What did you do in the garden today?

[Sueby]

Been super busy at work & packing for the coming weekend. But I grabbed a shot of my latest dahlia.

Still picking tons of cukes & tomatoes. Im going to grates, squeeze & freeze extra cukes for bread later on.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. OMG! @WthrLady, that is some huge tomato slices. It must have been one sturdy vine to carry that weight. Good to hear all your harvests are going well. I canned more cherry tomato salsa yesterday and really need to can more of the Roma tomatoes. I finished cleaning the garage yesterday morning so I'm ready for the 3 tons of wood pellets being delivered tomorrow. I likely will do a batch of raw pack tomatoes for the Romas. I have enough of the other tomatoes (Burpees Long Keeper) to do a few cans of the stewed tomatoes so I may do them in one batch. I'm trading a friend my little freezer for firewood. Also trading some of my egg surplus for some of his surplus of tomatoes. The green (pole) beans are developing very slow so I'm thinking they may be thirsty again. My lonely poblano is nearly ready to pick. Thank you @Acre4Me, @WthrLady and @trumpeting_angel for bringing a bit of sanity back in the conversation regarding safe canning methods. I'm not quite as old as you @IamRainey, however I'm old enough to remember 35 or more years ago a lot of people died as a result of "the old ways" of canning. I was so concerned that when I made my first ever batch of (hand picked) blueberry jam I pressure canned it. I think we should keep in mind that we have people reading our posts including younger and less experienced folks that may actually take the information in our posts seriously. For that reason IMHO we should be responsible to not advocate risky practices. And as far as Concord grapes, have you tried googling them? You can buy just about anything online these days. Just a thought! Have a great day everyone and happy harvesting.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Been super busy at work & packing for the coming weekend. But I grabbed a shot of my latest dahlia.
View attachment 1890092

Still picking tons of cukes & tomatoes. Im going to grates, squeeze & freeze extra cukes for bread later on.

Your dahlia is lovely. How tall is the plant are pretty, but still very short. I expected they would be at least 12 inches tall.

 

[jerryse]

Morning . I have been gone for a month . Need to pick tomatoes and probably can some .

 

[WthrLady]

Heck, the whole dishwasher thing hit it's peak around the late 90s I think. I suppose those that tried it and didn't die just keep doing it. Evolution at work, until it doesn't. The other thing is, and people don't realize this, is that our water heaters aren't cranked up as high as they used to be, AND not all dishwashers have heating elements in them anymore. Mine doesn't. It relies on the hot water from the line and the detergents in the machine to do the job. PLUS crud grows in the machine and the lines. Why ever risk getting that in your food.

ANYWAY.....

I'm in the middle of a great purge. I lost my mom suddenly two weeks ago, and while her place is 1000 miles away, I know mom and dad's house and what all is in there and what my sister (who lives across the street) is facing. What do you keep and why keep it? Where's it all go when dad eventually goes? (Mom didn't leave a will, last instructions, wants or anything and never wanted to discuss it (Did she think she was immortal?!), but my sister and I won't ever fight over STUFF- we've seen other family members do that in the past, and it's not our way.)

But it got us thinking. (we've always had wills and plots, but I did take one more step and ordered an urn I LOVE and could totally spend eternity napping in - heck, one last decision for someone down the line.) I have crap sitting around here that I haven't touched in the 5 years we've lived here. We're retired military and I used to use the two year moves to purge stuff we didn't need/use. 5 years here and dang, have we piled. My ONLY things I'm keeping are things that my college son might actually want for an apartment one day.

Anyway, enough of that.

I decided to go ahead and mow last night. HOLY COW! 12 inches of growth in 8 days! I misread sunset last night and had to stop when it got dark, I still need to mow the front/side and around the coop, but that will only take me an hour on the zero turn.

I'm headed into town to drop a car load off at habitat for humanity, hardware store for lumber and boxes (for the jars) and fertilizer for the apple trees, then out to the village to drop household stuff at the mennonite thrift store.

Then back home to box jars, iron linens, check the garden (got some tomatoes to tie higher), mark trees in the orchard for death row and fertilize, set mouse traps, and finish MOWING.

Then there's the linens that need ironed and the laundry. All go on the ranch!

 

[IamRainey]

Gorgeous dahlia!

So sorry for your loss, WTHRLady.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Heck, the whole dishwasher thing hit it's peak around the late 90s I think. I suppose those that tried it and didn't die just keep doing it. Evolution at work, until it doesn't. The other thing is, and people don't realize this, is that our water heaters aren't cranked up as high as they used to be, AND not all dishwashers have heating elements in them anymore. Mine doesn't. It relies on the hot water from the line and the detergents in the machine to do the job. PLUS crud grows in the machine and the lines. Why ever risk getting that in your food.

ANYWAY.....

I'm in the middle of a great purge. I lost my mom suddenly two weeks ago, and while her place is 1000 miles away, I know mom and dad's house and what all is in there and what my sister (who lives across the street) is facing. What do you keep and why keep it? Where's it all go when dad eventually goes? (Mom didn't leave a will, last instructions, wants or anything and never wanted to discuss it (Did she think she was immortal?!), but my sister and I won't ever fight over STUFF- we've seen other family members do that in the past, and it's not our way.)

But it got us thinking. (we've always had wills and plots, but I did take one more step and ordered an urn I LOVE and could totally spend eternity napping in - heck, one last decision for someone down the line.) I have crap sitting around here that I haven't touched in the 5 years we've lived here. We're retired military and I used to use the two year moves to purge stuff we didn't need/use. 5 years here and dang, have we piled. My ONLY things I'm keeping are things that my college son might actually want for an apartment one day.

Anyway, enough of that.

I decided to go ahead and mow last night. HOLY COW! 12 inches of growth in 8 days! I misread sunset last night and had to stop when it got dark, I still need to mow the front/side and around the coop, but that will only take me an hour on the zero turn.

I'm headed into town to drop a car load off at habitat for humanity, hardware store for lumber and boxes (for the jars) and fertilizer for the apple trees, then out to the village to drop household stuff at the mennonite thrift store.

Then back home to box jars, iron linens, check the garden (got some tomatoes to tie higher), mark trees in the orchard for death row and fertilize, set mouse traps, and finish MOWING.

Then there's the linens that need ironed and the laundry. All go on the ranch!

Sorry for your recent loss @WthrLady. You have such a busy life, and I'm sure this was a bit of a bump in the road for you. I was hoping to bring a smile to someone today, so perhaps this will give you a chuckle. I was out watering my garden and what did I find? A huge 1 pound pickling cucumber. LOL! Perhaps I need to move my eye exam up to sooner than November. I can't believe I missed this one. Have a nice day.

 

[IamRainey]

Just checked the garden. Nothing to pick and nothing for the foreseeable future(other than zucchini, there are always zucchini) but I've never seen so many bees out there workin' the plants!

My egg production's way down too but at least my girls are feathering up again. Only thing is it's almost uglier to see the dark, sharp feathers growing out than the silly naked flesh.

Our weather is getting better too. Nineties this week with a single spike to 100˚ over the weekend and then 80˚s all next week. YAY!!! I lost a chicken to the heat last year and this year it looks like we're gonna all make it through!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Not sure they may be stopping a few here couldn't find a hidden nest doesn't mean there isn't one but have new birds have not layed yet which would tick the old girls off anyway

 

[Sueby]

@WthrLady - sorry for your loss. I'm very lucky that everyone near me has their stuff in order, it makes it easier but you still have the hard decisions on what to keep & what to toss in the end. It's so hard to toss ANYthing at all!

I don't have a dishwasher.

@Wee Farmer Sarah - that cuke cracked me up!