Dixie Chicks

[Beer can]

so besides anise what else is good to make eggs taste better? and what has ppl come across that they found made the eggs taste bad?

Isn't anise kinda like licorice? How would that make them taste good? I like licorice but I don't think I would want my eggs to taste like it.

 

[Amberjem]

Isn't anise kinda like licorice? How would that make them taste good? I like licorice but I don't think I would want my eggs to taste like it.

I dunno I think it was @hennible or @vehve mentioned it the other day.... they just said taste better not how it made them taste better

 

[Peep_Show]

is there a region you liked more then another?

When I lived in the Sierra Foothills (Gold Country...Newcastle/Ophir area) we were above the fog line and below the snow line. The area used to be the nation's fruit belt (the railroad lines stopped at Newcastle and stagecoaches took travelers the rest of the way into CA, but the returning trains east were laden with lovely fruit) before the terra cotta and brick factory opened up in Lincoln and the hilly orchards became kiln fodder. The soil was magic and I could grow every and any thing....and tried! Put a twig in the ground and you'd have a tree. Not so with living in Las Vegas, NV. Put a twig in the ground and you'd have a stick in a brick. Any planting there had a less than 50/50 chance of survival...and summers at 120 degrees made going outside to work in the yard nonexistent. Growing bulbs and iris was futile as they'd bloom and 3 days later the heatwave would start and - poof - the flowers would just shrivel up and die like the Wicked Witch of the East when the house fell. The desert is no place for a gardener.

The folks' house (S.F. Bay Area/East Bay hills) had a lovely Mediterranean climate with cooling fog in the afternoon and they had a nice specimen garden of ancient camellias, Japanese maples, iris, wisteria, but it was not good for growing hot weather crops like melons or peppers. Great for artichokes and peas. Lovely old trees, too.

We're still getting the rhythm of where we're living now (New Mexico / Albuquerque area) as far as the seasons and finding out what works here. There are four distinct seasons here, which weren't really happening in the other places. We're fortunate as we have an irrigation well, so we can grow many fruits, veggies and flowers....kind of the oasis in the sagebrush. Most of the neighbors have HUGE cottonwood trees overhanging their paddocks. Horseless, we have very big fruit trees in a lawny area and a grape arbor hedge. The original owner/builder was a chef and quite the gardener....had a heated greenhouse for his herbs in the winter. The last folks were placeholders, meh on the gardening and flatout needlessly killed the giant peach trees in the orchard. Kind of made a mess of the grapes and veggie area, too. They vacated and left the yard to a mow-n-go gardener while waiting for the property to sell (about 2 years) who decided the best way to avoid having to do maintenance was not to water. Eek! So have been restoring the property to its former glory. Somehow managed to save the trees, but it took A LOT of TLC.

This house and its grounds was the highlight and positive project I put my energy into while dealing with Mom's passing and the seemingly endless administration of her estate. Gardening is very good therapy....

 

[Amberjem]

When I lived in the Sierra Foothills (Gold Country...Newcastle/Ophir area) we were above the fog line and below the snow line. The area used to be the nation's fruit belt (the railroad lines stopped at Newcastle and stagecoaches took travelers the rest of the way into CA, but the returning trains east were laden with lovely fruit) before the terra cotta and brick factory opened up in Lincoln and the hilly orchards became kiln fodder. The soil was magic and I could grow every and any thing....and tried! Put a twig in the ground and you'd have a tree. Not so with living in Las Vegas, NV. Put a twig in the ground and you'd have a stick in a brick. Any planting there had a less than 50/50 chance of survival...and summers at 120 degrees made going outside to work in the yard nonexistent. Growing bulbs and iris was futile as they'd bloom and 3 days later the heatwave would start and - poof - the flowers would just shrivel up and die like the Wicked Witch of the East when the house fell. The desert is no place for a gardener.

The folks' house (S.F. Bay Area/East Bay hills) had a lovely Mediterranean climate with cooling fog in the afternoon and they had a nice specimen garden of ancient camellias, Japanese maples, iris, wisteria, but it was not good for growing hot weather crops like melons or peppers. Great for artichokes and peas. Lovely old trees, too.

