Wednesday was a nice day.

We got up at the crack of noon and then had a little breakfast (lunch to most people at that time of the day) and then we gathered up all our recyclables and got ready to go on a few errands.

We’ve been doing pretty good lately at saving all our cardboard from shipping boxes that we can’t reuse… the few pre-made products that we get in jars, bottles and cardboard… and taking them to our local recycling place. It’s near by, so it’s not a big deal to load up old Blue and head down there on our way to another destination.

Stopped at a local fix-it shop to get a belt for my vacuum cleaner. I like going to these little local shops instead of the local Wal-Mart or whatever. It’s nice to chat with the owners and to buy your things from them. I like supporting local business and do so whenever I can.

And of course, Wednesday is our Farmer’s Market day… and today I had pickles, raspberries and maybe some sweet corn on my mind.

I always buy sweet corn from this fellow… he’s got the best. It’s sweet and ready to make any meal perfect! I was going to try cooking it in slices, or coins, and maybe even grilling it, but we ended up just boiling a bunch and serving them ready to eat with some butter and salt. Good stuff, summer stuff.

Got a peck of pickles, ready for some canning this weekend… and 3 quarts of peaches, however, I didn’t do a good job of picking them and they’re mostly hard. I’m going to have to ripen them up a bit, the old banana in a paper bag routine. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them yet… either a chunky peach jam or chutney, or maybe just as slices or pie filling. Hmmm…. decisions, decisions…

We didn’t get any raspberries… no one had any. I guess we kinda missed that run at the whole market thing. Durn! Maggie and I wanted to make a big batch of raspberry jam. Jessy doesn’t care for it, she’s not into the seeds and all. Maybe next week.

Got 4 big bulbs of local garlic for my pickles though… that stuff is flavorful! It’s a hardneck variety and I think I’m going to make sure to grab a couple bulbs and plant them in the garden for next year! See if they come up good.

Grabbed lunch and then went over to visit Fran and Wes. We needed eggs and we wanted to see their new horse! And they have new chickens too! A whole little flock of barred rock hens, ready to go into the big hut and start laying eggs soon!

We save all our bread rinds and such, chicken yummies that go stale and such. They got a biscuit or two and a hard as rock bagel and a bunch of the ends off our bread. We’re not much for eating the “rinds” of bread, so we stash them in the freezer and take them over as chickie treats. I know they enjoy it and it’s fun to watch them grab a crust and run off through the yard with a host of hens in hot pursuit.

Evee got her first look at chickens… she was pretty funny. At first she woofed a bit, and kind of hid behind Jessy, but then she got that herd dog eye thing going and crept out to watch them carefully, and quietly. By the end of the visit, she was pretty cool about them, and was right at the fence watching intently. Now, the horse? She was not so sure about the GIANT DOG… hahaha… she woofed a few times, more almost like weak little attempts to frighten him off and finding that the horse could care less, but then Evee was more inclined to go check out the chickens again and so Jessy and Evee wandered off a bit. Way too many good things to check out and sniff and explore.

But then, there he was. Beautiful boy, Fabulous Joe… just the prettiest stallion I’ve seen in a good long time. He was super nice, young man, very inquisitive and just a nice horse with what seems like a good disposition. He’s only been at their homestead for a few weeks, and he’s just getting used to the people and the place.

Maggie is in love! She has been talking about Joe for 2 days now. She really was taken in by him. And of course, he seemed to be very interested in her. Within a few minutes, he was snuffling her hand and nibbling her fingers, and rubbing up against her on the fence. Maggie and animals is just a given, they go well together.

Their garden is doing nicely, boy, what a big old place to grow stuff! I would love to have a garden that big, I’d have all sorts of stuff going on! I love the scarecrow over in the corner. And they have the coolest sweet corn, it’s probably not even a foot tall and it’s already growing ears!

Now I know, sweet corn doesn’t get as tall and leggy as field corn, which is used only for animal field and processing, but a foot hight… I think there might be something missing from the soil that could help next year. I’m going to have to look that up in my gardneing books. I know that corn is a very heavy feeder, so maybe it’s lacking a bit of nitrogren or something to give it a bit of a boost. I know my corn is not much better this year, it’s trying, but it’s only about a foot and half or so tall.

Fran and Wes’s chicken coop.

The older hens are just not laying a whole lot… the heat is really doing a number on them. One hen’s gone broody and so they’re letting her hatch a nest of 8 chicks! That should be cool to see how they all turn out. When the new hens get in there, that should be fun to see. Chicken TV is pretty neat. I wish we could figure out how to have our own hens. Some day…

Well, we got home and then decided to mow our yard and take down our puppy fence. Evee can clear it in a heartbeat and it’s a pain to mow around, so it’s done and gone. Rolled it up and stashed it in the shed. It worked for a couple months, but now we have to think of something else. The little pup won’t stick around with us, she would prefer to rush all over the place like a goof. We’re working on outside recall, but so far, she’s not that interested in it. Going to have to up the ante soon, or else she’s always going to have to be out on a lead or line in our yard. I wish we could install real fences, but it’s against the whole rules and regulations thing. Some day…

Well, after all that, we settled in and had a nice dinner of ribeye steaks and corn and mashed potates. All good stuff. And then I started working the evening on some of my client stuff and other empire things that needed a little tending. All in all, it was a perfect day. I love those kinds…