I have been slacking ... put up eight pints of formerly frozen veggies [needed the freezer space] during canuary and then just got done with 8 pints of ground beef, and planning another 8 pints soon. Being retired, i have very little time cuz I have so much to get done. You know how that goes Annie.

eta: sorry for the loss of your pooch; so much a part of the family.

Anne - I'm very sorry that you lost your dog. ((hugs)).

I haven't canned anything since the 2022 season but I plan to do some this summer. I'm down to only 6 jars of Annie's Salsa :-(.

Our 5 cows should be calving sometime in March. My herd partner is moving onto a larger property (25 acres of pasture vs. about 10) so we plan to let the herd grow a bit instead of selling off the calves this time.

Thanks, bragu and Jack. Molly was a shelter rescue and a great farm dog. She was nearly 16 and never ate a bite of dog food in her life with us, she came home with us when she was 3. A couple of weeks ago she just lay down by my chair to take a nap. I sat on the floor with her and she fell asleep with her head on my lap. I got up, ate breakfast and she never woke up. Because she hated the vet with a white hot hate I'm happy she didn't have to spend any of her last hours there. Heck, she didn't even miss supper the night before, she had beef!

Jack, congratulations on growing the herd! Elery had that second hip replaced in July and just had cataract surgery, plus he has macular degeneration, so we've decided to get away from cattle. We'll eat last year's calves, sell this year's group and then decide what to do with the old cows (who are 6 and 10). We already sold the bull, so after this group of calves, we are out of the business, sadly. I'll miss 'em.

Annie

January is marmalade season.

I’m sort of back in cooking. the Caretaker and I made a huge pot of beef bone broth…I think I taught her how to do this. Anyway, there are some new jars ready for use. I made Chicken broth and frozen 6 jars of that. i couldnt get the feet this time and its, but OK.

i guess I should be able to make Aprium Jam this year with what appears to be big crop. ( Pruning stopped last years crop) I have great hopes for the Apriums and raspberries - which I didnt get to eat any after the stroke.

i think your dog had a pretty good life and never had to eat canned dogfood.. or dry. My dog didnt either, and and it was nice that your dog was able to be near you at the end. 🥰

Hi everyone —

I don’t have a lot of people around to eat things, so there’s no canning being done here for several years now, but I made another 8oz jar of pickled jalapenoes this week. :)

Annie, I’m so sorry you lost you dog, but very glad for the way she went. We had to take the last of our 4 cats on Tuesday…. she was just a little shy of 18, and was always sweet and 100% trouble-free. In my grief, I contacted a crazy cat lady that I know and she has us hooked up with two 10 month old sisters that were extracted from a feral colony because they were friendly with people. Meeting them at 12:30 today! wish us all luck!

Kate, I’m so happy to see you doing better and posting again! Regarding fruit crops, I was just wondering if we’ll have anything this year. Last year we had an early spring, then a hard freeze, and it wiped out almost the entire apple crop in our area. We’ve just experienced unheard of spring-like conditions in early Feb. and trees were already budding… I even saw some of my hyacinths coming up. Now we’re back to the usual winter programming. It will be a miracle if we see spring-flowering trees bloom this year and I’ll be thrilled if I get any apples.

Oh Annie, you said you don’t waste any beef… who gets the kidneys? I haven’t seen beef kidneys for sale in many decades!

PM, the kidneys usually go into the dog food, Molly loved the liver and the kidneys, although this year I did not have enough freezer room so the kidneys became eagle food, they happily clean up any "leftovers" and I like to watch them. Both of my daughters still have dogs, so they'd use them, but I drew the line at brains and lungs, I only have just so much freezer room and the eagles need SOMETHING. Elery puts the heart into sausage and we usually keep the tongue for Peppi, but the B&B has a young chef (a nephew of the owners) taking over and he wants one to make tacos. So, what's for supper? Chicken! (grin)

I also have a feral cat that's been hanging around, she's really pretty. White and fluffy with blue eyes but she definitely has an eye infection and some kind of respiratory thing. She could have anything from feline leukemia to who knows what, so I can't have her in contact with my two cats. I'll need to catch her to get her to the vet, so I"ve been taking out liver every day. At first she ran if I got within 10 feet of her and wouldn't come for food until I went into the house. Now she'll let me approach her, even pet her while she's eating the liver, but that's all and if anyone else comes out or she hears the slightest noise, she's gone. I just need to get her comfortable enough that I can catch her, then off to the doc she goes to be tested, treated and definitely neutered!

Annie

That's so kind of you to help that cat, Annie! And I wish I were there to take those kidneys!

Well, these two are certainly at home and they are perfect! They are pocket-size and she says basically full grown. They are very comfortable here. :)

PM, that's a very cool looking kitty with that lightning bolt going up her face, what a pretty baby.

My big orange tailless cat weighs 24 pounds, definitely not pocket sized, LOL. His head is bigger than both my fists together!

I just keep cooking liver and using it for the feral cat. She really needs a name and she will come to me to be scratched now and walks away from the food for attention, instead of only allowing me to pet her while she's eating it. She still will not allow anyone else outside without bolting, though.

Annie

going to try some pickled eggs today ... we'll see

• That sounds interesting, bragu. Let us know how it turns out.

put up 12 pints of ground beef this weekend, so I feel I accomplished a smidge.

Today I got my grandson's to pick the Lemons and Kumquats. Alex also helped me to squeeze all the lemons with a squeezer machine, and he got 4 larger containers of juice and little 8 ones holding about 1 Tablespoon of juice for recipes. The biggest one is headed to be Lemonade some day. There are a few still too young to pick and looking to be a future need the kitchen . All the containers went into the freezer.

All the kumquats have been frozen for future something. Maybe I can get the grand daughters to help me make some maralade with the kumquats. .

My grand daughter helped me make the frozen Apriums from last year. We processed 11 jars, which was a learning something new for her.

Bragu, I have threatened to can hamburger, but haven't found a way that doesn't make it kind of "mushy". No one else seems to mind, just me, so maybe it's just me. I'm thinking of trying to can a chili sauce with ground beef, to top chili dogs.

Kate, it's always better to can when you have help, and a lot more fun!

Nothing much being canned here, but asparagus should be coming up in the next month or so and then it'll start.

Annie

made 8 pints of pork and beans ... used pintos; next time will be navy beans. getting ready to plant my cranberry beans outside

I won't be planting beans for another month, maybe 5 weeks, depending on the soil temperature. I have a lot of canned beans left from last year, but didn't can any baked beans or pork and beans, that may be my next year's experiment, so thanks for the reminder!

Annie