Posted on 06/21/2013 12:40:17 PM PDT by greeneyes
” Blackberries must be trying to recover from the drought or something, they are very small this year and not ripening very well. We are just letting the birds have them. “
I’m glad to know that! We have a LOT of berries, but they are small, and as you say, not ripening to the darker color.
My squashes showed their first blooms today (male!)
Are you close to Springfield, Missouri?
LOL. It would be nice to have something that would scare them, maybe even get them wet, but I wouldn’t want to really hurt them really really bad.
I also don’t have the money to spend a lot right now, but home security system is on my list of things for hubby to research.
YaHoo. Good for you and the little zuke. Hubby found two little summer squash that were conjoined, so he picked them, and I added them to my stir fry veggies yesterday.
The police never come into our neighborhood. I am sure they would be polite, but double over in laughter when I left. They wouldn’t even come out or do anything when we had a prowler enter the house a few years back.
Most of the stuff I dry is really dry, and then I grind it into a powder. Put a dessicant package or wrap some rice in a cloth and use a bread twist tie to secure the cloth around the rice. Usually put this in the bottom of the container.
Sometimes, I also put an oxygen absorber on top and then seal the bag or a mason type jar.
When I freeze tomatoes, I am lazy about it. Cut off the stem ends chop them up and put into zip bags. When they are frozen, then I vaccum out the air. These I use for stews or chili.
I haven’t dehydrated a lot of stuff, since I was using mostly the freezer. Last year I started using the pressure cooker, but I didn’t have enough tomatoes to really can them, so I bought several cases of diced, stewed, and whole tomatoes when they were on sale.
I always thought it would be good to have tomato powder, that way you could make a quick paste or sauce by adding the spices, and just enough water to get the consistency you want. It might not work, but if it did, you wouldn’t have to cook tomatoes all day to reduce it and make pasta sauce or ketchup, and it would take up less storage space.
I don’t really want to hurt them, just make it annoying enough that they quit.
Well, of course, I am not sure about it, but it is a theory. Last year we had a bunch of really great berries, and I had made several cobblers, and canned 7 pints by mid June.
This year it’s just pitiful.
You could stud the front yard with zucchini-loaded Claymores. Zucchini shrapnel is just messy and sticky, depending upon the maturity of your ammo. It won’t hurt them.
Yay for your puppies and MS gun law, and prayers up for your trip!
Has anyone here tried the roll of “organic” paper weed-block available at Lowes? It’s like the landscape fabric, but paper instead of fabric or spun material. I’ll have to go look at the label to see who makes it.
I laid it down in my tomato patch yesterday because I don’t trust myself to weed faithfully.
It was easier than using newspaper, and covers the same area for about the same cost if you can’t get free newspapers. 15$, 75 sq. feet.
Great story! I love to hear about cleverness defeating treachery!
To anyone, especially MO area. I planted a dwarf peach tree 6 years ago. Never has done. Its always something.
Either leaves start to turn red/pink and look like flesh that has been burned, or last years my damn chickens flew up and were knocking down all the fruit.
This year everything was going well until last week. Now all the fruit, although small, is rotting on the tree. Shriveling up too.
Is it even possible to not have to spray a fruit tree with everything under the sun to get fruit?
“Pitiful.” LOL! That seems to be the word. I’ve been excited about the many berries, but they just seem to stay red and never go to the deep color of a ripe one...or the birds are getting them. I’m just tickled that we have producing bushes, and I won’t worry about them at this point.
Lady Bender came home from a 4 day R&R with our daughter and the first thing she did was wash the clothes I was saving for her, and in less than a hour she was out in the garden picking 1 & 1/2 gallons of raspberries before coming in and cleaning the house. I was watching the Nascar race...
Holycow! Can you say, “Adorable”?!
Did you see the doggie ping about the Keeshond puppy freaking out over a dandelion? I bet you and Mrs. RD would get a kick out of it!
Have you dried squash? I’m such a scatterbrain, when it comes to preserving food. I just freeze everything. What would happen if the electricity goes out/??? nobama is working on it. Right now I’m just using a borrowed dehydrator, am thinking of getting one a little more pricy with instructions. This one doesn’t have any, even on the computer.
When the summer squash aee coming in, I pick the smallest ones. I use then in scrambled eggs, green onions, and whatever veggie was left over from the night before. I love scrambled egg/squash. Sometimes our scrambled, squash/green onions and leftovers last for a couple of breakfasts.
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