Another Busy Weekend at the Farm and Some Waterfall Pictures

The weather was beautiful last weekend and when I wasn't helping my parents getting the farm ready for the warmer weather, I was walking around taking pictures and experimenting with my camera. 

I always used to wonder how photographers were able to take pictures of waterfalls and get a misty, soft shot of the moving water, making it appear almost magical. I've read up on it a few times and learned its due to the shutter speed. When the shutter speed is slower, moving objects become blurred when the picture is taken while motionless objects remain the same. Since we have a small waterfall on the farm I thought it was the perfect oppertunity for me to practice with moving water.

Since the water was flowing and the rocks were motionless with a steady hand I was able to play around with the shutter speed and get my shot! It took a bunch of different adjustments to ISO, shutter speed, and going back and forth between my lenses, but I finally got some I was happy with. I ended up having to wait for the sun to go behind some clouds and that gave me some pictures that weren't so over exposed.

Waterfall with a "normal" shutter speed

Waterfall with a slower shutter speed but still not there

Waterfall with an even slower shutter speed, magical!

In hindsight I would have gone back and switched from JPEG to RAW to try and save some of the white tones,  I didn't realize I had switched it until we were getting ready to go home for the weekend.

I also had a lot of followers throughout the day, the chickens were especially interested in what all the clicking was about.

Julie and Lilly both followed me all around the farm, keeping watch over the chickens and running along the paths.

After all the running, picture taking, and prep work, we took a break on the new deck, enjoyed a bit of the warm weather, and took in all the changes that come along with spring. Lilly is such a ham and enjoyed sitting on the deck with her Mr. Grandpa.

Be sure to follow me on instagram @rocky092 for more pictures and posts

A Weekend at the Farm and a Recipe for Jelly

As the summer comes to a close the weather cools down and leaves begin to change. Weekends spent picking produce from the family garden slows, and the days are filled with more leisure activities. 

The weather was beautiful so I started the weekend with a short run on some of the trails that are cut throughout our property. 

Julie, our family's Yorkie, is a bonafide country girl and lead the way through many of the fields. We also stopped to catch our breath and I snapped a picture of "the princess". 

Many of our fields are lined with wild berry bushes and grape vines, only the latter being in season now. I made a mental note to myself to come back with a picker to gather some of the Concord grapes and find something to make with them, but more on that later. 

The end of our run brought us up through the chicken coops though many of the girls were out roaming the yard and perched in the orchard. 

After I was showered and changed from the run I went back and picked a large bucket filled with Concord grapes. These grapes grow wild all over the farm but we never really picked more than a couple of bunches to have on the table. I found recipe and set out to make my first batch of Concord grape jelly. 

Concord Grape Jelly

5 lbs Concord grapes

5 cups sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice

1. Measure out 5 lbs of grapes and separate the meat from their skins puréeing the latter with 1 cup of sugar.

2. Combine the purée with the skinless grapes, remaining 4 cups of sugar, and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice in a low pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 25 minutes. 

3. Run mixture through food mill in order to remove seeds and solids. Return liquids to pot and simmer over medium heat for an additional 20 minutes stirring frequently. 

You can also remove any foam that bubbles on the sides of the pot while the mixture is cooking. 

4. To test for doneness, drop a small spoonful of jelly onto a chilled plate and let sit for a minute. The jelly is done when the plate is steeply angled and the mixture no longer runs. Cook no longer than an additional 20 minutes. 

This recipe yielded 6 half-pints of jelly which we canned for use throughout the year. 

That's all for now, thanks for reading!!

Be sure to follow me on instagram @rocky092