We're still getting the rhythm of where we're living now (New Mexico / Albuquerque area) as far as the seasons and finding out what works here. There are four distinct seasons here, which weren't really happening in the other places. We're fortunate as we have an irrigation well, so we can grow many fruits, veggies and flowers....kind of the oasis in the sagebrush. Most of the neighbors have HUGE cottonwood trees overhanging their paddocks. Horseless, we have very big fruit trees in a lawny area and a grape arbor hedge. The original owner/builder was a chef and quite the gardener....had a heated greenhouse for his herbs in the winter. The last folks were placeholders, meh on the gardening and flatout needlessly killed the giant peach trees in the orchard. Kind of made a mess of the grapes and veggie area, too. They vacated and left the yard to a mow-n-go gardener while waiting for the property to sell (about 2 years) who decided the best way to avoid having to do maintenance was not to water. Eek! So have been restoring the property to its former glory. Somehow managed to save the trees, but it took A LOT of TLC.

This house and its grounds was the highlight and positive project I put my energy into while dealing with Mom's passing and the seemingly endless administration of her estate. Gardening is very good therapy....

`wow we have something major in comman! I hadnt really thought about it but I kinda figured it was weird my gardening and all that to heal from my moms passing...and we are both revamping a property gone to pot..pretty kewl..so what would you say is the worse part of revamping the property so far?? for me it's been the ivy.gawd I hate ivy I might even hate them slightly more then blackberries...

 

[Beer can]

I think it was vehve that mentioned anise, I'm going to sleep now, he's probably wakeing up, maybe he will answer the question of what the eggs taste like?

 

[Amberjem]

I think it was vehve that mentioned anise, I'm going to sleep now, he's probably wakeing up, maybe he will answer the question of what the eggs taste like?

hopefully or anyone else who might want to share and has info and or experience sleep well

 

[Peep_Show]

Amberjem,

Several worsts here:

They planted blackberry vines (thornless and regular) over the iris bed... Just thought they'd stay on the little ornamental trellis. It has taken off via root runners. Insidious stuff.

Ever see rosebushes that haven't been pruned for years? Up over the wall and running towards the next county. Pruning was an exercise in blood-letting.

Rabbits running unchecked. Dangerous rabbit warrens that you can fall into if the soil gives way. Stinky juniper berm where they live.

The hack job on pruning or total lack of pruning of fruit trees. That and lack of water can really mess with a tree's productivity.

Hidden stuff.... It was kind of a surprise, but about 500 daffodils came up in Spring where I was going to plant something else but for a delay.

Trying to figure out the irrigation system. There apparently were two systems and about 22 stations, none marked and some very buried. It would be nice to know where the lines are running as I seem to have a knack for hitting them when rototilling or trenching.

Irritating as heck: Incomplete removal of stumps. When you've killed a tree (or need to) totally remove it or grind the stump all the way to the ground.

Lack of labeling on fruit trees. What kinds of apples are these? Luckily there are lots of apple experts who helped there.

Flat out dangerous: Removal of coach lights in walkway lawn and leaving the wires without capping or disengaging them from electrical source

 

[Amberjem]

ouch....ya sounds like you have had some doozy of surprises and not so good things...biggest we have had is weird stuff in the ivy and someone at sometime renters ro whatever there are burn pile spots randomly all over with all the crude they tried to burn including glass bits and stuff..... ohh and the mysery spot that we uncovered under the ivy.. was a old stairwell that went down the slope to the drive way.........havent finished uncovering yet but did find the landing..and the neighbor confirmed it use to be stairs...ok you win the rose is probly more of a pain then the ivy just because of the thorns...the blackberry cane forest was more then 6 foot tall and was a good 20 feet all along the slopes but wacking then going back as it dried up n died made it less hazardous ... I remember ALLL to well battling climbing rose bushes in texas......while I like them I do NOT like the work they involve......

 

[vehve]

I don't really taste the anise in the eggs, but since the chickens started getting that feed, in my opinion the egg taste has improved. Can't really describe it though... a rich eggy taste.

 

[perchie.girl]

Amberjem,

Several worsts here:

They planted blackberry vines (thornless and regular) over the iris bed... Just thought they'd stay on the little ornamental trellis. It has taken off via root runners. Insidious stuff.

Ever see rosebushes that haven't been pruned for years? Up over the wall and running towards the next county. Pruning was an exercise in blood-letting.

Rabbits running unchecked. Dangerous rabbit warrens that you can fall into if the soil gives way. Stinky juniper berm where they live.

The hack job on pruning or total lack of pruning of fruit trees. That and lack of water can really mess with a tree's productivity.

