Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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How many hundred/thousand hickory nuts do you want?
There are a LOT of hickory trees on my property. Smooth bark and shag bark.
Between the hickories and the oaks (and Mrs. Augie's collection of bird feeders) the squirrels here stay well-fed.
Does anyone know what the shelf life of Thuricide / BT is at 50 degrees F or even ~ 40 deg. F?
I’m seeing web search references to both 3-5 years, and 2 years, at “room temperature” and low humidity.
Usually things like bacteria slow down at lower temperatures, if not TOO low...
Thanks!
So, I should be careful what I wish for? LOL! I’ll stick with the one tree, thanks!
Same here, except all our hickory trees are shagbark. We could send off several bucketful’s (many would still be in the husks) and not notice, most years.
Monday. Again?
Yesterday I ‘ran away from home’ and went to an Antique Show and Flea Market. Lots of stuff; mostly unremarkable, but I did come home with a hand-turned Cherry-wood Yarn Bowl and had a nice conversation with the man who made it. Turns out he lives not far from us! I’ve wanted a GORGEOUS Yarn Bowl for ages and now one finally found me and at a reasonable price. They are NOT cheap on line. And locally harvested wood and a local craftsman are the cherry on top!
Pear Butter is in the freezer and all of the pear slices are dried for Beau. I think they’re a pear-flavored piece of LEATHER, but whatever. He wanted them, he got them!
More beans picked, so blanch/freezing is on the docket for later today. So far the two poles have given me 12 quarts and whatever else I get put up today. And I REALLY need to clean out my VW Golf. She’s a mess! Really nice day; mid-60’s and a nice breeze and sunny. It’s actually CHILLY in the shade!
Looking ahead, there’s a slight chance of rain, but temps for the next TEN DAYS will be in the mid-70’s! Fingers crossed that we don’t get a late Heat Wave, but I’m sure we usually do.
As tomatoes ripen some more, I think I’ll have enough for another double batch of Salsa - turns out I had less than I thought on hand, so there’s the solution. :)
We’ve been invited to a Pig Roast this coming Sunday and we were asked to bring a dish to pass, so I am making my World Famous Marinated Olives. Super simple:
Cut as many strips of peel as you can from one big orange. Juice the orange. Fill a tall, lidded glass container (I am using an old, HUGE olive jar I got from my Mom ) with green (stuffed) and black olives, and mix the orange peel in there, too. Optional is to add Mozzarella Pearls, which I will as I have some on hand anyway. Add in the juice from the orange. Cover it all with your choice of ZESTY Italian dressing, homemade or bought. Put the lid on (tightly) and swish it around to make sure everything is coated well. Pop in the fridge overnight, but allow to come back to room temp for the best flavor. I make sure there is a slotted spoon for spooning it out, and napkins and small bowls. It’s a little messy, but everyone seems to like it, as there are never any leftovers. You can’t screw this up - no standard measurements because you can use any size lidded glass jar you have on hand and any combo of olives that you like. Just eyeball it.
The past week was mostly hot and dry here in Central Missouri. We got one little sprinkle of rain - tenth of an inch maybe - enough to knock the dust down for about 20 minutes.
Kitchen garden is still keeping me busy. I canned 12 quarts of salsa mid-week. That puts a wrap on my canning for this season. Mrs. Augie now has 32 quarts of fermented dill pickles sitting on the bar in the sun room. I think (hope) she’s done with those too.
Vine borers got the last zucchini hill a couple days ago. There are two big zukes left that I’ll collect later today when I pull the plants. Mrs. Augie’s got 40-ish freezer bags (2 cups/bag) of zuke pulp put away so we won’t have a zucchini bread shortage here this winter.
The spaghetti squash vines are starting to look rough but they’re still putting out new vine and blossoms. There are three nice fat squash ready to pick now. I hope to get a few more before the vines fold up for good.
