Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: June 4 --June 10. 2023

[SouthernBreeze]

My doctor's appointment went very well, today. No issues for him at all. Just continue to take my low dose BP med and come back in 4 months.

Cary went on to Lowe's for some little gadget he needed. I stayed in the SUV and talked on my phone to Mom. We'll be visiting with her, before my dental appointment tomorrow. They are both in the same town.

Ate supper at our favorite Mexican place. Stuffed ourselves and came home.

We still have a small chance of another thunder shower this evening, but nothing is showing on radar anywhere near us right now.

 

[philkar]

Having my aging aunt and uncle here for the last month is a bit more of a challenge than I thought it would be! I gave up my pantry that was 12X12 to make room for them and am just now finding my food! It has taken endless hours to reorganize but as of today I think we are there! Too much work and too few hours. But in all of that I slipped away by myself for a short library visit! I enjoyed every second!

 

[ReneeT]

I'm glad you found some "Self" time, Philkar

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Has anyone made pickled banana pepper rings? I have an over abundance of banana peppers almost ready to harvest, and I was thinking about making some pickled ones for Cary. I've made pickled okra before, but not any peppers. I only want to make a couple of pint jars, but I don't have a recipe. With all these peppers, I'm not sure what all to do with them. Any other ideas? I plan on gathering them, Friday.

I'm off to my dentist in a couple of hours, I hope it all goes well. No Valium needed for today as it's just for a cleaning. LOL.

 

[nomifyle]

LOL feed them to the chickens. Seriously its too bad for us that we don't like peppers because they are so healthy.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

LOL feed them to the chickens. Seriously its too bad for us that we don't like peppers because they are so healthy.

I'm sure I'll find some way to use them. We love peppers of all kinds. I use them to cook with and we like eating them raw as a side to some of our meals. Sliced fresh tomatoes, peeled and sliced cucumbers, and whole banana peppers on a platter make a nice healthy side.

 

[kyrsyan]

Has anyone made pickled banana pepper rings? I have an over abundance of banana peppers almost ready to harvest, and I was thinking about making some pickled ones for Cary. I've made pickled okra before, but not any peppers. I only want to make a couple of pint jars, but I don't have a recipe. With all these peppers, I'm not sure what all to do with them. Any other ideas? I plan on gathering them, Friday.

I'm off to my dentist in a couple of hours, I hope it all goes well. No Valium needed for today as it's just for a cleaning. LOL.

Sounds like it would just be a variant of Cowboy Candy.

I also dehydrate extras. Sometimes family gets bags of them for gifts (my SIL loves those bags). Sometimes I keep them in the pantry for using through the off season.

 

[philkar]

Sherree I pickle banana peppers to use in place of pepperocinis. Don’t think I spelled that correctly. Then I use them to make Mississippi pot roast.will forward recipe for peppers a bit later.

 

[anna43]

I was right, the showers missed us again Tuesday. We had a sprinkle -- literally about 3 drops.

The field crops in the area are looking good and we're entering the time the corn "grows a foot a day" but only if we get some good rains.

Early this a.m. we had a couple of small showers with at 14% chance of another shower this evening. I keep hoping and praying we get the rains the crops need.

 

[summerthyme]

Easy Pickled Banana Peppers

Easy Pickled Banana Peppers are super simple to make and so tasty! Vinegar, mustard seed, celery seed, sugar and peppers are all you need!

www.thecountrycook.net

Summerthyme

 

[ioujc]

