August Weekend at the Farm

This weekend was mine to be on the farm --because someone's got to stop the zucchinis and the melons from exploding....

Saturday morning I hit the Eau Claire, WI Downtown Farmer's Market to scope out my soon-to-be stomping grounds' goods

It's a really nice little market, I filled bags with produce that we don't have on the farm,

like peaches

I spent a good portion of my evening tonight canning those peaches

and beets from the farm, since it's been on my to-can list, and the canner was already hot.

I did a mixture of red beets and gold beets--they're both so pretty. Beets and Peaches are two foods that my Grandma used to can that I know my Dad is a big fan of, so here's hoping I did them justice.

There is so much good food around here right now. These sweet, red Carmen Peppers are awesome (the little ones are hot Serranos) and I haven't gotten to make anything with them yet--there's just so much other stuff, it's nuts. I wish I had more people around here to share all of this with--come on over! Seriously. Do.

Some of the pumpkins here are starting to get BIG

And this is the biggest zuchinni I have ever seen

not the ideal size, it must have been a really good hider until, well, I don't know how you hide at this size. Not many want to eat giant zucchini--some will bake with them, but you know who loves to eat them?

The Chickens!

I decided I should try to take some video of them, as they are just so entertaining.

They really are good girls. And they are now Rooster-less. It's a little sad, but he wasn't a very nice Rooster and farm animals are bred to be functional, as fun as they are.... he wasn't very fun (at all really) and his aggression deterred his and our functionality concerning the ladies... so, Rest in Peace little guy.

I'll leave you with some sky pictures, because I love the sky so....

And also with this ad. As I skimmed an Eau Claire publication looking for jobs and community involvement opportunities, I came upon this. I love it--I may even check it out. Maybe I'll join. I always thought I might make a good crazy cat lady...