Wow!! Sorry to read that Cajun. You have my sympathies.
The Junebugs are Junin' on the June homestead
Oh my. I am very sorry to hear about that Cajun. I can imagine the pain you feel. That is beyond awful.
Aww, Caj... so sorry to hear that.
Planted another 400 feet of blue lake beans today. also another 150 feet of meal corn and a few hills of neck pumpkins and about 50 feet of storage onions. Then we cleaned the henhouse and put down new straw. Going for pizza and beer as soon as I shower up. Life is good.
Nik, you'll be canning beans for months!
I know they needed rain but not this way.
My step-father always grew blue lakes (he was a truck farmer), and my mother canned gobs of them. When I started growing beans here, I planted heirloom Kentucky Wonders and will never go back to blue lakes. Best bean I ever tasted! It helped that the beans had a brix of 12-14º IIRC, which will make anything tasty. That same year my heirloom tomatoes only had a brix of 6º (barely what grocery store tomatoes test) so it was a matter of the soil nutrition, probably micronutrients.
I finally got the leak in my plumbing pipes in the root cellar fixed yesterday. I had moved the pipes to make room for the old refrigerator that will be a cheese cave, and put in all new pipe and fittings. Naturally the leak was in the little part of the old stuff I didn't replace! After I whitewash the corner where the "cave" will go, all I have to do is find a strong man I can talk into moving the refrigerator. There's a high step over the entranceway so I know I cannot do it myself.
While the door was open to dry out some of the water on the floor, some animal got into my cheese overnight. Lost a bunch of it. :(
You seem to be having the hardest time with the cheese. So sorry. It must be so frustrating for you.
Yes, it IS frustrating. But it's something I am enjoying, so I persevere. Cheese (and butter) made from late-spring to early summer milk has so much more Omega-3 and Vitamin K2 from the new grass that I feel I need to take advantage of that despite not having better storage/aging conditions. Besides that, I need to build up a small stock of aged cheese in hopes of making some extra money in a year or two.
Living on an income below the federal poverty level is getting harder all the time as prices on everything keep increasing.
I had the opposite experience with the beans.lol But the blue lake did go into soil with lots of green sand amended last year. I may have to go back and try the kentucky wonders again. May be awhile. I think, I almost have enough seed saved that I won't have to buy bean seeds next year.
Sorry about the cheese. I was talking to a local gentleman that said his mother had milk cows and she aged her cheese in the same barn as she milked in. One, what I know of pathogens makes that sound really gross. Second, I have to keep my feed in lock down. I can't imagine keeping the cheese from invasion!
I always sell a few veggies every year, plus I have sisters who help me eat them. So the green beans will not be wasted. I finally stopped with 16 sweet potato vines. I still have one, but I am letting it grow as a houseplant. I put a pinch of Peter's plant food into the water for it.
The woman who owns the green house up the road want's me to come and empty out all the rest of the veggie plants she has. So on the first I'll have another 100 or more plants to put into the ground. Even if I only get one or 2 tomatoes or peppers from each it'll be worth doing.
The apple tree experiment didn't work out, but I have another trial going. I am air-layering the wild apple in my fenceline. I have 15 layers started, and plan to do about 20 or 30 more. I figure with that many I should get at least one or 2.
Life is good at Wolf's Rest Farm.
Darius, I know what you mean about prices. It's getting worse all the time. This is my first year SFG so it's a big learning curve and I can't expect to put much by this year. Got a pot of fresh beans cooking now that I picked this morning. Seasoned them with green pepper, garlic, onions and lemon balm that I raised myself. It feels good.
Wow, everyone is keeping busy I see!
Cajun, so sorry about your Shaq :(
Darius, glad to hear your 'cave' is progressing but sorry about the additional cheese loss. What eats cheese do you think?
Cricket, yikes on the bullish encounter there! So glad no one was injured, whew.
