Hunting Stand

We own 16 acres in Madison township that Lee hunts on.  He has two tree stands there.  He put up a camera last week to see what was there.  Here are two videos that he got.

 

We do not know if the bear was trying to get an apple off the tree or was checking out the deer lick.

 

 

PawPaws

Have you every heard of or seen Pawpaws.  The taste like a cross between bananas and mangos.  Our friends have a tree and don't like them so they told us we could have them.  They have three trees.  The deer clean them up every night so we only got what was on the trees.

Pawpaw tree

Pawpaws and the seeds out of one.

The only bad thing about them are the seeds.  They are like the seeds that used to be in bananas when we were younger the banana seeds were small so we just ate them.  But as you can see pawpaw seeds are not small and they are scattered thru the fruit.
Alan said that this is the only citrus fruit that will grow this far north.  I am going to try planting some here and at Brad's.

Strip District of Pittsburgh

On a raining Saturday morning we decided to check out the Strip District of Pittsburgh.  A different kind of whole foods.

 

Our favorite was the Chinese store really interesting things and good prices.  We did not get any pictures of it.

Living of the land

It has been a long harvest season.  Both freezers are full with fruits and vegetables.  Only thing left is a big clothes hamper of butternut squash.  Judging from last year is should be around 35 pts.

My canning room is full don't know where I am going to put the butternut squash when it is canned.

 

 

Elderberry Syrup

Well we are ready for cold and flu season with lots of Elderberry Syrup.  Mine is extra strong because I did not add the water to my elderberry juice that all the recipes called for I hope it is not too thick.  I got 26 1/2 pints and 10 pints.

I will be bringing some with me when I come to visit next week.  Barb I will bring the pint jars for you and your family.

Myers family

Today we went to my cousin Cathy's son Scott's house for a cook out.  It was good to see aunt Phyllis and uncle Herman, cousins Cathy, Penny, Tim, Linda, Gordon, and Beverly and some of their children and grand children.

Does everything have to come ripe at the same time?

These last two weeks have been super busy with canning, freezing and dehydrating.
Tomatoes, broccoli, corn, elderberries, apples, pears and mushrooms.  The dehydrator is going all the time with something in it.  I am canning or freezing almost everyday.

 

 

Tomorrow we do pears and maybe corn.  My canning room is almost filled.  My freezers are full.  My basement refrigerator is full.

Apple Picking

I took advantage of Brad being here to get all the apples picked for apple sauce and juice.  He used the picker on top the big daddy gator bed so he could reach high up for the apples.

 

I put the apples on the front porch because I didn't want any fruit flies in the house.  I was not going to can them for a couple of days.

 

I joked about a bear finding them on the front porch.  Well guess who showed up Saturday night.

 

He is eating the apples that were too small or split that we put out for the deer.  He did not go on the porch but he did get my bird feeder and cracked it.

 

1st of the Harvest Season

The harvest season has started I have 20 bags of strawberries and 20 bags of raspberries in the freezer.  I have 9 pts. of berry juice made from last years berries.  I made apple sauce the other day.

 

 

Yesterday was broccoli and zucchini for the freezer.

 

Beets and cucumbers are ready to can now. Blueberries are ready to pick.

 

 

Sad time in PA

Monica had been here almost 3 weeks.  We had so much fun.  She left today and I already miss her. We biked!

 Monica got me a new juicer!
 
 
 

           We picked berries almost every day!


We took golf cart rides thru the woods looking for mushrooms and wild flowers.  Monica always came home with some wild flowers.  She had them all over the house and even on the porch.  She cooked great meals.  It was like being at a fancy restaurant.  ( I didn't have money to pay so I did the dishes).
 

Bilgers Rock Mushroom Walk

Today we met fellow mushroom hunters at Bilgers Rock and did a walk.  We found lots of mushrooms but not many edible ones.  It was a nice private park.

 

 

The park was having a tractor day.  Lee enjoyed the tractors and the kids enjoyed the hayride and scavenger hunt.

Kinzua Bridge

My sister Barb, her son Fred, her grandson Mike, Monica and Eric were visiting us the first week in July.  We took a day trip to the Kinzua Bridge and Elk country.

 

We stopped and had Elk Burgers on the way home.  Just as we were leaving Elk country we saw an elk along the road.

 





Apple Tree

It rained all night.  We woke up this morning to find our small apple tree laying on the ground.  I know what our next job will be.  It had lots of apples on it but we do not know if they were good or not it did not have apples last year.

Birds update

One week after the baby birds were rescued they had most of their feather and were flapping their wings so I took their picture thinking they might fly the nest soon.

 

I was right the next afternoon one flew the nest. One flew on Wednesday and the last one flew the nest Thursday afternoon.  He flew to the handicapped porch rail on my front porch.  He must have spent the night on the porch because I found bird dropping all over the porch.

 

We now watch them in the back yard following mother bird around then they will fly back up in the trees.  They are so big now and can fly pretty far.