Shall we try this again? Recipe included.

Why hello there.  My goodness it has been a long time since I have written on here.  I have thought about the blog a lot lately and do truly miss writing on here. So, I think I am going to try to keep up with this again. 

Fall is a busy time of year for us here.  My husband is busy trying to finish up some outside dirt work jobs so he can start preparing his plow trucks for the upcoming winter season, which is just around the corner!  He's got to make sure the trucks are all running smoothly as well as the sanders.  We haven't even filled up the sand shed with all the first batch of sand that will be needed. 
Then there is cleaning up the yard of anything extra laying around before the snow covers it up.  Hubby does not like having to plow around junk. 
Another chore is getting the animals all ready for the colder months.  Cleaning out the stalls and coops one last time.  Making sure the hay loft is full of hay...which it is not as of yet.  We need to clean out all the hay waste from the goats in their run in.  They are BIG hay wasters but they are cute and fun to have around! 

           I was able to sell all my babies this spring.  This is how I am paying for my winter hay! 

I even tried my hand at milking one of the goats this year.  She did really well.  I look forward to giving it a try again next year...I purchased an electric pump!  This year I made caramel candy with the milk.  It came out pretty good. 

How did your gardens do?  This was not the most productive year for us.  Broccoli, beets and cucumbers were our best crops.  The potatoes weren't too bad.  There were a lot of scabby potatoes but we still harvested about 200 pounds.  I will can some.  Mash and freeze some and then have some out to use. 
The green peppers are small and growing slowly.  The eggplant flowered and then disappeared.  The tomatoes are still green or never showed up at all.  The summer squash did nothing.  We had a handful of zucchini.  The pumpkin or watermelon, is still so small we can't tell which it is.  lol.  And there are only 2 of them.  The garlic was small, didn't grow well.  I need to order more garlic to get ready to plant here soon.  Let me go write myself a note! 
I have about 5 spaghetti squash growing.  The brussel sprouts are a no show.  So all in all it was not a very good production year for us.  Part of it is that we put up a new, to us, greenhouse (12x30). We are learning the ins and outs of it.  I learned a lot and can't wait to put into practice these things next year! 

                         Here's a picture of the greenhouse and some of the spring babies.  💖🐐 oh, and a couple dogs. 

With all that zucchini we had from the garden I made a zucchini bread and then shredded and froze a few bags of extra.  Here is the recipe I used for the bread.  Hope you enjoy!

* 3 large eggs
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 cups flour
* 1 cup quick oatmeal
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1 tsp nutmeg
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp ginger
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 cup oil
* 3 cups shredded zucchini
* 2 tsp vanilla
Combine the dry ingredients, cream eggs and sugar well.  Mix oil, vanilla and zucchini in a separate bowl. Alternate mixing dry ingredients with the zucchini mix.
Spray pan.You can line it with parchment paper if wanted.
Bake at 350* for one hour or until center is cooked.  Let sit for at least 5 minutes before removing.  I left it in the pan for easier cutting.
Enjoy!
This recipe came from a pen pal of mine. 


Tomorrow I will be trying my hand at making pickles with all those cucumbers on my kitchen counter!  I spent today cleaning and gathering any supplies I will need to make them.  Wish me luck.  I'll be sure to take pics and let you know how it goes. 

My chickens are laying tons of eggs lately.  I need to get them all put in egg cartons and brought to the store to sell or call up some of my neighbors to see if any are in need of more eggs.
I have had broody (hens laying on a nest of eggs) hens and ducks all summer long.  Only one egg has hatched so far.  I have a duckling.  She and mom are in their own pen until baby is old enough to hang out with the big guys.

Well, I'm closing this post for now.  More photos and news to come tomorrow.  Night. 

I leave you with a photo I took this past weekend on the Kancamagus Highway of Lily Pond, one of my favorite spots up north.  The leaves are just starting to change.  I love this time of year!