The Front Porch Swing

[Beekissed]

AAWWW!! the simple pleasures!! Our back fence row is full of honeysuckle, but I don't think ours is out just yet. Haven seen or smelled any. We used to suck the nectar too.

I love country life!!!

You know...my mother and her sister(in their 80s) said they had never known you could suck honeysuckle nectar out until I showed them....I think they must have known when they were little but maybe just forgot. I thought every country kid knew that...sort of a rite of passage, isn't it?

Kind of related?
My neighbor just started keeping bees. I'm afraid the bees would be attracted to it and the chickens will decimate the bees! I'm still worried I'm going to affect her hive...

They won't bother them...we had bees and free range chickens, turkey and ducks while I was growing up and I had bees briefly with my free range flock later and they completely ignored the bees. No worries on that score!

I've got this bad boy going again ...



We defrosted another of last Thanksgiving's turkeys in brine ... 48 lbs this time ... without so much ice in the brine so it didn't take as long to defrost and probably won't have as much of that "Corned Turkey" flavor I created last time (I liked that a lot, but it took forever for that bad boy to thaw, and I didn't want to worry about it for as many days this time).

Yesterday I wrestled with it & parted it out ... legs, wings, breast meat, and some very meaty sections that don't normally exist/have names ... started this big pot with the leftover bones, and a big bag of turkey feet from the freezer. I roasted the legs/wings/extra meaty bits last night (that took my two biggest roasting pans) ... I will work on the breasts today (I think I'll only be able to do one at a time because they are THAT huge). First I gotta clean my roasting pans.

So we're back on the turkey soup/turkey sandwich treadmill for a while. Le joy.

I kinda hate to ask how many more of these things I've got in the freezer ...

ETA: freezerS ... I have a smaller chest freezer in my basement full of turkey, but there is a huge freezer over in one of the barns full of turkeys, too. And then the "side" freezer of my egg refrigerator has necks & feet ...

Not only can I NOT fathom a turkey that large being able to even walk around but I cannot fathom the size of freezer that would hold several of those beasties!!!!

I love, love, love turkey and wished were neighbors so I could buy one from you, though I also can't fathom how much a 48 lb homegrown turkey would cost.....I could can that bad boy and it would feed us all winter long!

When we hunt or grow our own we butterfly the breast filets, roll them in flour, season and fry, then use the rest in soups. Nothing better than turkey breasts done in this way...makes my mouth water to even think on it!

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

Amen! We don't have to be anxious for anything, do we? We can let our requests be made known to God, with thanksgiving, and the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Hallelujah for that!

Take a look at my baby garden..just starting to get some growth....but no muddy paths, thanks to clover!

Nice garden Bee. I love the clover, excellent idea. Alfalfa does the same for fixing nitrogen but it gets too tall to grow between rows. legumes of all sorts do that as well. Peas beans....etc. here if you take a look in the fields here you will see nothing but that black cloth or clear . The clear is used in Strrawberry fields. Keeps all the water in and provides a green house for early plantings. The poke holes in the clear plastic and poke the plants in the holes.

For what its worth I have never done a garden. Tried once when I was about sixteen at moms house. Dug up a patch about twelve by six with a spading fork. planted seeds... nothing grew. That was 43 years ago.

deb

 

[mimischicksnat]

They won't bother them...we had bees and free range chickens, turkey and ducks while I was growing up and I had bees briefly with my free range flock later and they completely ignored the bees. No worries on that score!

Whew! Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease. I certainly don't want to ruin a relationship with the neighbor. She had her bees first!

 

[Beekissed]

Nice garden Bee. I love the clover, excellent idea. Alfalfa does the same for fixing nitrogen but it gets too tall to grow between rows. legumes of all sorts do that as well. Peas beans....etc. here if you take a look in the fields here you will see nothing but that black cloth or clear . The clear is used in Strrawberry fields. Keeps all the water in and provides a green house for early plantings. The poke holes in the clear plastic and poke the plants in the holes.

For what its worth I have never done a garden. Tried once when I was about sixteen at moms house. Dug up a patch about twelve by six with a spading fork. planted seeds... nothing grew. That was 43 years ago.

deb

I'm surprised at that, Deb, because you seem the type that could really grow a great garden, but considering where you live, it would be very hard to find enough water to garden sustainably. What do folks successfully grow there in the desert?

 

[Beekissed]

Whew! Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease. I certainly don't want to ruin a relationship with the neighbor. She had her bees first!

What you may see is the birds picking up the dead bees around the hive or even the bugs that are attracted to the hive, but don't mistaken that for them preying on the bees....I've never heard of that happening. Now, guineas....I can't guarantee they wouldn't go for bees...so if you have those, I'm not sure.

 

[perchie.girl]

Well its been a long day and I need some prayers. Got into a dispute with my 2 kids who want to leave and it got a bit nasty. I ended up flinging 2,000 dollars in his face and telling him to get out while they could.

