Ducks4you for 2022

[flowerbug]

Too late for them, then. I'm thinking of wrapped them up in loose newspaper and putting in a box then down in the basement. Its where I'm going to put my canned goods. Its really the HVAC room, but underground and is very cold. Maybe I can keep them till next year.

i'm not sure sweet potatoes do well when stored in the cold.

 

[ducks4you]

So, WE had a great family time on the 4th. The menu...not so much.
Eldest DD was in charge of the menu. For Weeks she intended to make beef ribs. Then, she Really looked at them and realized it would only feed 5, and we were feeding 9.
We decided to get pork ribs instead, and planned hot dogs for a light dinner. Sister In L aw and her DH Were coming...and then they weren't. Back to 7.
I aSSUMED DH was going to cook the ribs.
I have made pork ribs often. Inside. Usually, I cook them in water in a 350 degree F oven for about an hour, then put them on a steak/hamburger rack, put bbq sauce on, turn it up to broil and cook for maybe 5 more minutes.
We decided to use the outside grill.
Weather Monday was H O T H O T H O T.
I have a very old AC for the kitchen, and I didn't want to heat it up and tax the AC. I decided to take my roaster, put it on top of a large cookie sheet (to protect my wooden picknick table), and cook them outside. Eldest DD recommended that I use 2 pints of broth, then some water to cook them, to add flavor. I Think it added flavor.
DD got "cross" with me suggesting that She cook them on the grill, so I agreed to do so. SON in Law offered to help, and same DD offered to supervise, too.
I had taken the time to cut them into 4 bone pieces before I started, they all cooked up nicely in the roaster and we transferred them to the grill. While waiting to let them cook a few minutes before putting on bbq sauce, it seemed like the grill was getting super hot. SIL went to lift the lid and almost burned his hand. We got an "Ove Glove" and opened it up.
The fire was like you would want on a "cold winter's night," bc nobody had cleaned the drip pan. We quickly decided to shut the lid and shut off the grill and let them alone for a few minutes. Fortunately they were all bone down, nicely ashed. The meat itself wasn't singed.
Meat Was good, but NOBODY wanted the leftovers. I finished them today and I am saving the bones in the freezer for future broth.
I made 9 pints of "dog broth" with the liquid in the roaster bc it sat a little bit too long outside to be human safe. Dogs won't have a problem.
Yesterday everybody else was beat, so I used the grill to make corn and hamburgers.
Like a virgin...grilling for the very first time.
Instead of bringing in 2 plates, I stacked the 6 burgers and placed the corn and made it fit on a roaster tray.
Everyone liked the "presentation," AND the burgers were perfect.
One more job for me...cleaning the drip pan.
**sigh**

 

[flowerbug]

too many cooks... i'm happy to help out or be the chef, but if i'm the chef then you gotta just help out. if you try to tell me how to do things then i'm going to walk away and let you finish. if i were an unexperienced chef or helper then i would expect comments and changes, but once i'm on-deck leave me alone and don't argue. it. is. not. helping.

 

[ducks4you]

Raining, so I am taking a laptop break. Just signed up for this:

If you do Zoom meetings for business, this is much easier. You may not speak, but you can type in questions. U of I is our land grant university and our taxes pay for this, so I pay the magical price of free.

 

[digitS']

I should have something like that, Ducks'.

Every year it's the same, "I know that weed. What's the name??" I don't think of weeds in the winter - don't want too! This time of year, I'm surrounded by them! "Let's see ... that's groundsel! If you have that on the farm, you may as well sell your ground ... Yeah, I will remember that "

There is a new weed in my front yard. It reminds me of the whitlow grass in the garden but this one must be a perennial. Tiny white flowers ...

