I've found that working with large livestock tends to help with that. Nothing like spacing out to cause general mayhem to ensure. =0)
We've got a storm front moving in, with 3-6" of snow predicted, depending on who you listen to. It's certainly clouded up since we got up. Here's crossing our fingers and toes. =0) I'm thinking, if we do get snow, of going out and turning it under in my pea patch, as Susan from Roswell said they used to do 'in the old days'. Of course, I'll be using a turning fork rather than a plow. LOL
I'm making another batch of chevre this morning. The first batch went fast! =od We have to fire the wood stove up and heat the house up to around 70* to get it warm enough for the culture to work within a day... much warmer than we usually keep the house.
What's everybody else up to these days?
Jay
March on the Homestead
I actually got all my dishes washed at one time. That is quite a happening here in my little world. LOL I have clothes washing now. It has been raining for 2 days so nothing much going on outside. DH is going to a funeral this afternoon. Guess I'll just keep trying to catch up on the house work. It is 60 degrees here today. I need to pot up my blueberry sprouts. Got the broccoli potted up. Still waiting for the red and yellow wonder strawberries to sprout. Might get to read a bit if I'm lucky.
Jay,
Did you get your hoped for snow and get it plowed under?
No, so far just {{sigh}} sunny and windy. still. forever.
Sorry. I know you guys could use the moisture.
It is 3 oclock, I'm watching the sky, a little anxiously. My kids (dear son = DS?), DDIL (dear daughterinlaw), two pretty teenaged granddaughters, and the HD fullback boyfriend of one of them) are on their way back from a ski trip to Breckenridge CO. Heard on the radio that flights at Denver airport have been cancelled. They called me at noon from Farmington NM, said all was okay, they had big fun, and it was snowing so they were driving slow. The sky here is unbelievable right now, never seen anything like it -- from straight East to straight West of me, there's a humongous PINK cloud on its way and almost here. We are in for something Big and Bad.
3:45. Logged off and shut down the 'puter, not knowing what to expect from the pink cloud. turned out to be SNOW, but the regular white kind, although the cloud we are now in is still pink. This is a major snowstorm, blowing horizontally. The kids should be at Holbrook by now, an easy hour drive to their house in Heber. Meanwhile, I have no desire to bundle up and go outside and throw blankets over my plum, cherry, and apricot trees/bushes. Brrrr. They will just have to get along!
Hope springs eternal... maybe it'll make it all the way here! It's been snowish on the mountain much of the day but nada here so far.
Should I bring in firewood or would that jinx it... oh, dither, dither. =0)
Hey did someone here give me a link on a yahoo mini greenhouse on a raised bed ?
i can't find the link anywhere :(
i was looking at pvc pipe and only found 1/2 inch and Dh says it won't bend the way i think it will over the beds with out a fitter. ?
hmmm mystery ?
thanks for any help
sue
How wide are your beds?
I'm sorry, I can't help you with the link. =0(
You shouldn't have any problem bending 1/2" PVC over that... how long are the pieces of PVC?
The article I'm looking at in Countryside is using 8'-10' 1/2" PVC buried at least a foot on a 4' wide bed. On a 3' wide bed, they probably won't need to be 10', but once you cut one you can't go back, so try it first and decide.
The article cautions that taller than 3' will catch the wind more.
How tall are the plants you are planning on planting?
well i m so embarresed LOL
i showed my Dh your pic above ... welll he said to me " that isn't pvc honey that is poly pipe " woops my bad :( LOL
sheesh i m such a girl !!
i did scout Utube and found some neat things but no the one i was looking for .
Thanks Jayryunen :) i better get in that RIF program LOL Reading is Fundamental !
i was going to do the mini greenhouse on the beds for lettuce and beets just to get them started in April oh and carrots and radishes.
Nothing to tall
yeah we do have nasty winds but nothing like yours . i did live in Wyoming for a spring and yikes that was windy !
thanks again
Yes, my bed has poly pipe (scrounged), but PVC might work as well... the only thing is the 3' width, rather than 4'. =0) The instructions I have are for 4' wide beds. I went out to try, but my PVC is 3/4 and that's too heavy. I'd just take one of the lengths you have and, laying it flat, see if you can bend an arch on the ground (like a C) that is the width of your bed. Make sure the pipe is warm... plastic bends better when it's warm, so a sunny day is best. =0) You won't have to make it too tall for those crops, either. If Mr. Smug is willing to help, you can figure out how long each piece needs to be without much hassle.