WOW!!!
Sounds like ALL of you have been REALLY busy!!! So have I. Garden is working out to be one of the larger ones I have had!!
Still waiting on my taters to finish, while planting my sweet potatoes.
Of course have the required tomatoes, peppers, and cukes, as well as cantaloupes, watermelons, several types of squash, eggplant, three types of beans, Kentucky Pole beans, a heritage type of large red bean, and a type of black bean. Also small amounts of barley, oats and amaranth. As I go along, I am replenishing my garden beds by adding rotted.....and I mean COMPLETELY ROTTED straw, to the point it has turned to black gumbo soil!!! Great stuff!!
Also starting another raised bed, with bales of straw, smaller tree branches, rabbit and goat manure and composted chicken manure. Gonna be AWESOME!!!
FINALLY got a ROOSTER for my hens, so now they are tickled pink!!
Kids are now 4 and 5 months old. All 6 of them are doing well.
I'm doing OK, just worn out from working the garden constantly. I usually get out early in the morning.....at least by 6 AM, & work till 11 or 12. Then I nap until it is cool enough to go back outside. DAN-DAN, my Doxie does all of this with me and he is ready for a nap too.
Hope all of you all are well and feeling happy this summer!!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I just got back from the dentist. One tiny cavity that will get filled June 26. Not a big deal. My dentist said I wouldn't even have to be numbed up for it. Still will need the Valium, though. I also have a piece of bone trying to come through my gum from the last surgery. It's not hanging straight down like a tooth. It's trying to come out on the side of my gum. He said that may have to be taken out if it doesn't work its way out on its own. Oh Joy! Another cut with stitches!

We also had a good visit with Mom, ate at Mc D's, then came home.

Tomorrow is the big one. All the testing for PAD and CAD. I have peace about all the tests. I don't think they're going to find anything seriously wrong, if anything.

 

[anna43]

I could not believe it that after showers early this morning when I checked the garden the soil is still powder. You could actually see small indents where the "showers" fell. Frankly, this is getting scary. Drought yet again this year seems to be evident. And the showers forecast for this evening have been removed from the forecast.

My grandmother had her dentures for probably 30 years when suddenly she had a piece of bone start coming through her gums. I can't recall if she had it removed or if it came through on its own.

 

[nomifyle]

Still following my food plan, but stalled weight wise. Its my life style now though.

Been occupied with the power going off and my lift chair having issues. DH will put the motor back on it tomorrow so we'll see.

DH said there are small tomatoes on several of the tomato plants and only one hill of cucumbers made it, he will plant more.

Church was good tonight, I volunteered to do the church bulletin, the lady that has been doing it for awhile wanted a break. I've done church bulletins in the past so I'm familiar with it. Gotta do something for the church.

Its been hot but I've not really been outside. The electric meter got read yesterday but the bill has not been posted yet, which is unusual, it's been popping up after midnight the day it got read.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

My grandmother had her dentures for probably 30 years when suddenly she had a piece of bone start coming through her gums. I can't recall if she had it removed or if it came through on its own.

Out of all the dental work I've had done over the last several months, I only had one tiny sliver of bone work its way out. No pain involved at all. This piece Is larger. It's like I'm trying to cut a tooth on the side of my gum. It might work its way out, but, since its much larger than the last one, I don't know that it will. If my gum gets all inflamed from it, I'll have no choice, but to have it removed.

No rain in our forecast, until Sunday. Only a slight chance then. We're about to go out and water everything. Come back in and get ready for my doc appointment at the Cardiology & Vein Center. I'm a bit nervous this morning.

After today, we have nowhere else to go, until Tuesday. Back to big town for Mom's doctor visit and CT scan of her liver.

It will be good to be able to stay home for a few days, at least.

 

[ReneeT]

It's a beautiful cool morning here - 41* right now; and the high is only supposed to get up to 79*. No rain in the forecast until Saturday evening into Sunday, so I'll have to make sure to water the furrows well - I didn't get my garden planted yesterday - and don't ask me what the heck I did do instead of planting garden, because I couldn't begin to tell you A whole lot of dithering around and a nap is all I can come up with

I'd also planned to plant the gardens Tuesday; nope; that didn't happen either - but a nap did. Anybody see a pattern here? So I'm hoping for no naps and no 'pop-up' distractions today. Although.... the taco truck is in the pool town today.... I guess I should be glad the neighbor lady that I go to the pool with is on a trip so that I won't be quite as tempted to go

I did at least get the garden lay out worked out yesterday (to replace the one I missplaced), so that will help. Most of the area is ready to plant, but I need to finish scraping some weeds out from under the trellis on the far north end of the garden by the clothesline before I plant my giant sunflower seeds under it.

