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Post by Mumsey on Oct 7, 2024 17:21:22 GMT -5
Winter coat and gloves weather for walk this morning. It warmed up nicely though. By 1000 I was in the garden. Took out the pole beans and saved a 2 gallon bucket full of pods. Took out the remaining 4 San Marzano tomato plants and saved a 2 gallon bucket of greenies. Cut up some Zinnias that were flattened by wind the other day. Ripped out the cukes that did nothing. Ripped out the yellow crookneck. Had my fill of them. Shucked about a pound of pole bean pods. The cabbage moths will not give up, there's still worms in broccoli and kale!! I'll freeze kale once we have had a frost. Checked on kraut, it's bubbling already!! New freezer came today, had to wait 2 hrs to put stuff in it. But darn it, the baskets from the Kenmore will not fit. This Amana only came with one basket. Sis helped move the plant growing shelving the other day so that's a job done. Making a long list for DS when he comes in a couple weeks. Got a pic from sis today, she has iris blooming again.  |
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Post by emmsmommy on Oct 7, 2024 19:29:02 GMT -5
Picked some noodle beans and more dried pods this morning. Spoke with advocate for an hour in preparation for meeting which went exceptionally well. I always have an arsenal of documents prepared depending on the tone of the meeting and thankfully I didn't have to use it. Advocate joined by phone and pretty much dominated the meeting and so thankful I have her on my side. IEP will be completely rewritten with many changes. Fingers crossed that we made major progress today.
As for the weather, it finally feels like fall with daytime temps in the 60s. Supposed to dip into the 30s Thursday night, so I must start preparing for frost. Taking kiddo's aide a bag of peppers tomorrow and will still have several left. Some of the trial varieties have been great producers and I intend to try making pepper relish with part of them. The light stand has been my seed drying station and it's time to gather them up to make room for the outside plants to come in. Of course I'll attempt to cover some of the beans, especially the black coat runners as they've been blooming profusely and producing pods that aren't quite ready yet. In a way I'm ready for the season to be over but also sad to see it come to an end.
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 7, 2024 21:42:31 GMT -5
I collapsed today after the past two strenuous days cleaning up the 'forest'. I got dressed for town, thinking I would do some needed clothes shopping but then I checked a few online shopping sites first. I fell asleep in the big upholstered chair between internet shopping jaunts. Never made it to town.
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Post by centralilrookie on Oct 8, 2024 6:39:11 GMT -5
Yesterday started out with me taking the grandson, who had brain surgery last summer, and his sister to school. He is on a limited schedule to start with so sweetheart and I will help with getting him to and from so that mom can go back to work. Returning home I cleaned out the chicken house and the horses stall and dry lot. Did some mowing and weed whacking so that the last area to work on is the garden. Planning to pull all the tomato’s/ cages and putting the brush hog mower on the tractor so I can mow it all off. All but the zinnias as per upper management…… 😂
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Post by reuben on Oct 8, 2024 11:07:04 GMT -5
Well, since the big time and big $$$ projects are done at my new abode, I'm starting to pick at the minor projects. A week or two ago I ordered a slab Shaker door to replace the grungy piece of junk that was missing a knob assembly, bound at the jamb, and led to the basement stairs. Yesterday I revived my carpentry skills and trimmed the new door, created mortises for the hinges, and drilled the holes for the knob and latch. I cut the door about 1/16 or 1/8 too narrow, but it's much better than before - and it actually closes! I'll get around to taking it back off and painting it in a day or so. I want to paint it outside, but not necessarily in bright sun. Where are the clouds when I need them?!? I guess there's just no pleasing me. 
In other minor home repairs, I've been patching a hole in the garage floor, bit by bit. There are a lot of mysteries here, and this is just one more. Since I'm using premixed stuff from a small tub, I have to do it in layers, as opposed to one shot and done if I were using actual concrete, but I can't see buying a 40 pound bag for this tiny job. I'm currently on layer 3 of what should be 4. It takes DAYS for this stuff to dry, no matter what it says on the label. I'm using a cheap plastic putty knife I found in the basement to push the material into the hole. Of course, when I moved, I gave away all of my trowels, floats, edgers, etc., so I bought a trowel for the final layer. It's just the garage, so that's all I'm willing to spend.