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Came down with heat exhaustion yesterday. 10AM, Just mowing, 80's with 70% humidity.
I got dizzy and nauseas, heavily sweating.
18yo kid across the st texted that he was available for odd jobs, but I was too out of it until today,
BUT, today I paid him to saw down weeds and saplings on most of the west fencing (along the street) of the north pasture. He can admire his work every time he parks his car.
He is available Saturday, and I'm gonna have him do more sawing for me.
First, I finished moving the used stall bedding from last winter that I had to dump in the Inner Sanctum bc I hadn't blown a snow path yet. I dumped it in the middle of my big garden.
We piled up what he cut to dry out there for future burning.
Finally transplanted my 2 new grapes out of their original small pots and into the medium sized pots I bought last year and melted drainage holes on the bottoms. It looks like I have placed them where I intend to plant, but I am buying time and letting them grow better roots.
I read that they Should be put in the ground Now, but I think I can keep them watered Better in these pots than I can in the ground. They fill 1/2 of their pots. Dunno about the roots on the grape that I started in one of these pots.
I also transplanted some tomatoes that I had bought out of their tiny pots and into pots 4x larger. All are getting nicely soaked right now.
Took a good look at my 3 surviving grape vines and to make decisions about where the new and spray painted poles are gonna go. The whole support system will be further south from where it is. Original planting had the grapes planted too close. Can't dig out and move the establisyed grapes but the New ones will be planted with 6 ft in between. Plus, the wooden supports on the ends were put in cement, and this way I Won't have to remove the cement since I am moving further south.
DIDN'T have to water anything today!!!

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I was thinking of you today, Ducks. I'm unpacking lots of FOOD boxes that I had packed and placed in a storage unit a few months ago. Now its time to empty it at the new home.

So I took your lead and have been marking the expiry dates on alot of the stuff. Even squinting, I no longer can read them and I forget my glasses sometimes. Thanks for the tip!

 

[ducks4you]

I have learned to live with some weeds. I don't pull up white clover, chamomile, dandelions or purslane, unless they are in my way.
Right now my war is with burdock and curly dock. 2nd year burdock is just starting to flower, so when I saw it down and poison there are no seeds, so no new plants. Curly dock doesn't grow back very quickly if you chop it down and prevent the seeds from spreading, and it burns well in my firepit.
There was a 5 ft tall thistle growing right where my east gate opens into the north pasture, not yet flowered. FORTUNATELY I have them few and far between.
I will take notes for you!!

 

[flowerbug]

i'd leave purselane alone if it were only my gardens and it wasn't in the way.

i just finished weeding the whole North Garden of many cubic feet of purselane. the deer had come through two nights ago and eaten quite a bit of it (along with more bean plants), but i'd gotten it almost all done yesterday weeding and burying it all so they'd not be attracted to come back there again. they came back again last night but did not eat much else that i could see. they probably smelled the blood from the two rabbits i shot yesterday evening. poor bunnies. the deer just in walking through tend to trample some things too so that's not helping that garden out much at all either. got it all finished weeding this morning. small garden tour coming over in a while. i'm taking a break. all the gardens got watered and most of them are completely weeded so it's in decent enough shape to show. five days ago the North Garden was almost completely covered in purselane and other weeds and then there were some bean plants in there still trying to grow. 3-4 hrs a day and it's done.

if you're going to try to control purselane you have to get it weeded before it starts dropping seeds. if you see flowers it is starting to get too late. nothing i was weeding today had flowers.

 

[ducks4you]

Continued soaking rain overnight and this morning. We Really needed it! There were inch wide cracks in the clay every place without vegetation, and some places in the lawn.
There is a short break until a few hours of rain coming in this evening and I will put in 30-60 minutes outside.
Started nicotiana seeds wrong. Still have another package that came in a small ziplock bag, so I will Try to get the handful of tiny plants going. I will need to start them a lot earlier next year, and I have posted @heirloomgal for seed starting advice, since she has some growing in her 2022 garden. I read that most are viable up to 5 years.
So...I think I will need to put my sweet peppers around the cistern, instead of the tobacco. It needs weeding, but a good afternoon should have most of them transplanted.
DH is pushing me to transplant the 10 privets, since he paid $165 for them, so tomorrow is slated for That chore.
Still the privets have leafed out nicely and are living in a little bit of soil and air. They ought to take off once planted.
I have one golf ball sized tomato and a pea sized one. I have started to train 4 of them to the fencing and will need to start tying them up soon. ALL 24 have survived. Now, I need to figure out where to transplant the 20+ reserves bc some in their small pots have started to flower.
Btw, haven't broken the news about the nicotiana to DH...yet.