Speaking of the clothesline, a pretty cool thing happened this year - I have over 100 volunteer Mullein plants that have come up in that area! Some are still small plants, and some are already starting to send up flower stalks. I just hope that the bounty isn't a warning of things to prepare for this year.

 

[Digger]

We got the hay up. I sold 88 bales out of the field. I had 67 bales to put in the barn. We still have 2 fields to cut. One is small, but even our small fields are making good. One we cut yesterday is a pain to hay. It was terraced many years ago. We can't drive a truck into the field to load hay. Even though it makes great quality hay, we are thinking of not cutting that area again.

We kept seeing a doe deer while doing the hay. She must have a baby hid in the area that we don't cut. I am glad she had it in the rougher ground and not where we cut. That usually does not end well.

I got a new contract job. My contract jobs will now cover our land payment. We had everything paid off when the land on all 4 sides came up for sale, so we bought it. That is where our hay fields and barns are. Our driveway was through the property with a legal easement. Now we own our driveway and quite a bit more. But we also own that monthly payment.

Today's plan is to recover and clean house before the grandkids get here tomorrow. I guess I will quit rambling and sweep some of the hay up that rode in on me. Have a great day everyone.

 

[nomifyle]

Glory Be, my chair is now working properly. Although he said it could happen again because something is catching somewhere. But at least for now its good to go.

And DH also tested the generator to see what it would power. It started just fine, didn't power as much as he wanted, but enough to get along.

He's had a very busy week, Monday he cleaned out and repaired the fridg in his workshop, it was not cooling. There was a freeze up in the freezer.

Monday night is when the power went out, so on Tuesday he worked on the generators. They are running well, but he still wants to get a bigger one.

Wednesday my lift chair stopped working, it was reclined all the way back so I had to crawl out of the side, I'm grateful that was not a huge effort on my part. He took the motor out and I asked him to let me try it without the motor. It would not go back very far, but I slept in it that way.

Today he put the motor back in and now its working well.

Maybe now he will have a few days of just regular chores. He's such a blessing.

I had two lousy nights sleep or rather not sleep, so I'm tired, but I'll be fine.

 

[ReneeT]

I've almost finished planting the front garden except I need to dig out the baggie of marigold seed heads I saved from last year so that I can plant a row of them in between the tomato and bean rows; and I also need to go buy a packet of red beet seed as I can't find the packet that I was sure I had. I'm not fond of the bulbs of red beets, but I do like the greens. The bulbs on the yellow beets are much sweeter - I boil and mash them like potatoes, but add a bit of butter and brown sugar like you would a sweet potato. The greens on the red beets are a little darker in color than the greens on the yellow beets, but both are good.

I'm waiting for Hubby to get home from work so that I can fire up the tiller and get the back garden gone over again so that I can get the corn, watermelons, and pumpkins planted tomorrow. I'm not really looking forward to tilling this evening, but it needs done so that I can get the rest of the planting all done before the rain that is forecast for Saturday and Sunday hits.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Great News! No PAD or CAD! The doctors couldn't find a thing wrong with my arteries. Must have been a shadow on the knee x-ray, because they didn't find anything. Calcium Score was good, too. That was a scare that I'm finally glad can be put to rest. Arteries are all clear, but I do need to keep my BP down, which is doing great with the med and a low salt diet.

Tomorrow is a big day to work in the gardens. I spotted my first baby cucumber this morning! It's about an inch long, LOL. Squash is now blooming, green beans are running, peppers are loaded and so are the tomatoes. Watermelons are doing great, also. Cary's tomato plants are going in the ground tomorrow, too. Late squash and cucumbers are good and coming along nicely. It's going to be so nice to be able to eat fresh from the garden for a while! I can almost taste that fried squash, fresh tomatoes, peppers, BLT's, and cucumber salads and fresh picked green beans! I'm digging fresh garlic. I'm also going to be cutting and chopping my second cutting of chives for the freezer, too.

