Oh boy...just 6 more weeks and I start the tomato seeds under lights on the kitchen counter. My VERY favorite is a white tomato, Bugtussle Buttermilk Wonder.
I think I’m burning wood faster than the trees are growing.
I’m glad I tilled my garden spot up last fall...7” of snow on the ground now and -4 this morning. Spring will arrive in KS, though, it always does.
We need rain, rain and more rain and cooler temps...
Meanwhile, plants are blooming that aren't supposed to be blooming this time of year...
Such as hibiscus:
Roses:
I got only two stalks of orchids this year which means the rest of them will need to be re-potted:
Plan for the day is to make lemon curd, I'm about to get an explosion of lemons:
It's also camellia season, but I don't expect to see that many with the heat we're getting:
Happy February and Happy Gardening to all, from me (Bon) and my helpers:
Here in Florida my grass is brown.
The roses and herbs are doing well.
We’ve had little rain in the past few months. It rained earlier today and my part of Florida is dark, dreary and cold.
3 radishes are up under the grow light!
That’s the sum of my excitement right now. The garden is half covered in coffee grounds from my friend’s restaurant, but really nothing else to say.
Enjoy your weekend!
Noticed something this morning. It was fully light out for my 7am break. Seemed like a sudden change due to the lack of clear morning skies in a while. Days are getting longer. Another month and I won't be blinded by the sun on my way home at 4pm.
That steady cold for two weeks was kinda freaky.
Happy (chilly!) February all!
Revised instructions for the VoltKing shop light (or use as a grow light) modification should be done by later today!
Who are our resident chicken experts? I’m getting a free Coupe that’s big enough for five laying hens with an attached small enclosed run and it also has a roof, and I’m going to put up a fence around a larger area so they can wander around a little bit outside.
I’m not going to let them in my garden area because they’ll tear up my vegetable plants but I think I’m also going to get some Muscovy ducks which supposedly eat bugs like crazy without digging.
Since we have raccoons Cara Cara regular Hawks not to mention a brown fox here and there and of course snakes I’m thinking about getting a couple of guineas to act as alarms.
I also have an old dog who has a kill drive for small animals but he’s barely getting around so I’m not too worried about him bothering the chickens but I have a young pup that Chase’s rabbits Birds on the ground and mice and she’s pretty good at hunting and that’s why I’m going to keep the chickens kind of fenced in
Does anybody have recommendations for large size chickens who lay eggs at a good clip I’m thinking the larger the chicken the better chance we have of my little dog leaving them alone but I want to maximize the amount of eggs I get also
Bkmk
Well I have good news and I have bad news.
Good news is I won’t have to run the DR Trimmer around my garden beds before spring and there will be zero weeding required most likely.
The bad news is a brush fire started on a vacant, adjoining, 11.5 acre lot around lunch time yesterday.
My wife was preparing to leave for the gym and I was at work literally telling my boss I was headed home for lunch when Mary (the wife) called and said there was a fire and it was already very close to the house.
She hung up with me (I work for thr police and was standing directly next to the building housing the 911 call center) and called 911 then called back and said she couldn’t get our old big dog in the car, only the little young one. I said “escape! Escape!” Which thankfully she did.
I had just called 911 from the parking lot of the police/sheriff office and also started driving home.
I live a 20 min drive from the house which takes me directly thru (historic) downtown (city redacted) and I most assuredly drove my work car thru many red lights.
I started the little chant I used to use in high stress speed high stress driving “arrive alive” which reminds me to not drive beyond my/the car’s capabilites
As soon as I got thru downtown and hit the state highway I hit speeds exceeding my max speed in an old Crown Vic patrol car back when I was a cop in a left coast city.
I was very scared that my wife was going to get trapped inside our high fenced area because I never showed her how to pull thr pin on the electric gate swing arm and the “extra” manual gate directly next to it had a nice tight seal if grass grown up over the base over thr years and there was no way she could pull the vehicle gate open through the “foliage.”
I passed the 1st fire vehicle that would arrive about 2 miles from my house. That was a wildfire unit, Brush Truck 1, by driving on the grassy shoulder (I would later apologize to that fella and the gal he was partnered with) but I needed to get to my parcel and get that fucking gate open for my wife and for responding fire units!
As I approached the turn onto the road my property is off of I saw a deputy sheriff ahead of me.....he missed the turn!
I turned then drove up the big hill (did I mention a mile back I saw all the white smoke of a grass fire?) And the withe smoke had a huge black plume in it now.
