General Discussions - Chapter 22

I agree with it being dryer. But other than that it works great for meat loaf. and not too bad on the grill, if you mix in just a dash of veggie oil along with what seasoning you want to use. I usually don't make hamburgers though. I make more goulash and meat loaf than burgers. They would burn the outer sides without adding fat of some sort.
Every so often the fareway store runs specials on pork loin, if you buy the whole loin. That I put in the freezer for an hour or two so it will cut easier. And we are back to bagging or using the vacuum sealer again.
Oh by the way, Tequila, makes an interesting marinate with a little lime juice, for making a tough cut, tender and juicy. No it won't make you drunk when you eat the meat. LOL
Russ

you're a card, russ.vodka and orange juice is good for pork or chicken. jack daniel is good for red meat. i'm not much for drinking , but i look forward to eating out at restaurants that serve a good margarita, frozen of course. i buy those whole loins also. its pure meat for the price. best bargin in the store. if you like hot, spicy food, get a recipe for green chili from new mexico. it's the best !! you use pork for that . sally

Never tried the green chilly Sally. I will say it like this if it don't make smoke come out of your ears when it goes down, It's probably ok. However if it takes 2 hours and a fire hose to take care of the heat. It's probably too hot. LOL
Russ

that's what cows invented milk for , russ. it works. you make it as hot as you like anyway. use canned green chilies . i bought 2 bushels of them, both hot and mild in new mexico a coupla years ago. they roast them right on the side of the rd and sell them. i'm going to try growing them in my bales next year. maybe i can get enough to freeze , they are so expensive in those cans. a lot of work peeling and de seeding them. sally

Sally; I had a bunch of banana peppers last year. still have some frozen.
This year I have 4 varieties two are hot the others are Cal. Wonder and a big yellow something or other. I will have to look up the names as my markers faded. I plan on a lot of salsa. But I usually make several jars of hot sauce just for chilly. I know I will have enough hot peppers for some really hot stuff.
I have some peppers in my straw bales again this year. I still don't have the right balance of fertilizer yet. They are still tiny. While those in dirt are looking strong and healthy. The tomatoes in the bales are looking good. I have started them on some M/G, I think they are starting to perk up.
I think I have a little to much garden. It takes a lot of my time, especially when I am always stopping to help someone else. and mowing. I think if this next week is good I may just take the time, go fishing. and just get away.
Russ

russ, your just like me. always running to the computer to see what's going on ,lol my peppers ar in the ground again this year. not as good as last year . i'm going to have at least 20 bales next year. i bought a sack of cow manure and put half in a 5 gal bucket filled with water to fertilize with .refilled the bucket twice , then added the other half of cow stuff and am on the first bucket . will refill it two more times with water at least .might get more than that out of it.my stuff is looking showroom pretty.i did sprinkle some 13-13-13 when the tomatoes got up about 15" tall , but really like the cow stuff.i'll have lots of squash tomorrow . sally

The manure tea works really good Sally. Have you ever added alfalfa pellets to it? They say to use the ones with molasses but I can't find them around here.

I'm with Sally Russ on that lean hamburger. I don't even like the 80%. I got a meat grinder to do my own, just haven't gotten around to it. But, you can get steak and roasts on sale cheaper than hamburger and then the local butcher grinds the suet for the deer hunters to mix with the venison and that is only 48 cents a pound already ground up. Just have to find the time.

We paid $4.05 for gas today Russ. And that was 40 miles from home. The locals want $4.20.

The bag rolls for the vacu packers come in 2 different sizes Russ. That is what I was talking about. No, I don't like freezing in zip locks either except for oysters because they aren't in there long enough to get burn.

Jeanette

my oysters don't last long enough to put in bags, period.raw, fried, baked ,stew , dressing , name it , i can go through them . we have the shrimp and oyster harvest right there in tex, where we are fishing . just wait til the tide is low then can see them in the clear water, pick them up with a potato fork, or cultivator fork.yum yum . sally

Yes, when we lived in Seattle we used to take a 6 pack of beer down to the beach and eat them right there. Is there a limit on oysters in GA? I told you about the shrimp boat going back and forth in front of my townhouse when we stayed in Georgia. Pretty cool except for that darned beeping.

