'Tis Hunting Time—A smallish blog

[Okanagancook]

Thank you for taking the time to do this.  Always a hoot.

[ElsieD]

Looking forward to this!

[Shelby]

Good morning!

 

Well, I guess we're full steam ahead for our friend tomorrow.  Time has been flying by.  I've tried to squeeze in some cleaning here and there such as the lights in the kitchen, but I am (as usual) not as prepped as I should be.  I made sandwich bread and put it in the freezer, but since then we've eaten it all 🤣🙄.   

 

Ronnie has been out working on blinds and scouting.  Not many doves or teal around.  Not sure how great the hunting will be.  Weather is supposed to be high's in the 90's and there hasn't been any cold weather to send them down here.  But, that's why it's called hunting right? lol.

 

I did a little decorating over the last few days.  Got the pumpkin patch picked.

 

 

During the September visits the garden overlaps into the hunting so I guess I should have named the blog a bit differently lol.

 

We've never had such a great tomato year.  I've posted on the garden thread a bit.  The weather must have just been perfect I guess.  We even planted a month later than normal, but maybe that was what did the trick?  A couple months ago a storm took out like 20 plants and I was so upset....I cannot imagine having 20 more plants worth of tomatoes lol.  I took a few pictures but I'm not sure they show how tall and lush the plants are.  Some are probably 5 and a half feet tall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ronnie is in the middle there somewhere and he's 6' tall.

 

I have been canning every day and I'll have to keep doing that while he's here for sure.  I'm dying to try making tomato paste but it seems like it's a long process and I haven't had time--I really haven't even done much research but what I've read is it takes like 6 hours?

 

 

This is this mornings pick and what I have on the counters as we speak.

 

 

 

 

So.  Yeah.  Not complaining.  I love tomatoes.  But you can see I've got my work cut out for me.  I've done some homemade Rotel (just jalapeños, salt and cumin), a couple batches of spaghetti sauce, juice....  At least I won't have to worry about if I have enough to make salsa for an appetizer.🤣

 

Well, I'm off to clean the house.  My cleaning angel has Lyme's disease and she's having a really really rough time so she hasn't been here for a few weeks. If I don't come back, send help, I'm probably stuck under the bed in a pile of cat hair and dust.

[KennethT]

Yay!!!  Do you prune the suckers of your tomato plants?  So much vegetative growth!  I'd be worried about mold in the middle, but that's just me thinking indoors where mold is probably much more of a problem.

[curls]

Sorry that your cleaning angel has Lyme’s disease. Thanks in advance for this segment of the blog, so looking forward to it!!! Your tomatoes look amazing!

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

Yay!!!  Do you prune the suckers of your tomato plants?  So much vegetative growth!  I'd be worried about mold in the middle, but that's just me thinking indoors where mold is probably much more of a problem.

No, I've never pruned them--that would have helped me out I bet this year had I known what I'm up against lol... and there isn't any mold.   That might have happened had it rained more??   The tomatoes look like the perfect ones you see in the store only they taste like a tomato should taste.  It'll probably never happen this way again.

[gfweb]

3 minutes ago, Shelby said:

No, I've never pruned them--that would have helped me out I bet this year had I known what I'm up against lol... and there isn't any mold.   That might have happened had it rained more??   The tomatoes look like the perfect ones you see in the store only they taste like a tomato should taste.  It'll probably never happen this way again.

 

We had a rainy summer , mostly. Our tomatoes got the wilt and we got a meager harvest.

And a squirrel got our lone apple and all the peaches on the smaller tree.

But the big tree bore like a monster ,and the peppers and lettuce/chard were great.

 

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

We had a rainy summer , mostly. Our tomatoes got the wilt and we got a meager harvest.

And a squirrel got our lone apple and all the peaches on the smaller tree.

But the big tree bore like a monster ,and the peppers and lettuce/chard were great.

 

I'm sorry about your tomatoes  .  I wish I could shove some through the computer to you.

[rotuts]

@Shelby

 

Wow .  what a harvest !

 

hoping a small family of Fruit Flies 

 

don't show up Your Way !

 

[David Ross]

7 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Shelby

 

Wow .  what a harvest !

 

hoping a small family of Fruit Flies 

 

don't show up Your Way !

 

Every year when I see this thread I smile.  I'm looking forward to seeing some wild duck dishes, hopefully the hunt will be good this season.

