WHAT Kind Of Jelly...?

So whattaya get from 5 pounds of chokeberries?

Four pints of jelly and purple hands for a week, that's what.  It's damned tasty and unusual, I'll give it that.  I was afraid it'd be an astringent monster, but it came out surprisingly light and not tannic at all.

However, my kitchen looks like I opened an abattoir for Barney.  I'm sure it'll take a month to scrub all the purple off everything...

I Has A Crop! Again!

OK, technically probably a 'harvest', but still.

Chokeberries!

To my surprise, the two little chokeberries bushes that were planted just a few months ago produced like mad--enough to fill my big stockpot with fruit and make at least one batch of jam, I'm thinkin'!

Chokeberries are quite astringent, to the point where you really don't want to eat them straight off the plant.  And tossing a few to the chickens results in some pretty amusing grab-it-spit-it-out-and-stare-at-it rounds of chicken football as they all pass it around, until eventually one of them bypasses that whole 'taste your food' thing and just hoovers it down.

I think I waited a few days too long to pick since some of the berries are a bit shriveled, and the near 100 degree temps haven't helped, but the chokeberries should still make good jam.

Next up will be Beautyberry jam, the berries on those plants are just starting to develop and grow!

Nevada State Fair!

So in this economy, we're lucky to be able to pull this off at all, and it was only one weekend...but we're pretty happy with the state going ahead with it, however humble it was.

The 'Fine Arts' section yielded some fun stuff, including a chicken cake!

And hey, it got First Place and Best In Show!

It was pretty damned cute.

I really liked this pencil sketch, it reminded me of my horse.

Lots of talented folks had stuff displayed...

And then...then...there was this.

Yeeeah baby, Grade A Nightmare Fuel, right there.  And yes, the eyes followed you around the room.  Looks like something from the 'Night Gallery' prop room.  Anyone old enough to get the reference knows what I mean.

*shudder*

Moving along to the barns and the chicken section!  Of course.

No, really.  That's a chicken.  One end of him, anyway.

See?  And a handsome fellow he is, despite the near 100 degree heat.

We got a kick out of the cage tags.  Pullets, OK...

...and let's not pretend.

Y'all are food, babies.  Kinda rubbing it in, though.

After sweating it out at the fair for a few hours and watching the kid make herself sick on the rides, we headed home, where we were treated to yet another glorious sunset.