The Old Folks Home

[Arielle]

I could eat butternut squash with butter, salt and nutmeg all day long!!! I wonder if this can be canned?? My mother canned summer squash and the rubber texture was not the best. lol We did put up a lot of spagetti sauce though. My tomatos are way behind.

I have been reading how to use a root celler, won't have anything this year but that is ok, Next year.

Okra in soup-- that I could do! Like a minetrone.


WHen I am weeding I would like to give the weeds to the other animals but I"m not always sure of what I am pulling. ALl the nightshade goes in a pile and I pray the turkey poults don't stop and pluck the berries. I'm forgetting the chemical in them, but it takes a few berries I'm sure. SOme sections are so high with weeds I need a sythe.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Gosh-- didn't realize you could have honey already.

Blueberries-- I remember picking on the heath with my mother for hours, at 1 qt per hour. Our best season was 50 dry qts in the freezer. Pancakes with blueberry sauce after church. yum. Here the birds usually beat me.

Blackberries are my favs. DO you freeze or make jams?

Sorry you our getting our storm, still cloudy here, and spotty drizzle. Good working outside weather. MOving chicks out to barn.

Honey is generally harvested in July and early August. I doubt I'm going to have much this year as it's a new hive and I got a really late start but I'm hoping for a pint.

Generally I freeze the majority of the blackberries. Some get eaten fresh, some get turned into individual fruit crisp in a canning jar (which you can freeze and pop one in the oven when you need it), and I jam the rest alone or with blueberries (that's how I prefer it).

Due to the storm it was realllllly cold and damp this morning. I made a fire in the wood stove to take some of the damp chill out of the air. I'm glad we're getting the cold rain alternating with the crazy heat instead of just one or the other.

I have two dogs, but one is elderly and both sleep with me. Dooley makes a property check when I go to bed, then he joins me. Whatever the predator may be, it doesn't make noise enough to awaken us, and it's always happened well after midnight.

I am now suspecting the owl.

You can get a game cam - find out what it is for sure. Borrow one from someone if you don't want to buy.

There's also a fairly inexpensive (20 to 50$) alarm that you can buy, it's designed to be placed at the end of a driveway - it goes off when there's motion in front of it, and can alert at a sensor up to about 300 yards away if I remember correctly. It's designed for people to know if someone's in their driveway, but New Englanders use it up here to see if there's animals in their yard.

I'm sorry about your continued losses.

 

[chickensnewtome]

I need to keep the fruit flies away from my produce in the house! WHAT SHOULD I DO?

 

[Arielle]

THrow a cloth over it and get it put up asap. Freezer, fridge, tummies.

@SCG-- I like the black berries with blueberries too as the straight blackberries are too rich.

Hope you get a taste of that honey.

We had a 30+ degree drop in temps. IT is cold here too. I would rather a run in the middle of the two as 95+ and 60's is way out of wack for normal here. ONe day of 90 is ok but NOT 6.

 

[chickadoodles]

Honey is generally harvested in July and early August. I doubt I'm going to have much this year as it's a new hive and I got a really late start but I'm hoping for a pint.

Generally I freeze the majority of the blackberries. Some get eaten fresh, some get turned into individual fruit crisp in a canning jar (which you can freeze and pop one in the oven when you need it), and I jam the rest alone or with blueberries (that's how I prefer it).

Due to the storm it was realllllly cold and damp this morning. I made a fire in the wood stove to take some of the damp chill out of the air. I'm glad we're getting the cold rain alternating with the crazy heat instead of just one or the other.


You can get a game cam - find out what it is for sure. Borrow one from someone if you don't want to buy.

There's also a fairly inexpensive (20 to 50$) alarm that you can buy, it's designed to be placed at the end of a driveway - it goes off when there's motion in front of it, and can alert at a sensor up to about 300 yards away if I remember correctly. It's designed for people to know if someone's in their driveway, but New Englanders use it up here to see if there's animals in their yard.

I'm sorry about your continued losses.

You could also wait till after dark and bait a live trap. That way you can catch what ever it is then deal with it.

 

[chickadoodles]

My daughter has 40 or so huge blue berry bushes on her place. When they are ripe she takes the kids and a sheet and buckets out to the bushes and lays the sheet on the ground around the bush and they shake it. The berries fall and the put the berries in the bucket and move on to the next one. They make pies, syrup and muffins, pancakes and anything else she can think of. I wish I could get Blue Berries to grow here! I am in the black belt and my soil will kill them!

 

[Cynthia12]

You guys are killing me with all of this news on your gardens. I did actually already pick my first bunch of chard. More is coming up.

But, my crookneck didn't do anything. My tomatoes are slowly but surely coming along..they aren't going to be very big..not most of them anyway.

I do have a pumpkin though. lol..only one though on this plant, but it's huge already. Will have to pick it before Oct. I think.

My sunflowers are doing ok. Getting tall. I did three this year.

 

[chickadoodles]

You guys are killing me with all of this news on your gardens. I did actually already pick my first bunch of chard. More is coming up.

But, my crookneck didn't do anything. My tomatoes are slowly but surely coming along..they aren't going to be very big..not most of them anyway.

I do have a pumpkin though. lol..only one though on this plant, but it's huge already. Will have to pick it before Oct. I think.

My sunflowers are doing ok. Getting tall. I did three this year.

Cynthia, We have had so much rain that my cucumber plants are dead, my tomato plants are nearly dead. And my squash plants molded. That is my garden! But you could use some 20-20-20 on your vegies it is granular and you mix it in water and you can use it every day or week and it won't hurt you food! I use it all the time it's great!

 

[ozexpat]

THrow a cloth over it and get it put up asap. Freezer, fridge, tummies.

@SCG-- I like the black berries with blueberries too as the straight blackberries are too rich.

Hope you get a taste of that honey.

We had a 30+ degree drop in temps. IT is cold here too. I would rather a run in the middle of the two as 95+ and 60's is way out of wack for normal here. ONe day of 90 is ok but NOT 6.

my other world has highs between 84 and 92 Every day of the year

 

[BunnyMomma]

I need to keep the fruit flies away from my produce in the house! WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Hi, I always make a fruit fly trap to keep in my kitchen during the summer months! They are easy to make and work like a charm.
I use an old coffee cup, but you can use a jar or any container.

Here is what you put in the trap~

Put 1/4 cup of fruit juice, 5 drops of dish washing liquid, and 1/2 cup of water.
Stir gently, and set the trap on the counter top near any fruit or veggies that you bring in.
They will fly into the trap and drown. Replace the mixture once each week during the summer!
Fruit Flies~ GONE!

I hope this helps