When life gives you tomatoes...

So what if it's the hottest day of the year. I have too many tomatoes, and by god, I'm going to attempt to can them!

Down to the garden I go to collect LOTS of tomatoes. Did I mention that it's down 27 stairs? And the chicken coop, did I also mention that it's down 27 stairs?

Oh, and speaking of chickens... today when I went to go feed my precious hens, one was missing. Yup, gone. Trying not to panic, and trying to assess the situation, hmmm... no sign of blood and guts, so no coyote or raccoon had gotten her. Everything was locked up tight. I looked inside the coop, outside in the run. She was gone! Wha? As I scratched my head, I decided to start poking around in the coop. I started to move the food can, that's when I saw her. She was all squashed up in the corner. My heart sunk.

Wait a minute, she was nesting! Did you know that chickens don't always ever want to lay in their nesting boxes (that we so carefully built for them)? Nope, they want to lay wherever the heck they want. And really, who can blame them? So under missy chicken was 4 eggs she and the others had tucked away. As of now, the egg laying count is 5 out of 8 of the hens!! Hooray!! Maybe, just maybe, I'll never have to buy $4 eggs again!! Ah well, life on the farm, right?

Soooo, back to the tomatoes and making life hotter than it's supposed to be.

I decided to make stewed tomatoes. A dumb idea in this blazing heat? I am not going to answer that.

First, cut an x in the bottom of tomato and dip into a nearly boiling bath for a few minutes, until skins start to separate. Remove from heat and place into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

No, wait. First, first - sterilize jars and lids. You can run them through your dishwasher, or boil them in hot water, or if you're like me, I quickly boiled water in my microwave and put the lids in the boiling water, then microwaved the jars.

Then peel them all. It's kind of a pain, but not nearly as much as deseeding all of these buggars. That was a real pain.

I added about 2 pints of water and added all of the peeled, quartered and deseeded tomatoes, adding some basil, also from the garden after about 10 minutes. There were probably about 3 lbs of tomatoes altogether, and I brought them to a slow boil, about 30 minutes. I'm very accurate when I cook, as you can tell.

Pouring into the jars. Sorry it's blurry, but 1. I stink at photography, and 2. it's really hard to take pictures while pouring hot stuff into jars. You'll see when you try this!

Into the boiling water for the final step. I read somewhere that this only takes 20 minutes because they've already been cooking. So, 20 minutes it was.

Voila! (Sorry, still blurry!) Ready for a cold winters day. I'll probably have to do this again soon, my tomato crop is still going strong. Never having done this before, next time I think I'll keep the stewing going a little longer, maybe about 45 minutes.

Why do I feel like Old McDonald? E I E I OH.

The girls

Well, at least I hope they are all girls. Not being a chicken expert, I'm still waiting to see if any rooster-like qualities develop.

I sure hope they sort that out soon, because I won't be able to keep any roosters, and I'm getting pretty attached to these girls.

Mr. R calls me the chicken whisperer. I know he's being a smart-ass, but I'm kind of proud of my new moniker. Not everyone can whisper to chickens, right?

Check out those fuzzy cheeks! She is so adorable, and growing feathers out of her cheeks. Classic. By the way, have you tried to take pictures of chickens lately? Let me tell you this, it is not easy. They constantly are moving here or there, craning their necks, chasing bugs, dashing into their coop at the smallest provocation. Dumb clucks.

Here they are in a game of butt's up. Cute, huh?

Here they are in attack mode. I know they love me, but why do they try to peck my eyes out and my shoes off? Bad chickens. Aren't my chicken shoes something? I bet your jealous.

The big question is when will they start laying eggs? Not for a while, is my pat answer. At 9 weeks, they are still only teenagers. I've read that they start laying anywhere from 4 - 8 months old. Can't wait for those fresh eggs, especially the turquoise ones from my "easter eggers"!

Flocked

Ah, life on the farm... I am happy to report that the baby chicks are doing just fine. They have already grown some, they are curious, and still cute as can be.

We started building the coop on  Saturday using mostly reclaimed wood that was stored under the house. It's not fancy, but it's sturdy, and I think the chicks will be happy there. I tell you, if there's an earthquake, that's where you'll find me. It's solid.

Using power tools made this project a lot more fun for the boys.

The coop is nearly done, but we still need to add roofing, a window and the run. They won't move into their new house for a few more weeks at least.

Ok, I'll try not to bore you with too many chick pics, but no promises. Talk about a mother hen! But hey, aren't they the cutest?

Cute alert!

I am seriously bursting at the seams. I have been dreaming about this day for so long now, I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. This obsession has been literally going on for years. So, what's all the fuss about?

Did you guess? It's chickens!

Oh, those cute, little, baby chicks.

Those, sweet, adorable, fluffy, future egg-laying baby chicks!

Here they are figuring out where the food is...

Here they are being oh, so adorable...

After such a big day, the sleepy chicks are ready for nap-time.

Good-night chicks!

Mr. R and the boys are building a coop tomorrow.