What did you do in the garden today?

[WaterfowlsPoultry]

Watered the plants and bushes

 

[Liz Birdlover]

And what happens if we are passed out and some paramedic puts an ammonia capsule under our noses

Holy crap! There should be a bracelet to wear that says No Ammonia

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Assassin Bug: 1
Squash Bug: 0

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All done. Lunch was deeeelicious!
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I stayed away bc apparently bite can be bad -worse pain than a wasp sting, although not really toxic. But, they are beneficial bc the generally attack pests. Of course, I had the hebejeebeez when it must have flown away/climbed elsewhere and I couldn’t find it. Yes, I used the window reflection to make sure it wasn’t on me

I use the window reflection, too. I've had a few unwanted hitchhikers on my clothing or on my hat, end up in the house...fireant, wasp, mosquito, annoying fly, etc.

 

[WthrLady]

Holy crap! There should be a bracelet to wear that says No Ammonia

You can put anything you want on a medi-alert bracelet.

 

[Sally PB]

I pulled 8 buckets of weeds. That sounds like a lot more work than it actually was. These are big, mature weeds!

I had to stay available to help hubby with his project, which was installing one of the two pieces of drywall we can do before the electrician wires the new switch in the bathroom.

The bathroom project is going slowly. I'm a bit nervous about ripping out the old tub and installing the new shower. Not sure what we're going to find when we take it out.

 

[cj2024]

I always wanted to taste milky white beef bone broth, but never got around to making it, so while I was in the supermarket I bought a package of fresh beef hoofs bones. It cost $8 for a few bones, so I only bought one package.

It took at least 24 hours to make the bones simmering in water to turn a light milky white. After seasoning it, I was impressed at how it tasted. If I ever do this again, I will buy two packages of beef hoof bones instead of one package.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Busy day for me. Picked more tomatoes and beans, watered the gardens, went to the clinic to have some blood drawn, went to the grocery store, picked about 7 pounds of peaches and 3 okra pods. I sliced and toasted the okra before tossing them into the freezer. After lunch I sliced over 4 pounds of peaches (that’s their weight after slicing) now I have my first batch of peach preserves cooking. I’ll plump them overnight then can after my chiropractor appointment tomorrow.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I wish I had some peaches... I'd say 99% of my fruit dropped off. Everything that was left was so wormy that it was unsalvageable.

 

[Smokerbill]

I got things set up for cooking and processing my relish tomorrow morning on the back deck. I slapped together a temporary but solid work table, attaching the back edge to the deck railing.

I'll use my electric skillet to cook the relish, and have a big pot of water on the turkey fryer burner for sanitizing and processing the jars.

 

[igorsMistress]

Planted 4 varieties of peas. Picked the sunniest spots available. Very hot and dry today. In for a cool break- iced coffee for the win at the moment.

CARROTS: any suggestions for canning or freezing? I don’t mind cooked carrots, but my family aren’t fans of just cooked carrots. So, I’ve already canned “dilled carrots” per the Ball canning book - since they aren’t soft cooked, but instead pickled, they are accepted. I can shred for carrot cake (my recipe uses 7C shredded) which will work for some. But, not kidding -I have ALOT of carrots in the garden -a good problem to have. My husband eats them all the time at work, so that’s good too. But, any suggestions beyond what I’ve mentioned, or amazing canning or baking recipes? I’m not in a rush to use them all, bc they can stay in the ground, but the earliest planted should probably get picked soon so they don’t all split.


Cowpeas/field peas (black eyed peas are one kind of field peas): we planted 3 varieties. It was a learning curve to learn when to pick to easily shell fresh. One variety was difficult no matter what, the other two were decently easy to figure out. About 32 Cups of shelled and washed field peas are frozen now, plus another 6-8 C we already cooked and ate. I ripped out the plants bc we didn’t need anymore. We did find that the classic southern recipe was what we liked: simmer a smoked ham hock in water for 1.5-2 hours. Sauté onion and garlic in pan -we used bacon grease. Add fresh shelled field peas (can also add chopped up immature pods too), then the cooked ham hock and enough of the ham hock cooking water to cover the peas. Cook for about 45 min-1 hour. Pretty tasty. I’m glad bc I never ever like black eyed peas growing up …always canned. Maybe the canned variety starts with dried peas, maybe the drying changes the texture and flavor. We will see if freezing changes them to be less tasty.

I’ve found that the longer you store in ground the less sweet they are, at least with the Scarlet Nantes we had. Blanch 2 minutes in unsalted water for sliced and approx 5 mins for baby or bigger chunks.