Whatcha Up To???

[Ibtsoom]

Made 8 half pints of grape jelly out of the mustangs and froze the remainder for later. Got a call from a buddies mom yesterday (he passed away last year) asking if I would like to have his smokehouse. After much hem-hawing and assurances that there wasn't anyone else in the family that wouldn't like to have it, I agreed on the condition that I give her 500 bucks for it to help her with expenses etc... Going to pick it up on Friday. Sausage making will commence soon after.
Boiled 30 blue crabs for dinner last night that my wife caught behind the house. Waterfront bonus!

 

[w_r_ranch]

Watered everything (garden, trees, flower beds & hanging baskets.

Feed cattle.

Start precessing the spaghetti squash.

Shredded the roads & about 200' around the barn

 

[Mr_Yan]

Cleaned the old-guy next door neighbor's gutters.

Made bread

Played lego (inside)

Went to the Library (picked up Joel Salatin's Folks this ain't normal)

On my way to harvest more pea pods and kale for dinner.

Last day I'm taking off work because of kid's birth.

 

[Mike]

I guess you can say I weeded the garden last night... had two or three blades of grass starting to pop up. Mulching not only looks great but really helps with grass and weeds trying to grow.

Been raining on and off for the last few days and forecast to continue the on and off rain until Monday.

 

[Ibtsoom]

She's killing me.. She picked another bucket of grapes yesterday so I had to make jelly once again last night. At his point I could spread jelly on every peanut butter sandwich made in Texas for the next 6 months. Also made raspberry fig preserves out of the figs my MIL brought over a couple days back. I'm hopefully done.. Anything else she drags up will get stuffed in a freezer.. The only thing left on the list is sweet pickles. I'll get those done over the holiday hopefully and stuff all of my canning stuff back in the cupboard for a while.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made stuffed poblanos for quickie meals down the road, then froze them prior to vacuum packing them.

Hosed the back porch down & sprayed an insecticide as the flies have been bad here with all the rain...

 

[Mr_Yan]

Harvested:
18 grams of lettuce for my lunch sandwich
1.82 lb of spinach from 16 square feet of raised bed at my community garden (donated)
17.1 lb of turnips from 16 square feet of raised bed at my community garden (donated)

Total harvest for the season 26.83 pounds.
Total spent this season $73.13
Seasonal cost to date $2.73 / pound

 

[w_r_ranch]

Sprayed RoundUp around the home site again.

Picked some more jalapenos & stuffed them for supper.

Grilled some chicken breasts & drumsticks... It's been so hot & humid, I really didn't want to, but Mrs. Ranch insisted. The heat index is 105 right now...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Took the day off from just about everything (it's raining here anyway). Mrs. Ranch made a bowl of potato salad to go with the leftover grilled chicken & stuffed peppers. I did make bread & made the dough for tomorrow. Then made a pear/cherry cobbler for dessert.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Filled bird feeders.

Made bread.

Cut the grass.

Made more jalapeno sauce, but I left the seeds in it this batch, as I want more heat. Update:I will need to dilute this batch with one without seeds (probably tomorrow)... this batch is 'nosebleed hot' & I like hot but this batch hurt...

 

[Mr_Yan]

Rained here today and supposed to again tonight. First rain in over a week. My rain barrel is half full again - it was drained and had to be repaired over the weekend.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made another batch of jalapeno sauce (without seeds) & blended it with yesterday's. I then ran it thru the strainer to remove all the seeds that were in yesterday's batch & will bottle it all up tomorrow. The final product now has enough heat to make your lips tingle & has a silky-smooth texture.

​

 

[Mr_Yan]

Pollinated the first female summer squash flower of the season.

Misted my mushrooms:

My mushroom kit finally started to "fruit"

 

[w_r_ranch]

Fed the cattle.

Harvested 7 more spaghetti squash for Mrs. Ranch to process.

Continued cleaning the garden... puled up most of the green beans, the rest of the corn stalks & some of the tomatoes. Little by little...

Picked the first 'Ogen' melon.

Hand sprayed 'RM43' around the entry gate area. This will kill everything for 1 year.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Sprayed 'RM43' on the main road & the road to the barn (~900' total). I need to buy another 2.5 gallons it it tomorrow to finish the parking/turn around area by the barn.

Washed the gator & did some mechanical maintenance on it. In addition, the bed was getting rusty so I treated it with phosphoric acid. I'll buy a gallon of roll-on 'bed liner' tomorrow as well & apply 2 coats on Saturday.

Cleaned/refilled the wasp traps.

We have a couple of hummingbirds that never migrated, so Mrs. Ranch (aka the bird lady) had me hang one back up...

Picked 2 more 'Ogen' melons. The honeydews are getting close too...

 

[Mr_Yan]

Mixed up the worm bin a little.

Harvested what may be the last pea pods for the season.

Harvested some of the mushrooms.

 

[Mike]

I'm done with the tomato cages from the box stores, next year I'm building my own.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Nothing in the garden today... just renewed my drivers license, did the grocery shopping, picked up my herbicides & bed liner.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I'm done with the tomato cages from the box stores, next year I'm building my own.

@Mike
Yes it's from a wack-job website but check these out:
Folding tomato cages / ladders

 

[w_r_ranch]

How to Make The Best Tomato Cages

 

[w_r_ranch]

If you want them to fold flat for storage purposes, these are good (also made out of bull panel). I will be making a similar system for my asparagus bed next year...

Collapsible Tomato Cages

 

[Mr_Yan]

I like those cattle panel cages. Most I see are the ones people make of concrete mesh. I just looked up panels and they're $30 for the heavy duty 50"x16' hot dipped galvanized at my local farm and fleet.

I tie my tomatoes to a flat trellis so there is a long wall of tomato plants rather than a pillar. I am starting to develop a sensitivity to the oils or liquids that the vines release when you brush against them. This causes my hands to itch and sting something bad unless I wash my hands immediately after working with the vines. The less I touch the plants the better. Using cages requires reaching into the center of the plant to harvest.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Picked 15 more jalapenos, which will be stuffed & fortified with 'Essence of Jalapeno' then served as a side dish with tonight's strip steak supper.

Also pulled the first honeydew melon. We'll cut it for breakfast tomorrow (picture to follow).

Applied 2 coats of bed liner to the Gator. I plan on changing the oil & filter tomorrow morning, as the bed will still be curing till Tuesday.

Shredded a 50' wide strip from the barn to the cattle pen, then started on the south side of the middle pasture (behind the hay trap).

 

[Mike]

How to Make The Best Tomato Cages

@Mr_Yan I like the folding idea, but I was thinking of doing exaclty what @w_r_ranch posted. I'm going to go to Tractor Supply and pick up some fence and make stronger, taller cages. My tomatoes are growing much to large for what you can get at the box stores.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Harvested 1.4 pounds of lettuce which will be some lunch salads this week.

Started a flats worth of 3" pots with broccoli to attempt a fall garden.

Seems like this garden is going slower than last year's but the numbers show that I am about 1.5 times last year's harvest to date/