Well, I buy oysters by the quart at Costco and there are just the 2 of us. Bob would eat them all if I let him, but since it is 80 miles away to get more, I freeze half of them. We don't make that 80 mile trip very often.

i don't know about a limit , as long as they are a certain size . the boats drag them in by the toe sack full and there are several processing plants right there where you can buy as many sacks as you want. some of the restaurants have all u can eat for 10.99 to 14.99. don't think there would be a limit on picking them up . all this is happening in the bay off rockport , tex , where we spend the winter. it's so shallow, if you picked your way across to the ocean, other than the intercoastal waterway,you could almost wade all the way to mustang or padre island ,which is a barrier island that protects the coastline of texas. we eat a lot of fish and seafood in the winter. either that or i cook mexican . i can't wait to get back , but it will be the first of dec . many years ago when i was single ,i lived in a beach house on the water right out of corpus christi. didn't know how to do all this stuff. life is a beach lol sally

Sounds wonderful. Oh to be single again!!

Jeanette

nah, jnette, he can come too. sally

Why is it you go to Texas in the winter? I thought everyone went to Arizona or Florida. I think the seafood in Texas tastes different than ours. They call them Quahogs. Clams. I didn't like them. Could have been the way they were fixed. No, come to think of it, I think the people from Maine brought those.

Back on topic. It is 80 degrees here and really feels like more. Suppose to be 92 tomorrow and 96 on Monday. Then it starts raining and thunder storms. By then we will be ready for them. I checked my tomatoes a while ago and they are doing really good but I have got to get them tied up. They are pretty thick stalks and lots of blossoms. I am sure there are tomatoes on them, I just haven't looked.

Jeanette, you can tie mine up too while your at it, OK?
I believe I got all the weeding done today. I have one row ready to tie up to the cattle panels. Have four more rows to go. Make that five,
I forgot the bales. Oh well guess I've forgot more "huh"?
Must be because I spent biggest share of the day on my hands and knees. ( My story and I'm sticking to it!) LOL
Russ

Russ, I sure hope those people appreciate all the work you are doing for them to get some good tomatoes. They probably won't like to pay for them this year tho 'cause you have been giving them to them for nothing before this. You might be canning more than you normally do.

Russ, do the sweet taters like heat? I have them planted in the hoophouse and it sure is hot in there. No direct sun tho. Just heat.

jnette, the sea food is fab in tex. the oysters don't have the salty taste tho, so not as good as florida . snow birds in western states haven't discovered south tex , and the gulf yet .i go because it's home and my only child has a free place to live ,and he can come on weekends to visit. his home is north of austin , tex. i bought two lots down there , might put a mobile home on it. russ , going to get sweet tater lessons off you . i'll be bugging you when time comes to plant next year . sally

Yes Sally, I too like the salty taste of the seafood.

Russ sent me some sweet tater plants and so far they are looking really good but haven't put on much new growth. I'm not sure if they are just establishing their roots or what. I don't want to dig down there to see. LOL

But, I trust that they will give me enough for a pie.

i'll have good straw next year ,so will wait . don't know how long it takes to mature ,but next year should be good. my neighbor grows them but think he just buys whatever the co-op has. i'd rather go with russ. sally

LOL, Sally, I just read the last sentence of your post and wondered where you were going with Russ.

Sorry, I've been out in the sun too long.

Russ, I fertilized my SPs with MG about 4 or 5 days ago and they almost doubled in size and leaves. Don't know if it was that or the hot weather. Maybe both. It was 94 yesterday.

Jeanett What do you have them growing in. How much soil?
They do like heat, but they also like moist soil. I should take a pic, of what mine are like now. They have started vining out and I have mounded up dirt around them twice now. I need to take pictures anyway. If for no other reason than to show the difference between the different cultivators. I think the amount of rain we have had has made a lot of the difference. A couple years ago I had to water them two or three times a week. as it was rather dry.
From the looks of what mine look like at this point, I will be planting more of of the vardaman for next year. They look to me like they are ahead of the others and they were pretty much planted all at the same time. I will also be planning on having a bunch of them started so I will be able to use those for trades. I will probably have some of the others too but I'm liking the idea of less vines. The season isn't over yet though We will see how they do.