Some folks bury the PVC and some folks (like me) hammer 18" lengths of rebar 1' into the ground and slip the PVC over it. If you're going to bury it, remember to add that amount to your length... 2' if you're going to bury each end 1'.
WOOOOOO--HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Snow, glorious snow!!!! YEEEE--HAAAAAW We got about 6" last night and we might get more today. Lawdie, it's loverly out there. =0) 16* and snow.
It's a snow day {singing} we get to make snow angels {skipping} la-la-la-la =0)
The chevre turned out great again, so I froze half and we'll be noshing on it for some time... got some wonderful herb blends for trying in it. Saw some strawberries being sold by the roadside, so I'll plot what to do with a case of them. We've got plenty of jam, so not that. =0) And just catching up on reading.
Thank the Lord for your moisture. Will you be plowing today?
How many times can you make cheese with the kit you bought?
My Mom mashes strawberries and puts them in the freezer without adding anything to them. That way she can use them for different things. You could slice and dry them for adding to cereal, trail mix and such. I only have a small dehydrator but I love having one.
I think snow turning will happen tomorrow, when the sun comes out. It's still below freezing out there. We'll see... after this moves through, it's supposed to be WINDY for a week... now the plowing under really makes sense, because so often the wind just takes away whatever moisture we get.
We have a dehydrator, too, (and we love ours as well) and figured we'd dry some, freeze some, and make some new dishes with some. =0) I've been looking in my old Joy of Cooking at the original gelatine desserts that get whipped cream (instead of fake whipped topping) folded in and licking my lips... =od , wondering if I can find fresh rhubarb...
The kit will make 5 batches of chevre, and there's also another kind of culture, Fresh, that can be cultured in sterile milk and frozen in ice cube trays for many, many batches. I haven't tried that one yet; I've got to call them and find out if the way they recommend for sterilizing the milk will work at my altitude.
I'm surprised we got the snow before you did, Jay, I figured the same Pink Wall of snow that hit here would be getting to your place about the same time, coming from Colorado. Denver airport was closed, and I-40 was closed both directions from Flagstaff. My kids got in just as the storm hit here -- said they brought it with them! Today it is bright and clear and sunny. Snow is all melted away. It was about 20 here during the night and will be 17 tonight. So far greenhouse is doing fine, was down to about 38 when I went out at 6:30. My little citrus trees are okay, so are the geraniums and tomato plants. I'm afraid to look at the outside fruit trees.
AZ, great to hear your GH plants are fine! I've been thinking about trying a dwarf peach in mine when it gets to its permanent location. It's a rare year frost doesn't get the outdoor peaches around here. =0) And I do so love a juicy, ripe peach.
I think the weather usually comes down from the NW kind of diagonally, so that you and Denver got it first doesn't really surprise me. It's still lightly snowing here. =0) Thanks for not hogging it all. LOL I'll try and get some pics to post...
Here you go... proof that we can get snow! Here's me and my goofy dog River measuring... officially 6". =0)
My dehydrator is small and round. I bought it years ago at a Big Lots store for $14. It takes quite a while to work and it doesn't dry evenly. I just go through the trays every few hours and take out what's done, condense down what's left and take the trays out as they empty. Whenever we are planning a road trip I dry up some fruit and make my own trail mix for the drive. I do the same thing for trail riding. Last year I dried some tomatoes. They taste good to snack on.
That was a good snow. I hope the wind doesn't blow it all away before you can get it turned under. Your dog is really pretty. I love those dark brindle pits. My DB had a huge pit bull named Dude who was that dark brindle and white.
We've got an excalibur dehydrator and we're glad we spent the dough on it. We're both kind of absent-minded, so babysitting a dehydrator would just have been a no-go. We've used it for summer squash, bell peppers, jalapenos, apples, green beans, celery and sweet corn. We did do one batch of tomatoes, but decided it took too much energy... we had to run it 2 days to get them as dry as we wanted... and don't do that anymore. We're not big on dried tomatoes anyway. We'll probably do a load of strawberries next. =0)
We got the snow turned under in the pea patch, so we'll see how that goes. It'll certainly get the moisture down deeper.