I thought “oh fuck my house is on fire”
I crested the hill and could see my wife’s car and my wife at the end of our .34 mile long caliche driveway...”wife is safe! Yes!!
That’s a lot of black smoke! I turn onto the driveway and head up to the gate (.3 miles...winding) get the gate open and LOCKED open!!
The fire is 20 yards from my house...the caliche driveway that I purposely had wind all the way around my house has acted as a fire break and the landscaping I had started between the driveway and that side of my house was nothing but septic rock for zero scaping.
The fire is all around the 100 gallon propane tank I have on the ground next to my emergency generator and the 1000 gallon propane tank that is for the house.
Yeah, we had an ice storm 2.5 weeks ago so I had then filled completely up.
And all my exterior hose bibs were covered up with insulation and zip tied for the cold.
I was hunting for a garden hose and as I found one on a corner of my house....that deputy who missed the turn arrives.
I get a hose onto a hose bibs and hand it to him with the instructions “start putting water on that fire by the big propane tank” as he is saying “OK” I look up and can see my well head, the electrical panel for the well head, and my expansion tank are completely burned to the ground.
I said “well that’s not gonna work”
Just then Brush Truck 1 arrives ans starts putting water on the fire by the 1000 gallon tank and shortly thereafter on what was putting off all the black smoke....my 10x14 foot metal shed that is fully engulfed. There goes every toolbox all my tools all my dad’s tools all the Christmas stuff fishing poles (a shit ton of my grandathers classic surf casting rods and reels from the 60s and 70s....my 220 compressor some family keepsakes but thankfully not every family photo and bless my luck...my dad’s 1948 Lionel train set with track and the 1948 transformer/controller are still in the house. A lot of important things...didbi mention my house is not on fire! Yes Jesus!!
More fire units arrive.
The supervisor who I passed on the road tells me (now that he has a full truck and another one coming up the driveway) “we are not going to let your house burn down.”
Thank you Sir!
I will have to tell the rest of yesterday’s events in a follow up post.
I am standing fire watch all night and the wind has not changed direction but has picked up to steady 12-15 mph.
There are piles of trees burning still, to the west on the property where the fire started, some tree to the east of me on my property that got scorched and the ends of the oak branches look like glowing candles...very eerie....and a shit ton of mtn cedars along my northern feminine on my meoghbor’s property still holding onto small flames....smoldering everywhere around me except to the south of me where nothing burned.
That’s all grass and oak trees ready to light up if the wind shifts 90 degrees.
Since I have no water right now the Brush Truck 1 giy filled my 90 gallon trash can up with firefighting water with some firefighting foam in there too... we have pre staged 5 gallon buckets as well
My adult sin and I should be able to keep anything from jumping the driveway and getting to the house before the fire units can get here.
Chat later freezer friends.
Oh...did I mention I’m NOT homeless yet?
CHINESE PEPPER STEAK / better than takeout
Ing 1.5 lb sirloin steak, sliced thinly 2 green bell peppers, cut bite-size 1 yellow onion, cut bite-size 1 can diced tomatoes, drained 2 c water 1/4 c veg oil 1/2 tsp grated ginger-root 1 tsp garlic salt 1 tbl sugar 2 tbl corn starch 4 tbl soy sauce
Method Heat oil very hot. Add steak; stir-fry until nicely browned. Add onion, water, garlic salt, and ginger. Bring mixture to a boil; cover and cook about 5 min. Add bell peppers, cover, cook 5 more minutes, or until the peppers are tender. Add tomatoes. Whisk sugar, corn starch, soy sauce well. Add to steak/peppers and btb. Cook uncovered to thicken. Serve over steamed rice.
NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE PIE
Ing-1 c butter, softened 3-1 oz sq semi-sweet chocolate, melted 1 1/2 c conf 1/2 cup Kahlua (coffee liqueur) 3 eggs, well beaten 1 prepared 9" graham crust (store-bought Keebler is good) Can add (or not) layer of best vanilla ice cream. whipped cream, chocolate syrup, chp sugared almonds garnish.
Method-Whip butter creamy. Add melted chocolate, them mix in sugar. Slowly add Kahlua, then eggs. Pour into prepared crust. Refrigerate 2 hours til set. Add ice cream layer. Garnish and serve.
I’ve got a question on ginger.
Will it grow after being refrigerated?
I was going to pick some up at the store today when we went shopping but I forgot. But I did have some in the fridge and wondered about using that.
Does anyone know?