Beyond the Fence Farm

Good morning Porch Peeps. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!!! That’s what’s it’s been about this week. My friend Frankie introduced me to this place: Abe-el Produce(Abe-el.com). I bought tomatoes from them because our gardening this year was non-existent due to some health issues. Not to worry we’ll be back. Anyway, they are located in Orosi Peter and his father are very nice and great to deal with. They do wholesale and veggie boxes. I will be ordering more from them ne...xt week. Also, if you order from them tell them Tammie Bock recommended them. The tomatoes were beautiful. Prices were great. The first picture is what I canned. We got 8 quarts of whole stewed tomatoes, 8 pints of yummy salsa (We probably would have had 10 but we ate a bunch of it for lunch and dinner. ), and 3 pints of a Rotel mix. It was delicious also. Lester ate some like soup. I also have 9 cups of lovely tomato juice in the fridge. Was going to can it also but I don’t think it’s going to last that long. . We also have just eaten several of the beefsteaks. I have been walking laps in our pool. While walking I watch/listen to YouTube videos. I have discovered a couple of channels I really have found useful and would like recommend them to you. Mary’s nest has great videos. She does a lot of fermenting, sourdough, and canning. Another one I just discovered is Unemployed redneck hillbilly creations. Even if you’ve been canning a long time you can still learn new tricks. The last two pictures are the pot of lovely peeled roma tomatoes and a bowl of tomato skins. One of the videos I watched talked about saving the skins and dehydrating them. Wellllll, my new stove has a dehydration setting. Soooooo, I am going to give this a try. So, here’s the scoop. First you save the peels from your tomatoes. Second, you dehydrate them. Third, when they are totally dry and cool, you pulverize them. And then you have a jar of lovely powdered tomato. This can be added to soups and stews or I think dips and beans would be yummy also. You can just go crazy with it. Well Porch Peeps it’s time to clean the kitchen the crazy canning lady made a mess. I hope you get to enjoy something delicious today! Porch out Peeps

Hello Porch Peeps Quick post today. We have gone from a humongous swarm of bees hanging from the tree to honey!!!... Lots and lots of honey!!! If you are local and would like honey, direct message me or call me and leave a message for prices. We are thinking we will have 7-8 gallons of honey available. It has an amazing flavor, hints of wild flower and clover. And, it’s as local as you can get. Bee happy Porch Peeps

Good morning Porch Peeps Summer has come in with a vengeance here on the farm. Over 100 degrees all week. I’m thankful for a big old (we bought it used 22 years ago) doughboy above ground pool. I’m also thankful for home grown tomatoes. They need this heat. Do you ever just stop and think of things you’re thankful for? Some days it’s harder than others. But, it’s a very important part of well being. One of my favorite memes is one that said, What if all you had tod...ay was the things you thanked God for yesterday? Some days I wouldn’t have much. Today’s pictures are quite a menagerie. I was walking laps in the pool the other evening and two doves flew over on their way to the tree they nest in. One of them dropped a feather and it was floating in the pool so perfectly. Of course, I picked it out of the water and took it in the house. Feathers are so beautiful and so different. Lester brought me a hawk feather he found in the pasture the other day. It has stripes and is so perfect. I love finding the fluffy under feathers (down feathers) from our chickens. They are so soft and, well, fluffy. I’m also thankful for friends who share awesome YouTube videos with me. Thanks Cheri. I am loving Mary’s nest. She shows how to do lots of awesome things. I watched one of her videos and learned about making extracts. So I have cinnamon, almond, lemon and mint going right now. Christmas gifts in the making. It was very easy. I recommend her videos. I peeled almonds for the extract and had some left over after filling two jars. So I decided to try making flavored almonds. Added olive oil and some dry ranch dressing mix to the peeled almonds. Baked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Yummy. I will bake them a little longer next time so they will be a little crunchier. My brother Timmy has been working hard on the farm. We needed new fences! He has finished the fence that is part of our front yard. He pulled old fence posts and put in new ones and hung new no -climb wire. Now our goats won’t get their heads stuck in the wire. . It’s beautiful. We have a lot of grapes. I love to watch them grow. These are hanging within reach of the pool. One of our favorite things to do is pick a bunch of grapes, rinse them and eat them while lounging on a raft in the pool. Great snack! This grapevine was hanging in the pool. I thought it looked a little weird so I took a closer look. And, lo and behold there was a grasshopper munching on the grape leaves. He was very green and very pretty. It’s kind of weird to describe a grasshopper as pretty but he really was. Well Peeps it’s getting late and I’m feeling sleepy so I am going to quit writing. Tomorrow is a new day with plenty to do. Need to get my rest. Porch out Peeps

Hello Porch Peep Boy, we went from winter to summer. Barely had any spring weather. It was 109* here. Ugghh!!! That being said, I love this time of year. I love the things that are growing like crazy, like tomatoes and apples and lemons. I love that I can swim any time. We have an above ground pool that we bought used 22 years ago. I can hardly believe we’ve had The Farm that long. ... Did you see the honeycrisp Apple? There are two of them on this first year tree. Our new Meyer lemon 3 little lemons. Woot! Woot! Shout out to our friends Luis' Nursery. I had to put in a picture of Jacob Marley. He is over 12 pounds and still growing. Not bad for a trash can baby. He is quite the hunter. He likes to bring us gifts. Today was a squirrel. It escaped and hid in a basket. I took the basket and went outside. He jumped out and ran under the chair on the porch. I figure he will make his escape after we (Lester, Sitka, me, Girly Girl, Jacob and Izzy) are not all on the porch. How many of you spring clean? Housecleaning is not my strong suit. However, because someone stepped out of their comfort zone and was brutally honest with me , I am working on cleaning and downsizing. I also watched a show called Hoarders and it scared the bejeebies out of me. Sooooo, I have been cleaning and getting rid of lots of things. I have been finding treasures like those chicken dish towels in the picture (I love chickens). I also have found things for others too like princess books and craft kits for my little neighbors. Annnnd, I don’t have to buy any crochet projects for a very long time. (Or card making things) The last picture is a reminder for me but, I want to share it with you. Well, Peeps I had some major dental work done yesterday and I am feeling tired so I willl close with this: Collect moments not things. Porch out Peeps

Good morning Porch Peeps! I hope your day is filled with the knowledge that this stuff will not last forever. I am going to challenge you to start each day with making the choice to be joyful. I hope today’s post helps with that. Let me start with the first picture. It’s tiny little honeycrisp apples. As you know, (if you’ve read past posts) I got a honeycrisp apple tree for Valentine’s Day. I did not expect apples this year because it’s a very small tree. Also, we ...Continue reading