What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good afternoon gardeners. I pulled my pole beans and winter squash vines this morning. Picked a few blushing SM tomatoes and another small cucumber. I canned 10 half pint jars of peach preserves that I started yesterday and loaded the dehydrator with basil leaves. Yesterday I got the side yard slope trimmed with the weed whacker and mowed most of the backyard. I need to finish that up before dinner. I don’t have enough ripe SM tomatoes to can a batch of sauce so the plan is to make fresh bolognese sauce then freeze it. I’m taking a couple if days off from slicing peaches for the freezer. I believe I have about 5 pounds of slices in the freezer already. Tomorrow taking a timeout for fun at the local Greek Festival. Have a great day all.

 

[Ascholten]

The Carol Burnett Show was all laughs often surrounding stereotypes. Loads of fun, but I think today's cancel culture would have spasms watching it, lol!!

My mom used to make great pickles from her cucumbers. I'll have to see if she still has the recipe. If she does, I'll hop over to the new pickles thread. Great thread idea! I plan to grow cucumbers in my new garden. Just set up the trellis yesterday.

Carol Burnett was an awesome show, well so was CPO sharkey, Archie Bunker and a lot of them, but yes, today's snowflakes would have a coronary at them.

I am stuck with these things, I recently moved a box that I had plumbing parts in, inside of a tote, and when I did, I literally found a wall where this damned plant got down in there, and HONESTLY grew about 4 inches thick between the container and the tote wall, and it was packed with the little cukies. picture about a 2 foot tall by 4 foot long wall just shoved packed full with cucumbers the size of jelly beans !!. This plant is literally about everywhere you look in my property now, sticking in / out here and there :cringe:

I figure since Im going to start weeding this thing down, I do not want to waste the cucumbers, so lets make some pickles from them and if I can keep it all home grown, all the better !!

Aaron

 

[Ascholten]

ATTENTION !!!

Let me REMIND, all of you gardeners.....

If you find yourself with TOO MUCH STUFF.

We all get there now and then don't we...
I will be more than happy to help you fix your little problem.
DM me and I'll gladly give you my address so any and ALL goodies that you made, that are just taking up such precious room in your pantries, garage, spare bedroom, kitchen, etc etc. you send them dirty nasty, cumbersome, clunky in the way bottles of canned goodies STRAIGHT TO ME, and I'll teach them a lesson or two about messing up YOUR house !!!

Aaron

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I’ve had a dog allergic to beef, and one allergic to beef and chicken. The sport dogs have allergies to vegetation on the properties. I also had a dog allergic to being normal. He meowed, and hopped like a grasshopper.
Benadryl helped with seasonal allergies for a while, but eventually a steroid shot was necessary. There was no help for the cat grasshopper. Too many diesel fumes I guess.

Our English Mastiff was allergic to the feed with lamb and rice.

 

[Ascholten]

As a general rule... speaking on average. I know each breed will be different etc.

When you cull and clean a bird, how much can you expect in the end.

ie an 8 lb chicken would typically yield how much meat after fully defeathered, gutted and cleaned... 4 lbs, 5 lbs ???

Aaron

Edit: and unless you are doing a ton of birds, and got a huge gut pile. can you throw the guts and other remains into your compost pile directly or do you need to do something else with it first?

 

[TJAnonymous]

I can't even imagine that. I had my entire foot covered in them when I moved a piece of wood that had a nest that I didn't notice until my foot started burning. Ended up with over 40 bite blisters. A big ole horse laying down in it getting hundreds of bites? Oh poor thing.

another thing that helps with some of the first on pain and prevent infection, I took a wash cloth and washed my foot real good in rubbing alcohol, just the 50 percent ish stuff works fine, store bought. for you id grab a rag soak it and give the horse a good rub down with it, back and forth to get the skin / hair dampened Even if you lay it over it's back and let it soak a minute or two. Obviously that depends on your horses disposition among other things but it would stop the sting then and greatly reduces chances of infection. Just dont let them lick for a few minutes until it's dry.

IPA would work, or would regular ethanol if you can get it pre tax so you are not paying a ton of money in 'drinking taxes' for something that is NOT getting drank. Otherwise cut a bottle of everclear with half or so water and it should be good.

Just some thoughts.

aaron

Yeah, they can end up with dozens of nasty quarter sized welts. I can usually tell where the fire ant nests are in the pasture because the grass is tall in that spot indicating the horses won't eat there. We have so many of them... I try to kill them off but it's like whack-a-mole. They pop up somewhere else.

 

[Ascholten]

Yeah, they can end up with dozens of nasty quarter sized welts. I can usually tell where the fire ant nests are in the pasture because the grass is tall in that spot indicating the horses won't eat there. We have so many of them... I try to kill them off but it's like whack-a-mole. They pop up somewhere else.

You rarely will kill off ANY fire ant hill with one hit. They split and spread, it will take you a week or two. hit the main mound, give them a day or so to re group the ones that lived, they WILL make new nests generally 5 to 7 feet from the original, THIS is your time to get them THIS is the CRITICAL time, where you got them when they are weak and vulnerable.

Even if a hill looks like it only has a few ants on it, KILL IT. One of their tricks, as the main mound splits, they will have 3 or 4 satellites that will pop up with the survivors, one of them don't look like much, just a little dirt disturbed in the middle of your grass, BUT if you dig into that sob, it explodes with activity 1000's of them ALL in that tiny little hole you seen !!!

Hit the main, then go back every few days, and nail the new mounds that pop up, and do this every day for about a week or two until there are NO new mounds.
That is about the only way to do them. TRUST ME. half assing it will FAIL badly for you.... Ive been playing this game with the $#%$&^ for years....

good luck

Aaron

ps you don't have to drop straight poison either, boric acid works wonders too in certain instances.