Nik, man, you guys are doing so well! What a great success story. I love reading about what everyone is doing :)
I spent this week bartering time for food - once I got over the weird feeling about it, I had a good time. Worked a farmer's market stall for a couple of hours and got tomatoes, strawberries, a couple of bruised peaches and a huge green pepper. Earlier in the week I did some weeding and patio clean up for some fresh raw goat milk and four dozen yard eggs. Now if I can just get the electric company to take the same for my bill, I'd be all set :) I did finally get my first client for my business, but it probably won't get off the ground until July - and one isn't enough to live off of but it *is* a start. Never thought I'd see a day when I didn't work for nearly six months...sheesh. Still cooking for the building crew and picking up some grocery money here and there with that as well. So Darius, I am reallllly becoming aware of the increase in food prices myself. Thank goodness I bought meat and stocked up when I was working, or I'd be a vegetarian about now...lol! I applied for a local but very low paying job in desperation, but I never even got a response :( Times are just hard for most everyone around here, it is rather scary. I got to visit the farm I worked the market for, and saw 400 tomato plants under one roof for the first time...yowza! It's not an organic farm, so he was spraying with Round Up as I was taking the tour....0_0
My little container garden is going well, but I'd be hard pressed to fill my plate off of it - next year I need to plant more of everything. Got a few tomatoes, a handful of sugar snow peas, lots of chard and my okra is starting to come in. I even had a second palmful of raspberries this week. I haven't been out to gather blackberries again so I'll do that this weekend.
I hope Pod checks in soon - anyone of us in the ND region that is flooding so badly? I surely hope not.
MsRobin is doing fine, having some computer problems, plus her CSA is going like gangbusters so she and the Mr are keeping quite busy.She's got great customers and her garden is beeeeyutiful! I'm so proud of them. Oh, and they have new baby chicks too and I think they are moving on to rabbits as well.
Take care all, and keep on plantin'!
So so sorry about your horse Cajun. (assumed horse) Horrible!
Our neighbors horse died= accident= but it is so horrid that its hard to decide when someone could handle
gory details.
With Moms help= I have canned 55 quarts of tomatoes. I thought it would be neat and cute to have whole cherry
tomatoes in beef soup this winter so I took the time to peel and can cherry tomatoes. I only did 3 quarts so far. I want to do many more. Since the cherry toms were left whole and there wasn't much juice , I pureed a couple of regular tomatoes for the cherry toms to be canned in. I love home canned food. So pretty in the glass jars. Most of my tomatoes are Big Beef. I ended up with 6 quarts of Brandywine tomatoes. I want to can 24 more quarts of toms.
The only other thing I will be canning this year is Muskedine Juice sometime in Aug. We have a Muskedine Orchard.
I want to figure out how to make a low alcohol wine with the muskedines. My last attempt was high in alcohol. I couldn't drink it.
It's almost July. Can't wait. For the life of me I cannot fatten up this bull. We managed to repair the fence
and set the bull back out to pasture.....after he got out a few more times and ran me all over the place wanting
to play. I don't like playing with horns.
Buckie the Bull= YUM
Cricket... that's a LOT of canned tomatoes! As much as you enjoy the looks of jars of home canned tomatoes, you should keep them in a dark closet if you want to preserve the vitamin content. It dissipates rapidly in light.
My step father built my mother a canning closet just off the kitchen in a walkway. It was only about 2 quart jars' deep so it didn't take up much room, but had doors to keep out the light.
Hineni, that's fantastic. I would gladly trade food for help. Or, I'd be happy to work for food. Weeding someone else garden is always more fun then your own.lol I bet they were happy to see you!
Cricket, Bucky looks fine to me. He'll look even better as a roast with those cute cherries toms on top! I love cute canned goods, they just taste better ;0)
It hot here! The up side is the sun is finally in position that I get some shade working in the field during the morning. Then by 7pm I get shade in the raised beds. I'm getting everything cleaned up and ready for fall planting...the beds look good..I feel good.
Cricket, I photo shopped a pic of my Sally (part holstein) to show just how a dairy cow in good condition and weight looks. You can still see her side ribs, hip and pins bones. Compared to a beef cow, she looks extremely thin, she not thin at all. I circled the short ribs, you can see it's a single shelf, for lack of a better word. If she were getting underweight, I would be able to count them. If she was getting really thin they would be protruding individually.