So far today I've caulked one of my old homemade cold frames, as it gets a bit colder here than at the old place. I want it to breathe, and it will surely do so whether I want it to or not, but I don't want outright drafts when the temperature is in the teens. I'm currently looking for a ramp hoe. I planted some ramp seeds earlier this year, and I ordered ramp seedlings to be delivered in the spring. It seems as though they grow on a 7 year cycle, so the seeds will be for the future and the seedlings for near term years. Even the seedlings will probably take 2-3 years to be ready. So why am I searching for a ramp hoe today, you ask? I'm itchy, that's why. I don't have to tell y'all what that feels like.  I think that I got both my seeds and seedlings from this place. rampfarm.com/On the other hand, I probably have something that will work perfectly fine rather than buying a dedicated ramp hoe. But I'm itchy. Twitchy. Restless. Speaking which, my pea brain made an unexpected connection, and I realized that I haven't seen restless since she got married a few years ago. Hopefully everything is hunky dory with her. In the complaint department, I can't get my Merveille de Quatre Saisons seeds from Baker Creek to sprout. I'm 0/4 right now. I tried it years ago and abandoned it, but I don't remember whether it was because it didn't grow or I didn't like it. I'm also retrying Merlot from Baker Creek. I finally got two of them to sprout. Hopefully they'll make it to the cold from to overwinter. Other winter seedlings are looking good. I need to check the direct sowed spinach. While wandering back and forth from the pole barn I saw several chestnut burrs on the ground that were opening and had sizable nuts inside. The squirrels and deer better hurry - I harvest 4 out of 5 trees every other day. Tomorrow is my day to harvest, and I get about 1/4 bushel per day. I keep them in the garage, and check them every few days to see which ones are opening up and have viable nuts. Gonna bake some whole wheat bread today. Someone in a totally unrelated forum posted a recipe for soft whole wheat bread. The trick appears to be honey and butter - go figure! My bread along those lines usually crumbles a bit, even when using 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 unbleached white flour. It's OK for dipping in O&V, and slathering tomatos and cheese and whatever on top, but it would be nice to make buns and the occasional loaf that doesn't fall apart in my hands and make a mess.
But first... I'm recalibrating my oven. There are lots of true and bad things which can be said about technology, but the ability to calibrate an oven, even if at a single point, is great. When I bought it things seemed to be undercooked. So I calibrated it per the menu, and ended up at + the max allowed. OK! Now I'm finding things to be overcooked/burnt, so I'm doing it again now that it's more broken in. Maybe I calibrated to 400 or 450F last time. This time I'm going for 350F. Winter's on its way, so the oven will see more use.
Also checking on my solar SREC payments, of which I've received exactly zero so far, and I should have received three. Harumph! |
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Post by emmsmommy on Oct 8, 2024 19:06:57 GMT -5
Well the good news is that hubby has been out of AFib for over 24 hours now and was itching to do something today. He ran the electric garden shredder while I kept him supplied with stuff to shred. Packed up most of the bean seed and have two shelves ready for plants I'm overwintering. I don't intend for this to be their final home but I'll work on that later. Cut the last vines of the dry bean mix and have them drying in the shed. Another handful of noodle beans harvested as well as half a grocery bag of Corbaci peppers. Frost predicted for the mountains of a neighboring county tonight and here Thursday night. Think I'll try to cover a few things but we shall see as I'm supposed to have a meeting that night.
I did go out after breakfast and tackled the compost bin. Ended up putting another t-post along one side for reinforcement as the wind really hits the metal sheeting with some force and had to pound in three of the four posts as they were wobbly. I've nicknamed it the tetanus nightmare as it's made of rusty, flimsy sheeting but serves the purpose for now. Will have to do some more reinforcement on one side before winter, but we currently have it 1/4 full right now.
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 8, 2024 21:33:21 GMT -5
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 8, 2024 21:38:38 GMT -5
Today was the deep house clean day. Then we gathered recyclables and trash and took it to the house in town for pick up tomorrow.
Picked lettuce and sun gold tomatoes for a simple dinner tonight- a huge salad with a variety of veggies and a can of tuna tossed in.
I can't believe I'm still harvesting the second week of October. Nothing has been pulled yet.
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 9, 2024 5:14:11 GMT -5
Yesterday I pulled all the marigolds, not many blooms left, most of them dry. I did keep a baggie full of seeds though. Watered the broccoli, getting tired of doing that. I think I'll wait for cooler weather and see if it speeds up growth. If not, they will be pulled. We might get a frost soon.....so they say. Still no rain in sight. Today I'll start digging garlic bed. Tomorrow is Girls' Night Out and the Women's Club quilt show which I help set up every year. So I'll be busy with that all morning.
Been browsing Amazon this morning looking for additional freezer baskets as the new one only came with one.
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 9, 2024 14:58:46 GMT -5
I'm pooped for the day. Made a triple batch of lentil/quinoa/wheat berry taco filling. This time I added red lentils and nutritional yeast. The red lentils hold it together a little better. Dug the garlic bed, got it done all except one edge that's still not soft enough. So covered it back up and watered again. Ripped out the rest of zinnias and an area 20 ft x 6 ft full of catmint. There's only 4 in there, but they went crazy this year. They need to go before leaves start falling because then it's a real mess. Friday I'll cut down the Hibiscus, have 4 of those. The ornamental grasses will be the very last to go. Possible frost Monday night, 31*.
