Ducks4you for 2022

[ducks4you]

My youngestb(34yo) DD has a "Puppet Pal" named "The Dali Lamb," who frequently hides out around Easter. I'll see about posting a picture.
I originally bought chickens from this lady who raises chickens, ducks, geese, goats, pigs and sheep. When I first talked to her about buying a lamb 2 years ago, she told me about the small lockers who were booked a year or more out bc the huge meat operations didn't have enough room/personnel.
When I contacted her a couple of months ago she had ONE lamb (ram) not sold. There was another interested party, but she gave me first dibs, probably bc I have paid her cash in the past.
"Rambo" goes to the locker next Monday. I am calling the locker today to put in my order. NOT counting the 90 minute drive and gas, I will be paying ~$7.50/lb, which is MUCH less than the last time I paid $90/5 pound leg of lamb. I will be picking up about 35 pounds of meat. Here is the rancher's advice on how to order, since I only have experience ordering a beef.
"In order to get the most weight back, be sure to ask for everything bone-in. We had a Russian customer one year who instructed the locker to cut out every last bone and throw them all away. Then she was mad and felt cheated when she only got back a quarter of the liveweight. She accused the locker of stealing some of her meat, and never paid the balance owed to us. No longer our customer...
If you will want a (hind) leg for Easter and Christmas, be sure not to ask for leg steaks!
The front legs (arms) on a lamb will make one meal left whole.
We usually ask for the ribs split in half and put BBQ sauce on them, and use the shanks whole for soup.
We also ask for the neck either whole or split in half, then slow cook it for stew.
If you ask for arms, ribs, shanks, neck in burger, it makes more work for the crew, and you will lose some meat because they can't get every last bit, unless you ask them to collect the soup bones.
We like the loin cut into chops, but they will be pretty small! It's a delicacy in our family."

 

[flowerbug]

...And my Granddaughter who had Lamy (Lambie?) for years as her fav stuffed animal growing up. Now Lamy is up on her dresser, never to be hugged, drug around, or go thru the washer again. And yes, I still have my BunBun stuffed animal that I was given when I was three and lived in England.

i had Snoopy, which was a blue dog and i also had a binkie like Linus.

 

[ducks4you]

FINALLY took some pictures of the 2nd great surprise this year, a volunteer canteloupe!
I won't let the horses back on the south pasture until I harvest the big one, and then I plan to ferment the seeds for next year. I will eat the largest one and leave the other two.
Too bad it wasn't growing on the North side of the fence!

 

[ducks4you]

Success And slight failure. There is NEVER enough time to pit cherries when you are harvesting. I froze 18 pie's worth in June and my pitter only pits 6 at a time, so I bought a new pitter.
HAD I not been in a rush, the pie yesterday would have been pitless. Instead, 1/2 kept their pits. I will need to slow down for the next pie, but I really Do like the new pitter. It works with a suction and you oil the spring with vegetable oil.
The pie is so delicious I really don't care about the pits. Interesting, nobody likes pies from the cherries that I have canned in the past. Those will need to become wine. There is always plenty of juice when you can them, like when you buy tart cherries in a can. Freezing the cherries, there wasn't any juice in the ziplock bag. I threw the bag of frozen cherries in the microwave and drained off enough juice, 3/4 cup, to make the pie, but the cherries kept the rest of their juice.

 

[ducks4you]

FINALLY got my privets planted!!!
I left the last one in a big pot with no holes and well watered bc ONE may have dried out after I planted it 2 weeks ago. I was AMAZED out how 4 of them grew ginormous roots growing in last winter's used stall bedding. Apparently they do well very WET.
Tomorrow...3 grapes go into the ground. I will post pictures soon.

 

[ducks4you]

I am Always studying. Here is a good video on layering and no till.

 

[ducks4you]

I have been a little bit weak since I got sick. Can't complain about not enough sleep, however. We went to bed at 9:30 last night and I took 2 melatonin. Woke up at 4:30 and took 1 melatonin, which knocked me out until nearly 8AM.
I got one of the grapes in the ground yesterday. I took an 8 ft fencepost and a piece of wood to measure the distance from the existing post to the back of the garage. It just didn't seem quite right, so I took another measurement of the distance between the two grape lines. Funny, it measured exactly where I had placed a grape pot. I was VERY happy that I had planted the grape in topsoil. I removed it from the pot, and the soil loosened itself from the roots. I dug a hole as deep as the pot and then used my post hole auger to go another 8 inches down, and I tried to put the deepest roots into THAT hole, filled it with the dirt from the pot, then covered with the dirt that I dug out. I made sure to put the base of the grape a good 2 inches above the soil line. We often forget that the soil will settle, and better a little bit high, than too deep with both trees and bushes, like the grapes.
I lined the new grap up with the root of the established grape on the other side.
Wish me luck as I start spray painting my eight new 6 ft posts for the re established arbor!
I have to get 2 of the posts in the ground before I can plant the other two baby grapes, so as to protect them from a mowing mishap.
Btw, I was Very pleased that the grape I planted had rooted out into the pot, not pot bound, but it was a much larger rootball than when I bought it and transplanted to the pot.
I have a yearly party on October 9-10th, so I will be doing yard cleanup until then.
I may be a little scarce here for a few weeks! Just so you know I didn't get sick, again!!

