What did you do in the garden today?

[Liz Birdlover]

LOL you almost peed your pants while wetting your plants....

I know, it was LOUD!

Well, it's over already. Open all the coop windows again.

Might be the shortest, loud storm I've ever seen.

 

[cj2024]

A little reminder about the sourdough culture: it needs time to ferment. I’m not sure what you mean by “proofing” in your Breville oven. Exactly what are you proofing, the starter sponge or the starter itself?

After I add 1/3 cup flour and 1/4 cup water with a give or take mind set. I loosen the lid and put my cold starter in my Breville oven at 100F for 2 hours on the proof setting. I use it after it doubles.

The other method I use is to add the flour and water before I sleep and leave the starter out at room temperature. This is the method I usually use.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

After I add 1/3 cup flour and 1/4 cup water with a give or take mind set. I loosen the lid and put my cold starter in my Breville oven at 100F for 2 hours on the proofing setting. I use it after it doubles.

The other method I use is to add the flour and water before I sleep and leave the starter out at room temperature. This is the method I usually use.

The one you usually use is better for the culture. The fermentation process needs a little time to develop. I feed my starter after I take a cup to create the sponge for a batch of bread. I fill a cup with about 2/3 cup of flour and add enough water to mix with the flour. I make that so it replaces the amount I removed from the starter jar. I leave the starter on my prep table overnight then refrigerate in the morning. I make the sponge for the bread dough when I feed the starter and let it sit overnight for at least 12 hours before making the dough. My average sponge time is more like 14 hours because of my regular morning chores. If you replace the amount of starter you use for baking then you should be able to maintain the same volume of starter.

 

[Sally PB]

I dug 3 half totes of compost out of the chicken run and put it mostly on the onions today. I need to do about 5 times that much to get the ground level down low enough so that I can start giving the girls their buckets of weeds again.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Went out to water the garden via the irrigation system and discovered DH ran over the end piece that hooks up to the hose with the mower. Pretty sure I don't have any replacement pieces so I'll have to order some to get it functional again. At least Beryl is bringing rain on Monday. Hopefully.

 

[chickengr]

we had much needed rain but my chicks, turkey poults, ducklings and goslings got soaking wet forecast didn't mention any rain that day. I managed to grab the cage with the youngest ducklings, bigger ducklings and goslings coped with getting wet well but poor poults and chicks were miserable. I could not dry one by one 50+ so I fired the second incubator. poor things sat on top of each other. 2 poults are getting doxycycline, the rest look fairly good. a few dutch bantams looks tired so I am watching them.

I went shopping and passed by my favourite nursery. I have bought 3 watermelons, 3 melons, 2 horn peppers, 1 cucumber and a few pots with flowers to attract bees. some moth got 2 cucumber plants I had. going to start from seed some more in orchard between the young trees. that should be far enough from the garden.

 

[Acre4Me]

30 pages behind! We had house guests, so too busy to keep up on here. My stash of 10+ dozen eggs is down to 4.5 dozen!

Garden -growing like mad. Lots of summer squash. One zucchini cake done: 10C shredded zucchini in one cake, although recipe calls for 8C. The zucchini gets shredded, sugared, drained for 30 min before adding to cake.

Raccoons : kept bothering the garden, but will bother no more. We let teen use the .22 and teen shot the raccoon AND the garden hose. New hose installed.

Lots of rainy days, a bit of a drag bc it hampered outdoor activities with the guests. We couldn’t make S’mores on July 4th bc heavy rain came through shortly after we cooked dinner over the fire. But we got them made the next day before more rain arrived. We did enjoy the early part of July 4th at the US Air Force museum, which is free to attend year round. Hadn’t been for a few years and it was good to see some new things. One of the best museums I’ve been to, and I grew up in the DC area, so I’ve seen so many museums. Side note: another museum I enjoyed years ago was the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR- visited 26 years ago and I still remember it!

Today’s garden tasks are weeding, and tying up squash vines, and tomato plants.

 

[chicken opey]

Just did a lil watering esp transplants and my upside down spoon tomatoes. Those and lavender are still alive.
There’s a good chance I’m pulling out my cow peas this week and planting a different kind.
Rest is waiting for things to ripen.
Oh, I roasted that butternut and it was delish even tho no completely ripened!
Letting this snake bean ripen - turn red - to use inside flesh as tomato paste. Already close to 5 feet!

 

[Liz Birdlover]

A squirrel buried a walnut right under my Lavender, Again, so I carefully tried to remove it. Could not pull it out of there, as the top of the soil may have gotten rained on for 10 minutes, but deeper down that soil was solid & dry as it's been like a desert here the past month. We've really had no decent rain here since May...I think May, maybe April. Anyhow, I used the hose shooting water & my hand to untangle the roots, creating a deep mudhole. It took several minutes separating roots with my fingers, bent down, with my arm & end of hose shooting water, in the ground. I probably looked like a real sight lol. The top of the sapling was only maybe 6 inches tall but the roots reached down about a foot, intertwined with the Lavender roots. Well, when I finally got the dang thing out, I moved the muddy mess of soil back into place. I hope the Lavender does Ok, it's really a lovely shrub size & I'd hate to lose it. I don't know why that ornery squirrel Always picks this spot. There are literally acres to choose from dude! Leave the Lavender alone please!

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Yesterday's super intense thunder Boomer lightning storm lasted 10 min, well the rain part was 10 min, the thunder was 20 min & LOUD, we had the rolling thunder, sounded like a big truck driving too fast down the gravel road hitting every pothole & we had the serious bolts of lightning 🌩 & crashing thunder like a cannon shot, freaking us all out.
My neighbor & I were both outside in our veggie gardens at the time & we both heard a distinct sizzling sound accompany that 1st bolt strike...let me tell ya, we both never moved so fast! The bolt is one thing, but that sizzling sound...ooh, talk about your hair standing up on end! Her poor dog has been a nervous wreck already from nearby fireworks. She told me poor Buddy has not been a happy camper this week. Poor dog.