I gave away ~30lbs of tomatoes yesterday along with ~20lbs of cukes. I could save myself a lot of work by pulling up all but one or two of the plants but I like sharing with folks who aren’t able to grow their own.
My buddy Nick is going to thin his raspberry patch this fall and give me the roots that come out. I picked out a spot to put them a couple weeks ago. Saturday morning I hosed it down to soften the ground up a bit, ran the garden tiller over it, sprinkled it with Preen, covered it up with a thick layer of composted stall waste, topped it off with another sprinkle of Preen, and watered it down again. That should keep the crabgrass from going nuts between now and planting time.
I picked the apples from my Granny Smith tree yesterday morning. Got 15 gallons. I gave away 3-ish gallons and processed 4 gallons (7qt yield) into juice yesterday afternoon. The Ninja juicer didn’t clog up with the apples like it did with the tomatoes. I’ll start on what’s left after work today. I’ve pretty much decided I’m going to make cider from this batch of juice. That leaves one Fuji and one Honeycrisp tree to pick and both of those are absolutely loaded. There’s probably 3x the amount of fruit on each of those trees compared to the Granny Smith. Think I’ll peel/core/slice some of those to freeze, make a jumbo batch of apple butter, and hopefully find someone(s) who can make use of what’s left.
Pepper plants are still thriving. I’d like to make some jalapeno jelly, at least one batch of Atomic Buffalo Turds, and a batch of fermented hot sauce before the season is over.
Howard is learning to play fetch. It’s one of Booger’s favorite games and he’s catching on quickly. He still got a lot of the clumsy oaf puppy thing going on and needs some practice on his timing to catch the ball from the air. I didn’t know that hounds would play fetch. Maybe they don’t and he just didn’t get the memo?
The sign up sheet was on the bulletin board for the huge church potluck next month. I signed up for the crack corn salad. I ‘might’ take the Silver Palate Chef’s 5-bean salad ... so good. It depends on how the sign-up sheet fills out.
I love olives! I will definitely check this out - may take it to the potluck if someone else signs up for bean salad.
The cooler, low humidity air has arrived - hallelujah! The weather forecast this week could not be more perfect for roofing: 0% chance of rain until Sunday, highs mid 70’s, lows overnight high 40’s to low 50’s. There currently is a nice breeze. Just watered all the plants that need it & I think I am going to go sit on the porch until sunset & do some knitting.
However, the application rates appear to be the same, so, perhaps the two companies are measuring the "active ingredient" differently??
I never heard of a yarn bowl before. What is it replacing in your house? 😉 OK feeling a little feisty today.
Amen
Those of us with awful gardens this season are living vicariously through yours! :)
“I didn’t know that hounds would play fetch. Maybe they don’t and he just didn’t get the memo?”
Hounds DO fetch and return the ball. I have winged many a tennis ball off the porch to a waiting pup and after a hard scramble, many of them have returned the ball to me for more throws.
I also have a cat that plays fetch. He is CRAZY about the ‘rings’ off of a gallon of milk, and he will bring one to you, drop it at your feet, and expect you to throw it for him. Of course 99.999% of them end up under the hallway and Dining Room rugs - but I collect them from time to time and Boyd* THINKS he has a whole new bunch of toys to play fetch with! ;)
*He’s a Tuxedo Cat, and supposedly they are VERY smart - but as far as his ‘pedigreed lineage’ goes, he was an ‘extra barn cat kitten’ that we got from the next farm over. ;)
“What is it replacing in your house? 😉”
You know me SO WELL, my FRiend!
It is going to replace the OLD Tupperware bowl I’ve been using with the BINDER CLIP attached to the rim as my make-shift ‘Yarn Bowl.’ (Yeah, I’m CLASSY like that!)
I KNEW my ‘Dream Yarn Bowl’ would find me one day! I just KNEW it!
