Sally's GF3 thread

[Sally PB]

Yesterday afternoon, I had my feet in Lake Michigan. My left foot got a little bit of sunburn!

Last night, we had a fire in the woodstove.

 

[drstratton]

View attachment 4208933
Yesterday afternoon, I had my feet in Lake Michigan. My left foot got a little bit of sunburn!

Last night, we had a fire in the woodstove.

That water looks beautiful! It also looks cold?

 

[Sally PB]

That water looks beautiful! It also looks cold?

I was amazed at how warm it was! I was barefoot in it for 2-3 hours.

The spring that came out of the side of the hill was MUCH colder.

 

[drstratton]

I was amazed at how warm it was! I was barefoot in it for 2-3 hours.

The spring that came out of the side of the hill was MUCH colder.

Sounds like a nice way to spend your day. And a fire in the woodstove sounds like a nice way to end it.

 

[fuzzi]

View attachment 4208933
Yesterday afternoon, I had my feet in Lake Michigan. My left foot got a little bit of sunburn!

Last night, we had a fire in the woodstove.

I have a photo of my feet in Lake Superior. Hopefully I can get them in Michigan or Huron next.

 

[Sally PB]

Many years ago, hubby and I hiked on the Pictured Rocks trail the week after Labor day. Part of the trail was along a Lake Superior beach. There was a big sandstone shelf that went out into the water for 30-40 (?) feet, and the water was waist/chest deep, then dropped way off after that. We were hot, sweaty, and being harassed by huge flies, so we went swimming. It wasn't warm, but it was ... doable. We didn't stay in very long.

But I can say that I've been swimming in Lake Superior in September!

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Many years ago, hubby and I hiked on the Pictured Rocks trail the week after Labor day. Part of the trail was along a Lake Superior beach. There was a big sandstone shelf that went out into the water for 30-40 (?) feet, and the water was waist/chest deep, then dropped way off after that. We were hot, sweaty, and being harassed by huge flies, so we went swimming. It wasn't warm, but it was ... doable. We didn't stay in very long.

But I can say that I've been swimming in Lake Superior in September!

I have family in Marquette. I've only visited a few times, but the FLIES ...the freaking FLIES. The only way to get relief is to get in the freezing water!

 

[Sally PB]

The deer got into my tomato garden and ate just about everything. I still had loads of green tomatoes, and was planning to make mild salsa out of them. Nope.

I pulled up all the plants, found about 5 green tomatoes fist-sized, and maybe another half dozen ping pong ball sized. Not nearly enough to make salsa. I had to use some half ripe and fully ripe 'maters to get enough. Thus:

Sally's "This Is What The Deer Left For Me" Salsa

Green tomatoes and some red tomatoes
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of onion, chopped
2 medium sweet peppers, chopped
Hot peppers, if you like, in the amount you like
3/4 teaspoon salt (I should have used about double that)
1/3 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/8 teaspoon black pepper (could have used 1/4 t)
1/2 t ground cumin (could have used 1 t)

Wash and core the tomatoes. Chop them in a food processor. I had about 3 1/2 quarts.

Put all the ingredients in a large stainless steel pot and bring to a gentle boil. If you have lots of green tomatoes, it won't be as watery. If the deer ate most of them and you're using some ripe tomatoes, you'll need to cook it down to a more sauce-like consistency. Taste for seasoning.

Pour into hot pint jars, and water bath process for 20 minutes. This made 5 pints.

Ripe tomatoes will change the flavor, and you may want to use more vinegar or lime juice to counter their sweetness.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

This is my biggest concern starting a permaculture food forest. How do we keep the animals from eating everything before we get a chance to harvest?! We have deer, wild turkeys, raccoons, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, sandhill cranes....literally all the wild animals! It seems like an exercise in futility.

What kind of actions (if any) do you take to manage the damage of wild foragers throughout the growing season?

 

[Sally PB]

I have a fence around the garden, but some of it fell down. It's back up now, that's for sure! It had been a few days since I'd been up there. That garden is not visible from the house, so it was out of sight, out of mind.

There are a few things you can do to protect your plants, all variations on these:

Keep the animals out
Trap/eliminate them if they get in
Make your garden less desirable so that they don't want to get in.

Keeping them out usually means a fence of some kind. High and sturdy for deer. Small openings to prevent smaller animals from getting through. Subterranean barriers to keep the diggers/tunnelers out. I can't keep voles out, and they eat the roots of some of my plants, stunting them. An enclosed raised bed with half inch hardware cloth on the bottom might work... Plus, not all the thieves are ground-bound. Birds got all my cherries and blueberries this year!

Eliminating them if they get in usually means a trap. I have caught several opossums, rabbits, wood chucks and raccoons with live traps. I do not relocate, I shoot them and bury them either in the garden to enrich the soil, or out in the field if I don't have a big enough area to dig a 2-foot deep hole.

Making your garden less desirable usually means putting some kind of odiferous something around that keeps critters from wanting to come in. People have used human and dog hair, bars of soap, and sprays or granules in organic or non-organic formulations to keep animals away. One of my big pests this year was stink bugs. I'll be looking at ways to keep them out next year.

It is a battle, that's for sure.