 

[ReneeT]

Back garden is tilled; and I'm toast That ground is harder than hammered heck for some reason, so as soon as I can get Hubby to fashion a new tailgate for the little trailer, I'm going to head over to the Sale Barn and load up on composted manure. I'll shovel it in to the pathways between the rows and till it in; then when the crops are out, I'll go get more for the area where the rows were.

 

[kyrsyan]

I've been missing in action. And likely will be for a few more days. Boss got a pile load of stuff thrown at her and some of that pile load got thrown my way. We are both hoping that by next week things will have smoothed out. We are almost out from under the pile. But the result of it all is that I may actually hit 40 hours this week. That was not in the plans. Ever.

And all I can do is laugh because she was just telling me how things should slow down now. And then over the week has listed 4 new clients that we've onboarded. I told her to stop accepting new clients for a while. Yeah, that isn't going to happen. She's pulling new clients by word of mouth. And I'm not sure she knows how to set limits for herself.

I'm looking at foot and leg massages that do the motion from the foot, up the leg. I think I'll get one of those and see if it helps. Surprisingly, for me, my calves and ankles measure within the range for the normal size devices. I was not expecting that. But then those muscles get a workout.

I got the compression socks. That did not help and actually made most of the things worse. The only thing it made better was the feeling in my toes. And I've got to start walking again. I have to make the time for it and do it. That will do worlds for my body as long as I can get the locking calf muscles under control.

 

[moldy]

If you are desk bound, look into a cubi (I'll try to post a link later). Basically lime a bicycle for your feet and lower legs. My 93 year old mama has one and love it!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I just came in the house from working the gardens. Everything is so lush and green. Cary got his tomato plants set out, watered in, and staked. So, in the big garden we have 2 40ft. rows of green beans, 3 watermelons, 3 squash, 4 cucumbers, and 3 tomato plants. We still have room for more, but we can't think of anything else we like to eat or can grow. Wasted space. We'll try to plan better next year. I gathered 5 really nice banana peppers this morning, too. A couple of those will go in our chef salad for supper tonight, along with oven baked chicken breasts.

Can I chop the banana peppers for the freezer to use in stir fries along with other veggies? I always use bell peppers, but I was wondering about the bananas, too.

Something else my cardio doctor wanted me to do every day, and that is to get 30 mins of exercise. I think I got that this morning in the gardens, LOL. He also wants me to keep a watch on my cholesterol intake. It isn't high, but he wants to keep it that way. Not giving up our butter, cheeses, eggs, and bacon. We're already on a low salt diet with very little processed foods. I don't fry very much of our food, either, unless it's fried in butter, olive, or sesame oils.

Cary also hooked up our watering system for the big garden this morning. Every time I wash dishes and use the washing machine, the big garden will get watered. If too much water, he can simply turn the pvc pipes another direction away from the garden, and it will run off into the woods.

 

[alpha]

Clearing new pasture has been a real eye opener for me... All the things I anticipated such as logging, stump removal (grinding), fencing and water well got done on my schedule, but then I became a victim to others in addition to mother nature. I had to wait for snow this past Winter so I could burn the huge piles of brush. Then the wait for soil test results, delivery of 24,000 lbs of lime (took only two days to spread once it arrived), waited for delivery of pasture seed mix for so long that I missed Spring planting. Now that I finally got the right mix of fertilizer (6-24-24) delivered I can't seem to locate anyone with a bog harrow so I can turn in all that lime and subdue the weeds. I guess it's not time to panic quite yet as I still have until August to prepare the soil but I really, REALLY hate waiting on others.

