Wednesday, October 10, 2012

First Freeze of Fall and a New Doe

The shock of the weekend has finally worn off.  We had more record breaking weather around here. ( Honestly, I could do without it- what ever happened to normal? )  We had two mornings with temps down around freezing here.  That's not supposed to happen for another dang month!  Needless to say, I think most of the squash is toast.  Same for the okra, beans and peppers.  I really hate that.  We were starting to get yellow squash, acorn, patty pan and butternut.  It seems the squash bugs don't care much for the cooler temperatures.  We hadn't had a single one munching out there.  I was SO excited.  Now, not so much....  I know it's just one of those things that happen but I sure was hoping for some sort of fall garden.  Of course now that the damage is done the weather is back to normal and will probably stay that way for awhile.

 I was able to put up another 10 pints of pickled peppers the day before the freeze. Then there was picking all the bell peppers that had started coming back after all that heat this summer.  I ended up with one and a half 5 gallon buckets  of them.  Most were still pretty small but I'm cutting them all up and drying them.  It's been a good year for the peppers. I've been able to dry several quarts of bell peppers and will have two or three more once I'm done with them.  I've put up sweet n spicy banana peppers, pickled banana peppers, banana peppers and jalapeno mixes, jalapeno slices for nacho's, whole pickled jalapeno's, habanero's . and all sorts of variations of them all.  Oh and hot pepper jelly too.  I was sure hoping to be able to make some more of that this year. 

I went today and picked out another doe.  There's a woman down the road a ways that has quite a business selling rabbits, chickens, eggs.turkeys, milk and meat goats and who knows what all else.  She's got a cool place and was happy to show me around.  I almost came home with some guinea chicks but common sense prevailed at the last minute! LOL  I'd really like to have some guinea's but we aren't set up at the moment to take care of chicks.  I'd need to rig up a light and a cage for them and I'd want to have that all good to go before bringing home more critters.  The doe is a nice looking rabbit, good coat, eyes ears, nose etc.  I was happy the lady had this litter ready to go.  They all turned 5 months old today so I should be able to start breeding right away.  I feel like I'm so far behind where I wanted to be at this time.  BUT everything happens for a reason.  I just never seem to get the memo!

                      ~~~~~~  Hey  ...  I'm Just Sayin'  ...  ~~~~~~

17 comments:

  1. When we lived north of Fort Worth, TX., we used to get a lot of those "blue norteners" blow in. There was nothing between us and the north pole except a few strands of barbed wire. . .

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    1. LOL Dizzy! Thanks for that reminder. I'll never forget winters spent in North Texas!

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  2. We keep thinking about raising rabbits, but it seems that the feed is too expensive to justify it. Are you going to try to supplement the feed with "real" greens and such? Maybe one day I'll do a Cornish vs. New Zealand feed to meat ratio.
    One day.

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    2. I haven't done the feed to meat ratio. I'm too afraid to know at this point what its cost me up to now. It seems to have become a personal challenge at this point. hehehe...
      I give the rabbits all kinds of treats from the garden. There are lots of different trains of thought as to weither this is a good idea or not but if SHTF there isn't going to be anymore rabbit food around here. I figure I'm just getting them ready!
      I'd like to try raising some meat birds in the spring but I really do like rabbit meat as well. Oh, and contrary to popular belief it does NOT taste like chicken! LOL!!!

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  3. Hey There Sweetie,
    I'm so sorry to hear about your garden. The weather has been full of surprises. Omg, you've put away all kinds of peppers, that's fabulous!!! I'm hoping to get an early start this spring and plant possibly everything possible.

    Congrats on the doe!! I look forward in seeing pictures of the little ones when they come around :-)

    Give Mars a hug and the two of you stay warm!!!!

    Your Okie Friend,
    Sandy

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    1. Hey Sandy, No worries about the garden. Stuff happens. Alot. There's always next year and new surprises I'm sure. Sorry about the lack of pictures lately but it seems the rechargeable batteries aren't as rechargeable as they used to be. I promise to get that fixed as soon as I can.

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  4. LOL, remember Sci, one thing at a time! Cool on the new doe! We had spotty frost the same 2 days you got froze.

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    1. Girl, I can't believe we got colder down here than you did. Go figure, huh? It seems you dodged the bullet for a change!

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  5. Sorry to hear about your garden loss. It gives you a head start on your compost though :-)

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    1. Awwww Sue, I can always count on you to see the sunshine! And you are right, there will be lots of goodies for the compost pile. The chickens have been eating well the past few days too. lol

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    2. They don't call me Sunshine Sue for nothing! lol Kudos for the chickens.

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  6. It's cold here too, we ripped out the warm veggies after I harvested all the green tomatoes last weekend, etc. Made the last fresh pesto. Collard's still going strong. No fall garden here, it'll be in the 20's soon, but I'm ready. It was too HOT this summer. No rain since early July, sucks big time...

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    1. Nancy, I'm not nearly as tough as you are. I couldn't take the cold up there. This ol' Texas girl is about as far north as I'm gonna get. It sounds like you had a pretty good year for your garden. I feel your pain about the rain. It was terrible here this summer too.

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  7. Is it just me or is the cold a shock to the system? I was ready for cooler but there didn't seem to be a normal transition this year.

    Glad to hear about the doe and others to come. My BIL raises meat rabbits, this will be our first year itching in so there will be a few in the freezer

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    1. Kati, the weird part is that now the temps are right at normal here, which is in the 70's during the day. I'll admit though that last weekend had me scrambling for my warm socks!

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  8. Mother Nature is full of surprises this year as far as the weather is concerned!

    Bet those chickens are really enjoying the remnants of the garden! That's one good thing.

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