What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

I can a lot of meat. Pressure canner is essential to kill as much toxin as possible for long term safe storage.
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Climbing into the ridiculously HOT range and the humidity and smoke is no joke either.
Garden is plugging along. The grapes are looking nice, I have no idea what variety they are as I had several varieties planted that were moved when the barn went up and they were moved enmasse, and this was the only one that made it through the years. They look like thompson seedless, but many are turning a bit blush pink. Who knows what they are?!

Tomatoes are still slow, but it's still early for canning. View attachment 2768326

OH, I took the chicken wire fence from around the chicken garden. I meant to weeks ago. It was there to keep them from digging up small plants. Now with all the red cherry tomatoes in that jungle and all the green june bugs, the hens ran in and I may NEVER get them out. View attachment 2768324

how do you can meat? I have never done it and that is the next thing I plan to do. a friend of mine suggested I cook it first to spare canning time.

 

[chickengr]

Never turn your back on critters. Yup.
Always keep your eye on the bull.

never turn your back on people! my experience.

 

[chickengr]

Our chicken yards are approximately 40-50 ft from our house. The brick helps muffle some of the sound. I literally sleep with one ear open though... If I don't hear crowing or I hear the sounds of panic, I am out of the bed in an instant to check on them. I also set the timer on the automatic chicken doors for 7 AM so I AT LEAST get to sleep in until then....

my chicken coop is about 30 ft from the house. that was crucial when fox tried to enter. now I keep my 1 yo female german shepherd in the chicken run at night. she would not be trusted at day time though.

 

[gtaus]

I think you mean Coq au vin. Translates to rooster in wine. I think the long cooking time and acidity of the wine help break down the older bird.

Thanks. I think that must be what I was thinking of. I know they require an older bird or the dish just does not come out right. But I'm not a chef and I have never had Coq au vin.

 

[Acre4Me]

A 45 minute trip in the pressure cooker can also work

45min!!

I’ve cooked Cornish cross chickens in the pressure cooker - 10-12 min at pressure. Completely cooked. Last night I put two in at the same time (they fit without overfilling the pot), and 12 min at pressure worked just fine to cook both birds at once. So, 45 min sounds sooo long! We have had some tough birds that were prepared in ways that were very wrong for males as we have come to learn, so I guess 45 min under pressure could soften them up pretty well.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

Collected seeds and sowed for fall and winter veggies

 

[Ascholten]

I often smoke london broil. I'll sometimes cheat on the marinaide and start with a bottle of italian dressing and then add the rest of my herbs and spices. Occasionally there is not a huge choice at the store and you get one home that may be less than desirable on the grill. I have found that letting them marinade several DAYS can make them melt in your mouth tender most times on the grill. The vinegar in the dressing helps soften / break them down I imagine. I have also started tinkering with my freeze dryer. I modified it a bit with a better pump and it can pull down to 50millitorr. Vaccuum marinating seems promising too but still have a bit to learn on that, some meats, longer is NOT better.

So with that yah 45 minutes might do the trick on a tough rotten piece of meat. This rotten cockatoo I have, I bet this buzzard would take 45 days !

Aaron

 

[Sueby]

how do you can meat? I have never done it and that is the next thing I plan to do. a friend of mine suggested I cook it first to spare canning time.

In a pressure cooker! You can't can meat in a water bath, it's unsafe. I've never done it but supposedly it's nice & tender. You can hot pack or water pack (cook it first) just about any meat is my understanding & it takes up to 90 minutes in the canner depending on your jar sizes.

All this talk of knife injuries makes me cringe. My thumb injury is right where it hits the keyboard & it's tender for sure.

Finally nice weather here! Will probably have to water in the next couple of days though. I wish my Dahlias would start to bloom soon, or even get buds! I feel like they're all so behind this year. I hate that, then I lose all the flowers to frost before I get to enjoy them. Or snow like last year!

 

[Acre4Me]

Vine borers - grrr

all summer squash are impacted- the zucchini fell fast. So far, the butternuts look ok. Melons also look ok. My single pumpkin plant of large/carving pumpkins is impacted. However, I used a small pen knife and cut off affected stem, dug around a bit in the affected area to kill the grub, then covered it with dirt. This was the advice I came across on a University Ag website. It might make it, might not.

now I know what the VB moth looks like, when I was looking up info.

our 3.5 year old hen, who has never been broody, is being broody! So silly. The teenager male is in a covered pen, inside a large dog cage as he was being way too randy with the girls. So, the broody hen gets put into the pen with him so he has company during the day (along with a second gen sometimes), but has to mind his manners as he’s stuck in his cage. Funny though, I gave him some turnip greens, AND gave the two hens the same in the pen… but they wanted his turnip greens!!!

 

[Iluveggers]

Vine borers - grrr

all summer squash are impacted- the zucchini fell fast. So far, the butternuts look ok. Melons also look ok. My single pumpkin plant of large/carving pumpkins is impacted. However, I used a small pen knife and cut off affected stem, dug around a bit in the affected area to kill the grub, then covered it with dirt. This was the advice I came across on a University Ag website. It might make it, might not.

now I know what the VB moth looks like, when I was looking up info.

our 3.5 year old hen, who has never been broody, is being broody! So silly. The teenager male is in a covered pen, inside a large dog cage as he was being way too randy with the girls. So, the broody hen gets put into the pen with him so he has company during the day (along with a second gen sometimes), but has to mind his manners as he’s stuck in his cage. Funny though, I gave him some turnip greens, AND gave the two hens the same in the pen… but they wanted his turnip greens!!!

Vine borers usually won’t mess w butternuts. I always plant one Waltham & one Honeynut in case the rest get decimated.