What Did You Do In The Garden?

[Nyboy]

once a month she cooks for two groups of people. sometimes i help cook too. today i got to crank the meat grinder and take the casings off the bologna and of course taste test. Mom doesn't remember how we do things like set up the meat grinder (it is a very old fashioned one that clamps on something, so we use one of the old wooden chairs because that is the only thing we have to clamp on) there's a small piece of wood that we need to use because the clamp on the bottom doesn't have a pressure foot any more so it has to have the wood there to protect the bottom of the chair from being chewed up. Mom doesn't remember we need to do this. i told her we should write on the bottom of the chair that we can't get rid of it (she's wanted to a few times already and i keep talking her out of it). she's not really that out of it that the past sentences imply, she just doesn't remember stuff if she doesn't have to do it herself and i always set it up for her... soo...

also have a small party this week of her friends coming over so she's trying to get everything done at once. which doesn't happen. i'll be trying to get a few gardens weeded and planted (outside the fence now finally) but likely will only be able to get part of one of them done. it's very wet out there and clay takes a bit more time to drain and recent rains are going to make it a mess. i'm just glad we got the shed done and the garage is much more useful now that i can actually get to the edges where boxes of things are at and tools are kept and shelves can be reached without having to move something else out of the way first. it's very strange...

Might want to get mother a electric food processor for her birthday

 

[seedcorn]

I am now on my 6th planting of okra. After planting, moles went right down the row. I am soaking the seed for a few hours before planting. Internet says 5-6 plants/person. Who are they kidding? I can eat that much...

 

[flowerbug]

Might want to get mother a electric food processor for her birthday

hmm,

i used to have one, used it a few times and decided it wasn't worth it and gave it away. not our style of cooking to use it. i know Mom will not use it. i tried to teach her how to do some things with it but she wouldn't touch it.

the kitchen gadget i get a lot more use out of is a wand mixer/blender. once in a great while we use a very ancient blender that we've yet to replace. it's about 40yrs old. we've talked about it a few times, but i suspect we'll get rid of it when it finally fries. like the hand crank old fashioned meat grinder it's kinda a tradition. i could have kicked myself when i was at an auction and could have picked up a brand new one still in the original box and never used for $7.

the big Kitchenaid mixer is probably the most frequently used gadget and we have a smaller hand mixer for quick things. the large mixer fits perfectly in one side of the sink so Mom can have it lower for her scooping when she's making cookies. she has it down to a routine now because she bakes so many (a few hundred). i never really have a chance to get skinny around here.

when canning season comes around the food mill is the other gadget i'm fond of if we're putting up tomato juice.

i'm pretty low tech. a good knife, a cast iron frying pan and a glass pot for cooking beans and i'm pretty well set for most of what i do here when i cook. Mom has a collection of pots for when she gets going on her meals for the groups. we don't have an automatic dish washer. i enjoy doing dishes, i've volunteered to help out at the college residence hall cafeteria to wash dishes and also helped the guys at the monastery when they were busy testing recipes in the winter. something about playing in hot water and suds. i usually end up fairly well soaked...

i'm glad i'm not rated for organisation of these posts. whee, just wander all over the place...

 

[flowerbug]

got started on the two chaos gardens.

feels good to be digging again.

hunted small groundhog and sent it to the Happy Alfalfa Field in the Sky before it could get at the beans inside the fence. it was small enough it could get through the fence we have around those gardens so i was worried as it was being habitual about being in a neighboring garden. as i am planning on planting my bulk beans in there this week as soon as i can get it weeded and leveled if the weather cooperates.

it had plenty of warnings. earlier i saw it back by the rhubarb and threw a shovel at it (missed). so this evening after running out of oomph i went back there and sat with the air rifle to see if t was going to continue to be habitual. it came along and i stood up to get a better look at it and it ran off, so i sat back down and waited (it was a nice evening with the breeze, birds, wind chimes, watching the bees, etc.) and yes, it came back and i was about 20ft from it. they clearly do not have the best eye sight because it looked right at me and i was still and then it went back to eating and i was slowly able to move the gun up into firing position. it looked at me a few times but didn't bolt. sorry little tyke...