Edit: I am going to assume your horses are like chickens, most smart but some are dumb as shit. Put the poison down and then cover it with a sheet, (I use burlap bags I get my coffee in ) that way the ants die, but the outside critters have to really work at it to get to them.. and the poison. if you have a horse that is just hell bent on eating stuff. mix alum, to make it bitter and teach that sob a lesson and boric acid, to hopefully take down the ant nest, and won't be fatal to the horse. once the poison is down, covered with the bag to keep it in place, sprinkle something you know the animal HATES over it, so no matter how tardly it is, it hopefully does not peek, poke, and nibble


aaron

 

[Sueby]

DH dug me a hole for my tree. He broke out the Case because digging here stinks. A 2x2x2 hole seems excessive for a little tree, but whatever, I'm a rule follower.

I have a duck in the oven, I've never cooked one before so I'm super excited. I'm also officially addicted to edamame. I can't wait to grow it next year.

Started some fall stuff - putting away garden things. I have 2 weddings in Oct, one I have to travel for, so I'm feeling the pressure to prep while I can. Back to work on Monday.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I got my EPA cert thru the Navy. I taught the course! so they decided that yes, I probably should have a permit too !! crazy isn't it?? What's even more crazy is I can order literally a train car tanker of freon and that's cool, BUT if I were to get one of those 10 oz cans they put into cars, from the auto zone.. OH NO !!!!! your permit does not cover that !!! TERRORIST, goto Jail !!!

Some of the laws are just plain stupid.

On the culled birds, even OLD birds can do well. Put them in a chicken soup / stew. simmer them for several hours in a crock pot, or sous videaux ? I can't remember how to spell that poofter word. You basically seal them up and cook them in hot water at say 150 degrees or whatever you choose. It works. I am going to make a vid on that soon.
Old = lot of running / walking so they get tough... stew them for hours tenderizes them. Id like to think that pressure cooking might accomplish the same thing towards tenderizing them.

On college, and 'grouping people'. People should grow thicker skin and not go into histrionics because they think someone might have said something that might possibly be pointed somewhat, no matter how slightly but potentially at them. the BIGGER problem here is the victimhood / cancel culture that has destroyed our society. It used to be we'd laugh at our differences, and poke fun at each other, give a fist bump on the shoulder and go have a beer. NOW everyone wants to run to HR, polish up their I am a victim because XXX card and look for some sort of handout / reparation because of it. I fully blame the colleges FOR this ridiculous, Im a child until I die nonsense.

Maybe 'Children' today should look at 'college' and realize, no it's NOT necessary to pay these worthless institutions 100's of thousands of dollars... to be 'successful' in life, it's a hustle.

and if I am going to take that route, it is on ME to pick a course that will end up with me doing something USEFUL in life. Mideval trans.... gender studies is probably NOT going to land you a real job paying a meaningful income anywhere... Plumbing, GARDENING, (Yes there is a HUGE demand for legit arborists out there !! ), electrical etc is probably a much better route to go. Even IF I made the mistake and picked something that is not doing well for me. a HUGE part of the whole 'college' thing, at least it used to be, was becoming an ADULT, learning that YES we Do screw up from time to time, and how to GET OVER IT, and MOVE ON. LEARN from your mistake, step over it, and continue with life in a better direction, WISER from your misfortune. Blaming the world, and expecting the world to 'fix your problem' never works', you putting on your big boy/girl pants and fixing it yourself has ALWAYS worked !!

If certain generations are such fantastic people that can fix any problem there is, then the 'boomers' don't need to 'listen' to them, but sit back and let them take the reigns FROM the boomers, GO in the proper direction and FIX all the stuff they love to complain about that is so 'unfair'. Boomers did what they did to bring YOU to this point. Love it or hate it, here it is..... blame all the bad stuff on the last generation, but at least FIX it so your generation and your kids have it better. Saying you can't fix it is just you being lazy.

We could spend hours going back and forth about accountability growing up and actually taking responsibility, instead of blamestorming, but this IS a gardening thread. so lets not do that. Lets get back to weeds and cucumbers.

Aaron

You all should check out this documentary about the racket behind college education.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Fire ants we

You rarely will kill off ANY fire ant hill with one hit. They split and spread, it will take you a week or two. hit the main mound, give them a day or so to re group the ones that lived, they WILL make new nests generally 5 to 7 feet from the original, THIS is your time to get them THIS is the CRITICAL time, where you got them when they are weak and vulnerable.

Even if a hill looks like it only has a few ants on it, KILL IT. One of their tricks, as the main mound splits, they will have 3 or 4 satellites that will pop up with the survivors, one of them don't look like much, just a little dirt disturbed in the middle of your grass, BUT if you dig into that sob, it explodes with activity 1000's of them ALL in that tiny little hole you seen !!!

Hit the main, then go back every few days, and nail the new mounds that pop up, and do this every day for about a week or two until there are NO new mounds.
That is about the only way to do them. TRUST ME. half assing it will FAIL badly for you.... Ive been playing this game with the $#%$&^ for years....

good luck

Aaron

ps you don't have to drop straight poison either, boric acid works wonders too in certain instances.

Edit: I am going to assume your horses are like chickens, most smart but some are dumb as shit. Put the poison down and then cover it with a sheet, (I use burlap bags I get my coffee in ) that way the ants die, but the outside critters have to really work at it to get to them.. and the poison. if you have a horse that is just hell bent on eating stuff. mix alum, to make it bitter and teach that sob a lesson and boric acid, to hopefully take down the ant nest, and won't be fatal to the horse. once the poison is down, covered with the bag to keep it in place, sprinkle something you know the animal HATES over it, so no matter how tardly it is, it hopefully does not peek, poke, and nibble


aaron

Fire ants are descended from the hydra. Swear on it.....