What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

If I do get the harvest right it will be the oil free pump version.
https://harvestright.com/product/ho...eL8aJxwgyBsa6lnckE_patqu0jTi9mSRoCug4QAvD_BwE

I never can make up my mind if I'm going to pull the cord.
Oh and about 24 hours total to do strawberries. Whole

 

[Cluckerdoodle]

Very busy and exhausting day. Pulled out a bunch of cone flowers that had taken over. Mowed about 2 acres of grass. Raked out thatch and clippings from 2,500 square feet. aerated the 2 acres. Seeded the 2,500 sq ft. fertilized with starter fertilizer. Placed straw over seeded area and watered it. Getting two sprinklers tomorrow. Nine hours of non stop work. Just a bit much for an older retired guy. Taking it easy the next few days. In the meantime, Tylenol, Ibuprofen and Arnica rub.

 

[Sally PB]

You can use $1000 extra a year in electricity

Well, that's a deal breaker there for me. Thanks for telling me, though.

 

[NewBoots]

I'm out of freezer space too so I'll be pressure canning this pot of mixed stock. For processing tomatoes, I have a kitchen aid grinder thingy. I run the pulp through it twice to get as much sauce as I can and then I give the pulp to the chickens and rabbits.

We brought Penny home today and after a rough start she is now doing great! We covered her kennel on the ride home so she couldn't see anything scary and she was quiet as a mouse. We fully expected her to bark for the entire drive but nope. She was pretty wound up once we got her home but she's doing great now, comes directly to us and wags her tail. I know that sounds like the barest minimum to get from a dog but as fearful as she has been, I was in tears with joy. Penny doesn't seem interested in the chickens at all and is very respectful but friendly towards the cats. We'll see how she does tonight, she's fine with being in her kennel so we're hoping she sleeps.

My ex-broody girls are both in a explosive molt. Both are practically naked at this point but I don't let them see me laugh. Their combs and wattles are getting red again anyway so I hope to see eggs from them again. I'm planning on reprocessing the crabapple jelly tomorrow and can more salsa. Been too involved with our new girl today so I didn't get anything at all done in the garden at all other than feeding & watering critters.

 

[WthrLady]

Well, that's a deal breaker there for me. Thanks for telling me, though.

Yup. Figure $3 a batch for power to run the unit.
Bottom of the line units run, and the smallest, run about 2400$

 

[Sally PB]

Yup. Figure $3 a batch for power to run the unit.
Bottom of the line units run, and the smallest, run about 2400$

Maybe they'll come down in price and get more efficient...

Maybe we'll switch to solar and not have to worry about the cost to run...

 

[WthrLady]

Been that price for years.

 

[Elyrian1]

Woah... that costs as much to run as an air conditioner.

 

[karenerwin]

I canned 50+ half pints of blackberry jelly and 8 half pints and 4 pints of white grape jelly. My friend has a winery and grows his own grapes. These were the Niagara grapes. I help pick grapes for his wine making and then he lets me pick left overs to make jellies and to feed to the chickens and rabbits.
My favorite grape ( that he grows) is Shamberson (not how it is spelled, but how it is pronounced). It is a purple grape and makes the most wonderful jelly! They will be ready to be picked later this month!

 

[Ascholten]

Tell me more about this freeze dryer, please! Brand name, model? Cost, if I may ask? How loud is it? How long would it take to freeze dry something like strawberries? Green beans?

If you had it do over again, would you buy it at today's price?

The good ones are VERY expensive. the price of them went up fairly significantly since the covid garbage, but yes id still get one. for strawberries, you can probably get them done in 12 to 14 hours. You load it up and walk away essentially and it runs on it's own, it's got settings you can change if you need / want to. Thing is, once the stuff is freeze dried, once you pack it, that's it, i's good for 25 years on the shelf. i actually goofing around freeze dried some slices of pizza, and busted them out two years later. amazingly they were not bad at all!

Its not a toy, it's expensive, they come in various sizes. The amount of time to do a batch depends on the liquid in the foods, some may be done in 6 or 7 hours. you can goto their website and they have a lot of info on them. harvestright. if you have any other questions please feel free to ask me before getting one and I can tell you more if you need.

Aaron