September On The Homestead

I guess I will start the new thread again. Ya'll are getting a might lazy. lol

It’s a happy day around here today. We got rain!!!!!!!! Yep just a little over 2 ½ inches worth of the wet stuff. It wasn’t enough but I won’t complain.

I don’t remember if I mentioned it or not but we had to move the nursery down the hill to the hickory grove because of the heat. It’s a lot shadier and cooler down there under the trees. Everything is doing so much better down there we have decided to just leave it there. We are going to turn the cabin ( picture) into the sales office and do a little landscaping to pretty the place up a little and see what happens. Now all we have to do is train the customers on where we went.

That’s about all to tell right now. Ya’ll have a pleasant and safe Labor Day.

I didn't even know you had a nursery! Went to the website, looks great.. :) The hickory grove should be very cool and welcoming for your customers.

Thanks, the site keeps me busy since I’m not what you would call a computer geek.lol. The nursery is something to do and keeps us out of trouble. Most of the time anyway.

Just for the record, we got another 1/2 inch of rain today. Sure hope it keeps on falling.

Well, I hope everyone else was successful but the gardening season was at a deficit here. I have more empty canning jars than full. Always optimistic though and planning for next years' garden spot.

The bagged tomatoes are loaded with blooms and I am hoping a break in the hot temps will allow them to set fruit. I finally uprooted all the spring planted tomatoes and peppers today.

I figured out what Labor day means... the beginning of the fall/winter "get it done outdoors" season. I need to finish up the fence so got started on it today till it got too hot for me.

No more rain here but I am curious, why do plants wilt more quickly after a good soaking rain?!?

BTW, I love your new nursery spot Lizards_Keep. That looks inviting.

I think after it has been really wet some plants jettison some of their rootlets and then cannot tolerate a subsequent dry spell.

That is just about as logical as anything else I've heard. Thanks.

Lizards_Keep ~ what weather link do you use on your website?

Thanks, It’s going to take a lot of work getting the nursery set up again but I think we will be more comfortable there. I know the plants sure are.

I use the Weather Under Ground for weather. I think its one of the best weather sites around. Just plug in your zip and you have it.

http://www.wunderground.com

I agree Wunderground has my vote for the closest to local I have found. Was going to recommend it if you weren't using it.

And right now, I like the forecast. Nary a 100° temp in sight and chances of rain! Think I'll go read it again...

Yeah! And another TS in the Gulf and 70% chance of rain Thursday life is good.

I like Weather Underground too but for some reason it often has the wind and humidity all wrong. I've often wondered where they are measuring.

I had noticed that about the wind. They list 3 or 4 different area locations at the bottom and the wind reading is erratic from one to the next. OTOH, the temps and forecast are as close as any can get and I really like the radar zoom to my specific area. That is good when it is bad.

Off to move rocks... while my back is still strong and my mind is weak.

This message was edited Sep 6, 2010 8:31 AM

I’m loven it lol. Just got another ¼ inch of rain and its still coming down.

Well, Lizard it says "Hall Lake" in Sugarland. There is a Hull Lake there but I don't know where Hall Lake might be which casts further doubt on their reliability. (I actually depend on them more than the others for their radar map; I just go to Accuweather if I need wind or humidity.)

The Hall Lake location is a private weather station. If you scroll all the way to the bottom you will see a whole list of private weather stations. Choose one that is closer to you and select it. The closest airport they are showing is Houston. If it were actually located on a lake it would explain why the wind and humidity are so far off for you.

Hope this helped.

Oh joy, just picked up another 1/8 of rain.

I thought Hall Lake was an error and they meant Hull Lake. There is a small airport formerly called Hull Field in Sugar Land and it has a lake (probably the hole left from the earth they used to build up the airstrips.) I have reselected Sugar Land Airport. So far no difference in information.

This message was edited Sep 6, 2010 10:09 PM

This message was edited Sep 6, 2010 10:12 PM

Finally got a couple of days of cool temps here, but still no rain.

No rain here for nearly a month and we sure need it. Trying to get the bed ready for fall planting.

We got another ¾ inch of the wet stuff Sunday and still need more of it. What we got must have helped since I had to mow today and get all my weeds evened up some. Still hot but this morning it was noticeably cooler on the patio. I think just a little hint of fall may be in the air.

We got a really good rain the other day. i let the horses out on the grass today. It's been too dry. They were pulling it up by the roots.

Sounds like the way it was around here for a couple of months. Now I guess this winter will be sub-artic and everything will freeze to death. lol

Yeah, I suspect the Global Weirding will only get worse.

I dread winter. the cold is so hard on my muscles.

Hi, All! Not much going on around here....still have heat and no rain to complain about, but at least the nights are cooling off. Still have about a third of the garden producing, so doing lots of watering. Putting up a greenhouse soon, so maybe I can extend the season a bit on the things I've got in big containers.

Started my Master Gardener classes last week. It's pretty interesting. Hopefully I'll learn enough to battle some the problems I had this year.

DH is back to work and I'm getting so much more work done around here now.

All right! You survived the summer (and with your husband)! Amazing to hear your garden is still delivering. I am anxiously awaiting the end results of your business endeavor.

It must be a change in the moon, all my animals are acting weird this morning.

No rain and little break in the heat cycle here. It is minimally cooler in the high 90°s but who is counting. I am still waiting on the dozen blooming tomato plants. Loaded with blooms and not cool enough at night to set fruit yet. How cool does it have to be to set tomatoes? Will they make it by frost? Usually freezes around Thanksgiving here.

Cajun, it is too bad you can't be like a bird and head south in winter.

I miss the daylight most in winter. Already the days are visibly shorter here and my patience gets visibly shorter too. Off to work.

