What did you do in the garden today?

[Smokerbill]

I thought about making shelf stable pickles at one point but went with refrigerator pickles just because I think a non-cooked pickle tastes better. Of course, the downside is that, because we make so many, they take up a lot of refrigerator acreage. But, this is one of several reasons why we have a second fridge.

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/ferment/recipes/dill-pickles/

Have you considered making fermented dill pickles? Shelf stable for a long time. I might try making some this summer.

 

[akroberts1085]

View attachment 4193354
Anyone know what this is? It was supposed to be cherry tomato.

I have a tomato plant like that but I don't know the name. I will ask the guy that gave it to me. I looked it up and it appears to be a chocolate stripe. Okay correction, if it's the size of a softball it's a Cherokee purple. If it's smaller then it's a queen of the night

 

[Smokerbill]

This batch of sauerkraut is definitely the best I've made yet. It spent 23 days in the fermenter at ~70°F. It's made out of cabbage from my garden.



I cooked the Oregon Grape berries picked a few days ago and strained them out through cheesecloth. I have a cup and a quarter of juice for jelly making.



I chopped the green apples thinned from the tree and have them cooking down to extract the pectin. They've been on the stove about two hours now but still feel a little firm.

They need to get to the point of mushiness, then I'll strain out the liquid through more cheesecloth. It's supposed to be strained overnight in the fridge. Made sure I had space in there.

I didn't realize boxed pectin was so pricey now, $3 or $4 bucks a box is what I saw. If this works I'll save a few bucks.

 

[TJAnonymous]

These CX were from extra eggs a friend got from a school hatching. They gave her the extra eggs there wasn't room for.
CX don't breed true and the males chest gets in the way most of the time.
But people have used them.
I was inspired to use a pullet to get some size because of this article.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/raising-large-table-birds.68027/

I bought a half dz CX in March 2016 and kept the smallest pullet. I had a random mixed rooster off FB.
She started laying end of August and I gave 5 eggs to a broody barred rock. The pullet produced laid double yolk. I used 2 of the 3 cockerels over barred rock, black jersey giant, and buff orphington hens I already had.
Most of my flock is from this breeding. I tried shipped standard dark Cornish eggs, but the PO were to rough and I only had one hatch. But I used him on everyone.
Hens from this breeding
View attachment 4193334

Same age can you tell which is full CX
View attachment 4193333

I'm considering getting either CX or Rainbow Rangers (Meyer Hatchery) to breed with some of my heavy breed roosters. My roos are generally quite large.... Easily 10-12 lbs or more at a minimum but that's fully grown.

I only butcher about twice a year so I don't necessarily need to follow the 7-week butcher-ready schedule they recommend with CX. But essentially I was hoping to cross breed and get meatier offspring.

Oh... My existing roos are different breeds - Ameracauna, Cream Legbar, Welsummer, and Easter Egger. I do have a roo-cross that came from a White Leghorn hen.

Anyways, just thinking about it.

 

[Molpet]

I'm considering getting either CX or Rainbow Rangers (Meyer Hatchery) to breed with some of my heavy breed roosters. My roos are generally quite large.... Easily 10-12 lbs or more at a minimum but that's fully grown.

I only butcher about twice a year so I don't necessarily need to follow the 7-week butcher-ready schedule they recommend with CX. But essentially I was hoping to cross breed and get meatier offspring.

Oh... My existing roos are different breeds - Ameracauna, Cream Legbar, Welsummer, and Easter Egger. I do have a roo-cross that came from a White Leghorn hen.

Anyways, just thinking about it.

I found the CX are the sweetest birds, but messy . I too didn't want to have a deadline, but a hatchery 3lb bird at 16 weeks is small. I'm getting 5 to 7 lbs dressed at 16wks.

 

[Smokerbill]

Hey, it worked. I have pectin! To test it you drop a tablespoon of the cooked down apple liquid into a couple tablespoons of isopropyl alcohol. Let it rest for a few minutes then see what a fork brings out. I lifted out a big gob of slimy pectin with the fork.

Now the trick is figuring out how much to use when making jelly.

 

[cj2024]

The outside skin of my Molokai sweet potato is purple, but after roasting it at 30 minutes on each side at 425F, the inside finishes white. The texture is like regular potato, but its sweet. I prefer the roasted taste and texture of the Molokai sweet potato better than my orange-colored sweet potato. However, the orange-colored sweet potato taste better when baked with marshmallows.

 

[WthrLady]

@Justagalwithchicks You OK? OMG that was insane. My systems got knocked offline right before the worst. I know we hit 80mph winds. We had everything shut last night, but I forgot to shut down the chicken run. Going to check on the pullets as soon as I can get out there. It's still too insane out. They have to be soaking wet and terrified.

OK, once daylight came, OH DEAR LORD.

The 81 mph winds ripped the roof off the chicken run, like I put it on with elmer's glue. That coop is a beast, so downslope winds of the weather station might have been closer to 90. In the park below us, campers were knocked over, tents wrapped around trees. Most people abandoned their camping situations and got into their cars.
We lost a lot of branches, and shingles off the coop proper. The pullets didn't go in the coop last night and got SOAKED. LOL poor things.
The new siding, roof, and shingles for the house from the April hail storm are coming Monday for install this week.
Guess I'll be out there too building a new roof for the birds.
OH and a broken window on the run. Still don't know how that happened.
A ton of birdhouses blew off posts, which is shocking as they were up with 2 inches screws. Poor birds.
I went to town today to get lumber and places had 'no chainsaw, no generator' signs on the doors. Trees, massive trees down everywhere. Power poles on my road snapped at the ground. We kept power. Trees further up the road snapped 10 feet off the ground all along the dam.
so all in all, a Nebraska day that ends in Y.

 

[dirkandlorie]

OK, once daylight came, OH DEAR LORD.

The 81 mph winds ripped the roof off the chicken run, like I put it on with elmer's glue. That coop is a beast, so downslope winds of the weather station might have been closer to 90. In the park below us, campers were knocked over, tents wrapped around trees. Most people abandoned their camping situations and got into their cars.
We lost a lot of branches, and shingles off the coop proper. The pullets didn't go in the coop last night and got SOAKED. LOL poor things.
The new siding, roof, and shingles for the house from the April hail storm are coming Monday for install this week.
Guess I'll be out there too building a new roof for the birds.
OH and a broken window on the run. Still don't know how that happened.
A ton of birdhouses blew off posts, which is shocking as they were up with 2 inches screws. Poor birds.
I went to town today to get lumber and places had 'no chainsaw, no generator' signs on the doors. Trees, massive trees down everywhere. Power poles on my road snapped at the ground. We kept power. Trees further up the road snapped 10 feet off the ground all along the dam.
so all in all, a Nebraska day that ends in Y.

Wow! Just wow! All that and thank goodness you and your animals are ok!