Going on a Pawpaw Hunt

The Pawpaw, also known as the Prairie Banana, the Ohio Banana etc. Around the Fresh Egg's Farm Homestead, we eat a LOT of bananas. We love them. They are so soft and tasty and delicious in a bowl of cereal...and also have a VERY large footprint. To say that we will omit bananas from our diet is just not likely; however, we've heard of a way that we can make that footprint a little smaller with the addition of pawpaws into our diet.
We heard of pawpaws just a couple of years ago, but never had the opportunity to try them. They aren't sold in grocery stores, because they don't have a very long shelf life. There is a Pawpaw Festival in Ohio (about 3 hours from where we live) - but it always falls on the weekend of both the Pork Festival (right here in our own community) and the nearby Wool Festival - and let's face it...fiber and racing pigs trump a long drive for some fruit.
We did plant two pawpaw trees on the property. I know, it's crazy to plant fruit that we've never even tasted - what if we hated them? If we hate them, we'd be happy to donate them to a school or shelter in the area. But, on the bright side - what if we LOVE them? I just wish we could figure out a way to try them out and know what to expect when we get fruit (in several years).
Last year; however, we heard, at another festival called the "Fall Gathering," at our local historical society that they had pawpaw trees right there in the forest area that surrounds the historical society property. At that time, it was past pawpaw season and we missed our window. But this year, I promised myself that I would remember to venture out and check those trees around September to see if we could try those sweet fruits.
Saturday morning, we got the kids ready for a hike and drove about 15-20 minutes from our house to walk through the property of the historical society and see what we could forage for. We walked through a corn field, along the edge of the forest - looking up, as much as we could, without tripping along the trail. We found leaves that looked similar to the leaves we see on our very small pawpaw trees.


This looks like the size and shape of the pawpaw leaves....but no fruit.

Hmmpt...keep walking...don't give up! Along the walk, we did find a few other cool things.

This is the style of door I want to use in the upper level of the barn. They had them on the stalls of their restrooms.

I just love the bark on this tree.



Fungus!

Well hello Caterpillar...don't you look beautiful today.

We saw tons of trees that looked like pawpaws - maybe we were too late again on the fruit...maybe we missed that window and would need to try again in a year. UGH. Disappointment! But then, WHAT is THAT??? We found a tree that had just a few of the little green fruits on some pretty high branches - I'm guessing that animals have taken their pick at the low hanging fruit. We worked to pull the tops of the branches down and reach those fruit. You could feel the excitement from the kids - they were proud that they help spot the fruit and couldn't wait to try it.

My little foragers - Mark, Gage, Drake and Cora.

Cora found some nice pieces of feed corn that were still in the field, after harvest. We also found a black walnut seed, a few other seed pods (Mark collects seed pods for teaching), and this is just three of the 10 pawpaws that we harvested.

The inside of the pawpaw - those brown pieces are pawpaw seeds - you don't eat those or the skin. But that sweet, cream colored flesh around the seeds is what you DO eat and it is DELICIOUS!

I can't wait until our pawpaw trees grow stronger and begin to fruit. I know it will be several years from now, but it will be great when they do. For now, we know where we can go to snag a couple each year and tide us over. They are free, delicious, natural and healthy - the perfect substitute for bananas!!!!

So now what?

The roof project has been hanging over our heads for so long...it's been the topic of many conversations, a handful of fights, a ton of blog and facebook posts ...so now what? Right now, we are a little strapped for cash. Between the rough, hot summer (meaning higher utility bills) and being too tired to whip up an amazing dinner (meaning that the ONE place that delivers to us is practically our best friend) - so bigger projects are on hold. As I mentioned before, we still have siding and doors ($$) to put on along with painting to get done before the winter gets here. We have the paint, just need to pull together the $350 (approx) for the siding. We also need to talk to our hay provider to get a few more loads of hay into our loft ($$), before the weather gets rough. We also want to stock up on both animal and human food...just in case. Last winter was so mild, I'm afraid we are due for "the big one" around here. I'm worried about lots of snow and ice - I worry that we'll lose power. I want to be prepared for all of that. I want to make sure that we have a full oil delivery ($$), a pantry filled with canned goods ($$), and a full propane tank (to cook food outside on the grill and the two-burner stove I got for my birthday, just in case $$). We just need to budget and make a plan of when we are going to get everything we need. We'll be fine...we just need to figure out plan A and plan B. Oh! AND we are planning on converting our other shed (10 ft. x 12 ft.) - the one the alpacas were in originally, into our chicken coop. I'm not sure if I want to paint it red to match the barn, or keep it blue to match the house?? Hmmmm.....