Cajun I agree about winter. I am perfectly healthy and live in a much warmer climate so I guess I'm just a weenie but I hate being cold.

Thanks for that info... I noticed tonight that there are a few grape sized maters beginning. That magic must have happened on the lone cool night we saw.

Is your topsy-turvy tomato cutting rooting yet?

Oh, no. TT Matter is history. I was planning on getting a matter for this fall but never did being busy getting the nursery moved. Will have to do it this spring for sure.

Yep, for a couple of nights we had lows of about 68 and 67 degrees. Should have been lower there, so if you had blooms a few of them should have set at least.

Sorry ~ I thought you had taken a cutting of it to root.

I had a couple of lanky wild Florida Everglades tomatoes that I cut back and repotted. Will see how long it can endure. They have teeniny grape sized tart tomatoes.

Wunderground isn't even tempting me with a cool night in the week ahead! grrrrr...

No we were gone for two days earlyer this month and that was all it took for TT to turn brown and croak.

We will be above 70 degrees at night till Monday when they call for 68. We will see. lol

To change the subject, I've been making cheese out of milk that is on the verge of being undrinkable, with varying results. Had one batch that was really super, once, but could never remember what I did to make it so good! Yesterday I had nearly a gallon of homogenized milk that was turning (I live a long way from the grocery store and didn't have an ice chest with me, so the milk got a lttle bad), and being very busy with other stuff but wanting to use the empty gallon jug for something else, I just dumped the milk into my stainless steel pot and left it on the stove. I didn't figure getting a little more sour would hurt it any. Then I went out to a meeting and didn't get home until 10 pm. This morning I went to look at the milk and decide what to add to it, and whaddya know, it had already separated! A big chunk of curds was lying on the top of the whey! So I didn't add anything to it, just poured it through cheesecloth and let it drain.

It is really very good, not sour at all, but doesn't hold its shape. Sort of like a cottage cheese. Put it in a bowl and into the fridge. It will be good for sprinkling on salads, in a sandwich, don't know what all. Oh, I also have a big bunch of tomatoes from my tomato plants, maybe I can make tomato sauce and use it and the cheese in lasagna!

The milk was 2.18 per gallon, got about a pound, and cottage cheese is going for 2.87 per 1.2 pound, so it isn't cheaper to make my own but better than throwing sour milk out. (Actually I give it to the chickens.) When I use really sour milk, I add vinegar and some salt and it turns out pretty good.

That’s why you need to take notes. Lol

That’s good to know stuff on the blinky milk too. Most folks don’t know that cottage cheese is “rotten milk” and would probably never eat it again if they did.

That reminds me, Lady Lizard is a city girl and thought they just added butter to milk to make buttermilk. Couldn’t convince her other wise so I had to get a quart of cream and demonstrate how to make butter by putting it in a jar and shaking it till the ball of butter formed. Then I still had a little trouble convincing her that what was left in the jar was buttermilk. After she tried it she decided that it was the best buttermilk she ever had. Almost got divorced over the yard eggs. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words … but then some things are just better left unexplained. lol

AZ, you added nothing? I haven't looked at cheese making directions for a long time, but to normally get the basic cheese, just rennet tablets are used, right? That's pretty cool that it turned out so easily. I'm thinking stirring in some herbs to make a cracker spread.

Also, I have frozen milk before, and it's not bad thawed, if you let it thaw slowly in the fridge and then shake it good.

Was it a gallon of whole milk?

Cajun, it was whole milk, nearly a gallon. I didn't add anything yesterday but today I added some salt. The cheese doesn't last very long, even in the fridge. Usually I buy 2%, though, and if making cheese on purpose I add either vinegar to make it coag or one of two additives I get from Ricki the Cheese Queen (she has a website that is really fun)..Then I add salt to taste. Robin, I can't find a source for rennet locally, the kids in grocery stores just give me a blank look. Ricki carries it.

Lizard, that was funny about the buttermilk! My ex (some 30 years ago) refused to eat the delicious, meaty little eggs from our kids' backyard banties. He preferred the stale store-bought eggs. Go figure. Oh, he wouldn't eat anything I grew, either. He did take several ears of corn from my veg garden to work with him, and gave them to a co-worker, who then baked a chocolate cake for us! A great trade, since I was not much of a baker. Just liked to grow stuff!

How much vinegar to a gallon? I have a gallon of 2% about to go bad. I'd like to give it a try.

Cajun ~ Happy Birthday! Hope it is a great one and wishing you a good year ahead.

Still no rain but killer humidity. Off to water the maters...

Yes, Happy Birthday Wishes here, too!!

Cajun, about a glug! I suppose about 1/4 cup, maybe a little less. I use apple cider vinegar. Put the milk & vinegar in a big stainless steel pot and stir gently until just before boiling, then let it set while you go do something else for awhile, and when you come back the curds should be floating on top. Strain it through a piece of cheesecloth set over a colander, in a large bowl. When it has mostly drained, I pick up the cheesecloth by the corners and start twisting the ball and more whey comes out. I pour the whey back into the pot I cooked the cheese in, to get it out ot the way. Then i set the ball (still in its cheesecloth "bag") back in the colander, place a small plate on top of the ball , and put something heavy on that and let it set for awhile. it should come out in a pretty solid piece, but seems like my results are different every time. Usually I can slice it, after refrigerating it.

Somewhere along the line you have to add some salt or it will be flat and taste too sour. I usually forget. But probably while you are stirring.

There will be a lot of whey! You can use the whey in cooking, for instance in bread dough, or just give it to the chickens. Or drink it, yuck.

AZgrammie, I think one of the reasons it was successful is that Bragg's apple cider vinegar contains some live culture, lactobacillus I think, which would help it 'set'...