[heidih]

Step 1: breathe    Step 2: The Hunter will not be doing a white glove test

 

Great pumpkins.  You guys must come out of that tomato thicket covered in yellow dust? And smelling interesting? 

 

Thank you SO much for taking the time to blog about the experience while you are so busy. Is your wine supply adequate?

[FauxPas]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

If I don't come back, send help, I'm probably stuck under the bed in a pile of cat hair and dust.

 

Or lost in the tomato thicket/maze, ha. Wow, those tomato plants look formidable. How did you manage to cage/support them? 

 

What do the cats think about all the tomatoes in their space?   🙂

 

[Shelby]

3 hours ago, heidih said:

Step 1: breathe    Step 2: The Hunter will not be doing a white glove test

 

Great pumpkins.  You guys must come out of that tomato thicket covered in yellow dust? And smelling interesting? 

 

Thank you SO much for taking the time to blog about the experience while you are so busy. Is your wine supply adequate?

LOL yes, my arms are also slightly green from going through the plants--and yes, that spicy, tomato-y smell hangs with me until I hit the shower.

 

Talking with you guys and taking pictures actually helps me feel more organized for some reason...or maybe I should say motivated 🙃

 

We went to the liquor store yesterday 😁I should have enough to get through, but if not, I can always start on the vodka.

 

[Shelby]

53 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

Or lost in the tomato thicket/maze, ha. Wow, those tomato plants look formidable. How did you manage to cage/support them? 

 

What do the cats think about all the tomatoes in their space?   🙂

 

LOL it is like a maze.  Every year I think I've planted them far enough apart and every year it seems like Twister trying to get through them.  We caged them and then pounded two stakes--one on each side.  Some are very top-heavy though and we've had to add more stakes.

 

Oh the cats HATE their space being taken up.  I catch Newman using his little paw to shove tomatoes off the counter quite often. 🙄

[lemniscate]

Maybe making tomato paste in a crock pot(s) would take some of the daunt out of the long cooking task.   

 

Tomato confit sounds great and maybe more unattended long cooking.  She does say at the end of the recipe it can be waterbath'd for long term storage. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by lemniscate (log)

[heidih]

On the tomatoes - I think your pretty firm line in the sand about no skins factors in.  I've never had near your bounty but I'd freeze them whole - no prep - peel easy after defrost. Cut in half and roast with herbs like oregano, thyme, rosemary + olive oil. Freeze. But I did with skin on so...They reduce quite a bit.  Dead easy pasta sauce starter. You can food mill them before use to remove the evil skins.  Again freeze.  I swear I am not jealous- my eyes really are green when I wear a green top

Edited September 13, 2021 by heidih (log)

[SLB]

On 8/9/2021 at 4:47 PM, Shelby said:

So, hopefully, I'll see you all back here in a few weeks for maybe a bit of feeling  normal like it used to before the plague.

 

Yay!  Yay!  YAY!!  

 

<ChannellingChumShimmyingOverHere>

 

[lindag]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

LOL yes, my arms are also slightly green from going through the plants--and yes, that spicy, tomato-y smell hangs with me until I hit the shower.

 

Talking with you guys and taking pictures actually helps me feel more organized for some reason...or maybe I should say motivated 🙃

 

We went to the liquor store yesterday 😁I should have enough to get through, but if not, I can always start on the vodka.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by lindag (log)

[lindag]

3 minutes ago, lindag said:

oops

 

[Shelby]

OMG it's Tuesday already.

 

Yesterday I got the whole house clean all by myself lol.  Took a shower and then started canning about 2 pm.  Got that done around 5:30 then started on a big pot of venison chili so that I'd have something for a couple of lunches this week--and that's also what we had for dinner last night.  I was too tired to remember to take pictures, but you've seen my chili a million times anyway.

 

I just got in from the garden.  The cats are sleeping peacefully beside me as I type.  Little do they know the disruption that is getting ready to occur.  They got a lot of time off from strange humans being in the house.

 

Some of yesterdays canning

 

This mornings pick

 

 

You guys might not see anything but a bunch of tomatoes for a week 🤣

[TicTac]

Always enjoy your hunting blogs.  Thank you for taking the time to share with us, as always @Shelby!

 

 

[Shelby]

Phew.  I didn't stop once all day yesterday.  I could really crawl back into bed and sleep a while longer, but today promises to be another busy one.

