Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[jvls1942]

went and bought an apple slicer/corer
got home too late to start messing with canning anymore today.
I did test run the pressure cooker and sterilized the jars at the same time.
missed taking a nap today. now I have to fight off sleep until bed time so I can sleep when i do go to bed.

 

[Callender Girl]

Jim, I thought of you yesterday when I was at a farm/household auction. There was a box with multiple apple slicers and corers.

However, it's been years since I've seen an auction with So Much Stuff, literally acres of it. I had two things I wanted to buy, but after hanging around for three hours, the auctioneers (who, sadly, know me by name and encourage me to bid on things in front of EVERYBODY) still were at least a couple of hours away from getting to the second item.

I did manage to snag the rooster weathervane that I wanted and didn't have to overpay for it. I am imagining some lovely yard art with the rooster as the centerpiece.

I also added to my collection of gardening-type books. The owner, among other businesses, was a regular vendor at the local farmers market, and I often bought produce from him. His name is also Jim; I guess I just can't get away from guys named Jim, can I?

I reconnected with a woman I used to see at the dog park when I had my Pearl. Teresa wants to keep chickens, and we started talking about my poultry. Unlike nearly all of the people who get my eggs, she would be thrilled to buy duck eggs. Hurray! Too bad my girls have already started their winter hiatus.

Picked what I think will be the last ripe tomatoes yesterday. Although maybe one or two of the Mr. Stripey's will still turn. We'll see.

 

[jvls1942]

my computer was down for a couple of days.
I had to go to my deleted file to find a link to this thread.
I will try sending this. If it goes, I will follow up.
OK
looks like it works.
we received some apples from a friend. I had hopes of canning
21 qts of apple pie filling. Here's how it really turned out.
I did the first batch of seven qts with the complete ingredients
for a pie. they turned out fine, but the mess and time is not worth
it. I think I could have baked seven pies in less time.
btw, this is the first time I have used a pressure canner instead of
water bath. I like it much more.
anyway, one variety of apples were so small it didn't pay to core
them.
I took what was left of the large apples and made three qts of
simple syrup. I put the correct amount of sugar in so all Annie
has to do when she makes a pie is add seasoning and thickener..

this is the way to do it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Looks good Jim. Apple pie sounds delicious.

 

[jvls1942]

good morning, having a cuppa and then I will
be getting ready to go have some surgery on
my ear for skin cancer. I have just one tiny
spot , hardly can see it.
good day for it, too cold out to do much outside.

 

[Callender Girl]

Hope all goes well, Jim.

It's too cold to do much outside here, too. But my Minnesota friends are here, and today's plan is to take down that dead tree.

 

[jvls1942]

Hope all goes well, Jim.

It's too cold to do much outside here, too. But my Minnesota friends are here, and today's plan is to take down that dead tree.

I just hope I don't end up with a notched ear like a pig's.
you be careful with that tree.

 

[WIchickMama]

Good luck with the surgery Jim and the tree, Barb and Lisa, thinking about you and hope all is well.

Definitely chilly out but stuff needs to get done. I need to bring wood in for the stove as I had only brought in enough for one day. Chickens will get some warm mash at lunch time, I do need to get their run partially wrapped this weekend. Turning part of the berry patch as I will be getting 8 more raspberries transplants on Friday. I covered the lettuce last night so it made it!

I will be researching and learning how to build a hoop greenhouse next spring over the winter. I am farm sitting for a neighbor and she has one that she has kale and lettuce up in and I am a tad jealous I will taking care of her garden, greenhouse, cats, pigs, ducks and chickens for a week! Exciting but a lot when you add in our own chores and kids but when you help a neighbor out, they help you down the road.

Friends from AZ are coming up this weekend, should be interesting. Whenever they come in the fall they never want to do anything outside because they get too cold, lol.

Hope you all have a good day.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Good luck Jim, and good luck Barbara with the tree.

Anjanet I'm doing okay most of the day, but still am fairly messed up the rest of the day.

I got my garden cleaned out, and corn picked. We need to get some manure of the boxes and than grass clipping and leaves.

I personally am loving this cooler weather.

 

[Callender Girl]

How did the surgery go, Jim? No notch, I'm guessing.

Anjanet, it sounds like you will sure have your hands full! Somewhere, out in the barn, is the framework for a hoop house that my Jim got years ago. Maybe, someday, I'll get something done with it. Good intentions, you know.

I'm a bit jealous of the raspberry transplants. In my first years here, I was extremely unsuccessful with raspberries. Good luck with yours!

Lisa, I'm glad you're enjoying the cool weather. I start dreading winter as soon as fall hits. I refuse to turn on the furnace in September, but I did drag out an electric heater Tuesday. Yesterday's morning temps dropped into the 30s. Thankfully, there wasn't any of the predicted frost because I didn't get anything covered.

Hope everyone's day and projects went as well as the tree felling here did. I have to admit I was a bit concerned a couple of times -- it was a big, old, multi-trunked tree that grew next to two of my coops, another huge and much-loved tree that shades my deck AND my propane tank. But, Tom and Renee take down trees all the time, and everything went perfectly fine. He wielded the chain saw; she and I applied tension to the ropes. Until the massive main trunk. Then, we tied the rope to a vehicle hitch.

Plus, it was a win-win because they are taking home a truckload of wood to use for heating their home.

My avatar coop has a jerry-rigged run that I made years ago. Today, we will be building a bigger, more secure run that will certainly improve the looks of the place. Tom and Renee were friends with Jim for many years before I met any of them; she was the first one to welcome me into their historic re-enacting group.

Today is the one-year anniversary of his death, and I am so grateful that they will be here with me.