Feathered Friday

The Polish chicks have grown in the past few weeks.  They have lost their puffy hat and are starting to get their poufy feathers. 

 

 

Right after I took these pictures we moved them to the nursery pen on the ground.  They are with the older bantam chicks and the new bantam chicks.

 

 

These chicks are still small, but the Polish took a liking to them.  The little ones stay right with the Polish so it made sense to move them all at once.  Chickens prefer to be on the dirt anyway.  Everyone seems to be getting along very well.  They are still young and do not realize they should be anything except good friends.

Canning - Tomatoes & Peach Pie Fillings

I have been doing some canning recently.

 

 

 Canning tomatoes is something I have done for years.  I find it easy if a bit time consuming.  I do buy tomatoes from a local farm so am not really saving a pile of money.  I am supporting a local farmer rather than buying canned tomatoes from who knows where and that are shipped a long way. 

 

 

This year I decided to branch out a bit and try canning pie filling.  I opted to try peach pie filling since those are in season here now.  I almost did not do it after reading a blog that mentioned how extremely hard it was to get the pie filling to turn out properly. To be honest I was a bit nervous after I was not having any problems.  I fully expected it not to work.

 In the end I followed the directions and recipe here and was very pleased with the outcome.  I am planning to try apple or pear pie filling in the fall.  It was the usual time consuming process of preparing the fruit, but I was thrilled with the end result.  One tip make sure you use regular Clear Jel and not instant Clear Jel.  Happy Canning!!