New year, time for a new thread.
Homesteading, 2015
Thanks for the new thread.
Our soup was very tasty. I brought tomatoes, tomato sauce, squash and eggplant from the freezer, sweet peppers and venison as my contribution. Others brought green beans, celery, peas, corn, carrots and cabbage. One lady brought a cheese ball and I put a spoon of it in my soup. Mmm
That stew sounds good. I love stew. I bet they sold out.
This message was edited Jan 1, 2015 10:30 PM
They always had 3 of the big pots going. I think about 50 gallons each.
WOW!! That's a LOTTA stew!
Dug two stalls today. Wore myself out. Feel ashamed. We usually hire it done these days but couldn't find our guy today. Wanted it done before the really cold weather gets here.
We had fruit leftover from Christmas that needed to be taken care of so I decided to put it in jars. I cooked it with a little splenda and just enough lemon juice to keep it from turning brown. I put up one jar of Apple's and two jars of pears. I have a few more apples to do. I put the hot fruit into hot jars with hot lids and they sealed without a hot water bath.
I had three bananas I mashed and used to cook my bread. I also put fresh Apple and raisins in it. I used a bit less sugar and it turned out pretty good.
Nothing to feel ashamed about. :~)
I had to unload a truckload of mulch this morning in the cold. Wasn't fun. lol. Even the drivers felt bad for me but I got it done as quick as I could. Temps were in the teens and I felt every degree. lol
All that talk of food is making me hungry again. That's what I get for skipping lunch in favor of a nap instead. lol. Had dinner but it's not sticking as well as I hoped. lol
Woke up to a couple inches of snow this morning. Stayed in the teens most of th day. Down to twelve now and expecting three in the morning. Was able to get the feeding done without much trouble today. Took me longer to put on all my layers than it did to do the work.
Pep, would have been nice if the truck drivers had helped you instead of just feeling sorry for you. :) Do you have a fork lift?
Yep. That's the only way to unload the trucks.
I think I am going to have to pull out my insulated coveralls. It was 1° this morning. The sun is shining now but there is no warmth in it. Nice to see though. I am going to have to put on all my layers again and go back out soon to feed. Went out early this morning to break ice in the water buckets.
I put up the greenhouse in the living room this morning and I am going through my seeds for planting and trading. Let the games begin!!
I got myself a new instrument. Since my near month long bout of bronchitis I have been short of breath making it hard to play my harmonica. So I decided I would learn to play the ukulele while I am waiting to get my wind back. It is a very inexpensive instrument and small so I can carry it around with me while I learn to play. I bought it day before yesterday and I am already playing a few songs. The chords are different from the guitar and I was worried it would confuse me but it has not been a problem. In fact it seems to be helping my guitar playing. That is a plus. :)
Meet my Eddy Finn
Still working on the seeds. So many seeds, so little room.
I got a dremel ultra saw for Christmas and started on my first project. I am cutting tires to make planters for the garden. Got two done and it works well. Hoping to do a bunch more.
I rode up down the mountain a couple miles yesterday after feeding my horse and picked up a couple tires out the ditch. Going to go get some more in another direction. It is sad but I can get all I need off the sides of the road.
It was 9° here this morning but has warmed up to 27°. Calling for a high of 42° with partly sunny skies so I am hoping to get a bit done outside today. The sun has not made it over the mountain yet though.
I got a few seeds into cups in the little greenhouse. I am hoping they will be up soon. I made me a couple of heat trays with roaster pans, kitty litter and Christmas lights. I am also trying a trick with those water holding beads from diapers that I saw on the internet. I am the world's worse for letting my seedlings dry out so maybe this will help. We shall see.
Where is everybody at? I feel lonesome here.
Still enjoying my uke. Played a special in church last week. Working on another one for this week.
anyone still alive?
Of course, where have you been ?
Busy getting ready for summer. Planting all sorts of seeds in greenhouse.
New girl started this week. She is a winner!
Weather has been warm as of late. Getting repairs done, etc.
Wrapped up a cabinet job last week. So time to do other things now.
Been riding - it has been a long cold winter. Monday the weather was great so I put 150 miles on the bike and filled it with fresh fuel. Tuesday I gave it a washing and cranked it around town. I did hit a police "safety stop", as soon as the officer saw that I had a class M on my license I was back on my way. I do need to get started on this years garden.
It was beautiful today. Went to town and got horse feed, pine pellets and shavings. Also got the hot tub off lay away.
We bought some plastic and covered the greenhouse frame with it. Need to get some seeds going in there.
Planted some taters. Just a few.
Planted some peas. I doubled my peas this year.
Had to move the greenhouse behind the house because the wind blew it over. I have it tied to the porch now.
I put up a temporary fence and let the ponies cut the grass for me where I will put my new tire garden. I worked on cleaning up the old sacks I had used for weed barrier. I gathered all the dirt that was left over and moved it to be used later. I moved the last two tires to where I will cut the sidewalls off them. I moved most of the rocks. The next order of business is to lay down my ground cloth to put my tires on. I am also trying to get a couple plastic drums for water storage and a small pump to keep them filled from the creek.
