Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[rjmyooper]

Does anyone of yoos use electric fencing as a deterrent?

 

[Folly's place]

The Premier1supplies electric poultry netting is very good. You could set up electric wire or rope fencing, less expensive but more permanent. Either way, use a good fenci charger, and set it up correctly.
Our flock is indoors under a solid roof this year because of avian influenza, no free ranging right now.
Mary

 

[saysfaa]

One hundred quarts??? WOW! I do maybe a dozen quarts, which may last the two of us two years! Only Roma types are worth canning, nice meaty tomatoes, so worth the time and effort. We have a Victorio thingie, works great to make the sauce. Just straight sauce, no spices or salt at all, only a little vinegar or lemon juice for acidity.
Mary

Hm. Well, the number could very well get adjusted. I have to come up with a storage system, a don't really know how well they will grow, and so on. I figure we put tomatoes in something about twice a week. If it is short, I'd be buying them anyway if I didn't try it. If it is too much, I can eat them next year too.

I'm thinking just canning the tomatoes as tomatoes. Make it as simple as possible the first year of doing much. Then crush or juice or whatever as I use them. That worked with the few quarts I did with my mom and/or sister-in-law.

Do you freeze to get the skins off? Or parboil?

I have a victorio, too! By far the best low tech option and better than at least some of the motorized options. If the simple way goes really well, maybe I'll try some salsa or spaghetti sauce too. I expect to use the victorio mostly for berries.

 

[saysfaa]

Does anyone of yoos use electric fencing as a deterrent?

Around the chickens or around the garden?

 

[rjmyooper]

@saysfaa Around a bird run. I'm thinking of the netting which comes in 164' length. Twice as much as I need.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...y-netting-48-in-x-164-ft-pn48164?cm_vc=-10005

 

[saysfaa]

@saysfaa Around a bird run. I'm thinking of the netting which comes in 164' length. Twice as much as I need.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...y-netting-48-in-x-164-ft-pn48164?cm_vc=-10005

Sorry, I'm not much help then. Let us know what you learn

 

[rjmyooper]

This includes the battery, solar charger and 4'h x 164'L of fence. I would still need wiring for the hookup, but that's laying in my garage somewhere.

 

[Folly's place]

For tomatoes, I wash, then cut each in half, which identifies any that are bad inside but okay on the surface. then, small amount of water, and cook for a while. That Victorio strainer takes care of everything else, including the skins, and then back to simmer until the sauce is as thick as I want it to be. Then can and water bath.
No peeling necessary, and sauce is fine for everything.
If I have just a few tomatoes, maybe worth peeling and canning in pieces, otherwise not.
Mary

 

[Sally PB]

The rule of thumb (as in numbers I got from the internet) is a half bushel per plant and expect to can up to 18 quarts per bushel. That is about a dozen tomato plants to get the 100 quarts I want. If the plants do well. So maybe 2 dozen plants.

I've been canning for many years, and this is from my experience.

1 bushel of tomatoes yields about 21 quarts, canned as tomatoes (which is all I do, except for salsa for DH). We use about 1 quart per week. I can whatever amount it takes to go into post canning season with 60 quarts. I have found that growing larger tomatoes helps a lot. It took 15-17 romas to fill a quart jar, versus 3-4 larger beefsteak varieties. I do peel them, so that is a big time difference.

My neighbor cans about 150 quarts of tomatoes, but she's feeding 7 people: 4 adults and 3 growing boys. They also eat a lot fresh while they're in season. Last year, she had 100 plants and didn't need to buy any for canning.

 

[Dreamzchaser]

Can I ask what happened to the neck feathers on this chicken @Dreamzchaser ?

Oh, I think I lost them... No they are like that. It is called a Naked Neck chicken or turkin because seems like a turkey and a chicken but they are chickens. She is my beloved Sophia. She is ADD/ADHD/Bipolar,lol