I didn't know your bull was a Holstein. He looks really fat for a dairy breed to me. Next time castrate any bull you raise ; it will make him safer to handle and easier to feed up. I don't remember the statistics, but more people have been killed by dairy bulls than sharks.
darius= I don't have a dark place yet but working on it. It was time to can tomatoes. Couldn't wait for complete darkness. I normally only can 35 quarts of toms each year but we always run out half way through winter so my goal is 75 quarts. As for the dark place==we are also going to store the canned goods in a closet under the stairs== still under construction. So much to do in so little time.
cocoa= thank you. I feel much better about Bucky looking thin....I was feeding him so much that he actually wouldn't eat all his feed and he still wasn't gaining weight==that I could see cause I saw his rib form and hip bone. I guess i can relax now.
Porkpal= We actually chose to keep his pride cause we (me and son) wanted to try mountain oysters. Wondering when it comes down to it if I am brave enough to try it. Plus= I didn't want to fork out the expense of having it done. We were going to butcher the bull last Fall when our son was here to visit but we decided to wait til he was discharged from the Army. (in a week hopefully) Just waiting on red tape paper work.
That is a fine looking bull. Definitely in great shape.
I think it's nuts to eat mountain oysters. LOL Did I say that? Looks like he will give you a lot of meat. The tallest bull I ever saw was a Holstein. Heaviest bull I ever saw was a Beef Master/ Blonde D'Aquitaine mix.
Sally has short teats. Do you milk her or is she a heifer yet?
Hi, thanks for the update on Robin. I have sure been missing her and am glad to know she is doing fine and things are going well for her and Al. They had such a rough start this year.
My Momma makes killer muscadine jelly.
Darius, that is interesting about the tomatoes. I knew the light was bad for meds and milk but did not know tomatoes were affected also.
Caj, it's not just tomatoes that lose nutrients in light... but any food. I only used tomatoes as an example because Cricket was canning tomatoes.
Vegetables and fruits begin to lose their nutritional value the moment they are picked/harvested. Processing takes away more, and even freezing does because of the blanching... but then nearly stabilizes it for several months. Canned goods and frozen foods may still be safe to eat (in terms of pathogens) after several years but the nutritional content has continually diminished all that time, just much faster in the light...
Meat is the same. Look at the visual difference in fresh ground hamburger vs. some that has been sitting in the display case awhile that has a grayish look...
Lol, Cajun, not only do I milk her..I hand milk her! Yes, it's as difficult as it looks :0) There are always a few holsteins at the AI facility we use. They are so impressive, they make Sally look like a munchkin. She's not petite by any means, 1,100lbs and I can milk her sitting on a kitchen trash can and still have room to keep my knees bent under her without them touching her belly...and I'm 6'2".
I keep a closet in the laundry room just for canned goods and supplies... Keeps them dark, plus I can find everything when I need it. Wish the freezers were as organized. I still haven't printed out that darn sheet.
Been a long long time since I milked a cow. Teen years. Mama made butter too. So long ago. I think I'm getting old.
If I could figure out how to get rid of the bags under my eyes (without surgery), It would make me feel younger and I might get rich while I'm at it. (wishful thinking) Starting to look like a hound dog.
I think hound dogs have lovely faces!
There is a handheld vacuum milker for getting colostrum from mares but it sure wouldn't hold what a cow can put out. Robin set me parts for making a unit to milk a goat but I couldn't get it to seal on the one goat I tried it on. Of course she was wild as a guinea and fighting me so I didn't have much of a chance to start with. I hope I have better luck with it on my own goats.
So, what is the most nutritious way of preserving food?
Freezing preserves the most nutrients (if done soon after picking), even with some loss of nutrients by blanching. That is, IF you can count on no loss of power all winter.
For many kinds of veggies, lacto-fermenting actually ADDS nutrients... but generally lacto-ferments are served as an accompaniment rather than a full vegetable side dish.
Morning.
Another wonderful hot day ahead.