Got the ground cloth down and filled five more tires with chips, muck and top soil. I have nine tires ready to plant when the weather is right.
Going to the big county Heirloom Seed and Plant swap Saturday. Lots of classes and demonstrations too. Looking forward to it.
The seed swap was tons of fun! Got some good seeds and had a wonderful time. There was a really interesting guy there who worked for Baker Creek going all over the world collecting seeds for them. I got some beans called purple stardust if I am remembering correctly.
I got teepees made over two tires. I planted asparagus beans in one and Turkey craw pole beans in the second. I also planted a tire of lettuce today.
Went for a ride today camera messed up and I did not get the redbuds on timber ridge road - guess I am going to have to ride again tomorrow! When the redbuds bust loose I know spring is here. And it is going on.
Ours are just starting to make a blush on the mountain sides.
Wild flowers are starting to bloom.
I thing spring is the season, the wild plants come on to temp and remind you of the coming growing season - the redbuds are almost gone as soon as they start but that is the signal for me.I will try again tomorrow to get video. I want to ride anyways, it was a good ride today. The bike ( an eight-teen year old Honda ) ran well. I do need to mind the throttle though. Kept running way to fast.
I tried to start my scooter but it was a no go. A guy in our church is going to fix it for me. I can hardly wait. I enjoy puttering around on it.
I am looking forward to seeing your video.
I planted two okra plants out today and covered them with shade cloth. I hope I am not getting them out too early. I saved one of each inside just in case.
I have the ponies out on ropes eating grass today. They make good lawn mowers. And they are very quiet early in the morning. LOL
Well no ride today. Really wet.
Sorry you did not get to ride. We had a very nice day yesterday. Plenty of sunshine and a cool breeze.
We are under a severe thunderstorm alert right now until 10am. It is beginning being to get daylight but it is cooling down and the wind is picking up.
I am forging ahead with my gardening. I have lost a few things to wind, rain and cold but I keep trying. Today I planted one hundred hills of snap beans and some red leaf lettuce.
Planted 100 hills of snap beans. About half of them are up. Planted 30 hills of corn yesterday. I hope it does well. My peas are blooming. Cauliflower is coming along as are the potatoes. I had to put out some sevin dust this afternoon for lace beetles. My onions are looking good and the lettuce has to ally seemed to wake up. Rain broke off my cuke so I replanted. They are up now. The two squash plants are growing a bit but the ones in the compost pile look much better. Typical. That is about all the news. Oh yes, the cat is killing chipmunks left and right. I just love that cat. And We got another pet possum.
A Still shot from todays ride (sorry about the bug guts on the camera lens).
Looks like you had a great day for riding. It was pretty here too. Glad you made the most of it.
We made the trip to Louisiana and brought our boys back home with us. We have lots planned.
Having a big eyed time with the boys. Garden is doing well.
Pulled my sweet yellow onions and planted red onions in their place. I was excited to fine these triplets.
The middle part of the garden. I have tomatoes, onions, okra, yellow straight neck squash, lettuce, peppers and pineapple sage in this area.
Yellow Zuke and Japanese eggplant. This is in the small bed next to the well box.
Second pic is the front part of the garden closest to the house. It has scallop squash, Cherokee wax beans, Top Crop snap beans, Sugar Ann peas, blueberries, red potatoes and cauliflower.
Some of my harvest.
Am I alone on the homestead forum?
The boys are enjoying their horses.
Could be - just you and us lurkers.
I'm watching too. Nice looking Boys.
Thanks. I am proud of them. They will be leaving Sunday morning early and it will be very hard for us. Just before church so that will make it an extra hard day. Prayers would be appreciated.
We had a church trip planned for the kids today at a small amusement park about three hours away in Huntington West Virginia but the weather is predicting rain and strong thunderstorms so we have had to change plans. Instead, we will be going to our closest town and going bowling, then to eat and then to see the movie Max. It is raining now but all our activities are indoors so it should not be a problem.
I was able to spend about 45 minutes in the garden this morning before the rain moved in. I picked a mini eggplant, a yellow zucchini, a handful of Turkey craw pole beans and a couple handfuls of Cherokee wax beans and top crop snap beans. The beans have done well but are about finished. I will pick the last of the beans next week, pull the spent plants and replant more beans. They will be finished in plenty of time to put some winter crop into that bed.
I pulled my sweet yellow onions and planted red onions in their place. They are coming along nicely. The tomatoes are growing well but not near ripe yet. I have a couple small pods of okra on the red okra plant. Nothing yet on the Dad Spiegel's. I noticed some nice sized pods on the asparagus beans thus morning. Looking forward to those. I was also excited to find a small cantaloupe on the vine. I am not holding out much hope for the watermelons. The vines are beautiful but they are just starting to bloom and I am afraid frost is going to get them before they are ripe. I have two cauliflower plants. The plants look great and one has a nice sized head that should be ready in a couple weeks. The bigger of the two plants does not even have a small head forming yet. All show and no substance. Like some people I know. ;)
I guess that is it for the garden report. I hope you all are well and that you are having a good day. Remember God is good all the time!