All our vegetables are solidly growing in both the outdoor gardens and the high tunnel and we're experimenting with a new method of weed control in the asparagus bed. Now that we've been harvesting asparagus since the beginning of May, we planted Butternut squash throughout the 60 x 60 bed so that the leaf coverage will (hopefully) eventually choke out the various weeds that always take over.

Our pregnant heifer is due mid July and she is abundantly rotund! We didn't breed our goats last Fall and Spring wasn't the same without all the new born kids, so we're really looking forward to having a new calf this Summer. We'll definitely breed the 'ladies' this year since we've sold off quite a lot of cheese from the cave and need to replenish it as well as add some chevon (cabrito) to the freezer. Oh yeah, we added 200 pounds of ground beef to our preps on Monday so now, with the firewood shed full and the gardens planted, I can put focus on filling the hay loft while I search around for a harrow!

God, thank you, I love farming!!!

 

[kyrsyan]

Brain was operating slower than normal, despite a long night of good sleep. So I put in the basics and called it quits with boss' blessing. Because she was just as overloaded. She had been discussing working through the weekend but realized that she needs a brain break as well. She was actually ready to throw in this morning.

I just took a long walk around the neighborhood which helped a lot. Helped with the headache. Still on sluggish brain response.

Son's issue seems to be working itself out. The headache side effect is still kicking in strong. But he's in a good mood. And his body is pushing naps to recover.

I'm hoping we will both be well along the recovery road by tomorrow morning.

As hard as this week was, those funds will help with extra payment on the car and a new bulk food order. Well, a larger order. Naturally A Deal has gotten in a bunch of GoMacro Kid bars. Those are safe for my son. And they have more protein that his current granola bars. And one order that size would equally what we normally spend in 2 months, but be enough to last 4 to 6 months.

So chilling for the day to let the brain recover.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

After working in the gardens, beginning at 6 am, I got all rested, then decided to make Cary an Oreo cake. Chocolate fudge cake mix with vanilla frosting and crumbled up Oreo cookies all over the top. Then, I weeded my flower beds. I just finished making up most of the chef salad and put it in the fridge to finish later on tonight. I'll add the tomatoes, sliced boiled eggs, cheese, bacon bits, and ham right before we eat. I've got the chicken breasts marinating in the fridge.

After he ate lunch and took a short nap, Cary is splitting and stacking in more firewood right now.

No rain, today, so we'll have to get up early in the morning to water again. Maybe, more rain on Sunday.

 

[nomifyle]

My electric bill came, not as bad as I thought it would be, maybe the ac unit is helping, it would be nice if it was.

I finally got a good nights sleep last night, since DH got my chair working properly. I woke up with no pain, unlike the last two mornings when everything hurt.

DH is out working on a generator shed. He is making it large enough to hold all the individual propane tanks and it will be ventelated properly. He loves a project and he's had them every day this week. He's feeling well today, praise the Lord.

I'm not waddling any more when I walk since I've lost some weight. That's nice, but walking on uneven ground is still a challenge.

 

[kyrsyan]

Got a surprise. A large surprise. So I ordered something that has been on the list for a long time - a stainless steel steam distiller. And for a shorter time, silicon liner and dividers for the crock pot. Simple things make me happy. The steam distiller has been on the list for years but I was always looking at glass because most of the metal ones had copper tubing. And the ones with stainless steel were super high in price. Well, time provided the funds, and time also brought the price down a bit. Surprisingly, same for the silicon crockpot liners.

And someone accidently broke my Keysmart keyholder, so I splurged on the metal version this time. And butterfly TENS pads to test with my legs.

And I still managed a vitamin order and can possibly completely pay off a med bill next week. While still paying extra on the van.

And now I'll go take a moment to quietly send some thank yous upstairs. Because that was a surprise and a bit of miracle that I much appreciate. And I appreciated the sudden "look here" that told me how I could work out getting a fence up in a difficult spot. Because it doesn't need to be permanent fence. Just long enough, and strong enough, for some vining plants to fill in along some wires that are hung along with it. I think native honeysuckle is going to be my choice.

