Southern NY, Dutchess county and below

[magsrags]

This is my pink-tip okra that I got through Seed Savers, also known as Hill Country Okra:


Not nearly as big and showy as your blooms, but then did you get these after the bloom?



Am I the only Yankee that loves Okra this much?

Give me a good okra recipee! I'll try it. Looks wonderful.

 

[Imprfctme]

Okay well first the gardening stuff -

Here are some pics of my tomato leaves/fruits:






Sigh - not great. Al, I tried your milk cure on the zucchini plus I pruned out a few more plants. I think it worked, we had another squash this morning that was quite handsome. So far though I can't see any cures for this tomato disease. I'm going to email these photos to Seed Savers and see what they say, since all the stuff online indicates that this is a disease in the seed. Like I said though, I may just give up entirely on tomatoes, we have had the worst luck of anything with them. I might as well grow stuff I can't find at the farmer's market / CSA instead. Suzanne try the squash again next year but only allow one plant to exist. My problem was that I was hoping for too many varieties. If I stick to just one and prune out any late-growing seedlings vigilantly I'm sure I can avoid the powdery mildew next summer. On a positive note, the climbing string beans did well again, so well that we had a picking contest this morning - husband and 1 child versus me and the other child. We each picked one side of the fence and came in and weighed the results. We each had 1lb 8.25oz exactly! Too funny, I guess the plant grows fruit on each side of the fence, 50/50. If only congress worked that well.

My basic recipe for okra is to stew it in tomatoes, sort of like ratatouille. Usually with sauteed garlic, ginger, onions, maybe a little basil. here is the gist of it: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fresh-Okra-with-Tomatoes-and-Ginger-105224
I don't really go for deep-frying it, or anything else for that matter unless I'm making fried chicken from scratch and then there are no rules or diets.

I am also hoping to get some of the okra pickled, eventually but I didn't try that or the corn fritters last night, the cake was all-consuming.



Cake Boss I am not, but it tasted good. There's a contest through Epicurious on Facebook, bake a cake for Julia Child's birthday and submit it. We share the same birthday so I felt obligated to try. It's a buttermilk rhubarb cake with brown sugar frosting. So. Very. Good!

 

[Imprfctme]

About the girls: -

The reason why I was even shopping for eggs in the grocery store is that two of them have stopped laying. I'm assuming there is a summer molt about to happen? Neither of them has molted yet, only the EE molted over the winter, and she is still laying. This morning I found a yolk with a thin, floppy shell around it and hardly any white. Is this normal for molting hens to lay? Or could it be that J. Lo went broody and is not laying for that reason and Ruthie is sick? I haven't really seen feathers falling out yet, and she is so regular normally, I'm a little concerned.



We had soft-boiled eggs this morning, and we had to put their "hats" on.

So cute! Thanks Suzanne!

 

[magsrags]

About the girls: -

The reason why I was even shopping for eggs in the grocery store is that two of them have stopped laying. I'm assuming there is a summer molt about to happen? Neither of them has molted yet, only the EE molted over the winter, and she is still laying. This morning I found a yolk with a thin, floppy shell around it and hardly any white. Is this normal for molting hens to lay? Or could it be that J. Lo went broody and is not laying for that reason and Ruthie is sick? I haven't really seen feathers falling out yet, and she is so regular normally, I'm a little concerned.



We had soft-boiled eggs this morning, and we had to put their "hats" on.

So cute! Thanks Suzanne!

Love it!

 

[magsrags]

Thanks for that recipee!

The cake is beautiful! I grew and lost my rhubarb plants completely. I think I over planted my poor garden and thats why I got the mold on the squash n zuccini as well.
My tomatoes are growing really well again this year though.
SHiRT....my landscapers accidently weed wacked 3 of my watermelon vines to the ground.

 

[ChickenAl]

Okay well first the gardening stuff -

Here are some pics of my tomato leaves/fruits:






Sigh - not great. Al, I tried your milk cure on the zucchini plus I pruned out a few more plants. I think it worked, we had another squash this morning that was quite handsome. So far though I can't see any cures for this tomato disease. I'm going to email these photos to Seed Savers and see what they say, since all the stuff online indicates that this is a disease in the seed. Like I said though, I may just give up entirely on tomatoes, we have had the worst luck of anything with them. I might as well grow stuff I can't find at the farmer's market / CSA instead. Suzanne try the squash again next year but only allow one plant to exist. My problem was that I was hoping for too many varieties. If I stick to just one and prune out any late-growing seedlings vigilantly I'm sure I can avoid the powdery mildew next summer. On a positive note, the climbing string beans did well again, so well that we had a picking contest this morning - husband and 1 child versus me and the other child. We each picked one side of the fence and came in and weighed the results. We each had 1lb 8.25oz exactly! Too funny, I guess the plant grows fruit on each side of the fence, 50/50. If only congress worked that well.

