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

[jvls1942]

Not much for news here.
I am working on spreading granite on the new parking spot.
I got it about half finished yesterday. then it got too hot.
so I quit for the day.
It is going OK, but not quite as smoothly as I had hoped.
Too much on and off of the tractor. I could use someone
on the ground..
How much would it cost to adopt a teenaged boy ? lol
Barby gave us a bunch of tomatoes.
Too many to eat, hardly enough to can. If I can get three
quarts, I will can that many..
I heard about canning in the oven. researched it. not a
good idea, at least for tomatoes..
Annie's brother came and put the new thermostat on
the burner on the cook stove. it was going to red hot
and we couldn't turn it down.
called a local appliance store. they quoted us just under
$1oo.oo for a thermostat. I looked on line. ordered one for $3o.oo.
Had an apple pie. our apples are perfect this year.
not too plentiful, but still, plenty.. we won't be doing anything
with them, so we are giving them away ..
something was eating the grapes, so Annie picked all what was
left. not many, we saw the deer poking their noses into the
grape vines.. prime suspects..
with the rain barrels, I have plenty of water for my three
tomato plants. along with the occasional rain.
We are dry all around here, but not what I would call draught .
The farmer's corn planted in our field is four feet taller than
my head. I am 5' 9
"

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How about freezing your tomatoes Jim. I switched a few years back as I could no longer handle all that heavy canning stuff. Much easier now, and I can do whatever size batch I want. Nothing much going on here. Thinking about pulling up my green beans. Ever with watering I can't water enough and they are starting to get tough.

 

[jvls1942]

How about freezing your tomatoes Jim. I switched a few years back as I could no longer handle all that heavy canning stuff. Much easier now, and I can do whatever size batch I want. Nothing much going on here. Thinking about pulling up my green beans. Ever with watering I can't water enough and they are starting to get tough.

Our freezers are full. we are trying to use up frozen food
so that we can unplug one of the freezers. we freeze corn.
I don't mind canning tomatoes.
I noticed the tall corn yesterday. it looks kinda dry.
the lawn seems to be getting dried out, too.
I don't think it will grow much more this season.
never had that happen here before..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Our lawn is back to brown and dry. I'm hoping it's just dormant and haven't all given up the ghost and died on me. I can see how the dust bowl happened. Hoping we get a wet fall. Good thing our yard is mostly considered weeds, or country lawn as I call it. Can always get more weeds next year.

 

[jvls1942]

Lisa, if your weeds don't come back next year,
let me know. I can send you seeds. you can select
from thistle, rag weed, golden rod, pig weed, burdock,
our tomato canning took a U turn. Annie decided to
make 8 quarts of salsa. I guess she is serious, she
just went outside and cut a handful of basil off of the plant.
She is dip crazy today. she just handed me some apple slices and
caramel dip and a little earlier I had to look up a spinach dip recipe.
A friend of mine took the fencing off of his beets yesterday to
pull some for supper. he forgot to cover it back up.
the deer came last night and ate all the tops down
the whole row..and yes, they ate all the beets, too..
I spread a little granite on the new parking spot
this morning. It is not going as well as I hoped.

 

[Callender Girl]

How kind of you to offer Lisa some new weeds, Jim. If either of you are short of lamb's quarter, I have a healthy crop of that growing by my walnut trees. Along with all the usual intruders.

Picked a fair amount of cherry tomatoes yesterday.

Am not looking forward to another round of scorching temperatures, which are predicted through Tuesday. That is also the last day I have to treat Bronwyn for bumblefoot. I am looking forward to the end of both.

Had an unwelcome visitor yesterday morning. A coyote was standing near the pear tree, eating ground fruit. I spotted him from the bathroom window and did my cupped-hand clapping trick, which sounds enough like a weapon (and I'm sure every coyote in the county has been shot at often enough to recognize the sound) and it sprinted off in a speedy blur.

It's only the second time in 15 years that I've SEEN one on the property. But I hear their songs all around at night.

 

[jvls1942]

I have a correction to make.
apparently I misunderstood the boss.
she claims she didn't say salsa.
salsa is what I heard. at any rate, we now
have a Nescoful of spaghetti sauce. and we are
not canning anything. we are freezing it.. that's
my story and I'm sticking to it..
we have coyotes in the neighborhood. I don't
think I ever heard them. I saw a couple on the
road toward town. never saw one on our place.
we had wolves but I never heard them.
never saw one on our place, either.
but who knows what is happening at night ?

 

[Callender Girl]

Yes, who knows what's happening at night? Although I grew up with hunters and my Jim was a hunter, I've never had the stomach for it. Still, if he saw a track, he immediately knew who made it. I recently bought a book that leads me to believe that the woodchuck I've occasionally seen in the back is now expanding its territory and walking right out the front gate.

Of course, it's much harder to see animal tracks during this drought. Hope the weather folks are right about the heat breaking after today. Hot, dry weather seems to be draining my energy. Or, maybe it's not the weather? I usually refuse to accept that getting older means I MIGHT be slowing down.

 

[jvls1942]

You can deny getting older as long as you wish.
but the evidence is ever increasing.
it hit 99F here yesterday. I had no need to go
outside, so I didn't. we spent the day listening
to the tv and putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
our apples are ripe. we are eating apple pie
and giving apples to anyone who asks.
something is eating the apples hanging in
the tree. the deer gets those half eaten ones.
she showed up mid afternoon for her treats.
she was all alone. or maybe he was. no antlers.
on Saturday, we had wave after wave of
thunderstorms until about 3pm. then it got hot..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yes, who knows what's happening at night? Although I grew up with hunters and my Jim was a hunter, I've never had the stomach for it. Still, if he saw a track, he immediately knew who made it. I recently bought a book that leads me to believe that the woodchuck I've occasionally seen in the back is now expanding its territory and walking right out the front gate.

Of course, it's much harder to see animal tracks during this drought. Hope the weather folks are right about the heat breaking after today. Hot, dry weather seems to be draining my energy. Or, maybe it's not the weather? I usually refuse to accept that getting older means I MIGHT be slowing down.

It's draining my batteries too. I live in Wisconsin because I like it cooler. Like to know who broke the deal. Weather people keep changing the rain forecast. From nothing to more than an inch to who knows. I guess we will wait and see.

My husband hunts, and is good with animal signs. Dogs find them and husband deciphers them.