I remember the days of bottling sugo back in the day. We'd pick 100 bushels, as a group, on the Saturday. Then Sunday was spent blanching, grinding and bottling. By 4 in the afternoon, all was done, and the men were more than a little ubriaco.

That is a fine looking tomato. We have a lot of beefsteak tomatoes in the 1 1/2 to 1 3/4lb size that we have been harvesting over the past week. We even have a donut that would put Timmies to shame.

When making a toasted tomato sandwich, you slice the mater in 1/2 and put the toast in the middle.

Hate to say it, but the new cookers don't compare to the older makes. We are still using the same crockpot we got as a wedding present almost 30 years back. Consistent heat and a good solid old fashioned ceramic pot.