 

[ReneeT]

I ran over to daughter's today to take the middle grandson to his football workout - it's an hour long 1 on 1 workout with a coach. It was already hot at 10 am, and he'd left his big thermos of ice water on the counter so I ran to the nearby gas station and picked up a couple of large bottles of water, ditto Gatorade - for him and the coach. Coach said I didn't need to do that; I told him if he didn't need it, he should hang on to it in case one of the other kids forgot theirs. He tried to argue a little bit and grandson just shook his head...

Had to call the neighbor to come dispatch a raccoon for me as it was in the live trap in the shed and Hubby had already gone to work. We'd run it off a few times before we set the live trap. Neighbor said he'd already had to dispatch several in this area so far this spring/summer. They have dogs to protect their chickens; but they are still coming up in the yard. I always worry about rabies if they are close to the house, so they don't get a pleasant greeting if they show up, especially if they get in the shed, and definitely if they come up on the porch.

 

[etdeb]

Got a surprise. A large surprise. So I ordered something that has been on the list for a long time - a stainless steel steam distiller. And for a shorter time, silicon liner and dividers for the crock pot. Simple things make me happy. The steam distiller has been on the list for years but I was always looking at glass because most of the metal ones had copper tubing. And the ones with stainless steel were super high in price. Well, time provided the funds, and time also brought the price down a bit. Surprisingly, same for the silicon crockpot liners.

And someone accidently broke my Keysmart keyholder, so I splurged on the metal version this time. And butterfly TENS pads to test with my legs.

And I still managed a vitamin order and can possibly completely pay off a med bill next week. While still paying extra on the van.

And now I'll go take a moment to quietly send some thank yous upstairs. Because that was a surprise and a bit of miracle that I much appreciate. And I appreciated the sudden "look here" that told me how I could work out getting a fence up in a difficult spot. Because it doesn't need to be permanent fence. Just long enough, and strong enough, for some vining plants to fill in along some wires that are hung along with it. I think native honeysuckle is going to be my choice.

TENS has been a life saver for my knees.

 

[kyrsyan]

TENS has been a life saver for my knees.

My calf muscles like to lock up. I need to start walking again but I need a way to get the muscles to unlock. I'm hoping the TENS will do that.

 

[anna43]

Thanks to whoever it was that suggested I contact the Extension Service about my tree. The lady come out and took pictures to send to ISU forestry specialist for this area and said the tree definitely needed to come down. She isn't sure what type tree it is but doesn't think its an ash. She thought the forester might want to stop and look at the tree as he comes through here weekly to teach a class further west.

She also looked at the other tree and said it was an ash and that it has Emeral Ash Bore. I got to looking around and realized neighbor behind me has two ash trees that are dying and the neighbor to the east has two one of which is on the lot line so half my responsibility. There are a LOT of ash trees in town and I'm seeing dead or dying trees all over the place.
I have another tree just west of my house that has a lot of dead and I'm hoping that it isn't going to have to come down too. If it does, all shade from the west will be gone. Trees are also dying due to the long-term drought and all except the walnut tree do not look healthy. The walnut is a very old tree which used to be double the size it is now so probably has roots halfway to China. The tornado took half the canopy and after 40+ years it has not regrown very much. The extensive root system and smaller canopy allows the tree to draw enough moisture where the other trees cannot.

I haven't gotten an estimate of cost to pay for removal of the large diseased tree or my half for the lot line ash but if its less than $2,000 I will be surprised. The other ash is not on my property and I will call someone about it tomorrow if I remember. The neighbor to the north knows his trees are bad because I told him last summer, but he's not done anything about them. He needs to soon or they will be through his roof. I'm going to try to catch him or maybe leave a note on his door as neighbor on east and I thought maybe the tree company would give us a break in price if he could take down six trees in one locale. I am praying we can get all of them down before they come down and do major damage. Two of the trees are large and located where they could hit my house.