I dreamed someone drove through my front yard while it was wet cause they were trying to figure out how to get around the Closed signs on each end of the drive way..........I guess I dreamed it cause it is a problem. Customers come to the main gate and it has a 4ft long sign that says Closed. They back out and come to the other end of the circle drive = thinking What? For a long time the other end did not have a closed sign til Now. It now has a sawhorse with a closed sign. Then they have to turn around again. I want the other sign to say======= Still Closed=====
The extra early high temps have ruined a lot of tomato fruits. They have hard yellow shoulders.
My son will be home late Saturday night. It has been a long 4 years but not as long as it has been for him. He liked the Army life but he hated Afghanistan.
Darius= I have no clue what Lacto= Fermenting is. I can guess and maybe I already know and just didn't know the name for it. and Maybe I should search it====later.
Throwing in a picture of Sweet Million Cherry Tomato plants. Started these plants late but still hoping they reach the top of their 10ft stakes. I think they have 3 feet to go. and the only way I could get a close up of the whole plant was a side ways view.
Here's your photo rotated... Lots of toms there!
Wowzers! Ats a lotta tomatahs!
Sold 5 dozen eggs yesterday and 2 today. Looking up. The hens get a reprieve.
Got the colt out on the grass early so he can eat a while before the flies get bad. Got the garden watered early. Not calling for rain for the next 2 days and we have not had any for 2 days. The raised beds dry out quick. Especially the ones with the wood chip compost. I need to cover the tops of them completely with horse manure. I got the peppers done and it seems to be making a difference with them.
Storm rolling in.
Thank You Darius= I'm still learning how to do stuff with my computer. I am what they call a Bonified Backwoods Country Hick and my own brother makes fun of my southern accent.
Cajun, that is wonder on your sales. I am curious= how many chickens do you have? Me and my sister want to sell eggs. She's been trying for a long time but she lives further out than I do and she also has a higher price on her eggs than I would even pay. I don't know much about chickens. I feel like I am stuck in the old days when folks just raised their chickens and fed them on corn and didn't have to worry about diseases and vaccinations and such. She worries about all that stuff which causes the price of her eggs to go up. I'm Learning.
I am a big fan of peat moss and vermiculite in my grow beds. Cost a lot to make the beds at first with peat and vermiculite but not much cost after that. Vermiculite does wonders during long dry spells.
You can't go wrong growing the Sweet Million Cherry Tomato. I have no complaints and neither do my customers. I sell both plants and the produce.
I have to sow my Fall crop tomatoes today. I was going to start them last week but been so busy= or too lazy. I like to start my Fall crop on the first day of Summer.
Off to work again.
Our local Farmer's Market Vendors are now asking $3.50/dz. eggs. Many are not even truly free range, which you can tell by the yolk color. None actually even say 'organic', probably because most commercial chick feed contains GMO corn and soy.
I pay $2/dz from a tiny vitamin store in the town 35 miles away... if I happen to be going that way, and if the owner has eggs she gets from her sister. They are free-range, and better than factory eggs even if not totally organic.
Crickett ~ lol on the "other sign to say======= Still Closed=====" but is your business really closed?
Soooo dry here that I watched a doe play in the pond this morning. She'd stick her head under water and snorkel, then would come up slinging water all over her. Then she'd dance around in circles. Must have felt great. In fact, I watched for about 5 minutes before she noticed me and left.
No storm damage here and little rain either. We vacated and came home to find my plants survived. In fact the bed that I placed wet, rotted wood in the bottom held up really well while I was gone. Before I left, I picked about 3 dozen ripening tomatoes. Place them on a bread tray in a shady spot in the GH. After two weeks, I found they had ripened nicely with only two that rotted. And now, Darius says they have lost nutrients~ Grrrrr. It's o.k. They would have been eaten by birds or hornworms if left on the vine.
We are also enjoying pole beans, cukes, onions as well and this weekend I hope to start the fall tomatoes from seed.
Recent garage sale finds ~ an unused dehydrator, an unused coffee grinder and a new 10' x 20' frost cloth. I had wanted frost cloth but didn't know I needed the rest till I found it... 8 )
Moving us into the next month for some fun times with ripening tomatoes, and buying straw, and hatching more chicks and ducklings. Life is good on the July Homestead. We're going here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1193694/