What did you do in the garden today?

[WthrLady]

Good that you are able to donate those feed bags to the 4H, who can learn some life skills in sewing and sell the bags as a fundraiser.

Cannot the dust be wiped down with a damp cloth? I would think any shopping bag made from a feed bag would have to be wiped down before using.

Dear Wife sews enough to hem up her pants, but that is about it. I never really learned how to sew. I would not be caught dead on a sewing machine as a young boy, but as an old man, I wish I had learned that life skill.

I grew up in a generation, or school system, where boys were taught certain shop skills and girls were taught other home skills, and never the two should be interchanged. I am very thankful I have those shop skills, but I really feel I missed out on many life skills such as cooking and sewing.

I joined a Senior Citizens Cooking Class that meets once a month and I'm the only guy in the class that regularly attends. I am having fun learning how to cook stuff. Dear Wife does almost all the cooking at home, but every once in a while, I can make supper for us now.

Boys learned farming and farm machine maintenance when I grew up. Girls learned how to garden. Even though I have been gardening for many years now, I am still more comfortable building a raised bed then planting it. Go figure. I have all the food gardens at our house, and Dear Wife grows all the flowers. Funny how that works out.

You still have to wipe the dust out.
In addition to that, many companies are switching to a weird woven type of material. It's plastic and when it is cut, it all unravels at an alarming rate and OH the mess.

 

[WthrLady]

I was a latch key kid. Mom went to work when I was young. I would get home about 3:30 and Dad would get home before 4. Mom would get home by 6:30. So Dad, Grandma and I would cook supper. I was always welcome in the kitchen when Mom cooked, baked, canned or made jelly. I learned a lot about cooking and I am a good cook. I took shop classes and helped Dad and uncle Albert fix stuff. I learned life skills and glad I did.

I wasn't a latch key kid, but mom mom LOATHED doing the marketing and cooking. So... ya.
I've always been on the fix it, mend it, make it do side.

 

[WthrLady]

Do any of you know if dried lentils or dried split peas are safe for chickens to each? I was gifted about 20 bags of each ( like you buy at the grocery store). No way we will eat that much! I’ve given away some bags but most people don’t want much.

You can sprout your lentils in jars all winder and the chickens go NUTS for them.
I cook the split peas and feed them those.

 

[WthrLady]

We do get occasional freezes. It even snows 1 - 2x a year...but it didn't seem to hurt my rain barrel in the garden last year and it is far more exposed than these by the house. My mom never emptied them either and she was further north and higher elevation than me so I think they will be OK.

I have/had oak whisky barrels for rain barrels. One year I forgot to drain them. Ice blew the bottoms out.

 

[igorsMistress]

Beds are level, gate is up. I also painted the rest of the lumber for the picket fence. Will get that up by tomorrow if not later today. Currently deciding whether to fix the old wheelbarrow or just get a new one.

 

[gtaus]

Do any of you know if dried lentils or dried split peas are safe for chickens to each? I was gifted about 20 bags of each ( like you buy at the grocery store). No way we will eat that much! I’ve given away some bags but most people don’t want much.

I would love to have bags of lentils and dried peas gifted to me! I think I could find a way to use them up in soups. 20 bags of each might be a lot all at once, but I think they last almost forever in the pantry. As to options for the chickens, I found the following.

From an internet search...

Full article here: Can Chickens Eat Lentils? (+ How to Sprout Them)

As to dried peas....

I hope you can make good use out of all those dried lentils and peas. It's soup season where I live in northern Minnesota, so that would be great for me. If I make more soup than I care to eat, I just freeze some soup leftovers in small containers and take them out the night before for a meal the next day.

 

[gtaus]

I have/had oak whisky barrels for rain barrels. One year I forgot to drain them. Ice blew the bottoms out.

I suspect a wooden barrel would have less give in it than a plastic barrel. I can see where freezing water would blow apart a wooden barrel pretty fast.

 

[gtaus]

Beds are level, gate is up. I also painted the rest of the lumber for the picket fence. Will get that up by tomorrow if not later today. Currently deciding whether to fix the old wheelbarrow or just get a new one.
View attachment 3680452

Very nice variety of raised beds. I am assuming they are metal and came in kits?

As to the old wheelbarrow... I would suggest looking into getting a four wheeled Gorilla type cart instead of a wheelbarrow.

Gorilla is a big name brand, but other companies also sell these carts. You can get them in various sizes. You can easily move a much heavier load with these four-wheeled carts. It's also much safer as you don't have to wrench your back trying not to tip over the one-wheeled wheelbarrow. My four-wheeled carts all have the handle that switches between manual pull mode to hitch mode for towing behind the riding lawn mower. That makes it super easy to move really heavy loads anywhere on my property.

The four-wheeled carts cost a bit more than a typical wheelbarrow, but IMHO, they are worth it. You can just do so much more with the carts than a wheelbarrow.

Having said that, when I was younger, I only had a wheelbarrow and that worked fine for most of my needs. You can get a parts kits for wheelbarrow rebuilds at Menards. They have different sized kits depending on the size of your wheelbarrow. That would probably be the least expensive route to get you back up and running.

Although I now have a number of four-wheeled carts that I use all the time, I also repaired my good old wheelbarrow as well. I got one of those parts kits on sale for about $20.00 a couple years ago. I don't use my wheelbarrow much anymore, but sometimes it is the better option for a particular job.

 

[Sequel]

I was gifted 52 ears of corn on the cob. I gifted 16 of those to a friend. I want to get the kernels off the cob and can them. Does anybody have any great DIY tricks to get the kernels off the cob quickly ?

I saw a guy use an Angel food cake pan. You shove the cob down through the hole. I don’t remember how he propped the pan up but it looks pretty slick! Good luck!

 

[CNJ]

I received a packet of Giant Black Wax Gourd seeds from Bakers Creek and was wondering how they were traditionally cooked. I came across this video and would like to try some of the recipes, especially the candy gourd. I have some food grade lime laying around gathering dust, I might as well use them to make gourd candy.