Got another shower early Thursday and forecast is for rain most of the day tomorrow so here's hoping. Another cucumber seed is up but nothing else as yet. There are a LOT of rabbits this year. Also, the deer have been wandering through the garden leaving hoof prints, but it doesn't appear they've eaten anything. They ate a neighbor's hostas, but haven't bothered mine -- yet. Lots of raccoons too but other than leaving their poop I can't see anything they've bothered. I stopped planting corn years ago due to the coons ALWAYS getting it.

I feel sorry for the people who say they'll plant a garden if the SHTF and survive that way. All I can say is I wish them luck!!

 

[moldy]

Our corn patch is scanty enough that DH plans to just plow it under I think. Busy last 2 days at work. I ha to listen to aan online symposium over healthcare. So so overwhelmed with BS. I had to get out in the garden for a few hours eacch day just to keep my brain working! Got quite a bit weeded and a few other chores done and didn't have to go to town at all! That's a huge plus!

 

[Illini Warrior]

Thanks to whoever it was that suggested I contact the Extension Service about my tree. The lady come out and took pictures to send to ISU forestry specialist for this area and said the tree definitely needed to come down. She isn't sure what type tree it is but doesn't think its an ash. She thought the forester might want to stop and look at the tree as he comes through here weekly to teach a class further west.

She also looked at the other tree and said it was an ash and that it has Emeral Ash Bore. I got to looking around and realized neighbor behind me has two ash trees that are dying and the neighbor to the east has two one of which is on the lot line so half my responsibility. There are a LOT of ash trees in town and I'm seeing dead or dying trees all over the place.
I have another tree just west of my house that has a lot of dead and I'm hoping that it isn't going to have to come down too. If it does, all shade from the west will be gone. Trees are also dying due to the long-term drought and all except the walnut tree do not look healthy. The walnut is a very old tree which used to be double the size it is now so probably has roots halfway to China. The tornado took half the canopy and after 40+ years it has not regrown very much. The extensive root system and smaller canopy allows the tree to draw enough moisture where the other trees cannot.

I haven't gotten an estimate of cost to pay for removal of the large diseased tree or my half for the lot line ash but if its less than $2,000 I will be surprised. The other ash is not on my property and I will call someone about it tomorrow if I remember. The neighbor to the north knows his trees are bad because I told him last summer, but he's not done anything about them. He needs to soon or they will be through his roof. I'm going to try to catch him or maybe leave a note on his door as neighbor on east and I thought maybe the tree company would give us a break in price if he could take down six trees in one locale. I am praying we can get all of them down before they come down and do major damage. Two of the trees are large and located where they could hit my house.

Got another shower early Thursday and forecast is for rain most of the day tomorrow so here's hoping. Another cucumber seed is up but nothing else as yet. There are a LOT of rabbits this year. Also, the deer have been wandering through the garden leaving hoof prints, but it doesn't appear they've eaten anything. They ate a neighbor's hostas, but haven't bothered mine -- yet. Lots of raccoons too but other than leaving their poop I can't see anything they've bothered. I stopped planting corn years ago due to the coons ALWAYS getting it.

I feel sorry for the people who say they'll plant a garden if the SHTF and survive that way. All I can say is I wish them luck!!

I got realllllll lucky with a dead ash I had on the property - ComEd took it down for free because it threatened their power lines - it's a special program they created because of all the dead ash trees - probably getting some GOV $$$ kicked in - saved me a bundle $$$$

 

[ReneeT]

"So so overwhelmed with BS. I had to get out in the garden for a few hours each day just to keep my brain working!"

That's one thing I don't miss about working in healthcare! I always wondered what management was thinking when they'd throw out an video course that had nothing to do with patient care and say "Oh, it's only an hour..." and expect us to listen to it at work I'm sure I'm a part of the problem as I'd much rather read something than listen to it.

Well, I think Rocky Raccoon had a brother come to his wake last night - the front porch is a mess!! Hummingbird feeders and the ant guards they hang from were pulled down, plants in pots were dug in to, tipped over, and soil scattered, a bowl I put cat food in was chewed up, etc... Rocky #2 isn't going to get a happy surprise...

