Stormcrow's Hobby Farm

[3KillerBs]

20 foot of a black muscadine variety. Have a similar length of a golden. Jelly?

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Best Muscadine Jam recipe, submitted by 3KillerBs. I wonder if that is OUR @3KillerBs ???

Yes, it is.

There was a point where I was using my Nascar forum name on all my forums so I'd stop forgetting what name I was using where.

I love making natural pectin jams.

(If you are making enough batches, try one with some hot peppers in it, particularly Habaneros. That sweet-hot flavor makes great meat glaze and is particularly good for that pour-jam-over-cream-cheese party/potluck trick).

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Will add a lemon to the shopping list. THANK YOU!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

8.6# of muscadine, roughly 50/50 Triumph and Cowarts (technically, the greens are called Scuppernogs, it seems). Going to need a second lemon.

 

[3KillerBs]

8.6# of muscadine, roughly 50/50 Triumph and Cowarts (technically, the greens are called Scuppernogs, it seems). Going to need a second lemon.


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I separate them to make white and red jams, but it's not *technically* necessary.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

<----<<<< Lazy.

 

[3KillerBs]

P.S. The great thing about that recipe is that natural pectin jams scale up and down perfectly -- the weight of the sugar is approximately equal to the weight of the fruit after cooking.

I've gone as low as about 80% without affecting the eventual texture of the jam -- but I did have to cook it longer.

 

[NatJ]

Question. Why don't people make raised bunny tractors they can roll over garden beds and allow the bunny gold to do its stuff w/o need for shoveling it from place to place?

Some people do make rabbit tractors.

But most of them seem to be focusing on letting the rabbits eat grass, which runs into a major problem: either the rabbits are on the ground (and can dig out) or the rabbits are on some floor (like wire or slats) which squashes the grass so the rabbits cannot eat it easily. Apparently slat floors are better than wire, because sliding the pen lengthwise will leave some grass sticking up nicely for the rabbits to reach & eat, while wire mesh will flatten and trap all of it. I read of one person that spread wire mesh on the ground of a field, let the grass grew up through the mesh, then moved bottomless rabbit pens around on that.

If all you want is to have the droppings in the right place, raised cages with wire floors can certainly be put over the garden beds. But you have to balance the labor of moving the cages, and providing protection from sun/rain/predators while still being portable, compared with the labor of shoveling the droppings. Moving the droppings is sometimes the easier option.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

P.S. The great thing about that recipe is that natural pectin jams scale up and down perfectly -- the weight of the sugar is approximately equal to the weight of the fruit after cooking.

I've gone as low as about 80% without affecting the eventual texture of the jam -- but I did have to cook it longer.

Will try your recipe next time - my wife got started while I was grocery shopping. She read a bunch of recipes online, closed all the windows, and is doing a blend of what she remembers - her usual approach to cooking.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Some people do make rabbit tractors.

But most of them seem to be focusing on letting the rabbits eat grass, which runs into a major problem: either the rabbits are on the ground (and can dig out) or the rabbits are on some floor (like wire or slats) which squashes the grass so the rabbits cannot eat it easily. Apparently slat floors are better than wire, because sliding the pen lengthwise will leavesome grass sticking up nicely for the rabbits to reach & eat, while wire mesh will flatten and trap all of it. I read of one person that spread wire mesh on the ground of a field, let the grass grew up through the mesh, then moved bottomless rabbit pens around on that.

If all you want is to have the droppings in the right place, raised cages with wire floors can certainly be put over the garden beds. But you have to balance the labor of moving the cages, and providing protection from sun/rain/predators while still being portable, compared with the labor of shoveling the droppings. Moving the droppings is sometimes the easier option.

Starting to thing about maybe raised cages between the grape vines. I leff about 9 feet between each vine, so that gives me a 3' walkway on either side, plus 3' down the middle for 8' length of cages. But yes, roof is an issue, and I already have the bunny barn, so...

Maybe next year.

Gorrila cart tires in the front. Legs in the back. Use wheelbarror arms for moving it, slot them in. Maybe 4' x 4' cage. Probably build a box in one corner for the wind and rain, so I don't have to roof the whole thing. Maybe green polycarbonate?

 

[NanaK]

Your grapes look really good!
Make sure you make a strong trellis for them to grow on. We planted these around 2000. They are pruned back hard in late winter and will still bleed sap a bit. Never seem to bother them.
*photos from a previous year

There are only 2 trunks. In time your 2 plants should give you tons of grapes each year. I never have much pest damage on these except Japanese beetles but they do only minor damage.

My scuppernongs are sweetest when they turn this color.