What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Morning again all.
The fog has almost burned off. Ridiculous for this time of year to have zero visibility fog. There is a lot of rotting, cut hay laying in fields at the moment. (not mine)

I have a small vacuum pump that slides over regular and wide mouth lids that fit on most commercial jars and oc fit on canning jars. I use it to pull out most of the air in my dry stored foods to help with preservation. I also have a tube on my vacuum sealer machine, but I rarely use it. When I do it is to bag and seal bulk chicken breasts for the freezer to avoid freezer burn. It is rarely used. My mini pump, I keep on the counter I use so often.
It is rechargeable and cordless.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDDX27WT?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
This is where all my 'used' canning jars get used, dry and dry, vacuum storage.

I just brought in another 18 pounds of tomatoes. I spent two hours in this yuck severely pruning back the plant. Since we changed to a very wet, damp pattern from extreme drought, and have NO winds blowing things around, blight and fungus is setting in. I pruned the plants halfway up and removed anything questionable. I then picked anything that looked at all ripening to ripen in the house, and take stress off the plants. IF the sun comes out later today, but the winds stays nil, I'll hit the whole thing with coppercide.

I also am seeing my first tiny, hard to find hornworm babies and saw one Japanese beetle.

All my other plans for the day were to be outside ones. I have now slid those to tomorrow's calendar. It's a big NOPE out there.

 

[Smokerbill]

I got one years ago and I decided that it might be worth the price of the bag rolls (which is horrendous) if I fished or something where I need to freeze high dollar food. It came with an attachment to vacuum seal Mason jars which is fun but more gimmicky than useful imo.
If you’re curious then borrow one to play with or look in thrift shops. There may be more affordable options around though. Mine is an early version of the Foodsaver.

But aren't the vacuum sealer bags reusable until they get too short? I thought that was one of the touted benefits.

 

[Smokerbill]

I need

Morning again all.
The fog has almost burned off. Ridiculous for this time of year to have zero visibility fog. There is a lot of rotting, cut hay laying in fields at the moment. (not mine)

I have a small vacuum pump that slides over regular and wide mouth lids that fit on most commercial jars and oc fit on canning jars. I use it to pull out most of the air in my dry stored foods to help with preservation. I also have a tube on my vacuum sealer machine, but I rarely use it. When I do it is to bag and seal bulk chicken breasts for the freezer to avoid freezer burn. It is rarely used. My mini pump, I keep on the counter I use so often.
It is rechargeable and cordless.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDDX27WT?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
This is where all my 'used' canning jars get used, dry and dry, vacuum storage.

I just brought in another 18 pounds of tomatoes. I spent two hours in this yuck severely pruning back the plant. Since we changed to a very wet, damp pattern from extreme drought, and have NO winds blowing things around, blight and fungus is setting in. I pruned the plants halfway up and removed anything questionable. I then picked anything that looked at all ripening to ripen in the house, and take stress off the plants. IF the sun comes out later today, but the winds stays nil, I'll hit the whole thing with coppercide.

I also am seeing my first tiny, hard to find hornworm babies and saw one Japanese beetle.

All my other plans for the day were to be outside ones. I have now slid those to tomorrow's calendar. It's a big NOPE out there.

I need to do some tomato pruning and then tie the growing stems to the supports. They have been expanding in size lately! But still just green tomatoes. My large cherry tomato plants will produce the first ripe tomatoes, I believe.

 

[nao57]

That's a good description.

I forgot my muffs one time when I "just had one post to drive in." Wow, that ringing clang... and it echoed off the garden shed.

I once saw video of what happens to the little hairs in your ears when you hear a sound. They wave and flutter. Then they played a really loud noise, and they just about blew apart. (Whose ears...? I don't know.) And, they DON'T GROW BACK.

I saw a guy using a chainsaw without hearing protection. I commented on it, and he said, "Nah, I don't need those," as if it were a manly thing. Nope. Not at all.

Some did it for a while, during Covid, and now that times are more "normal" again, they're ditching the self-sufficiency. Some saw the last few years as a real wake up call.

Canning stuff doesn't last at Goodwill stores around here. My neighbor goes to a lot of estate sales, though, and she said she can find a fair amount of canning supplies. She doesn't need any of it, but she'll buy it for friends and neighbors who are looking for them.

Poplar Report just reported that they've started using fake artificial meat at Food pantries and like places where people go for help to get food for the poor. That stuff is already shown to be made from cancer cells. Heaven knows what its going to be doing to people.

Everything is crazy right now.

 

[saysfaa]

Poplar Report just reported that they've started using fake artificial meat at Food pantries and like places where people go for help to get food for the poor. That stuff is already shown to be made from cancer cells. Heaven knows what its going to be doing to people.

Everything is crazy right now.

The petrie dish lab grown "meat"? Or the plant-based non-meat?

Neither are good but plant-based is less dangerous to the health of the people who eat it.

 

[Dr Evy]

Besides getting Blossom-End rot, our garden is thriving this year. We moved it to a sunnier spot this year and I’ve harvested so much already. This is just from today

 

[WthrLady]

But aren't the vacuum sealer bags reusable until they get too short? I thought that was one of the touted benefits.

They are if you use them for dry store, like chips, or nuts, or cereal.
As you remove some of the item you can reseal the bag.

But for wet things like soup or contamination items like chicken, It's kind of a one and done thing.

Some foods like rice and grain, even form to the bag and can leave micro punctures in it that renders the bag useless to reuse once the seal is broken.

 

[Smokerbill]

They are if you use them for dry store, like chips, or nuts, or cereal.
As you remove some of the item you can reseal the bag.

But for wet things like soup or contamination items like chicken, It's kind of a one and done thing.

Some foods like rice and grain, even form to the bag and can leave micro punctures in it that renders the bag useless to reuse once the seal is broken.

Good to know. I won't be getting a vacuum sealer anyway. I just try to wrap things like meats tightly, and for me if there's a little freezer burn, it's not a problem.

Do you ever use the mylar bags with the oxygen remover packets? Aren't those great for long term storage of dry goods?

 

[gtaus]

You could buy a food saver brand like we did twice.
Then come to realize a machine is as only as good as the spares you can get 4 it.

Weston has us covered on replacement parts, they use the same parts from model to model.

https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Pro-2...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583726553757731&psc=1

Thanks for the link.

 

[saysfaa]

My friend uses a straw to draw much of the air out of a freezer bag. I experiment with it but don't have a good feel for how well it works. So far, much better sometimes than other times.