Digger I would think that you would still have plenty of growing season, to try some this year. unless you don't really have a space for them.
What it takes is a good loose soil that don't set up hard after a rain or two. You can raise them in a raised garden if your soil is bad. But if that be the case, I would start now to have some nice loose soil ready for them.
The basic maturity for sweet potatoes is 100 days. It don't really take long to get some nice taders though. The big thing is in how much they have stored up in their roots. That will have some difference in flavor.
Unless a person has a extra sense of taste. I doubt if I would notice the difference. I hope you were thinking of some loose straw when you mentioned the straw bales. I'm thinking that the bales might retain too much moisture, for a root crop. But that is something I don't know. I do have some more little plants that I just couldn't help myself I'm still rooting a few. I will plant a couple in bales, just to see what happens.
If it works , I'll have tomatoes on top and sweet potatoes under, LOL
Sally I think I would also check with someone from your area to as to when the best time is to plant them. I know our planting time would be considerably different than yours. Of course I can check too. You would almost have time for two seperate gardening seasons, compaired to our short season up here.

Do you hear me chuckling? Where are you going with Russ?
Gee Jeanett, you never know. He He HE

I think the spurt in growth is? was probably due to a little of both. The heat and the MG.
Russ

Russ, I just planted my sweet potatos (Beauregard for down here) in a mixture of half soil & the other half last years straw bales....We'll see how they do.

I used the soil from some defunct raised beds from a few years ago......heh heh I recycle everything!

Foggy




Sally, I'm north of you, but still deep south...we are a mile from the SC state line. you should have plenty of time to plant

This message was edited Jun 29, 2008 3:55 PM

Russ, also Foggey, I also planted mine in some soil from raised flower beds from last year. So, pretty rich soil. And, also loose. I am sure yours are way ahead of mine Russ 'cause you planted yours earlier. Also, mine were just sitting there doing nothing. Now I got a spurt. But I just got the idea from you guys to put straw around mine. Probably loose. It would hold some of the moisture in.

What you said about the straw and root crops Russ, Many years ago my daughter when she was little, made a shallow ditch, thew some potatoes in there, put straw over the top and I don't recall if she watered them at all, but she got a lot of nice potatoes. In fact, I think Kent said he was doing that. Now, I don't know about sweet potatoes. Could be different.

Jeanette

Hi all- I'm back from my weekend up in the mountains- boy, it was beautiful and cooler than here. I had folks watering my garden for me, and it sure looks good!

Jeanette- I'm still hoping you'll send me that rhubarb cake recipe!!

xox Suz

suz, stroll way back up this thread . jnette sent the recipe , we've just been talking so much, and when you got back, you didn't stroll back far enough.

jnette, you're full of it .lol russ, i don't think planting root crops in bales is the way to go . on one of these threads, somebody ,kent i think said they didn't do so good. i was going to plant in loose straw , after i take my bales apart,for next year. i hate to do it, but am going to have to clear an area for sun ,to use for garden.i have tall trees all around me and no place for garden .foggy, beauregard? i dont know the first thing about s.p. russ is into so many varieties, thought he could suggest something good for me ,but if they have something for this part of the country that does good , then i'll try those also. gonna have to be next year tho. sally

Full of what Sally? Now, I would like to know how many people on here are going to jump to my defense when Sally is saying bad things about me.

Come on, let me hear it. Russ, Barb, Suzan, I would have to go back and see who all got into the act and it is too darned hot to worry about it. Sally, you can say anything you want to about me. LOL It is 102 degrees with 16% humidity. Right now. And the forecast was 92 degrees. It's times like this that I am sure glad we aren't on the east coast or the south with the humidity you guys have. I would just die.

Jeanette

Jeanette, I agree if we had the humidity they have further east with our temps is couldn't take it. My daughter in Virginia had those high temps and the humidity was just about the same as temp.