And, FWIW, I added a half-dozen things to the ‘Donation Box’ I keep handy for St. Vinnie’s and I have already started cleaning out the pantries and filling a box for my annual donation to my Food Pantry pre- Thanksgiving.
I am WAY ahead of the curve this season for some reason. :)
Good on you. You had a yarn bowl. I’m impressed. I’ve been emptying out things all over, most going to our local non-profit charity. It’s been a huge success. So much that they are building some low income housing in our town. They also have a really nice antique and vintage section.
“They also have a really nice antique and vintage section.”
That would lure me right in - and take all the money from my purse, LOL!
I love de-cluttering. I need to do much more of it. I also need to re-double my efforts to convince Beau that we need to clean out the garage. He can have the entire BARN and his portion of the basement for all of his many ‘treasures.’
Just a reminder: No one in our immediate families wants our stuff. Sell it or donate it. I’m keeping my Grandma’s China dishes and silverware set, though. For now. ;)
Made it down to 45 degrees at the AG research center 10 miles away but they’re in a valley and always get colder. I’m sure it made it down to 50 here. Highs in the 70s for my three days off and cool mornings. Chiggers and ticks will be moving slow.
Good time to clean up the property of downed branches and do some burning. Calm or light wind all three days so it’s a good time to rake a firebreak against the wooded property next to me and burn all the dicey areas. That’s my North line and wind today starts calm and becomes out of the North by afternoon. Perfect and N wind is rare. Still humid, 100% right now, so it’s not red flag weather by any means. It’s probably a 50 x 400 foot area and wind will be out of the South after today. Already hit 60 so I better get out there now.
Also good weather for putting temporary sides on the trailer, loading it with 10+ years of non burnable trash and making that dump run. Non burnable for me includes any plastic thicker/harder than plastic bags or film that some people around here would burn.
Some mowing of course.
Gonna wait on narrowing the tractor front rims until next week or the week after when I don’t have plans that include using it. I’ll want to prime and paint the inside of the rims and allow it to cure for a while, probably a week.
About time to open the windows for the day.
Our new shingles & other materials have been delivered this morning & roofer notified .... he says he’s “ready” for tomorrow! Hopefully, the stomach ache I got watching the VERY large delivery truck trying to get into our driveway, will be gone by dinner time. I’m sure I’ll have at least one case of hives from nerves over the next 3 days.
The slate shingles on the roof won’t be salvaged; however, I have several piles of spare shingles stacked by the pole shed. I don’t think they are appropriate for roofing, but one of the ladies at church mentioned that artists like to use them ... painting, coasters, etc. I did a little snooping around online ... looks like $1.00 to maybe $6.00 per shingle. There is an artist who has a shop 5 minutes down the road & next time he’s open when I go by, I’ll stop in & see if he’s interested or knows other artists who might be.
Fall is coming ... our grass is definitely starting to turn. It looks like I won’t be mowing as late as I did at the old place, other than to chop up leaves to avoid raking. With people wanting to see the beautiful fall leaf color in the mountains, it looks like we are going to be having quite a few visitors - first ones 9th or 10th of next month.
Great day - 70’s, partly sunny, light breeze, borderline ‘crisp’ feel to the air. By this evening, I’ll probably need something warmer to wear than a T-shirt & shorts.
I love the idea of using old shingles as a medium for artwork. I’ve not seen that used before, but heck, why not?
We are back from our weekend jaunt to Brooklyn, where we met up with our daughter, SIL, his family, and many of their friends. There was an atypical baby shower for them. More of a get together with family and old friends, as they are heading to Italy for a week before returning to their home in Oregon. There were just a few gifts that were brought there to unwrap, and mostly after guests had gone. These will be boxed up and sent to their home in a couple of weeks after they have returned from their trip.
It was great to see everyone. There were only a few unfamiliar faces there, as we had met many of them at their wedding two years ago. It was held at one friend’s brownstone home that was built in 1889. Really cool place. It had a courtyard in the back, so that’s where we gathered for the most part because the weather was beautiful!