Every time I go in the garage I see the apples that need attention. Decided they will be canned as apple slices with spices but no thickener. That's a job for tomorrow afternoon.
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 9, 2024 23:28:15 GMT -5
Went out to the veggie garden to harvest chiles Got another 15 pounds and will roast them tomorrow. On closer inspection decided it was time to pull the plants. Last night we had another low around 38º and it seems this was one night over the line- in the 30s for the 4th time in about 10 days or so took a toll (even though the days have been high 70s- low 80s and will continue . Nights, however , look to be in the highish 30s. So it's finally time to start cleaning the beds.
Same with basil. They also were not looking quite as robust so I pulled the plants and made more pesto tonight. Ran out of half pint jars, so will run in to town in the AM and get some so I can freeze this last batch.
Pulled the two cabbage plants- they never did form a second round of small cabbages.
Picked about 10 pounds of ripe tomatoes- will make sauce tomorrow. There's still quite a few on the vines- most at breaker stage so will pick those tomorrow and let them fully ripen on the counter. Haven't decided if I will pick the greenies yet.
Also picked a big bunch of lettuces- enough for 3 nights of salads. There's still quite a bit out there, doing very well.
The pumpkins still show a slight dent from my fingerer nail so will wait a few more days.
But at last I am seeing bare beds and thinking about where I will plant the garlic.
It's always a bittersweet moment to start breaking down the garden.I am so ready for the break but am sad to see it all coming to an end.
And I have to say... what started out looking to be a flop of a garden is turning into a successful crop. It just took until October to get here!
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Post by emmsmommy on Oct 10, 2024 12:09:17 GMT -5
Yesterday I brought in an entire shelf of plants and put the rest off until today. I was up around 3:30 this morning and thermometer reads 36°! Decided I wasn't going to go out rescuing plants in the dark and continued monitoring. Lowest reading was 33.9° and remarkably no frost on the vehicle or anything else close to the house. Kiddo opened the cover to the sunroof while we were waiting for the bus and eek! It was covered in frost and the edges of the windshield was too. When we came back up the driveway I immediately went to the new garden and yep-frost. Did the water trick on the peppers and it seems to have worked. Plants in the kennel greenhouse were in a more protected area and the shade cloth help save them. So my goal for the next few hours is to fill the light stand the rest of the way up with plants. Need to make some quick decisions on the peppers as it will be at least Saturday before I attempt preserving them. Doubtful I'll have time to rig up a cover this evening. I did however learn that the bottom of our driveway is a frost pocket and that the new garden is more prone to frost than the old one. Now if I can just remember that next year...  |
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Post by reuben on Oct 10, 2024 12:23:32 GMT -5
I undid what I did a few days ago. I had set up a cold frame in the garden, and even transplanted a couple of Red Sails seedlings in there.
But after watching the sun the last few days I determined that it would get very little sun at any time of day during winter. I don't expect them to grow much, but they need some sun so that they can sloooooooooowly grow over winter and feed my belly. My neighbor's trees (mostly evergreen) block a lot of the sun in the morning, and my own (mostly deciduous) block it in the afternoon. While it wouldn't be completely devoid of sun, and the leaves will fall from my trees, I decided to uproot and move. Root hog or die.
So I ripped out the pepper plants ("I'm so disappointed. I had such high hopes for you..."), got some more Leafgro and shredded pine bark mulch from the farm supply, mixed in another batch of the stuff the extension service says my soil needs, took apart the cold frame, lugged it over, set it up, dug up the Red Sails and transplanted them ("Why can't he make up his mind?"), and called it quits.
I need a couple of hooks to hold the cold frame together, as one or two have disappeared, but that's easy stuff.
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Post by datgirl on Oct 10, 2024 16:17:07 GMT -5
I had one of those , one thing leads to another day. Started moving the wood chips into the side garden again. So I do that for a while and get to the edge of the wood chip pile and find it's all overgrown along the fence. So now I stop moving the wood chips to cut down overgrown Mulberry bushes, old Goldenrod, miscellaneous weed trees, you get the idea. So while doing that, I find a patch of BeeBalm I had forgotten about. It was in this mass of overgrowth so it didn't bloom. So I dig that out to move. So now I'm transplanting this clump of BeeBalm. So while clearing a space for that, I start pulling out clumps and clumps of wild Violets, and cut down a peony. So now I have the BeeBalm planted and go to water it, which leads to watering all the deck plants, and a few hanging baskets that are left. Also washed the glass birdbath and put that away and scrubbed the stone birdbath and refilled that. So while I was out in the garden, I watered the Green beans that are still producing. My hands hurt and I'm tired.
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Post by reuben on Oct 10, 2024 16:29:21 GMT -5
And in the process you solved a couple of quantum mechanics problem that had been bugging you, right? Just have to get inside, wash your hands, and jot down the details.
It's amazing how exercising one side of your brain can free up the other side to silently solve problems in the background.
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