Turkey in the garden this morning!

Looked out the window this morning and this is what I saw checking out the pea patch! Season starts in a week, so this one may be dinner before too much longer!
Sam and I (he's my golden retriever) watched it for several minutes before it finally moved along.

I Love You Three Dots

We've read lots of books to our kids and grandkids, and I've seen some very nice ones over the years. But one new one just made it to the top of our list. It's I Love You Three Dots, by a friend of mine, Mona Haynes.
In it, a mom is helping her young son to learn his numbers, and he asks her about the three dots he sees after each number. She tells him that they mean the idea goes on and on. It's a symbol for something that just keeps going.
Well, the meaning makes quite an impression on him, as we learn later, at bedtime.
It's a wonderful story, and it's available at Amazon.com. Check it out for your own kids, or for anyone who needs reassurance that love does indeed go on forever.

Yum!

We finally cooked up the 20 lbs of chicken leg quarters that were in the freezer, and I canned them this afternoon in the pressure canner. Got 11 pints of chicken meat, and 9 pints of stock for soups, etc. It stores well in the cellar, with no worries about power failure, freezer quitting, and all those kinds of things.
A word to the wise -- if you want to do any canning this season it would be wise to stock up now on jars, lids, etc. Looks like lots of folks are going to try doing it this year, and supplies may get scarce just about time to put up the tomatoes.
Trying to get a line on where to buy the Tattler reusable jsr lids. BackWoodsHome Magazine had an article on them, and they look like the way to go. WIll post more info here as I find it.

It was snowing this morning here in Lisle, NY. Not sticking, but definitely snowing! We've got the fire going now.

Go Fly a Kite!

Granddaughter Cari Grace came over this morning and said that her mom found her new kite, and asked if I could help her fly it. There is no way I'm saying "no" to that! So we went out and had a great time. The wind was too variable in the back yard, so we went across the road and flew some kite!

It's one of my favorite things to do!

Under Way

I got out to the garden yesterday, and fired up the tiller. Only took one pull! Then I got a whole lotta tillin' done! :-)

It was still early when I finished tilling, so I planted two rows of Early Frosty peas, and two rows of Little Marvel peas. More coming later. Now to put up some support fencing.

I'm under no illusions that we'll harvest lots of peas from this planting, because my grandkids love them! When they arrive at the house (later on in the summer) they say Hi, and immediately head out for the garden, and begin munching on fresh green peas! I don't mind a bit -- it's better than watching them chow down on candy bars! I just want to harvest enough to freeze for later.

Peas are about the only thing I freeze any more. I've become leery of the power company here. NYSEG is owned by a Spanish company, and I'm not comfortable that they even care about their upstate customers. So I'm not making any bets on the power staying on 100% of the time. So, we can most everything, using a pressure canner for low-acid foods. Let the power go off -- I'll go down into our nice cool cellar, and retrieve a home-canned jar of chicken soup, or some beets, corn, etc.

But canned peas can be downright nasty!

Happy Easter

HE IS RISEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!