Ducks ALIVE in 2025!

[flowerbug]

i would certainly love any kind of lettuce that can survive our conditions and also not end up being bitter. then those that did survive often had to be pretty bitter to avoid critter predation.

add to that our heavy clay soils and then droughts have made me give up on finding any lettuces that Mom will tolerate. she does not like any leaf lettuces i've tried and even romaine wasn't good for her.

then the issues of raiding groundhogs, chipmunks, etc. made most efforts moot anyways as we'd never get a harvest.

my attempts at getting even buckwheat going ended up luring raccoons and other animals into the gardens over and/or through the fences and they searched out any seeds that were sprouting and removed them.

i'm surprised i can even manage to get direct sown beans and peas to grow but perhaps they lose enough of their scent to not attract the chipmunks (which will otherwise eat my edamame plantings if they can find them). i'm hoping they never learn to read (both peas and chipmunks), but perhaps a school for both could improve their miscreantist activities...

 

[ducks4you]

We'll see IF I have the energy, but I am considering growing lettuce this Spring on the north side of my house to see if it does better there in the shade than in full sun.
I am starting lettuce inside this week, and I will report back on my results.
On Mid American Gardener Chuck Voight suggested NOT to use heat mats when starting onions and other alliums, so I have made a note of that. Less electricity in my basement setup.
Good/bad pumpkin news. I must have left one of the big pumpkins on my enclosed front porch Too long. I put it in the basement pantry, bc the previous winter my pumpkin harvest lasted for months there, cool and dry, but this one has started to rot and will need to go out soon to maybe make more beige pumpkins, like the other ones that were added to the used stall bedding from the recent cleanup--I threw them in the bucket of the tractor as DH drove by.
DD's are on a cruise, and I have to feed their (cats) "chonks" every day. The pumpkins I gave them for Thanksgiving are in excellent shape and I took them home yesterday and They are downstairs in a cardboard box. Pretty soon I intend to bake them down and make another pie.
I am Really looking forward to planting actual pie pumpkins (and I have viable seed for those) and these will grow in my big garden bed (~12' x 30something, although it's been a long time since I measured it!)
I still don't have a good way of cooking the pulp down and storing it. It doesn't pressure can well, and I'm not sure about freezing it.
If anybody here has any ideas, I am open to them.

 

[ducks4you]

I started an entire package of 10 chicken drumsticks in my crock pot Friday night. I cooked them down with onions, onion powder (both work very well, and then I don't throw away, now to the compost bin! any onions,) off celery from the fridge and frozen carrot scrapings along with pantry store bought thyme and rosemary.
Last night I removed the drumsticks, stripped off the chicken and packaged and refrigerated it, put back the leftover bones and any vegetable pieces and added more water to cook down the broth.
This morning I brought up a Very old small crock pot, when you bought them without a removable crock, to see if it still worked.
I definitely needed some cleaning, which I did, then I plugged it in to see if it would heat up, with some water.
It DID! I will continue to use this crock pot, but when it dies I intend to cut off the cord and make it into a plant pot, bc it is unique. This lid can be a spare in the future.
Frankly, the lids for these crock pots are more valuable than the rest of the pieces. THIS lid is plastic, most lids are glass and when you break them it's cheaper to buy a whole new unit than just the lid, so I am very careful with them.
I still have a broken dishwasher that is mobile, on wheels and has a full countertop. I have been using this for the stews and soups this winter bc there is more room in front and to the side of the crock pot to serve up bowls.
I also am using one of those thin plastic and flexible cutting "boards" on my stove as a place to put the glass lid on my broth making crockpot so that it doesn't crack from rapid temperature changes.
I need to emphasize to DH to be more careful with the lids!
He tries very hard to please.
Anyway, Chicken Noodle Soup is lunch/dinner today. I filled the small crock pot with cut up carrots and celery and onion, then topped it off with chicken broth.
I will heat up the chicken in a serving bowl with one of those microwave spatter lid covers.
Just the two of us this week for dinners.
We will fill our bowls with the broth and vegetables then top off with chicken.
I have preheated the oven and I am about to bake corn muffins for breakfast and to go with the meal.
Maybe this year I will replace the portable dishwasher with a new one...

 

[Dahlia]

I started an entire package of 10 chicken drumsticks in my crock pot Friday night. I cooked them down with onions, onion powder (both work very well, and then I don't throw away, now to the compost bin! any onions,) off celery from the fridge and frozen carrot scrapings along with pantry store bought thyme and rosemary.
Last night I removed the drumsticks, stripped off the chicken and packaged and refrigerated it, put back the leftover bones and any vegetable pieces and added more water to cook down the broth.
This morning I brought up a Very old small crock pot, when you bought them without a removable crock, to see if it still worked.
I definitely needed some cleaning, which I did, then I plugged it in to see if it would heat up, with some water.
It DID! I will continue to use this crock pot, but when it dies I intend to cut off the cord and make it into a plant pot, bc it is unique. This lid can be a spare in the future.
Frankly, the lids for these crock pots are more valuable than the rest of the pieces. THIS lid is plastic, most lids are glass and when you break them it's cheaper to buy a whole new unit than just the lid, so I am very careful with them.
I still have a broken dishwasher that is mobile, on wheels and has a full countertop. I have been using this for the stews and soups this winter bc there is more room in front and to the side of the crock pot to serve up bowls.
I also am using one of those thin plastic and flexible cutting "boards" on my stove as a place to put the glass lid on my broth making crockpot so that it doesn't crack from rapid temperature changes.
I need to emphasize to DH to be more careful with the lids!
He tries very hard to please.
Anyway, Chicken Noodle Soup is lunch/dinner today. I filled the small crock pot with cut up carrots and celery and onion, then topped it off with chicken broth.
I will heat up the chicken in a serving bowl with one of those microwave spatter lid covers.
Just the two of us this week for dinners.
We will fill our bowls with the broth and vegetables then top off with chicken.
I have preheated the oven and I am about to bake corn muffins for breakfast and to go with the meal.
Maybe this year I will replace the portable dishwasher with a new one...

I love your idea of using old ceramic crock pots that don't work, cutting off the cord, and using it for a potted plant!