 

Our friend arrived at 10:30 yesterday morning.  His first time flying during the pandemic.  Baffling that they serve drinks and food on flights still....what's the point of masks when everyone takes them off to eat and drink??  After picking him up, they immediately went to the seed store and bought 400 lbs. of rye to plant out by the shooting house.  The deer love to eat it.  They loaded up the tractor and they will be planting it today after they dove hunt I think.  Scout went with them...Chum is here with me.

 

Back to yesterday.  My bowl of cherry tomatoes was overflowing so I quickly sliced some up and put them on a tray and drizzled olive oil over the top with some sea salt.  I do them in the CSO at 250 F for 3-4 hours.  Then, I put them in a quart jar and keep them covered with more olive oil.  They keep that way for a long time--well, we haven't died yet from eating them, anyway.

 

 

I was planning on canning just regular tomatoes, but Ronnie  told our friend about the spicy tomato juice that is a by-product of making Rotel tomatoes.  I had just enough jalapeños to do a batch, so that happened.  

 

 

 

I doubt the juice will last longer than today.  And, unless they stop and get some more, I'm out of peppers.

 

In-between all the canning I threw a pork roast in the IP with a bunch of tomatoes, cumin, garlic and salt and pressure cooked that for an hour for enchiladas.  I made a green enchilada sauce a few weeks ago out of some tomatillos and froze it so that made it easier.  Also, I had made a green salsa and froze that, so I heated that up a bit for dipping chips in.

 

 

I had about 6 avocados in the fridge but only 3 were decent enough to eat.  CRAP.  I wanted guacamole......but then I remembered a co-worker that used to work at a really popular sandwich place in the big city.  She made huge batches of guac that people LOVED.  Her trick was adding cream cheese.  I know that sounds weird, but its really good and it stretches the avocados when you don't have enough.

 

And of course, I made salsa.  A huge amount of salsa.  We have salsa for days lol.

 

 

Pork enchiladas with RG beans

 

 

 

In the middle of making dinner it hit me that they will be wanting breakfast.  Arrrrgh....how could that have slipped my mind???  I forgot to take pictures but it was just a boring ham and egg sandwich of which I broke both eggs.  Sigh.

 

And then I went to bed and didn't wake up until 5:15 when Ronnie got up.

 

I'm off to pick the garden...and to ponder dinner ideas.....

Edited September 15, 2021 by Shelby (log)

[heidih]

oh my! Good Chum stayed with you - talking out loud to empty space can feel a little off Food all sounds drool worthy. I am ure yiur hunter tells you how much he appreciates your cooking. Interesting on the rye planting. We learn here all the time. 

[Shelby]

The boys usually inspect the harvest each morning.

 

 

AND, they got into some doves!

 

 

 

 

[Shelby]

Good morning!

 

The guys got up at 5 again.  Which means I was awake too lol.  They are doing a lot of tractor work and planting so they left Scout and Chum home with me.  They are NOT happy about that.  We all tried to go back to sleep, but it was a lost cause.  So, I'm up, but I'm not moving around very fast.

 

I canned, of course lol, yesterday.  Right before I was getting ready to jar them up the guys walked in with a bag of jalapeños.  Subtle hint for more spicy juice.  So I added jalapeños at the last minute to make that happen.  More rotel for the shelves.

 

 

Breakfast burritos for this morning.  Used up my next to last bag of Hatch chiles.  Need to get some of those ordered.

 

 

 

 

I don't know that I've ever posted about this before.  Every year the government sends a big packet of envelopes and asks Ronnie to send the wings of all of the birds that he gets.--ducks, doves, geese etc.  I wish I had kept the letter that comes with it.  If I recall correctly he's like one of twenty five people across the country that they ask to do this.  Of course, they might just say that to make you feel special so that you participate lol.  So, he saves all the wings, puts them in the inner envelope and then into the bigger envelope and mails them in.

 

 

 

 

 

So, doves for dinner!

 

I am sure these have been on here before...I make a slit on each side of the breast and stuff with onions and jalapeños.  Wrap each dove in bacon and marinate in Dale's and salt and pepper.

 

 

The guys grilled out on the porch

 

 

While I made okra

 

 

Sliced tomatoes

And scalloped potatoes

 

 

The finished doves

 

 

Oh and a fig gallette for dessert

 

 

I'm thinking about skipping canning today and making a huge pot of spaghetti sauce instead but I need to see what meat I have...that will give me time to bake some bread for BLT's.  

 

I better hurry up and get out to the garden before it gets any hotter.  It's certainly not feeling like fall around here!