Bremen’s outdoor market ended on the last Wednesday in September. I started reflecting on the last 12 months thinking about the progresses I have made this year, new ideas, how I can do things better, and where I fell short. For this post, I plan to share thoughts that pertain to the summer months.
What I am most excited about
I located 2 Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner cockerels in July and added them to CG Heartbeats Farm. Clinch and Cisco will be joining the Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner hens in November. I hope to be able to give each a few hens to create 2 lines of LCN chickens here. Pen space is a commodity here over the winter months. It may be this spring until I divide the 2 boys giving each of them their own hens. The girls are molting right now, but once the boys join them and they are laying eggs, I will start incubating their eggs.
I also made a trip to Nashville, Tennessee. I met with other bloggers and found myself encouraged. Look for a post coming soon about that trip.
Project Updates
I grew 11 new vegetables in 2019. Here they are: Glass Gen Popcorn, 3 varieties of onions, a new garlic variety, Spanish Rojo, carrots, Jacob’s Cattle bean, sugar baby watermelon, red potatoes, butternut squash, and 2 heirloom tomatoes, a cherry variety and a larger one. Foods I produced that were not new: sweet potatoes, German, Music, and Montana varieties of garlic, crooked neck squash, and black raspberries.
I canned tomato juice for the first time. The last time I canned anything was 20 years ago. I feel fulfilled, and strong when thinking about canning again. I find the home preserved food tastes better. Yes, it takes energy beyond what shopping in a store does, but to be honest nothing like cleaning stalls for 6 to 8 hours a day. In some ways it is easy, depending on what I compare it to. Looking at jars of food stored for winter is like having a full barn of hay before winter sets in. I have been known in the past to compare that to the feeling one gets with having money in a savings account. Canning is future provision. I feel prepared for the coming months. Of course, to date this year, I have only canned tomato juice, but no the less, I am back at it!
I ate wild grapes for the first time this year and tasted a crab apple. The wild grapes tasted rather tart and often I puckered up my face while eating them. Organic and natural, I ate them on occasion.
Markets
I enjoyed attending the Culver Farmer’s Markets on Lake Maxinkuckee. The breezes kept it cooler in the heat of summer. I met new people and found new opportunities. This market runs on Tuesdays from 5 to 7 May through August and Saturdays from 9am to 1pm Beginning the second weekend of May through the third weekend of October. As I write this, there are 3 Saturday outdoor Culver Markets left. Are you local to Culver, Indiana? Be sure to stop out. If you are not local you may still visit the market, at least through my eyes via the blog post Culver Farmer’s Market.
I attended Bremen Farmer’s Market for the 2nd summer this year. A variety of vendors came and went while about half showed up almost every week. Bremen’s Market will be in a new location next summer. There are plans improve the downtown, but while the improvements happen, the market will have a temporary location for the summer of 2020.
Winter markets will be starting up soon. I am trilled to see an increase in local indoor winter markets that plan to be open the entire winter. This provides an opportunity for communities to purchase local food. I am researching and learning how to keep food fresh longer without any chemicals or additions to the food. I sometimes stop to ponder what did folks do 500 years ago? 1000 years ago? The human race survived long before the modern food options and diets we have today. The Native Americans possessed countless skills and a lifestyle that allowed them to survive. I believe it important to record and at times use the skills that right now do not seem important for survival.
Chickens
I continue to learn about the three breeds raised here at CG Heartbeats Farm, Swedish Flower Hens, Silver Gray Dorkings, and Lemon Cuckoo Niederrheiner and chickens in general. Adding the new LCN cockerels in July was probably the most exciting event of the summer. I also tested the LCN hen’s fertility by crossing them with a Swedish Flower Hen rooster. The chicks are cute as can be and will be pretty chickens. I will, likely, part with these as pretty laying hens.
On a Personal Note
Summer 2019 provided the opportunity to spend with family. A visit with my 93-year old aunt, who traveled 11 hours to visit family in Michigan and Indiana, reminded me of the importance of my relationship with Jesus and that I hope I have a few of her genes. I love her spunk. Time spent with cousins, other aunts, a few of them encourage me in my homesteading ventures. I need all of that I can get. I did not take a trip out west this past summer, as I have the last 3 summers. A memory came to me this morning that a year ago, I woke up in Pigeon Forge, TN. That was a special trip. These recollections helped me stay focused this summer, along with this coming Holiday Season and the plans I am making with my sisters. Isn’t it beautiful that as the seasons faithfully come and go, they bring different memories and opportunities to make new ones?
Do you know the biggest change I recognize as the summer ends? While not visible to the human eye, it is rather a feeling in my heart. For the first time in several years, I am content with this journey I am on. As I shared in the blog post Seasons, I typically struggle adjusting to change, even the ones I choose. It has been hard to walk away from my dreams of a barrel racing championship, and my love of foaling out mares. The contentment I feel in the new path, I trust, has much to do with peace that passes understanding, the growth in my relationship with Jesus and less to do with my circumstances.
I feel excited to be growing and look forward to growth across all areas of my life. I recently felt the strong defeat of failure, but then I remembered I had just learned a new thing. I needed the lesson to grow and become better at what I do. Onward on this fabulous journey!!
