Quiet

After 3 days with a house full of people we are adjusting to quiet once again. Jeff informed everyone last night that they were leaving at 9:00 A.M. and they got on the road home right on time. He told them the "bus" was leaving and he would leave without them if they weren't ready--I rather expect that was a bluff but the whole crew managed to be ready. We did snap a few pix before they got on the road. We would have liked to have had all of the kids and grandkids here but were happy to have 3 of our 4 children and 7 of our 10 grandchildren here.



In the photo on the left is, from left to right, Darryl, Anna and Mark. In the picture on the right is, left to right in the back row Beth, Naomi (being held by Beth), Jessica, Cory, Malchiah (held by Cory). In the front row is Montana (Tana) and Ramiah.

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Brunch

We have just finished our brunch, cleaned up the kitchen and are now relaxing. Everyone was in agreement that we had quite a feast. Darryl made a huge platter of pancakes. I cooked up the venison backstrap we took from a young doe we dressed out last Sunday evening. There were approximately 50 small, thin pieces of meat and not a one was left over. I also fried approximately a couple dozen eggs, Connie made 2 and 1/2 dozen blueberry muffins and Danny made a large fruit salad. Darryl whipped some cream to put on the fruit salad or on the pancakes. Danny contributed homemade maple syrup. Those that wanted it had fresh milk to drink. There were only 6 or 7 muffins and approximately a like number of pancakes left. If we have room we will be enjoying another feast later this afternoon. Both Darryl and Connie are cooking nice venison roasts. Of course there is potatoes and sweet potatoes to go with them. I'm not sure just what all else we will have but I don't believe anyone will go away from the table hungry.

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Deer

I mentioned in the previous post about receiving another deer. I might explain that we have let it be known the last couple of years that we here on the farm would like any deer that others have taken during the hunting season and didn't care to keep for themselves. And, each year we have received several.

Kentucky has several deer hunting seasons, archery, crossbow, muzzleloader, modern gun, youth-only firearm and even a free youth weekend. Darryl has not been successful as of yet in the archery season, but there is time left--it continues until Jan. 19, 2009. Muzzleloader season is split--two days in October (18th and 19th) and 9 days in December (13th-21st). During the two days in October Darryl successful harvested a nice doe. During the modern gun season he was able to bag 2 more does and I, after missing a couple of good shots, managed to get a nice young 6 point buck. As one can legally take 4 deer (one may be antlered) Darryl is hoping to get another deer during the Dec. muzzleloader season. My hunting is with a "modern gun" so my hunting season is over for the year but I will be available to help process any that Darryl may get or that others may bring to us.

We have several deer in the area. My granddaughter Beth and her boyfriend, Tim, saw a deer in our backyard this evening. So, just maybe one will present itself when Darryl gets out there in the woods with his muzzleloader.

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Thanksgiving weekend

We have been blessed to have three of our children here for the weekend. Craig made his "appearance" by phone as we were beginning to eat our feast on Thursday. Anna and her family picked up Mark and Tana on their trip down, arriving about 11:00 P.M. Wednesday evening.

Our meal was 90% or more "homegrown." The turkeys were raised on the farm by Darryl. We enjoyed the potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, home canned pickles, fresh salad (greens from the garden and greenhouse), cornbread dressing and cornbread muffins, pumpkin pies, apple crisp, blackberry cobbler--all home grown or obtained locally. The apples were from a neighborhood orchard and the blackberries were picked on the farm or neighboring farms.

An added blessing was the "arrival" of another deer. A fellow came by about 8:00 P.M. or so with a nice doe he had shot with a crossbow. Since the modern firearm season was over we weren't anticipating receiving another deer. With the ones Darryl and I shot and the ones given to us we've had 8 deer to provide our meat for the next year--plus we plan to serve some good backstrap tomorrow morning and some roasts tomorrow afternoon. Also, a bit will be going to Wisconsin and Illinois on Sunday.

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