Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Opa]

While I no longer hold the affection for winter that I once had, I hope it lasts as long as it should. I crtainly won't care to have a reeat of last March. Having the fruit trees blossom and then freeze devastated the state's fruit crop. My orchard is getting quite old and is down to only 5 trees, still I could always count on enough fruit for our needs. This year's crop consisted of 4 lumpy looking apples.

 

[Wrightsx4]

Hi Opa! I only have a few young apple and pear trees and one old apple tree. Last year we picked at least a bushel. Not one piece of fruit this year. I hope next spring is kinder

 

[Stacykins]

It is kind of weird, my young fruit trees blossomed early, then froze. But the trees the neighbor has did not. Those trees waited, and were unaffected by the refreeze, because they hadn't put out flowers. So when temperatures became warm again, they flowered and filled out with fruit.

 

[SillyChicken]

Might be time to plant a few more trees Sam. This last spring was brutal on the fruit trees... I got 0 apples... there were a few that the deer got to before I could harvest what was there. They are old trees too. I plan on putting in some this spring and I hope we don't have a drought again next year! I really loved the type of apples I had so I'll have to order more, they were Jonamacs. (sp?) Thin skinned with tart firm flesh.. loved em right off the tree!

 

[Wynette]

Good morning, friends! Yep - it's nasty here near Flint, too. I awoke at 2:15 this morning, straight out of a dead sleep. Had a really, REALLY weird dream that woke me. Couldn't get back to sleep, so decided I'd get up & be productive. Got a load of wash done, a load of dishes, made a batch of satin balls for one of my dogs & popped them in the freezer, and generally tidied up. Took a walk out the back door, and HOLY COW - SLEET! ?!?! What the heck....

 

[SillyChicken]

Satin balls are great aren't they!

 

[SillyChicken]

It is kind of weird, my young fruit trees blossomed early, then froze. But the trees the neighbor has did not. Those trees waited, and were unaffected by the refreeze, because they hadn't put out flowers. So when temperatures became warm again, they flowered and filled out with fruit.

I would be curious to know what kind of tree they have.

 

[Opa]

Some of the best tasting and prettiest jelly I've ever made was made with Jonathan apples. I had peeled a bushel of apples for dehydrating so I had huge pile of peelings. Rather than just tossing the peels I put them in a large covered stockpot and put them on to simmer. After they were completely cooked I ran them through my food mill. The juice was quite sweet and tinged pink. After filtering to remove any particulate I simply followed the instructions that come with Sure-Jell for cooked jelly.

Bob I sure hope you continue to post. If not I'll be the only old rooster on this thread and that is just too much responsibility for one old bird.

 

[Wynette]

Some of the best tasting and prettiest jelly I've ever made was made with Jonathan apples. I had peeled a bushel of apples for dehydrating so I had huge pile of peelings. Rather than just tossing the peels I put them in a large covered stockpot and put them on to simmer. After they were completely cooked I ran them through my food mill. The juice was quite sweet and tinged pink. After filtering to remove any particulate I simply followed the instructions that come with Sure-Jell for cooked jelly.

Bob I sure hope you continue to post. If not I'll be the only old rooster on this thread and that is just too much responsibility for one old bird.

That sound DEEEE-LISH, Sam!

Silly - not sure on the satin balls. I have a Great Dane that I'm having major issues getting weight on. She's a Jack Russell Terrier in a Dane body, bless her heart. She runs and runs and runs....hence the weight loss (we adopted her - she was a former show dog, and we suspect spent a good deal of her day in a crate, so she didn't get that much exercise...we think she's making up for lost time now!). Someone suggested this recipe for satin balls to put some weight on Luna. (Short for Lunatic?) We'll see. Gosh, I should probably take a "before" picture, eh?

 

[BackyardFarmMom]

That sound DEEEE-LISH, Sam!

Silly - not sure on the satin balls. I have a Great Dane that I'm having major issues getting weight on. She's a Jack Russell Terrier in a Dane body, bless her heart. She runs and runs and runs....hence the weight loss (we adopted her - she was a former show dog, and we suspect spent a good deal of her day in a crate, so she didn't get that much exercise...we think she's making up for lost time now!). Someone suggested this recipe for satin balls to put some weight on Luna. (Short for Lunatic?) We'll see. Gosh, I should probably take a "before" picture, eh?

X's 2 Sam!!

I have a dane mix and he is pretty active too. He has tummy issues and has to have his food raised and he can't eat or drink too fast or he loses it all over my floor

And I don't recomend giving him eggs...

He is 7 now and is still very puppy like when he plays.
I have always given my dogs human food... just scraps here and there... but so many people comment on how shiny his coat is. He looks like a wet seal.
However, giving them human food has also never left me with a skinny pup

I hope you can get her weight up!