 

[Dahlia]

Thanks! After what happened to Alex, I had to post Something.
Tomorrow, pictures. I cleaned up the north fenceline of the south pasture and I Thought that one of the squashes I had planted to fill in and help my sweet potatoes had escaped the bed. I recognized the flowers and vining as some kind of squash, but no, NO! NOT in the South Pasture, where the two fruits will be gone in two gulps. I have weeding to do there, so it's now closed off. I will take some pictures tomorrow of the surprise melons growing where I DID NOT plant them. They sort of look like either cantaloupe or honeydew, but they are big and beautiful.
I love happy little gardening surprises like this!

I too love the happy garden surprises! I've had surprise Swiss Chard, sweet peas, chamomile, Yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes, and various herbs. These all came up without being planted. Just returning from the year before!

 

[ducks4you]

Yesterday I took my spade, dug up and loosened the soil 8 inches deep to the south of my 1st fence, where the corn had been pulled up and stalks fed to the horses. I used my gloves to break up and clods, which wasn't hard to do, then mixed in the compost (used stall bedding from last winter that I used to grow roots on my privets,) then I was able to plant two 12 ft rows of garlic, with room for a 3rd row.
The "Amish" garlic, which I assume was grown an hour south of here, (not 100% sure bc that farm stand imports produce sometimes,) had some big cloves on the outside and smaller cloves on the inside. Also, it seemed a bit dried out. A little bit disappointing. Time will tell. Not sure if I want to water it today, or wait until it rains on Monday.
However, the garlic I bought from the "honor system" farm stand Was grown locally, in Champaign, on the one acre adjacent to the stand, so I KNOW it's locally grown, and it had smaller bulbs, but bigger cloves, like 4 cloves/bulb. Plus it looked like it had just been harvested. I'm pretty sure that it's German garlic, what with the pink stripes.
When I tried to buy garlic last month from a nursery 20 minutes north, they told me I was too late. The old geezer also told me that They harvest their garlic, let it air for a month, then replant. Good advice.
Anyway, excitement ensues as I plant what I hope to be a good garlic 2023 harvest!! I have to find some other spots, and one of them is underneath the grapes.
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/grapes/grape-companion-planting.htm

 

[ducks4you]

@Pulsegleaner ,
Awful to know that many of us have not had the best tomato growing year.
I hope that you are going to save some of the seeds. You grew a BEAUTIFUL tomato!!
We have had on and off droughts in 2022. I ran my house cistern down so low that we pumped almost dry the barn cistern into it to fill it, in July. Then, this week, I had to pull the circuit from the hard wiring for my basement pump for the house cistern bc I ran it way down aGAIN and didn't want to burn out the motor. DH and I are trying to figure out how to prime it. I dumped city water into it for 75 minutes, HOPING that it would self prime.
I think that the ONLY reason that I even have a tomato harvest this year is bc I used a soaker hose when I originally planted them for 1 hr/day/2 weeks straight and they all developed good enough roots to survive the drought.
Still, the hybrids have been producing smaller fruit. Interesting that the Cherokee Purples have been producing large-very large fruit, planted right next to the purchased Better Boys.
Dunno if that means anything?
Family has been having difficulty "swallowing" Cherokee Purple pieces that aren't quite ripe, bc they are dark green. I Always taste test when I can tomatoes and these are So sweet, even when greenish.
I have had a lot of cracking, so the little black bugs like to enter through any cracks. I really think when the weather is iffy, you cannot do ANYTHING but be a caretaker for your tomatoes, and I don't have that in me this year, since I have also been harvesting green beans, okra and now, cucumbers.
I also start a hole, then use my post hole auger to deepen said hole 2-3x, and THEN I plant my tomatoes. I won't see it THIS year bc I have promised myself to prune all plants, instead of pulling them, but when I pull the big garden volunteer tomato I can assure you that the roots are Very deep, as with any volunteer tomato. Also, Watching videos from gardeners in very dry parts of the country, they heavily mulch their vegetables. I also prefer to water in the evening, so that it doesn't evaporate 2 hrs later, but can really soak in.
Just some thoughts that might help you in the future.