What did you do in the garden today?

[igorsMistress]

Know the feeling. I'm about ready to start wearing a particle mask. Breathing is hard.

Whoa, bad enough for a particle mask all the time, or when there's fires?

In Phoenix it's almost as bad. High pollution advisories all the darn time!

 

[NanaKat]

Picked okra and a few tomatoes yesterday and worked the Choctaw herd we brought home. The moms were getting thin from not enough grass on that pasture. Weaned more calves.
For today I'm cleaning the duck pen and then going to take my lil sister to lunch. Boys are cutting hay.
When I get home, I'll weed more in the garden and try to plant carrots and peas.
Have a great day!

 

[Pensmaster]

Whoa, bad enough for a particle mask all the time, or when there's fires?

In Phoenix it's almost as bad. High pollution advisories all the darn time!

Only when fires are close. Although if working with chickens and smoky I've left it on after finishing with chickens and feel better for it.
No smoke from the fire north of us yet.
I've thought about Arizona for retirement. Far too expensive here.

 

[igorsMistress]

Only when fires are close. Although if working with chickens and smoky I've left it on after finishing with chickens and feel better for it.
No smoke from the fire north of us yet.
I've thought about Arizona for retirement. Far too expensive here.

It's a bit cheaper here but the air quality is terrible around Phx so don't come here. I've considered the masks because of all the dust. Have to wet down the coop floor before stirring DL or I cough for a couple days. Northern AZ is quite beautiful though.

 

[GardenTillers44]

potato chip: "I get given tomatoes and I make tomato sauce in the slow cooker. I roast everything first. Garlic tomatoes onions then bung it in the slow cooker. It's all pretty much hands-off. Just needs a stir every now and then, in the oven and then in the slow cooker."

My wife has done the slow cooker method for years. It's a great way to multitask and tastes wonderful! (no boil-overs either) She's got a batch going now slated for about 50 stuffed peppers for the freezer.

 

[GardenTillers44]

CapricornFarm, post: "I used to harvest kudzu for my goats. It is high in protein and people love to get rid of it. I wonder if chickens like it?"

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/kudzu-and-chickens.532017/

 

[Pensmaster]

It's a bit cheaper here but the air quality is terrible around Phx so don't come here. I've considered the masks because of all the dust. Have to wet down the coop floor before stirring DL or I cough for a couple days. Northern AZ is quite beautiful though.

Hard to wear them around glasses but I've gotten used to it. We buy them by the box.
I've heard some of the higher elevations in AZ are ok.

 

[Pensmaster]

potato chip: "I get given tomatoes and I make tomato sauce in the slow cooker. I roast everything first. Garlic tomatoes onions then bung it in the slow cooker. It's all pretty much hands-off. Just needs a stir every now and then, in the oven and then in the slow cooker."

My wife has done the slow cooker method for years. It's a great way to multitask and tastes wonderful! (no boil-overs either) She's got a batch going now slated for about 50 stuffed peppers for the freezer.

Have you found one that allows for good temperature control?

 

[lazy gardener]

We used to have a pond with goldfish in it, and I bought lots of duckweed for the pond, in hopes that it would multiply and be a constant source of greens for the fish. Well, the goldfish loved it so much they just gobbled it all down immediately and it never had a chance to multiply. Lol - such little gluttons!

If you find yourself with a gold fish pond again, and want to keep some duck weed going, it might work to screen off a section of the pond, it wouldn't need to be very big. You could then grow your duck weed in the screened area, with a little exit area so the duck weed could "leak out" but not all get eaten.

 

[lazy gardener]

finished spreading all of my available cardboard over part of the poison ivy area, and spread some leaves/wood chips. I've found that I can load the truck in about 40 minutes, and unload it in about 20 minutes. Waiting for a call from the Sears Appliance warehouse. They're stockpiling a load of cardboard for me. Who needs a gym membership????