Hidden stuff.... It was kind of a surprise, but about 500 daffodils came up in Spring where I was going to plant something else but for a delay.

Trying to figure out the irrigation system. There apparently were two systems and about 22 stations, none marked and some very buried. It would be nice to know where the lines are running as I seem to have a knack for hitting them when rototilling or trenching.

Irritating as heck: Incomplete removal of stumps. When you've killed a tree (or need to) totally remove it or grind the stump all the way to the ground.

Lack of labeling on fruit trees. What kinds of apples are these? Luckily there are lots of apple experts who helped there.

Flat out dangerous: Removal of coach lights in walkway lawn and leaving the wires without capping or disengaging them from electrical source

sounds like my life over the past eleven years....

And my life in the mobile home park. When I moved in there there were 25 Roses and one each of Lemon, Tangerine, Valencia orange, Naval Orange, Grapefruit, And Avocado.. Plus an assortment of ornamentals That I liked so I tended those.

It was a double wide two bed two bath... very spacious. I had a california room too... Off the front door a screened in porch some people turn into offices or spare beds for guests... No real value to the mobile.

But the value were those fruit and roses. NONE had been pruned or pruned properly and there was NO irrigation system what so ever. The ice plant had taken over the Citrus on one side of the house and they were starved and weakly looking. The other side of the house was choked with the usual weeds. Mustard, Grasses, and Dandilons.

I went through the process of installing irrigation with the help of my grandfather. Citrus need a sprinlkler type water system... The roses can go off drip but I decided to make it simple and do everything off sprinklers. it worked well. I dug trenches and Grandpa set up the zones and valves...

Then came the business of making a better life for the roses and Citrus. The roses I initially trimmed so there was space between them and I could identify which bush had which branch.... then I trimed out the suckers Then I trimmed out the dead .... then i trimmed out the recent dead heads. I could see the woman across the street peering at me... LOL she propped open a window curtain...

The Rose bed had a retainer wall and around that parimeter was an overgrown Lantana border.... I used the hedge trimmers on it... Mercilessly cut it along the wall so it was flush... then cut it across the top so it was straight and about twelve inches high. then cut it across the back so it was only twelve inches deep. When i was done I had a pile about three feet deep twenty feet long and about four feet wide infront of the retaining wall. And there was very little green or floweres left in the Lantana.

Funny thing was I borrowed an idea somewhere... that I could fold and roll that pile of cut brush till it was manageable and tie it off with string... It compressed down to two bundles that easily fit into the Green recycling bin at the end of the street.

The roses werent so easy to deal with. Oh and I had a climbing rose along the carport pretty flowers about the size of a teacup... but it was terribly over grown. I reduced its bulk in the same way as the ones in front.

Once the roses were set right and water was applied to them on a regular basis I had a bumper crop of beautiful blooms each one in the front doubled the bloom size and quantity... But OH that climbing Rose made a mockery of the others. Saucer sized and the color started out pink then turned salmon then turned a lovely white with all those colors in the middle.

Then i turned my attention to the citrus. When I moved in there was a tangarine tree LOADED with tangerines sitting about two feet from the lawn shed. Not enough space. I cleared out the weeds below then went up the tree denuding it with Tangarines that had been on the tree at least two years... about 80 percent were still edible... Then went up the tree cutting out suckers.... Then went up the tree removing dead wood... then went up the tree to remove interfering branches... Then the next was to shape the tree to a form that fit its spot .... All in all I remove about 40 percent... But with in about two weeks with good water and less burdon and a light fertilization the leaves went from sickly yellow Green to vibrant green. No fruit the next year but the year after that the Tangerines went from hand ball sized to soft ball sized. Oh and I thinned out the fruit as it came up too.

The next year I tackled the poor plants on the otherside... I used hedge trimmers to cut away the iceplant that had taken over... Citrus requires bare ground under it because the water roots are all surface roots. Grass and iceplant starve them out.

They were very young trees all I needed to do is strip the fruit prune a little bit then Get WATER to them.

The avocado the same... though it was a young plant they dont fruit till they are mature and I believe it had another year to go..

Oh and the Lemon along the carport. While it looked vigorous and green didnt have many fruit on it.... So I found about five or six suckers on it and some dead wood and it needed shaping... By the time I was done with it it looked like a twig.

Two years later I had huge fruit on everything.... loved loved my Lemon and Tangerine the most. And thank goodnes I can grow the both of them at the house... I just need to set up irrigation for them.

deb