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Post by Mumsey on Oct 12, 2024 18:14:56 GMT -5
Started out with 1.5 mile walk. Got home and decided to do some ripping out of stuff. Cut down 3 Hibiscus, 2 Canna and the 4 monstrous catmint from front of house. Hauled it all to the tree dump. In the meantime called brother for fishing. Decided to go and be there around noon. In the meantime I went to a garage sale a couple blocks away and ran into a woman who has a plot at the community garden where I used to have one. Said she needs to get tomatoes out but can't find anyone who wants them, asked if I did. I said sure, she said take all I want. So I went home, got containers and went and picked. Ended up with 4 two gallon buckets full, around 40 lbs And very nice tomatoes too, very ripe, lots of roma and regular ones. Then went to dads. Brother wasn't home yet so I went over and tossed a line in from shore and bam!! Caught one on first cast, a keeper bass. So I was stoked for more. Walked the shoreline, the water has dropped rapidly the last 2 weeks so really only one place I could safely throw in a line. When brother got home he helped me get the boat in the water and I took off. There was a large gaggle of geese on the water along with a few mallards. They took off when I hit the water. Ended up catching 10 bass with 4 keepers. A beautiful day on the water!! I was getting intermittent updates and videos on the Iowa game from DS. Good game, Iowa Hawkeyes won over Washington.
Then went and helped brother dig the rest of sweet potatoes. Checked on pears. We attempted to dig Yukon golds, but the ground is too hard. If we get rain before the ground freezes we will try again. I'll be going back tomorrow for applesauce making/canning. In the meantime I have all those tomatoes to deal with so I put them all in gallon ziploc bags and to the freezer. 9 bags full. They are so ripe I figure it will be easier to remove skins frozen than scalding them.
Time to rest up for tomorrow.
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Post by datgirl on Oct 12, 2024 18:44:45 GMT -5
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 12, 2024 21:47:35 GMT -5
That's scary for both of you datgirl, hubby and breezygardener. May you both carry on with nothing more serious. |
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 12, 2024 21:57:24 GMT -5
Harvested most of the tomatoes- the ones at breaker stage- pulled one plant out and trimmed back some of the remaining vines, leaving the larger greenies.. Pumpkins are still on the vines. Trimmed back the bee balm, pulled out the well pecked sunflowers, dead headed the agastache, trimmed up the California poppies (still blooming) in the flower bed in front of the veggie garden. Roasted chiles and packed them in 1 qt zip locks for the freezer.
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Post by emmsmommy on Oct 13, 2024 7:29:21 GMT -5
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Post by emmsmommy on Oct 13, 2024 7:48:54 GMT -5
Well the closest I came to tackling peppers yesterday was separating them by size. The tiny ones will be pickled whole, the bigger Corbaci will be cut into rings and the medium sized ones and any bells will go into relish. Still had several bags of tomatoes in the freezer as well as two ice cream buckets of sauce that was a little too runny for my taste. Filled the large crockpot with as much sauce as it would hold and let it cook down all afternoon. Ended up with seven more pints of sauce for the freezer. Also cooked two more bags of tomatoes down and will combine it with the remaining sauce from yesterday and let it cook down. Occasionally we grab the day old rotisserie chickens from the grocery store and since they were discounted I told hubby to grab two, so of course he grabbed four which were taking up valuable fridge real estate. I cut the breasts off of two of them, vacuum sealed and in the freezer they went. Also ended up with five packages of dark meat that will be great in pot pies or soup. Then I plopped three of the carcasses in the crockpot and let them cook on low overnight. Needless to say we'll be having something chicken-based this evening. Temperatures topped at 70° yesterday but kiddo woke up coughing, sneezing and with a runny nose, so I decided not to take her outside unless she mentioned it. Made a trek to the shed last evening to bring back some wide-mouthed pints for the peppers and woke up this morning wondering if I have lids for them. I may be taking another trek to the shed for regular-mouthed jars.  Never did get to the laundry, so that tops today's list. |
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Post by reuben on Oct 13, 2024 11:57:02 GMT -5
Made more tomato sauce. Y'all seem to get way more pints per pound than I do, but I'm OK with what I get. Maybe I boil down lower than y'all.
Planted some ramp bulbs.
