Ended up with twenty-five quarts of green beans today. Not too shabby:)

We will be adding a new addition to our critter family this weekend. We are going to get another goat. She's a young doeling that was born in May. We are trying to think about some neat names for her. Haven't thought of anything yet. We may have to meet her first to really figure out what would suit her. I think next year, we will find her a boyfriend so I can start milking again.

This heat is getting worse! I have to check the animals every hour through the hottest part of the day to make sure nobody's overheating. Running in and out of the air conditioning gives me a migraine, so that's annoying! Put this on top of the green bean canning I have going on all day, I'm getting a bit stressed out. I'll be so glad when this heat breaks.

I picked an entire bushel of green beans yesterday. It took about two hours to just get them picked, another two hours to snap them all and today is the canning. I have seven quarts done, seven more in the canner now and I have no idea how many more by the end of the day. That's not too shabby! Lots of green beans for the winter.

Harvested some this morning. I got some lavender, rosemary, lemon verbena, lemongrass, calendula, and rose petals. Now to do something with it all.

Calendula

Rosemary

Lavender

Rose Petals (these will be added to potpourri)

Lemongrass (top) and Lemon Verbena

I like to harvest herbs a little at a time since I dry them all in different ways. 

Fourteen quarts of green beans done today. Tomorrow, fourteen quarts of rabbit.

 I put several gallons of tomatoes in the freezer, because I know I won't get to them in the next few days. I glanced at the tomatoes in the garden this morning when I picked green beans (for about an hour and a half!), and I wanted to cry. There's so many, I didn't look to hard! I guess when I get the rabbit all done tomorrow, I'll go pick some tomatoes and get at them next, before there's more green beans ready at the end of the week.

 I like the canning but sometimes it's a little overwhelming trying to keep up with that, chores, and household/ every-day stuff. That's ok. It's also a visual at the end of the day to actually see what I accomplished. And I know everything will be worth it this winter:)

I got eight quarts of grape syrup done and canned this morning.

We also have two new litters of bunnies this morning. Will count in a bit, just letting mommas settle in.

I went out to harvest this morning. An hour and half later, I had harvested about 1/3 bushel of grapes (jelly making time!), lemon verbena, lemongrass, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and calendula. Now I just need to get everything taken care of. So much for cleaning the house or getting anything else done today!

The tomatoes need to be added to what I already have in the house. More canned tomatoes coming up!

I will be going back out to harvest more lemon verbena and lemongrass. The calendula is backing off for the year but I should still get a few more flowers before it's done.

Six quarts of green beans and seven of tomatoes done:)

Spent about all day today cleaning the rabbitry. Cages, feeders, scooping black gold for the garden, and getting the new Mini Rex settled into their new homes. Names for the new members: Star, Waffles, Phebee and Zorro.

Finally decided on the new Champagne names too: Shea, Flipper and Moxie.

Shouldn't have to be coming up with any names for a long time, thankfully!

I'm having a day "off" today. By that, I mean no canning today. I feel kind of weird about it though. Like I'm lost and don't know what else to do. Guess housework is next, yuck!

Got the walls painted on the new addition of the rabbit shed today. Lots more to do, but it's a start!

August 8, 2013

The shelves so far.There will be two more on top. Then another whole section beside this one.

Canned seven more quarts of rabbit this morning, along with four quarts of tomatoes. This afternoon, I will be canning some pork loin that I bought the other day.

This is why we're building new shelves for the canned food:)

I think it's long overdue!

I made a trip to our rabbit guy on Saturday to pick up our new Champagne does. We've known we would be getting them in August, we've been waiting all summer. I went to get three does and ended up bringing home four:) Our fourth is a beautiful Blue-Otter Rex. She has been named Violet. We're very excited to have all of our girls home, finally!

Lots of good things happening around here lately. Our oldest son, Daryle, is starting a new job, It is a wonderful opportunity for him and his family. We wish them all the best and are very happy for them.

Things are also looking up for our youngest son, David. We'll keep our fingers crossed that everything works out for him as well.

We heard from our rabbit guy yesterday. His kids show rabbits at their local fair.Anyway, our Rex buck, Scooter, has a full sister that won best in show. They were told by the judge that he could find no fault in her and she should be on the show circuit. We knew we had purchased awesome stock from him, but that's really cool to know!

Our new rabbit cages are here. We ordered them last week in hopes of getting them put together and hung up before we get the new ladies tomorrow. They may have to bunk together for awhile until we get a little extra time. They'll be fine:)

Seven quarts of tomatoes are in the canner.

I went to get the lumber for my soon-to-be shelves that Dewayne is building downstairs for the canned food. I am running out of room in the kitchen. Hopefully, I will have shelves and be a little more organized in the kitchen.

The sauerkraut recipe that I have calls for the kraut to ferment for six weeks, but is edible at two weeks. Dewayne tried a bite and said it wasn't bad, but does need to go longer. Now we at least know that we can do up the rest of the cabbage we harvested tonight (something has been eating it!)

We're going to try some of the sauerkraut that I started a few weeks ago. I hope it isn't disgusting.

It's been a slow week around here for some things and busy with others. The "normal" things like canning is slow, I only did six quarts of tomatoes yesterday. The green beans are slowing down and almost done in one section of the garden and  just starting in the other, so there's a little gap of time for me to do something else. The tomatoes are coming on nicely, but we want to eat them as we pick them. Until we get our fill, there may not be to many going in the canner:)

We also have a gap in rabbit butchering. We plan to do a litter on Sunday though. I will have them to can next week along with green beans and tomatoes. I actually should work on some soup, I guess. I could make and can that. OR, I could just enjoy the "time off".