The Pig Hocks Meal and Update

It is a lazy day here. Nothing interesting or exciting going on but I have gotten a few things done. I got down to the garden and pulled up the tomato plants. They weren't producing anymore anyway. I cleaned up their beds and picked some weeds. This is the first time EVER that I have pulled my tomatoes before they were all dried up and dead but realized this year there was no sense in leaving them now that they aren't producing. Not sure what will go in those beds. I will probably wait until the fall crops come out in the garden centers and then I will pick up some cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. One of the beds I will save part of for garlic and I have lettuce and spinach mustard tendergreens that do well here to plant. I'll be working on getting some compost on them. I am amazed at what a small pile I have in the compost bin now considering how much I put in it last fall.
 I also got some beans picked, not a lot but enough for a meal, and blanched and froze them.

Yesterday at the store I got a good deal in the produce section on some marked down Brussels sprouts. We like Brussels sprouts but don't have them very often. I got most of them blanched and put in the freezer. I did save out a few for the pig hocks meal.

I also got more strawberries yesterday. I keep wondering if we will have any strawberry farmers next year since this year the prices on strawberries have been so low. I cleaned and cut out the tops and put most in a bag to freeze. I kept out a few and made strawberry yogurt pops with them. I also made yogurt banana butter pops from the banana butter we made last weekend but my sons future wife forgot to take with her.

Now for the pig hocks meal. I can't exactly say ham hocks because I never cured and smoked the hocks but today they went into the crock pot with a package of sliced mushrooms, half an onion, some salt and pepper, some potatoes and some of those Brussels sprouts. It smells pretty darn good but I was late getting it in so it may late before we get to eat any.

As for the animals, the mama duck just has one baby now, she managed to lose one and kill another. The ducklings I hatched are all growing like weeds but the black and yellow one seems to have some leg problems and now seldom gets up on his feet. I also have noticed that the yellow ducklings have some odd tufts on their heads and ears. I have never seen any ducklings with tufts on their ears. I am wondering if they will keep the tufts on the ears or lose them after their regular feathers come in. It would be cute if they kept them.
It is hard to see the little tufts on the sides of their heads in these pictures but they are there.

They have really been growing fast since I moved them out to this pen in the back shed. More room and being able to get away from the light helps a lot.
The two chicks that I saved from the bantams are both roosters. These bantams produce a lot of roosters. I really need to get rid of some of them but just haven't done it yet. The one chick left with the other bantam mama looks to be a girl though.
So far the only snakes we have had are the one Phil killed, it probably wasn't 3 ft long, and one other that the cats so kindly left for me in the yard. It was a garter snake and only about a foot long and they had already killed it. However, Hippo, Michelle's male cat has been bitten more than once this year-luckily by non-poisonous snakes, though he will swell all up when bitten. He may have been the leaver of the garter snake but I imagine it was the mama cat (she has kittens...somewhere).
So that is all the news from here. My lazy weekend is about over and I am missing it already. I likely won't get time to post until next Friday or next weekend. Entirely too busy at work now to play and with a new boss...well, you have to make a good impression, even if he keeps saying that he heard all good things about me before he even met me. He has raised our standards some and I am up to the challenge, I'm sure.