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Post by breezygardener on Aug 4, 2020 13:14:26 GMT -5
Have just been puttering, both inside & out. My little rain gauge claims that we received 2.25" of rain between yesterday afternoon & this morning, & we awoke to lovely cooler (low-mid 80's) weather with a light breeze, although the rain did increase the humidity some. But the sun is now out, I won't have to water today, & all is right with the world. Well, relatively - lol!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 4, 2020 15:06:23 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I had to clean up the mess out there from this storm. I don't remember the last time so many branches have blown down! Fortunately, the only damage I could find that storm did to my garden was to two peppers - stems of about half each of a Thai Vesuvius, which was conpletely snapped off, and the Aji Dulce, which was about 2/3 snapped, but still hanging. What I tried was putting them back together, holding them with grafting tape. I'll see if it works. Thai vesuvius, totally snapped off by wind, and put back together with grafting tape. 8-4 by pepperhead212, on Flickr Aji dulce, snapped off about 2/3 of the way by wind, held back together by grafting tape. 8-4 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by desertwoman on Aug 4, 2020 18:07:13 GMT -5
I'll be interested in hearing if it did.
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Post by Wheelgarden on Aug 4, 2020 18:24:57 GMT -5
I like hot peppers, but my capsaicin tolerance is down a bit. DS brought a sack of his sweet, mild banana peppers to sample, and I tried one. Mmmmm. Then I fell for the oldest trick in the book...he offerered me another, and without looking I popped it into my mouth and munched...it was a fat yellow cayenne... After I found my head lying several feet away and screwed it back in, my eyes were wide open and my lips were numb. He laughed, and I deserved it. I raised a smart-aleck, I did.
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 4, 2020 19:17:58 GMT -5
Not much happening in the garden today. Picked some basil to dry. Second planting of Slenderette beans should be ready by the weekend. Corn stalks are still short but ears are filling out, so I'm hoping. I discovered why tomatoes seem to taste so good this year. Usually when I pick them they're warm and taste so good. Picked one this morning before the sun come over the garden and it was just meh. I guess I'll need to try some oven roasted tomatoes this year.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 4, 2020 23:56:33 GMT -5
I made some more dill pickle spears today - Finally sampled the first batch I made a few weeks ago, and I really liked it - not too much vinegar, small amount of sugar, but this time I used garlic, instead of scapes, more spices (imagine that! lol), and some apple cider vinegar, in place of the white, to see if that makes any difference. Also, this recipe uses a pre-brining the spears (which I've done with most pickles, through the years), for 24 hours, but several others I've seen didn't do this. So the last jar I put together was one with the last two cukes I harvested (I didn't want to waste all that vinegar solution!), cut up on the spot. I marked the jar, and I'll see if it tastes better when I pre-brine them, or if that's a wasted step. 5 jars of pickle spears. 8-4 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by Mumsey on Aug 5, 2020 4:30:51 GMT -5
pepperhead212, Are your pickles crunchy? I have yet to make one that is! Have you ever done them in a crock?
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Post by Mumsey on Aug 5, 2020 4:46:18 GMT -5
Yesterday was interesting. Thought I'd spend the day cleaning windows. Dad called, he's fit as a fiddle, we thought perhaps he was getting sick over the weekend. He said that Monday night the trot line broke and they lost it with a catfish on it. He and brother attempted to retrieve it, only to break line 3 times trying. Come to find out Dad was using 50 year old 100 lb test line and an equally as old reel. Asked him who is going to help because that fish has to be found or it's no good. Said he hadn't found anyone yet, hinting around that someone is me. So I go there. He put some nylon string (trot line type) on that ancient open reel. We went out and started dragging the bottom with a treble hook and large weight. After 30 minutes we hit on something. Then his line wouldn't reel in. So I started pulling it in by hand. Got my cardio and adrenaline rush for the day. We pulled and pulled. Finally could see a huge tree limb, 4" diameter, about 5 ft long with a lot of branches on it. We snagged that limb and could then see the trot line all tangled up in this piece of tree, about 50 ft of line. Must have weighed 100 lbs all water logged. Then I could see a catfish swimming around it. OK. I get the dredging line all unwrapped. Hold on to the limb with one hand, pulling tangled trot line (with hooks) with the other. Dad has an oar wedged in the branch to help hold it up. First order of business was to untangle the mess. Finally got that done after an hour. Then let the limb go. Kept pulling the retrieved line and up comes the catfish. Around 10-12 lbs Dad estimated. Darn thing got off the hook right when I got him up close enough to look him in the eye. Dad and I just looked at each other like, WTH just happened?? Kept pulling and retrieved the end of the line with the anchor. Enough fun for one day!