It was 100 degrees here today, a record for this date. I irrigated this morning until it got too hot then came into the house. Have to irrigate constantly with my sandy soil. But the garden is looking pretty good, will have cukes in a couple of days.

Donna

Jeanette; I was just a pullin your leg. when you said where were you going with Russ.
But Yall know Barb would keep a short leash on me. LOL
An Digger I guess I just read it like you were going to try planting them in the bales.
And for the south at least in MS it is Beauregard that they say really turned the production upward.
I do have some Beauregards, some Centennials, some Georgia Jets and of cource I am trying the Vardaman. It is suposed to do well in the cooler planting zones. Since I don't know that for sure, I have to give it a try. What I really liked was that the vardaman is a bush type.
I am hoping to conserve on garden space. Not that I'm short on space, I have a few fruit trees that I want space for as well. Then to I have half a plan for a little landscaping as well.

Jeanette you can rest easy, I'm the only one that yanked your chain but you may just have to go back a few spaces, as I won't repeat it.
I think at a hundred an two, I would have said to the garden, Your on your own. Although a 16% humidity ain't all that bad. I think the only time it gets that low here is in the winter.
On a day when it's like 98 degrees with a 95% humidity, I start looking for a little air conditioning. Even shade and a cold one won't do anymore.

Russ

Jeanette; Glad to hear the S/Ps perked up. I did get a couple pictures today but I don't have them downloaded yet.
I'll be trying to do just that for a while here.
Russ

that was fun , wasn't it? you can say anything you want ,also jnette. i thought i saw a picture of russ and his family on his personal site , but can't find it now. him and 3 or4 women ,outside. oh well, when i get a camera, i'll post a picture , i like to put a face on the people i talk to .. sally

Oh my, Jeanette- you went from "will it EVER get warm" to 102!!!!! That's even worse/hotter than it's been here!! Hope it's working in your favor in the garden. Here's a pretty shot of my future zucchini!!

Oh thanks, Sally- just went back a little farther and found Jeanette's recipe.

THANK you, Jeanette! Can't wait to try it! Yummmmmm.

xox Suz

The pictures look so nice. Russ your garden is gorgeous. Especially the corn. My favorite. And Suzan your zucchini is pretty for the picture alone. Love this time of year. Yes, 102 is really a lot for us this time of year but Russ you are right. The low humidity makes it bearable.

Sally, Russ has a beautiful family. They all look so happy. But with a working fool like Russ for a husband/father, how can you go wrong?

Gee. now who's rattling my chain? ha ha ha :>)

Our three girls, Barb and the working fool; LOL
and one of the precious great grand daughters.
Russ

This message was edited Jun 30, 2008 6:40 AM

that's the picture i saw , just don't know where. your wife looks like a good, and longtime friend of mine, here in ga her name is mae . when the humidity is high, and it's real hot , the secret to staying cool , is a big fan . when you're sweaty, the moving air cools you, like playing with water hose on a breezy day . hmmm, gives me an idea! i don't , to be ladylike ,perspire, heck, i sweat , lol . sally

Great picture, Suz! May I use it if I write another article on this subject?

In Lake'ch....

You bet, Darius!

Y'all- my tip for keeping cool when it's ungodly hot and humid is to tie a cool wet bandana around your neck and put your feet in cold water.

xox Suz

P.S. Last night the fireflies were so plentiful and amazing they made me want to cry! It's 80, low humidity and HEAVENLY here today. I feel blessed to live here, and even moreso than usual, given as much weather-related troubles as others elsewhere have experienced this year.

it' getting close to starting another chapter. my mouse just barley would grab the scroll bar . help , help , sally

Trade ya Suz. It's 80 here no breeze and high humidity.
Got poultry wire around my Vardaman S/Ps today to help foil Mr. rabbit. Also got one row of maters tied up. I have 3 maters the size of base ball. I'm almost licking my chops. LOL
I need to break out another roll of wire for the other patch with the Beauregards. They ate 2 of those flush with the dirt.
I got rid of 6 rabbits already, but it looks like as fast as I get rid of one 2 more take its place.
Ya supose if I tie the (lucky) rabbits foot/ feet, to the fence they might take the hint?