My basic recipe for okra is to stew it in tomatoes, sort of like ratatouille. Usually with sauteed garlic, ginger, onions, maybe a little basil. here is the gist of it: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fresh-Okra-with-Tomatoes-and-Ginger-105224
I don't really go for deep-frying it, or anything else for that matter unless I'm making fried chicken from scratch and then there are no rules or diets.

 I am also hoping to get some of the okra pickled, eventually but I didn't try that or the corn fritters last night, the cake was all-consuming.



Cake Boss I am not, but it tasted good. There's a contest through Epicurious on Facebook, bake a cake for Julia Child's birthday and submit it. We share the same birthday so I felt obligated to try. It's a buttermilk rhubarb cake with brown sugar frosting.  So. Very. Good!

Heather, I'm glad the milk cure worked. This year I have no problem with ours because I learned not to crowd them. They need that three feet, and more, in all directions between plants. The other thing is that you can get a bumper crop and not be able to eat or give them all away. We only put in three Zucchini plants this year. And I think we are one too many

Your tomatoes are suffering from too much water. That is why they are splitting. We've had those soaking rains so that will make them split open like that. Ours have had that happen to them, and they are heirlooms as well. I haven't watered the garden for a couple of weeks now because of the rains.

We've had no luck with
the beans this year. They didn't even climb like they were supposed to. Gardening success changes from year to year for us. Mostly, I've learned to cut down on the things that are more of a novelty and just grow just enough of what we use on a regular basis. I started doing some Permaculture stuff a few years ago, but I'm too fatigued to keep up with trying toget it right. I do try to stay totally organic, if that's possible, and let nature take its course. I don't even weed until its our of control. The plants seem to do better with the least amount of intervention. I never till the soil, eitherl. That's what the worms are there for. And we do have loads of 'em. Last year I had worm castings that covered the soil area of the garden all spring long. I did a lasagna bed set up and simply add to it each year. Very little in the way of organic fertilizers, and it all does very well for me. The simpler the better.

 

[magsrags]

Come to think of it last year my tomatoes were splitting because of too much water and this year they aren't. I haven't watered them but maybe 3 times this summer.

 

[magsrags]

About the girls: -

The reason why I was even shopping for eggs in the grocery store is that two of them have stopped laying. I'm assuming there is a summer molt about to happen? Neither of them has molted yet, only the EE molted over the winter, and she is still laying. This morning I found a yolk with a thin, floppy shell around it and hardly any white. Is this normal for molting hens to lay? Or could it be that J. Lo went broody and is not laying for that reason and Ruthie is sick? I haven't really seen feathers falling out yet, and she is so regular normally, I'm a little concerned.



We had soft-boiled eggs this morning, and we had to put their "hats" on.

So cute! Thanks Suzanne!

Sometimes extreme heat stops them from laying.
A broody hen will stop layin g as well. I havent had a fresh egg in over 8 weeks now because of these broody girls now raising their peeps.

 

[littlecritters]

Oh gosh! Now I remember what I came on here to type.    (They need a head smack smiley face)

So since J. Lo the white rock is super broody, and has been for two weeks now, I gave up on trying to break her. Instead I slipped two fertile eggs I purchased from the grocery store health food section under her. Is this crazy? Or rather, give me all the reasons why it's crazy.

Here, I'll start the list:

1. You will be getting roosters, if you get anything at all

If you have my kind of luck, you'll get 2 double yolkers and 4 baby roos will pop out!

 

[littlecritters]

Love the cake and adorable crocheted chick! And I am jealous of everyone's veggies....I've got garden envy.

On a different note...recently a post was copied from a BYC thread and placed on another website forum with reference to BYC. I would like to CAUTION everyone to be careful of what is put in writing. I'd like to share what I tell my son....be careful not to put anything in writing unless you are comfortable seeing it on the front page of the newspaper. My mom always said "be careful of what you say snd how you say it". I'm sorry to sound so motherly....you never know who reads these forums and how the content will be interpreted.

Now, I'm off to search for a cute baby hat I made...hope to find it and take a pic for you all.