 

[ducks4you]

Okay... gardening plans got hijacked this weekend bc DH and DD's wanted to clean the 4 car garage. Two daughters had moved in and out and in and out and not taken all of their stuff. I had a lot of it pretty cleaned up and then we moved to smaller square foot office and filled up the extra spaces with boxes and bins and bags. I have 9 bags of garbage out for tomorrow's pickup, but I hardly got any gardening done. Heavy rain off and on on Saturday. We had a massive T-storm that produced two small tornadoes 25 miles north of us on Sunday. Before the clean up and the rain I managed to till in the compost in my garden area that Still needs to be planted, and I also tilled up two spots that needed grass, got the grass seed in and the straw to cover literally 5 minutes before the skies let loose.
Had to go in to the office yesterday, but I needed more plants and Menard's always has nice ones on clearance in June, so it wasn't a bust. Stayed home today, but we had a steady 6 hour long rain. I cleaned my bedroom instead. The bed hadn't been moved in .... years ... but I found 4 pairs of flip flops, 2 pairs of slippers, lots of paper to burn and some minor treasures. I cleaned the frame, the headboard, the baseboard and wiped down the wallpaper, then used my carpet shampooer. Even with the AC on and a direct fan it is STILL drying, but I am patting myself on the back.
I think we had 4 inches of rain just today. There is only so much you can do in the mud. Transplanting will have to wait until Thursday. **sigh**

 

[digitS']

Weeding.

With dahlias, it was mostly moving soil with a shovel. Hopefully, I got the weeds buried.

Zinnias, it was sitting on a stool with a 3-prong cultivator and plastic gloves ... for a looong time! Both were exhausting, reaching up and down, moving stool a couple of feet. Or, lifting & moving dirt in a shovel - my aching back! Finished the bean weeding where I'd moved dirt a week ago and weeds slipped through.

Had to prop up some of the zinnias. The 30mph winds one day and 40mph winds another were hard on them! Kinda too low for a trellis ... Fortunately, the dahlias are too low also. Winds have broken them at ground level in past years! Here at home, the neighbor says we should take over half of his backyard with the dahlias. Still not enough room but it's so much better sheltered than the distant garden.

Steve

 

[Collector]

@digitS' ouch that sounds painfull, is your psychotic nerve acting up?

I had to go thru the tomatoes and untangle them in the cages after the wind storm. Not to many broken branches though just needed straighten up a little after the wind storm the other day. I have found enough fine bark mulch to cover the entire garden just need the time to go pick it up maybe sat morning. After the rain the other day the weeds are growing like mad so we have been weeding every night until dark. Once we get the mulch on it will stop the weeds from taking over, until then we hand weed and scuffle hoe.

 

[digitS']

That's it .

I'm out there loosening my mind . The stretching shoulda been going on non-stop since the last 2017 stretch. Instead, I crumble into a ball in the lazyboy for 6 months. Pretending that I can take care of the sciatic that way is psychotic!

Yes, the sciatic in the left leg gave way years ago. That makes me more reliant on the right side of my lower body. It has put more stress on the right side and I need to be a sensible disabled person. Challenged to be.

Moving is the challenge and in recent years, being out of the garden for half the year and relying on fiddling around clearing snow from sidewalks is allowing the "good" side to tighten into a knot. I can run a shovel for about 45 minutes before a change in activities is required. Two hours stretching across a 4' bed and I'd better be taking a stroll. Dragging a hose ...

I'd better arrange for a more sensible off-season so as to avoid permanent derangement.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

@Collector i like psychotic nerve better. in @digitS' place it probably is fitting. heeheehee...

@digitS' yep, just doing what we can any way i can. recently i'm mostly left handed and trying to get weeding done, keep forgetting that right arm needs a break, so often am doing things with the wrong arm. hard to shovel without using the right arm much. ground pillow is how i do some weeding to change pace/angles of working. hard to get up and down at times so i may just scoot along. life is...

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

recripicating saw...hubs says is it a sawsall or a jig saw? Or maybe they are the same? Speaking of sawsall, hubs can't find his....maybe it wandered off when hubs bought the battery powered chain saw.