He then tossed me a zinger of info and finalized it by saying, "oh guess what there's a memo on my brothers phone he was dying when he wrote it!" It gutted me then he told me by the way the phone died last night...this is the only way we have to renew internet or to have emergency access if we lose internet at the house power wise.

I was told my son died at the scene and my brain is foggy as to when we came home and we dropped off and he left for work. I know he messaged his boss telling him he would come in soon as we were done. Ive got the phone at a shop but have no ideas if it can be salvaged.

Its a 700 dollar phone only 9 months old. Anyways I tried to contact my embassy for help to get my 2 kids out and was pretty much told, sorry we cant assist! You got 1,000 marines in a carrier off the coast but you cant advise or assist citizens especially young 18 and 22 kids on leaving?

I was livid and then the main number was incorrect so I called the emergency number and was told it wasnt an emergency, call the other number! Lets just say my tax dollars are working hard.... Anyways im looking at 1,300 each 1 way leaving if we are lucky in next few days.

See you cant buy online no credit cards, and you must go to their offices which are in the city center. Then hope flights will still be going out in few more days. So im losing two of my kids, im alone and honestly going back isnt much of an option.

young man at the phone store asked if we had passports, I said yes and showed him mine. It was like he was holding gold...another friend asked to see my passport and he looked through it, he said they lied. I said what about? He said thry told us US passports say "you are from the best country in the world" inside them!

Nope just quotes and images. I told him take a picture if you want. So many youth want to escape to our dream, how do you explain our streets aren't paved in gold? Praying my kids get out safely and things stay safe here until my husband can get here.

I cant find the words...
deb

 

[Beekissed]

I cant find the words...
deb

X2 But will pray for you in the only words I can find, those lifted up to the Father, where they do the most good.

 

[mimischicksnat]

What you may see is the birds picking up the dead bees around the hive or even the bugs that are attracted to the hive, but don't mistaken that for them preying on the bees....I've never heard of that happening. Now, guineas....I can't guarantee they wouldn't go for bees...so if you have those, I'm not sure.

They won't have access to the actual hive, but i have seen lots of bees flying around where I will keep the chickens. No guineas. Too loud for the neighbors...

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Here in San Diego you can grow just about anything ... The San diego Zoo for instance has the largest collection of endangered plant species in the world. Way beyond the animals it showcases.

The desert can grow anything with water. My friend Denise can create garden in Gravel....

LOL. I have seen gardens in the desert One fellow raises yellow Onions on a patch of land that looks to be about five acres. When he is done He harvests them and drys them under shade cloth in pallets that let the air thorugh.

Once the ground is broken though you have to commit yourself to water conservation supplementation and battling the onslought of wild critters that want IN on the project. My neighbors little garden is about twelve by twelve. set in his yard. His yard has a six foot tall chainlink fence to keep the coyotes out. Dogs in side keep the rest out. His garden looks like a chicken yard. Its a raised bed, fenced all around with the small chicken wire, then the bottom of the bed has hardware cloth for the critters that dig up from the bottom. They used to grow a little corn and cucumbers and squash but mostly they grew tomatoes.

The stuff I know about Gardening is from listening to my dad. His dad used to grow Corn and beans together for two crops. The beans climbed the corn and when tilled back in fertilized the soil.

deb

 

[TexasLisa]

Well its been a long day and I need some prayers. Got into a dispute with my 2 kids who want to leave and it got a bit nasty. I ended up flinging 2,000 dollars in his face and telling him to get out while they could. He then tossed me a zinger of info and finalized it by saying, "oh guess what there's a memo on my brothers phone he was dying when he wrote it!" It gutted me then he told me by the way the phone died last night...this is the only way we have to renew internet or to have emergency access if we lose internet at the house power wise. I was told my son died at the scene and my brain is foggy as to when we came home and we dropped off and he left for work. I know he messaged his boss telling him he would come in soon as we were done. Ive got the phone at a shop but have no ideas if it can be salvaged. Its a 700 dollar phone only 9 months old. Anyways I tried to contact my embassy for help to get my 2 kids out and was pretty much told, sorry we cant assist! You got 1,000 marines in a carrier off the coast but you cant advise or assist citizens especially young 18 and 22 kids on leaving? I was livid and then the main number was incorrect so I called the emergency number and was told it wasnt an emergency, call the other number! Lets just say my tax dollars are working hard.... Anyways im looking at 1,300 each 1 way leaving if we are lucky in next few days. See you cant buy online no credit cards, and you must go to their offices which are in the city center. Then hope flights will still be going out in few more days. So im losing two of my kids, im alone and honestly going back isnt much of an option.
young man at the phone store asked if we had passports, I said yes and showed him mine. It was like he was holding gold...another friend asked to see my passport and he looked through it, he said they lied. I said what about? He said thry told us US passports say "you are from the best country in the world" inside them! Nope just quotes and images. I told him take a picture if you want. So many youth want to escape to our dream, how do you explain our streets aren't paved in gold? Praying my kids get out safely and things stay safe here until my husband can get here.

Oldmomma, you and your family are in my prayers!

Lisa