The only snafu was that I got stung by a yellow jacket, which I am allergic to, but so far haven’t gone into anaphylaxis yet. I took Benadryl and famotidine (hits both histamine receptors), so my sting hasn’t been a terrible one this time. My forearm is almost back to its normal size, and the redness is beginning to go away.
Amazingly, our air travel went off without a hitch both going and coming back home. That’s a rarity these days.
A little while ago I went outside to check on my milkweed plants and see if there had been any developments the last few days. I’ll say so!! I counted 43 monarch caterpillars in varying stages of growth!! They are chowing down and some of them are getting pretty big! I looked to see if I could find a chrysalis, but alas, I didn’t. I’ve only ever seen two in the last five or six years that I’ve been actively trying to help out the monarchs. I’ve heard they can move quite a distance from the milkweed plants before pupating. Fingers crossed that some of these caterpillars will be successful on their journey to becoming a beautiful Monarch butterfly.
Howard is a source of continuous amazement.
Yesterday evening we were outside doing whatever it was we were doing... I needed to grab something from the basement so I headed to the house... just about the time I got to the door Howard showed up behind me... normal... I opened the door and he waltzed in like he owned the place! (not normal - that was the first time he’s rushed the house door since he arrived)
I told him to scram outside and he did so without giving me any grief... I grabbed what I needed and went back outside to find Mrs. Augie with hands on her hips giving me the stink-eye...
OK Honey, what’s up?
She says “That damn dog speaks perfect English!”
OK Honey, explain please?
Then she says “As soon as you turned your back to go inside he jumped on top of the patio table - all four feet - whole dog - ON the patio table. So I told him to get down and then I told him that sort of behavior is exactly why he will NEVER get to go in my house!”.
She then proceeds to tell me that as soon as she said that to him he looked her straight in the eye, gave her his best “You’re not the boss of me” look, jumped down, followed me into the garage and then into the house.
I’ve been telling her that Howard is smarter than she thinks he is. Now she knows it. lol
And we discovered over the past couple days that he likes apples and peaches. Years ago I had an Aussie that loved apples, but he would only eat them if you cut them into pieces before giving them to him. Howard goes to the tree and gets them off the ground. No slicing required.
Before all of the above happened yesterday Mrs. Augie and I were picking/eating peaches. Howard was doing his normal nosing everything routine when he noticed some low-hanging fruit on one of the pear trees - he stood up on his hind legs, plucked one off the tree, then trotted off like he’d just won the PowerBall.
NWS predicts 47° F for us tonight, a drop of 32° from right now. Winds go calm this evening, so, it’s all dry (for August!) air. Below 50 degrees - I’m NOT going to open up windows tonight! Maybe mid-morning tomorrow...
We caught a large opossum in the live-trap last night. Should I cook him for the chickens or take him to the wildlife reserve? I can rationalize: If the latter, I can go by the river and pick up a couple buckets of river sand...
I like that! :-)
Another question: That later Opo plant that’s dying now has a green stem to about 6” high, then it’s brown and looks dead / withered for 2+ feet, then above that the plant is still green and has leaves (just 2 leaves, as the whole thing isn’t even 4 ft. tall.) The brown death is creeping upward. Most likely cause?
I’m now thinking the split open Thai peppers I put in the mole tunnel a foot away are not the cause. (The tunnel never reached the plant.)
I “could” try cutting the stem about 4” high and see if it will leaf out, but, I’ve never had success with that with Opo.
Conversely, the big Opo in the big pot is really going to town again. One would never know that 2 weeks ago it looked like it was on the way out. I’ll bet that if I added up all the vine length(s) it’d be over 40 ft. now. I suspect it’s put roots out through the holes in the bottom of the pot, and, I have been feeding it a little: Bloom Boost last week, and, of all things, tomato plant food this week. :-)
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