Pits can be such big, goomie dogs and mine's probably half lab on top of that, so she's incredibly silly sometimes. She'd been snowplowing with her nose right before that picture, just running around the yard with her nose in the snow. =0) I saw her in with the donkeys one day, nibbling around the coronary band of one while it ate hay. The yummy crusties from stepping in the pee hole.... blech. But they both seemed to be fine with it. LOL Animals... wierder than we know. And no, we don't allow face licking in our house! LOL
Yow, ain't it the truth! I know where dem tongues have been. GUHROSE!!!!!!
LOL i think the dog loves to eat snow . :) cute
wow snow ! really ? congrats . Here in OH we are praying for no snow LOL . Glad you got some to help wit moisture. Sounds like you need it.
i love watching the Dog Whisperer . He has a pit named Daddy and its such a love of a dog ! i wan't to smooch him through my tv ! LOL
He does wonders with pits who have been used for fighting and makes them pussy cats !
rain here on our farm.
kids are still sick
I got an excallibur and am looking forward to using it this year. I was so busy canning last year i forgot to use it ? LOL sheesh
I don't know how folks get so romantical about the 'secret life' of dogs... eating manure, rolling in dead things, rejoicing in being skunked... I love my dogs, but I ain't kissin' 'em on the lips!
LOL
Jay
We use ours for making yogurt, too. =0)
Excuuuuuuuse me! My dogs don't drool!
They slobber.
So there.
LOL
My BC has long hair and when he leaves the water bowl he has a very wet chin and he ALWAYS wants to put it on me! GRRRR But I love the old guy. We've been through a lot together and he has always been there for me. What's a little water between friends? LOL
I had a lab/retriever cross that loved to run up to me after swimming and shake the water out all over me. He did this quite deliberately, as I had trained him to shake his body on command and for a while I could get him to shake off where he got out of the water, away from me. But then he discovered how much fun it was to get me all wet and listen to me squeal.. it clearly gave him great delight. And only me... he'd run by others to get to me. Brat-child. LOL
He was a bit of a joker. =0) The truly best dog in my life (I've had several), until this one, another cut-up and extremely intelligent. Now much help, but she keeps me laughing with her antics. =0)
Yeah, taking good care of animals does take money and time. I've certainly had times in my life when I didn't have animals because of the money. It's tough, but I think you've got your priorities straight for sure. =0)
And besides, there're always the wild ones. I love to watch all the birds and wild animals around my place, especially the coyotes, without having to worry about the safety of my livestock.
I have lots of animals and most don't pay their way but we really enjoy them. They cost time and money and you have to be willing to make all the adjustments they require or you shouldn't have them. I can't ever see us being without animals.
Okay, backing up to the dehydrator for foods. Is that what you use to make beef jerky? And wow I did not know so many foods taste good dehydrated. Do you just eat them that way or do you put them in stuff as an ingreidiant?? I do LUV trail mix. mmm mmm good!
Yes, I have come to realize that my chickens and other animals are time consuming and costly but it is something that I am willing to do at the time. Anyone who waits and plans is smart. So many rush in on a whim and end up in deep doo doo. Well, the animals usually. Taynors, you are smart.
You are wise and you have self control, 2 things that all too often don't come in the same package. LOL
I just dried a few veggies for the first time last year so I don't know a lot about it but I want to do more this year. I will be studying up on the subject while my plants are growing.
Sounds good. I may give it a shot. I do LOVE beef jerky. My whole family would scarf it down on day one though. LOL I also like dried fruit. It will be interesting to learn I think. I may give it a whirl. :D
"Taynors you are smart " can i quote you on that to my DH LOL sewincircle :) yeah my dh is the one with the self control on the animals , i m not that responsible LOL :)
i enjoy caring for animals so much, it never seems like work. I used to work in pet stores back in CA . I would take the sick ones and keep them well.... steal them more like it. When i saw the owner place them in the back left to die ,,, i would take them and tell him it died and i threw it away LOL most times they only needed a little love an tlc . :) i know im bad.
dehydrators are great !!!! you will love it
when you can do your own tomatos ! and bananas yumo i had one many years ago. I have the new excalibur and having't used it yet but will this year