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Post by breezygardener on Oct 13, 2024 12:37:00 GMT -5
Thanks everyone!! Time will tell. Things will probably start setting up in the next week or two, but I'm glad to have a respite from doctors & tests & won't mind if it takes a little longer, even with my equilibrium problems. I'm just tired of doctors right now. |
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 13, 2024 15:07:20 GMT -5
Prayers and positive thoughts for you, breezygardener. I hope they figure it out quickly, and that it's one of the less serious matters. Take care. |
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 13, 2024 23:29:46 GMT -5
After my weekly sister FaceTime chat I tackled the tomatoes I picked yesterday. I made 5 half-pints of salsa and 3 more pints of tomato sauce, which are now in the freezer (except for one salsa, which is being eaten).Theres still a partial basket of light green or early breaker stage tomatoes after giving one of my neighbors a dozen or so just-about- ripe tomatoes ready for processing tomorrow. We hosted the weekly neighborhood get together this evening.
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 14, 2024 4:40:57 GMT -5
Wow was it windy yesterday. And with all the field and road dust it was quite hazy. No shortage of tiny little dust devils either! Headed to Dad's around 1100 after I finished chores here. Watered the to-be potato patch. Noticed the grass seed is growing where the bushes used to be.
When I got to Dad's he was in the basement with the apple peeler, he had just got started. So I grabbed a bucket of apples and took them to the kitchen and peeled them manually. What a PIA. When all said and done there was 21 quarts. I left when the last 7 were in the canner, with instructions to brother to take them out when done. I called him on my way home to let him know when the 20 minutes was up. There were 3-4 quarts leftover, told dad they wouldn't get canned. He asked why not? Cuz I'm leaving! He said OK. They can eat them or make pie. Took 4 hours to do all that. Step mom was in the basement with Dad the whole time cutting up the apples and cutting out bad spots after dad peeled them. Plenty of those, no spray this year.
Had kitchen clean up when I got home, had made cole slaw to take along at the last minute. Planning to stay home today and get things done here, like clearing off the deck and discarding potted plants.
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Post by datgirl on Oct 14, 2024 7:46:55 GMT -5
Very windy here yesterday too. Finished spreading wood chips into side weed pit garden. Used the leaf sweeper and swept up leaves that were out there. Not a lot but threw them on compost pile. Emptied some of the flower pots and moved the potted Hibiscus into the house. I'm giving it one more year. If it doesn't bloom next summer, I'm done with it. My younger sister came over for a while and hubby looked at her car. Battery needed changing so he did that for her while she was here. She got to play with my granddaughters for a while, so that was fun. I got to sit and watch for a change.
Very windy all night. I was expecting to see some downed branches this morning, but was pleasantly surprised there were none.
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 14, 2024 23:34:16 GMT -5
No gardening but I broke down pieces of rotted wood (from an antique apple box we've been hauling around with us since we sold the orchard- as a memento from those days). Q is rebuilding the slats that finally rotted out after ?? at least 60/70 years. Did a quick trip to town for envelopes. Had to stop for a piece of carrot cake.It was calling me. It's a huge slice and so I save half for the next day (yeah, right).
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 15, 2024 4:51:33 GMT -5
Heavier coat required for walk yesterday morning. Not going so early today, vet appt at 0930 for nail trim so will add our walk to that trip. Layering next quilt, have to do on basement floor as there isn't enough room anywhere else. Went outside in the afternoon, watered the new grass, broccoli, potato and garlic beds. Hope it wasn't a mistake to leave the hose out all night, it's 29* right now. Yikes. Didn't get any pots moved yesterday. Spent some time cleaning up garage. Brought in trolling motor, battery and fishing gear. When we came in The Princess got a bath.
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Post by binnylou on Oct 15, 2024 11:13:42 GMT -5
With the threat of frost/freeze, I picked all peppers and gathered any tomatoes that might color up. The bag of peppers weighed almost eleven pounds. While in the veggie garden, I put more water on the bed where the garlic will be planted. Hoping to sink a potato fork into the soil today.
Raised bed planted to Crimson Clover now has a cover, hoping to protect from cold overnight temps. Mustard planted bed is looking good…will soon be time to chop it.
The last of the dahlia blooms were cut for a bouquet. After tonight, they are done. I did take some cuttings of my favorites for wintertime tinkering. If the cuttings don’t form roots, I should still have tubers produced this summer. Fingers crossed. They were all grown in bags this year, so no digging, just dumping when looking for new tubers.
Harvested pumpkins have been “hiding” in the barrel of drying weeds, away from interested critters. It’s time to bring them inside until I can get them made in to pumpkin purée for pies/bread.
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