Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

I'm wondering if the grapes I found when I was canoeing are wild concord. Maybe I need to look up what they look like and if they grow here.
 
The skin needs to slip easily from the grape, and of course they have seeds and that lovely concord taste. These are a lot smaller than the ones you find in the stores
 
I made grape jelly instead. I used the low-sugar pectin and that was a lot tastier- more actual grape taste instead of just being purple sugar stuff. Now I have a load of chicken in the pressure canner- Cash & Carry had 40lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs for $42.00. I still don't have a source for home-grown chicken so I do what I can.

Next year, I'm planning on increasing my fowl project to include dual-purpose chickens, muscovy ducks, and pygmy geese. Maybe I'll throw in some Silver Appleyard ducks if I can get my order in before they sell out.
Does anyone know if I can house the muscovy ducks with chickens, since they both roost? I'm concerned about the ducks bullying the chickens.

Next on the list is Watermelon Jelly and Watermelon Rind pickles, but I doubt I'll get to those until tomorrow. I still need to finish washing dishes.

DH is outside firing up the grill-- I dug out a package of Tbone steaks, yum! Add some green salad and some home-canned sweet potatoes. Maybe some Jam Thumbprint cookies using some of the grape jelly.

I located my knitting bag under a half-ton of stuff on the chair in the bedroom. I still have 1 more sleeve and the cowl neck for the sweater I've been working on all year. Maybe I'll be able to finish it before the spring?
 
You can house them together, but I don't know that you'd want to. Muscovies are much dirtier than the chickens and always want to play in the water. You put water in a pan, they get in it. You put water in a waterer, they knock it around and spill the water. I don't know if there's any disease that you need to watch between the 2 of them or not.
 
My only experience with a Muscovy housed with chickens was of the negative variety. The Muscovy was a male and he only had one girlfriend.... he didn't think that was enough and didn't mind cross species 'activity!' My hens did not appreciate him and were not the least bit sad when he went on a permanent vacay.
 
i don't house my Muscovy's and chickens in the same house or pen because they both free range but they coexist when out and about. the chickens put themselves away in the hen house at night and the ducks sleep in the goat pen or in my driveway at night. I've never had mine even act like they want to roost on anything. and deb is right, ducks are sooo messy. if it has water in it they are going to swim, fluff or dabble in it. goat water, dog water doesn't matter to them but they have the pond behind the house to play in mostly. but dang girl they taste good. and i have had drakes and roosters get into a tussle but no real damage was done to either so i just let them go at it. wish you were closer i could sure fix you up with some, trade for some of that pear butter or grape jelly:drool
 
Lol @goatgurl that would be a great trade for me! I have ducks already so I know about the mess they make. I don't have any water or food in the actual coop; I let them out in the morning and they can get a small amount of layer pellets and water then, and then a couple hours later we let them out of the closed yard to free range. Nobody seems to mind too much, and the coop stays cleaner and drier that way. I was just worried about the bigger ducks pushing the chickens around.
My Khaki Campbells are going on 3 years old now, and I don't know how much longer they will lay enough eggs to make it worth their feed. The Golden Cascades are larger, and lay almost as many eggs a year. They are about 1 1/2 years old, and still laying right now, though the Campbells have stopped. What I really want though, is some Silver Appleyards; they are pretty, lay pretty well, are big enough to make a decent duck dinner, and are better mothers than most other ducks (except the Muscovys- nobody beats them for mothering!) I want a self-perpetuating flock so I don't have to deal with incubators and brooders.

I finished the chicken thighs- 20 pounds frozen and 20 pounds canned (looks like one seal failure though). I also have the last of the 20 lbs of frozen mixed veggies in the dehydrator. Finished the laundry and have the last of it hanging on the line. Got the weekly kombucha bottled up too. I feel pretty good about what I got done :)

So today, I want to make Watermelon Jelly and start the Watermelon Rind Pickles. When the frozen veggies are finished dehydrating, it will be time to slice up some more potatoes and dry them. And last is a batch of apples to turn into Apple Pie Filling. Wow- is that all that's left? Maybe I'll be able to work in the pantry some more this week. I have a couple more shelves to install, and then I'll be able to move all the jars that are on the floor up to the shelves. I also have more earthquake proofing to do.

I pulled some ground beef out of the freezer to make Taco Soup tonight, with some home made corn tortillas, and those Jam Thumbprint cookies that I never got around to last night (we had the last of the cantaloupe sorbet instead).
 
Taco Soup was a success, and so were the Jam Thumbprint Cookies (I used some of the leftover uncanned stuff from both batches of jellies). Going to make Chicken Cacciatore with the one can of chicken that didn't seal, and the one marinara that didn't seal, and that will take care of those.

Going into town today to have coffee with my girlfriends and deliver some eggs. When I get back, I have the watermelon pickles to can; they had to sit in the pickling mixture overnight, so I'll just let them sit for a few hours more.

My wrists are hurting a bit today; I think it's a combination of all the food preps I've done lately and the weather, so I'm going to take it a bit easy today.

I ended up taking Millie to the vet to check on her stitches and all; she said they look wonderful and Millie is healing very nicely. She'll be able to get a bath in another week.
 
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