My latest hobby is dehydrating - mostly tomatoes and squash. I am even doing cherry tomatoes, and although the end product is small, the result is a tart/sweet treat that is sure to be amazing on salads this winter. I am slicing the larger tomatoes and the finished product is not only delicious, it is pretty as can be. The squash I am slicing, tossing lightly in olive oil, adding some herbs and seasonings, and the result is a delicious chip that can be eaten alone or used with a dip. I am finding the whole process exciting and fun.

Allan just planted some fruit trees that should produce fruit next year, although perhaps not a large amount. We bought them at a local nursery and they are already a few years old. Two apples, a peach, two cherries, one crab apple, and a bunch of chokecherries. We have wanted to have fruit trees for years, and this is a dream come true. Our goal now is to protect them from critters and get them through the winter. Just love this farm life!

Don't get me wrong. Growing vegetables is not a hobby, not a job, it's a passion. It is therapy like no other. It is exercise that doesn't count, according to some gurus, but it is exercise nonetheless. It can be frustrating and back breaking at its worst, and exhilarating at its best. And in the end, it puts a harvest on the table that cannot be compared to anything you can buy in the grocery, if for no other reason than the sheer pride of knowing you grew it yourself. What other kind of work can produce this kind of satisfaction?

We are blessed to live in a small area, and once the word was spread, we got notice that they were a few miles away, and safe, although their numbers had gone from 13 to 9. The day after Allan got them back to the ranch, our male border collie took off. He had been getting out of his pen for a few days, despite all of Allan's attempts to fortify it, and in the end won the battle. Again, we posted our Lost Dog notices and soon received word that he was found, about 15 miles away. We suspect that there is a female somewhere sure to have border collie cross pups in a few months.

Earlier this summer a couple of cows got loose and we found them many miles away, a few weeks later. Allan and I think that we will start getting calls from our neighbors whenever a stray animal is found, as surely it would belong to us! Love this life on the ranch!

Can a person love a chicken? I think so. I certainly do love and appreciate mine. What a difference an egg can make. And what a pleasure those bug finding, grass eating creatures can be.

As usual, these supplies are limited and the specials will be pulled when we run out. No rain checks!

Lois & Allan