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 5, 2020 7:18:39 GMT -5
Mumsey, Sounds like you had quite a workout! I remember borrowing my dad's pole to go fishing when I was a kid. I caught on something and tried unsuccessfully to break the line and eventually pulled in a snag almost as big as I was. I've never went fishing without a pocket knife since. About the pickles, my grandma used to make then in a crock and they were never crunchy. I've read many stories about people adding a grape leaf or two to the crock. I think it has something to do with the tannins in the grape leaves. Haven't tried it yet.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Aug 5, 2020 11:10:18 GMT -5
Mumsey , I've thought and said this before, and I'll say it again, as I chuckle while writing this. Your father and mine would get along well together; they're "cut from the same cloth." As to pickles, Mom used a crock; in fact, we found it when the hired crew took down her garden shed, well used, and well worn from wear. It was one of the other items which were unknown to the younger workers on the crew. We should have some interesting experiences when we clean out the basement; I know there are a lot of old things down there, including a jukebox and a frig from the 1950s (which the furnace repairman wanted but his wife didn't.) I have a vague recollection that Mom's pickles were crunchy, but that would have been when I was still a youngster and then a teen, and those memories are gradually fading from memory. Thinking of crunchy pickles makes me hungry for some.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 5, 2020 11:16:58 GMT -5
Mumsey I posted my experiences with making naturally fermented pickles a while back: organicgroup.freeforums.net/thread/4701/lacto-fermented-picklesI made 4 jars of the kind I made yesterday a few weeks ago, and they had been aging, or whatever you want to call it, and a few days ago I sampled both of them side by side. The lacto-fermented pickles needed more salt, and seasonings, as well, and the others needed more garlic, though they were "dilly" enough. I definitely liked the ones in the jars better, so the time and effort put into the others wasn't worth it - plus, they are taking up a lot of space in the fridge! However, both varieties were very crunchy - even the ones in both types that were the County Fairs, which seemed soft, were crunchy! This may be due to the fact that I added some calcium chloride - a.k.a. "crisp" - to each recipe. I've been using this for years - usually, just for pickled slices, like bread and butter pickles, but it is amazing how crisp it makes the pickles! I even add it to the refrigerator pickles that I make, and they stay crispy until they are eaten up, whereas before I discovered the stuff, they would totally soften up in a short time. I first got a small container of Pickle Crisp - the brand name - many years ago, but I found that it is a lot cheaper to get food grade calcium chloride. And there is nothing bad about calcium chloride - probably better for us than sodium chloride! Here's the recipe I found that I liked the sound of for the canned pickles, as it had a little less vinegar to water ratio than the 50/50 I saw in most. I made my own pickling mix up, and added garlic scapes to the first batch, and crushed garlic to the last ones. www.myrecipes.com/recipe/dill-pickle-spears-0
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 5, 2020 16:55:10 GMT -5
I cleaned a bunch of tomatoes today, and separated the perfect ones, from the ones I'll be trimming spots and splits off of, to put the trimmed ones in the dehydrator, or on the grill later. The perfect ones, I put in the freezer, with cherries or sprites in the empty areas in the bags. Yesterday, I froze one gallon bag totally filled with sprites! This is 4 totally filled gallon bags in the freezer now, and I think I'll can or dry the rest! 2 more gallons of tomatoes, ready to go in the freezer. 8-5 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by Wheelgarden on Aug 5, 2020 18:31:36 GMT -5
Prepped a bed for fall yellow squash, to be planted tomorrow. Picked beans, okra, and tomatoes, plus dill, parsley, and a big bunch of Genovese and Thai basil for The Enormous Brandywine Caprese Salad tonight. A bit later, predictably, my Granddaughter said "Eeeew!...what is that smell?...it's that ol' stinky basil again, isn't it!" She doesn't care for basil...yet. I've converted her into a garlic and pepper lover so far, and I'll hopefully bring her around on basil. Patience...
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Post by emmsmommy on Aug 5, 2020 21:26:07 GMT -5
Woke up early and watered the new beans and peas. Picked some bush beans and noticed my daughter's strawberry plant is blooming again and producing its first runner. This afternoon we headed to the university hospital for her yearly echocardiogram, in which the results were great.
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Post by Mumsey on Aug 6, 2020 3:56:44 GMT -5
pepperhead212, Did you add the calcium chloride to the recipe in the link at the end of your post?
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