Posted on 12/30/2011 8:33:35 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
We have some real nice broccoli already. Our daughter cut one head when she was in for Christmas. The cauliflower is starting to make heads too.
So far, I have only received my two favorite catalogs - Jung’s and Shumway’s. They make excellent January reading.
Every year, I plan my beds carefully - order my seeds and get them started - order my plants - and then the livestock start having their babies and everything dies before I have the time to get it into the ground.
No spring babies due this year, so I’m planning for my beds...hope springs eternal!
Happy New Year to ALL!
Today is Peggy’s last day at her current Wal-Mart. She has to be at her new store on the 7th and will leave here on the 5th which gives her time to get settled at her sister’s house and make a trip to her new store to introduce herself before starting. We have been using her last couple of work breaks to pack up her sewing and craft area, clothes etc. Just about everything is in boxes and neatly stacked. All that is left is my stuff and the furniture and appliances which we will move when a new house is found. I am not expecting to have to make the big move until the end of March. So Cashmere and I will be here.
We are not planning on selling our current home at this time. We plan on using it for storage and a fall back position if it is needed. I will have to make periodic trips back here to check on the property and do up keep.
Beautiful weather here in East Central Mississippi today. High blue skies and Sunny with the temp at 68. It could get to 70. Feels like spring.
Later this evening (5:30 CST). I will be tuning in to watch my Miss. State Bulldogs take on Wake Forest in the Music City Bowl. Go Dawgs!
William
South FL Garden Pics... Might get some cold on Tuesday. AHHHHHHHH! I knew if I planted new seeds 3 weeks early the cold weather would come.. Also I gave the Brussle Sprouts a hair cut. Enjoy the pics. Squash is going NUTS!
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I want to wish you and your wife a Happy & Healthy New Year Red and that you find some good Texas soil to play in soon...
I got my Jung’s catalog in Wisconsin yesterday, but they are based here. I got about 6 catalogs yesterday, and I hardly ever order.
The first photo is from the back porch, and is all we can see of the panels from the house.
Rosemary dies during the winter unless you live in a mild climate. (Think Rome, Italy) I used to have one that I treated as a shrub in CA, but they are annuals here. They would live indoors in a pot if you had a cool place for it, but the dry winter heat gets mine, so I never try. I just buy a new plant every spring.
One of my daughters was just appalled when she was about 4 and saw me break off a sprig, run it under the faucet and strip it directly into the spagghetti sauce simmering on the stove. It put her off of spagghetti for years. She told everyone that I put “sticks” in the sauce.
I always admire those rosemary plants trained as topiaries, but I never buy them because they would die in the winter here.
Thank You, Mr. Bender and a Happy & Healthy New Year to you and your First Wife also. Tonight we are going to have homemade biscuits with a homemade savory sausage gravy - They are delicious and very filling - one of my wife’s favorite comfort foods.
Me too. (hang time)
Happy New Year! I begin each gardening year with the best intentions of getting everything planted on time, yet it never happens. Figured out that I need to start my cole crop seeds indoors around the end of January, and my husband announced last night that he thought the 3rd week of January would be a good time to go on a ski trip. So, I’m scrambling in my head to refigure everything ... behind already! :)
Ok. Thanks. I thought it was advertised as zone 5 plant. I harvested about 1/2 the plant in October, but had hoped it was something I could keep going during the winter. Oh well, I’ll think of something else to grow in its’ place. LOL.
Love your wine stems! Nothing but chic in Benderville!
Does anybody know anything about Maple Syrup? I have been given 2 qts. of real Wisconsin maple syrup. They might be quart and a half jars. They are big, and dirty, and have discolored rings. There is more where that came from. The syrup was made from the trees on the land that she is now leaving. Some of it is 2-3 years old. Her kids won’t eat it because they like Mrs. Butterworth’s (fools that they are).
I would like to open these jars and split the syrup into several smaller jars (’cause I don’t need to eat all that maple syrup either) to give to friends and family. The caps are tightly sealed.
Does anybody know if there is any danger here and I how I would go about doing it (splitting the syrup into smaller jars). Would I repeat the entire canning process?
I know how the syrup is distilled (a laborious process) but I don’t know how it was canned. The guy who gathers the sap and boils it down always gives an armload of syrup to my friend and she can’t use it all. She’s moving this month — hence she gave me the extra syrup.
Or should I just open this syrup and decant it into smaller jars, screw the lid on and tell people to use it right away. I’ve never seen maple syrup spoil — just crystalize and you heat it up and use it.
Anybody know?
Hey RB! That bunny would make stew for an entire winter!
Congratulations on retirement! That is awesome!
I really don’t know. If it was me I would put it into smaller jars, and can it according to instructions for my pressure canner.
Well, you can use the part that turned brown. After all, you are supposed to dry it for storage.
I lived in an area that was zone 8-9 when I grew Rosemary as a shrub.
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