The soon-to-be chicken coop is on the right in this picture. The fencing has been taken down (this was Blossom and Josie's original home, when they first got here) - we'll be adding a cute little picket fence, just high enough to deter the chickens from breaking out. On the longer side, we'll be cutting in a door/window long enough for us to reach in and grab fresh eggs from the breeder boxes that we'll be building - we'll make sure that we can lock it all up and keep the ladies nice, safe and warm.

It will be amazing if Mark gets a job soon (BTW - he's got an interview Friday - so fingers crossed, lots of prayers and happy thoughts would be appreciated) - if he gets hired and starts to get a few paychecks under his belt, then doing all these $$ projects will just fall into place.
In the meantime, while Mark is still here during the day, we can focus on things like cleaning out the gutters, weed whacking some of the gardens that are more weeds than anything else, we need a "chain saw" day to cut down/back/apart some of the wood that we have on the property. We've definitely started a list of things that need to happen around here. So just when you think we'll get a nice...long....break - BAM! Dust off your shoulders, give your sleeves another roll, slap each other on the ass and get back to it LOL!
Hey, if you give me a little bit to create the post, we are going to update the Mabel the Milking Goat blog - we'll have pictures and videos and all kinds of info about how and why we get our milk from our back yard. Check it out!

Just a quick note to say...

THE BARN ROOF IS COMPLETE!!!!!!!!!!!

Side by Side



So much change in just two years!



Back to School

Good morning,

Gage, Drake and Cora - first day of school!

Cora and Daddy, killing some time before her school starts.

I cannot believe that summer is officially over and that school has begun. All three kids are starting new schools and we were a bundle of nerves on the first day. This is the first year that everyone got off, without a single tear. Ahh...they are getting so big. 

That first picture, above, is the three of them together - every year, we take that first morning picture and it's always the same...we are in the rush of getting out the door, and I stop and say, alright, time for a picture - they stop, turn around and line up - all sleepy eyed. I say "act like you like each other" and this is what I get. A great picture of my sweet babies. We drop each of them of at their schools - typically in a flurry of "you have your lunch? you have your backpack? you have everything you need?" Hugs, kisses, I love yous and off they go. My kids are pretty awesome. They are similar enough to get along, but different enough that they can learn from each other. They all have their father's sense of humor...meaning that they are hilarious. They are all so intelligent and fascinating and gorgeous! We are very lucky parents. I'm hoping for a great year for each of them. It's already starting pretty good - they each hopped off their busses in the afternoon and told us about their days and how they aren't too bad....


Same kiddos...same time...last year :-)



It's late...I'm tired

It was a long day at work for me. It's 11:30 PM and I just got home. It was nice to meet up with a bunch of my co-workers from a different team. I work for a great company and I'm blessed with an awesome job.
AND while I was gone, Mark kicked butt on the barn roof. There are technically 4 tiers to our barn roof, two larger areas on the sides and two smaller areas near the peak. Well, he has put the shingles up entirely on the two larger areas!!!! He.is.awesome.

Monday, Monday...start at the bottom :-)

Mark has been doing an amazing job with the roof. He's all the way to top of the first layer, on the right side and working his way across. By the looks of it, he might be done by this Friday! Which would be AMAZING!

Same side of the roof - slightly different angle.

Mark - on the roof!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE the shingles?

Seriously, aren't the shingles awesome!

...and because I thought you could use some farm cuteness...There is Ollie and Jester in the barn hallway, snuggling.

My first attempt at canning grape jelly...which ended up more like grape sauce.

Putting the grapes through the food mill. Kinda not so attractive.

Grape skins and canning jars.

Grape skins.

Grapes!!!!!

How the grapes started.

Starting to de-skin.

Grape skins.

Um...this is going to take longer than I thought!

Frankie has the most beautiful eyes.

Itty, Frankie and Steve snuggling under their favorite bush.

This weekend started pretty rough. I got a phone call on Friday morning. It was my mother calling to say that her best friend, since 3rd grade, passed away unexpectedly. She was heartbroken. I grabbed a shower and took a PTO day and went to be with my parents. It was tough to see how hurt my parents are, but I'm so glad I had the opportunity to be there to support them.
The next two days, we spent working on the barn - we NEED to get the shingles up. With the cooler weather, it's been a constant reminder of winter and thus the need to give our animals a comfortable home. The open shelter of a barn has been great during the hot summer we've had - but now we need to finish the siding and the roof...hence the rush of activity you are seeing here.
Sunday - well, that was the official, back to school shopping day. The kids had some extra money burning holes in their pockets, so we took them to a few places of their choice to look at video games and clothes. We grabbed school supplies and a ton of groceries.
I also tried to make grape jelly..and well...not so much. Meh! Next time :-)