Last weekend was really busy...it started off right with a Friday evening date night at the theater to see The Greatest Showman, and then home for a relaxing night cap. That reminds me we're getting low on the hard cider we bottled. I'm hoping the apple crop this year is a bit more bountiful so we can ferment and bottle more. The movie was fun, and if you haven't seen it and enjoy musicals it's worth it in my humble opinion. Hugh Jackman can really sing, maybe one of his mutant powers?
On Saturday I got up early to finish up the bacon I cured, had to smoke the last batch and vacuum seal it for the freezer. An arborist friend of mine, Chris White with Sperry Tree Care (only tree service in the area that I'd ever recommend), gave me a couple chunks of apple wood so I chipped away enough to smoke the last of the bacon. The first batch I used hickory and although it turned out good I wanted to try something different. I'm glad I did, because the apple smoked bacon turned out fantastic, will definitely be my preference choice for bacon in the future. We don't have a cold smoker built yet so I cheated and used our Big Chief heated smoker without using the heat element, I just put chips in a tin can and used a soldering iron which heated the chips enough to smoke them. After smoking I put the bacon back in the fridge over night for the smoke to set over night. I sealed Sunday morning while everyone was sleeping in, something I've never been able to do.
 |
| Slabs of Bacon in Smoker |
 |
| Smoked Bacon Vacuum Sealed |
Saturday was also filled with running around, Theresa picked up some animal feed on sale at Coastal then dropped Zach off at his friend's for a sleepover, and Victoria took off to meet her friend at Valley River Center to browse shops and see a movie. I believe they went to see Coco, another movie I think I'd like to see but maybe just rented from RedBox and in the comfort of the farm house. After Theresa got back from dropping off Zach and both of us unloading the bags of feed she had picked up, we took off to Lane Forest Products to pick up some bare root fruit trees. Once back home we finished off the first Season of Sons of Anarchy with the house to ourselves. Pretty sure we didn't get much else done that night other than finish off a few more hard ciders and snuggle near the pellet stove and TV.
 |
| Selection of Bare Root Trees to Plant |
Sunday was the real busy day. Theresa and I ventured off in the morning to pick up a mocha at our favorite small coffee drive-thru, Old Crow Coffee. If you're in Springfield, Oregon then 72nd Street intersection is the place to get your coffee, at Old Crow. Do it, owner is beautiful and sweet and makes a really nice coffee treat. Boom, I rhymed.
After grabbing coffee we grabbed Zach from his friend's and then ventured home to start planting trees. Victoria got home shortly after and started helping get the trees in. It took lots of tilling and digging to get all the trees in, but it was actually fun. Well, except those moments when I was barking orders and fretting about whether we'd get all the trees planted before dark...
 |
| Tuckered Tractor Driver |
 |
| Tilling the Planting Holes |
 |
| Raking an Leveling Crew |
 |
| Pig Shit Fertilizer |
Just like in the World of Warcraft, "Jobs Done." That was the excitement of planting 2 plum, 2 apricot, 2 peach, 2 cherry, 2 almond, and a pear tree.
I almost forgot, Saturday morning I also finished prepping the cured pork bones and scraps we got from the processor to make dog treats, and I filled the dehydrator. I used a minimal amount of non-iodized table salt and water to cure the bones because sodium and nitrates (in cure salt) aren't good for dogs. Cooked bones aren't good for dogs because they splinter, so I cured and dried them in the dehydrator to make excellent dog treats. The bones have meat and fat scraps attached and are filled with marrow, all natural and healthy for our dogs and yours. I finished vacuum sealing all the treats Sunday night, so if you want some pork bones for your dogs let us know. We'll sell them $4 each.
 |
| Pork Bones & Scraps Cleaned & Prepped for Drying |
 |
| Dehydrator Loaded |
That's another weekend wrap-up, that's all we did. Well, we probably did a few other things in there but our weekends are mostly just dinking around... Come on out for a visit and see for yourself!
No comments:
Post a Comment