And we just had a sudden ant invasion in the east living room window - I had some poison on hand, and will put down a borax and sugar mix to supplement it, but will call the exterminator on Monday to come spray.

I'll be swiping Hubby's truck and heading to town around 9am to take youngest grandson to a small festival uptown - we are both fond of lemon shake-ups and our favorite food truck will be at the festival. I need to run out to the Evil Empire to pick up a few things; then will bag up some leaves that had blown up against daughter's fence, and bring them home to use for mulch. I'm not sure if the youngest grandson will come home with me or not, but pretty sure the middle one won't - he's got his pack of friends he runs with now and hanging with Grandma is only cool if it includes something like DQ or a ride somewhere. Oh, he's polite; and it's please and thank you when I play taxi driver, but it's not the same.

We did get some sad news yesterday; oldest grandson's partner had a miscarriage the day before. The pregnancy was a surprise, but it is still a hard thing to bear, the poor girl. I had been looking at yarn to make a blanket and just couldn't decide what I wanted to buy.

Well, I'm not getting anything done sitting here on the computer, so I reckon I'd better get up and get moving!

Take care all; hope you have a good weekend!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We got the gardens all watered, picked more peppers, more flower beds weeded, and hung a load of laundry on the line to dry. First, I threw a roast in the crock pot with homemade onion gravy. I didn't take the time to add potatoes and carrots, so I'll make those a side dish. I also cut off all the dead heads on my roses and sprayed them, cause they were being eaten on by some kind of bug I've never seen before. I'll have to keep my eye out on those.

Watching the sky and radar all day, since we do have a chance of more thunder boomers this afternoon. I don't want my laundry getting wet out there by a surprise rain shower. I think we have a chance of those every day for the next week.

Cary is still splitting and stacking firewood. Our woodshed is overflowing! He hasn't called, yet, about having this huge oak tree cut down. It's still so lush and green, so if it falls, insurance will cover it. He's waiting til later in the Fall. Once it comes down in our front yard, it's going to take all winter to get it cleaned up, so if he waits, he won't have to try and mow around the whole mess to keep snakes at bay. That's if I don't have a meltdown and make the tree cutters just remove the whole thing along with the stump. That will all depend on the cost. It's around $1500 just to cut down the tree. That price was quoted 2 yrs. ago, though.

 

[kyrsyan]

So I did the final splurge this morning and ordered seeds for a variety of herbs that I want to add to the gardens. I'd buy the plants but only one has plant versions available and the seller thinks they are made of gold. So I'll work from plants.

Friend is giving me a start of comfrey. That will get a large pot to be happy in until the orchard area is finished and I can start planting it there.

Found a company that sells herbs in bulk starter plug quantities. I have a large rain ditch that I really want to not be grass. It absolutely kills my legs and spine when I mow it. So I am seriously considering some of the smaller thyme plants, and maybe some others, to do one section at a time of that until it is all stuff that doesn't need to be mowed. Kill a section of grass in late august when there are few to no rain storms here. Then plant the plugs and water until they are well set. And then wait for spring to see if they can hold the ground. And if they do, repeat it all again the following fall. Until it is all groundcover herbs and doesn't have to be mowed.

I could probably do a section of plantain right now, just from pulling the plants in the backyard and moving them to the ditch. While those look "weedy" they are prolific, useful, and do a really good job of shading out weeds in the soil around them. I could also probably already do a section with yarrow. Although I think I'd have to put that in the small section off to one side of the driveway, just so it wouldn't take over the whole ditch.

I'm looking forward to the steam distiller getting here. There's one bed of spearmint that could use a heavy harvest and would make a good starter run.

 

[moldy]

Krysyan, what is the name of the company that sells bulk herb plugs?

 

[kyrsyan]

Krysyan, what is the name of the company that sells bulk herb plugs?

Mountain Valley Growers