What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

I personally have come to the conclusion that fair judging is biased, and who should subject themselves to human rules and judgment? Beauty and taste are in the eye of the beholder, as well as value. I have never entered anything in any fair, though tempted to want to compete for the ribbons and honors. Others may feel different, but man has no right to judge anything God creates, or that I make. What man deems not ribbon worthy all has a purpose. We know when that batch is or is not according to our standards. We are stewards, gardeners, kitchen wizards, and we do what we can to the best of our ability.

what do you say about wasting thousands of tones of fruits and veggies because they are small or big to meet standard?

 

[littledog]

what do you say about wasting thousands of tones of fruits and veggies because they are small or big to meet standard?

Yeah, that's crazy. Presentation is nice, but it's supposed to be about preservation skills and edibility.

 

[igorsMistress]

We can start them early with the wicking ropes and it doesn't prevent the roots from following the water level down. In addition, the bottom of the net cup doesn't have to be touching the water or nutrient solution at the beginning as long as the wicking rope is in the nutrient solution, so I didn't really need to install an on/off valve on the bottom of my connected buckets, but it's good to have for cleaning and changing plants.

Once the roots reach a certain level, its best to set a constant level with a float valve and nutrient reservoir. Because the water level can go down, but it cannot increase over an inch. A professor did research on this, and I also found it to be true.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CLNGBRL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
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Thanks so much for all this info!

 

[WthrLady]

, , .

He might try tart cherries. The equivalent of ten per day. The easiest way is dried. Then juice, jam, or keeping a bag in the freezer to take them from.

If you dehydrate your own, you can get them without the sugar you usually find in grocery store options (and they taste better, I think). Cherry season is over but you can dry frozen cherries, if y'all like the dried.

I saw research on this for gout (long ago; I don't have it easy to get to now) so I think it is more than an old wives tail. On the other hand, we don't have gout and eat that many nearly every day in our oatmeal.

It has to be tart cherries, though, not sweet cherries. Balaton is a tart cherry that tastes closer to a sweet cherry than the typical tart variety (Montmorency) if taste is an issue.

Gtaus, you might be interested too.

You can also buy tart cherry concentrate at the health food store.

 

[WthrLady]

Yeah, that's crazy. Presentation is nice, but it's supposed to be about preservation skills and edibility.

EXACTLY! PLUS Presentation for state fair level. Trust me, the other 20 jars of pickles that didn't make my cut for the fair are in the basement ready to be eaten by us. I do what I do for my friends and family for food and then the best of the best example of that goes to show.

 

[igorsMistress]

G’morning gardeners. Today will be the last of 110+ temps for the week, I hope! I was at the store to get some canned tomatoes for pasta sauce yesterday and found some Hunts brand San Marzanos. Anyone tried these before? I’m going to mix them with the Cento brand I have and see how we like the sauce..

 

[igorsMistress]

@TJAnonymous and @gtaus i have the Food Saver brand vacuum sealer (Walmart carries it as does many other places here). I have had mine probably 10 years and use it all the time. I recently found a bag of sliced peaches in my freezer from 2017. They looked perfect. I used them to make a cobbler and it was delicious! I had other bags ( just ziplock , not vacuum sealed) of peaches from last year and they had turned brown and were very soft and mushy. I had to throw those out.
I also vacuum seal meats and veggies (yes, I blanch the veggies first) and it works wonderfully for those too.
If I have liquid ( like soups) that I want to vacuum seal I first seal one end of the bag, fill with the soup ( or whatever ) stand it in the freezer until frozen and then vacuum seal the other end.
Hubby still in the hospital. Might come home Saturday

Hope your DH gets to come home soon Karen!

 

[jerryse]

Mowed yesterday. Chance of rain tomorrow. Need to see my Chiropractor this week. Trying something new to keep my Dexcom over patch to stick the full 10 days. Tincture of Benzol.

 

[saysfaa]

You can also buy tart cherry concentrate at the health food store.

I've been seeing it in regular grocery stores in the last few years, too. If your's doesn't carry it, they might be able to order.

 

[Smokerbill]

Picked tomatoes and beans this morning. I'm going to have a lot of tomatoes in the freezer for this winter!