What did you do in the garden today?

[Sueby]

I'm not super old (48) but I feel it! I was in a car accident & had to have both shoulders & my nose surgically repaired & I have 4 busted up disks in my lower spine so I feel like I belong with the old folks. I can't complain though, it could be much worse.

I have 1 friend who is just like me, she loves to garden & can & it's great. We share/swap plants & every spring go to the garden store together to get our veggies going. We get together & can stuff a couple times over the summer. We make jam or something every year too to hand out for Christmas. We constantly text each other garden pics, like the dorks we are. The rest of em suck, they don't get it. LOL

 

[Sueby]

Oh & this is my first time doing a 'compost'. It's part of the reason I wanted chickens. I have no clue what I'm doing, but I figure even if it's not right & doesn't happen quickly, everything eventually composts if you leave it long enough!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Second day of cooler temps and rain. We've got 2 inches or more already and still coming down. Hopefully the tomatoes don't split. My car is in the shop for electrical issues and thankfully my insurance covers it. I believe one of my BR babies laid her first egg yesterday. Small, brown and perfect. They are one day shy of 19 weeks. Nothing going on in the garden. I picked another yellow squash this morning. Yesterday I blanched and froze 1 pound of turnip greens. Since the temperatures are cooler today I thought I would work on making marinara sauce and freezing that. I still have 5 jars of pickles that I canned on 11 August of last year. There's no way I can consume that many pickles before the 11th. Has anyone used their pickles past the one year mark? Regarding the old folks thread: I haven't tried it yet, but I may get around to it. I like this thread because there is a nice range of generations and I think it's very special that we all focus on what we have in common regardless of age differences. I'm staring down the barrel of 70 and I am still learning about chickens and gardening and loving it all. Oh and for insect stings: vinegar, hands down the very best! Have a great day everyone.

 

[Sueby]

I have never had anything I can last longer than a year so I'm no help. Maybe you can give some away to friends or neighbors or something?

I need to start some small batch canning, I just found a cuke in the fridge that's now soft. I hate throwing food away & my chickens are no help, they don't like anything but mealworms. Picky little buggers, just like me.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I don't feed anything to the chickens that I wouldn't eat, so half spoiled food goes to the compost bin. I have a double sided tumbler that gets food scraps and I also started a compost pile behind the garden for leaves, last years chicken droppings and pine shavings and garden waste. As far as leftovers from last year, I had an amazing bumper crop of just about everything. I was canning pickles this time last year and started canning tomatoes in early August. I still have tomato sauce and pickles as previously mentioned and I also found two more containers of butternut squash in the freezer. This year I will be drying some of my herbs and maybe some hot peppers. I'm getting tired just thinking about all that work. LOL!

 

[Sueby]

Last year I canned a half bushel of jalapenos and I am on the very last jar, I think it was just about 20 quarts. I'm not looking forward to doing it again. I also made some cowboy candy, I think I have a jar or 2 of that left.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Last year I canned a half bushel of jalapenos and I am on the very last jar, I think it was just about 20 quarts. I'm not looking forward to doing it again. I also made some cowboy candy, I think I have a jar or 2 of that left.

I usually just freeze my jalapenos and poblanos. If I get enough bell peppers I freeze them as well. I live alone and consume what I grow.

 

[WthrLady]

I started cleaning the coop this afternoon, deep litter! What a JOB! I didn't get it all done. I work on it till 10:30pm! I need to go back out and do some more, but when the light is on, the girls think it's time to eat or play! Impossible to work with them in there.
I have the most beautiful deep litter! It'll do my garden so much good! This is my 2nd year with hens, I had no idea that under all that stinky straw I would find the best fertilizer I've ever seen! Does anyone else use the deep litter method with their chickens?

Oh yes! Black gold is harvested here mid october and mid april.

 

[boggart]

I help tend a garden for an older lady from my church, and today I amassed a shirt-full of 20 peaches. I have no idea what to do with them besides eat them plain. Any suggestions?

 

[21hens-incharge]

I help tend a garden for an older lady at my church, and today I amassed a shirt-full of 20 peaches. I have no idea what to do with them besides eat them plain. Any suggestions?

Peach cobbler, peaches in a simple syrup on pound cake, peach ice cream.....