Posted on 11/01/2024 6:46:36 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Good morning...now THAT pic wakes ya up!!!
I picked last of tomatoes, but they are ALL GREEN. Thinking of canning salsa verde, or maybe will freeze dry. Suggestions for any other easy green tomato option?
Already planning post-Thanksgiving meals. I’ve made this a number of times. Always delicious!
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/turkey-wild-rice-soup/
The coolest things just happened .... our kitchen looks out at the fields across the road and that is where the cows are that I watch. As I mentioned before, two cows have had calves this past week.
There is one cow (out of 20) that has a totally white face. The rest of the cows are all black (one has a few white markings, but not a totally white face). Anyway, I was sitting in the bay window, looking out (waiting for the mail truck) and I see the white face cow leaving the herd & walking over to some cedar trees. She looked left for a while, then looked right, then disappeared over the hill & it looked like into the cedars.
Hmmmm .... was she leaving the herd to have a calf? No mail truck so I continued to watch for her. Would you believe .... about 30 - 40 minutes later, she walked back out into the field with a calf .... or was I seeing things? Sure looks like some extra little legs walking along with her! She’s out in the sun, lying down in the field so I found some binoculars to look - there IS a little calf lying down with her!
Wow - she surely made short work of having that calf! Of all the cows, she’s the one I can tell apart because of her white face. She’s back up now ... farmer just rolled through the field, didn’t seem to see her. There’s a different truck that drives the fence line and definitely looks for new calves so that might still happen later this afternoon.
That just made my day, seeing her walk out with that calf after I’d been watching & wondering if she was leaving the herd to have her calf!! Babies are starting to ‘pop out’ all over across the road :-)
I love it when that happens! I’ve seen a number of calves born through the years - and one as ‘freshly’ born as you just saw. It’s always a miracle. :)
Puppies? I could deliver them in my sleep...and I have, LOL!
I helped my friend (former vet tech) ‘sling’ some pups when her Jack Russell was having a litter .... helped her cat with some kittens, too. So rewarding when you can put a live, breathing pup/kitten back with mom.
Moving up to larger animals, I helped my mare have her first foal. He was huge & she was having trouble getting his shoulders through. She scared the crap out of me when she got up & walked around the stall with his head & forelegs sticking out. When she went down again, I sat down behind her, put a tennis shoe on each butt cheek, grabbed the forelegs (being careful to keep the position of one more advanced than the other) & when she pushed, I held her progress. After 3 or 4 pushes & keeping the foal from sliding back, he arrived. I had already pulled the stuff off his head - his back legs weren’t totally cleared when he lifted his head & said “hi” to mama. She lifted her head to see him & gave a soft nicker.... I wish I had a video of that moment. The maternal instincts kicking in & that first view of her new (& first) foal were all expressed in the look on her face. Very special experience for me.
A keeper to be sure.
The Temperatures went down below freezing the last 2 nights here in Northeast Kansas, but it will be warmer in the next 2 days. I might drag the hose out and wash the house while I have an opportunity. Autumn and Winter gardeners need to keep in mind that the lack of water can kill your plantings even if the plants are cold tolerant. (You may also need to continue or increase fertilizer to produce the same growth that you would under warmer conditions!)
In the time before refrigeration turnips held a higher regard in people's imagination and recipe boxes! They grew quickly in the spring and fall and could be stored in a root cellar over winter. Above left is a November 17 picture showing a rows of rutabaga and turnips planted in front of a trellis of Sugar Snap Peas. (Rutabaga Helena, turnips Golden Ball, Haikurei, and Hidi Beni Red) On November 19th I harvested the turnips because the two Japanese varieties are damaged by freezing weather. I will be topping them, not washing off the dirt, then storing then top side down in an opaque storage bin in peat moss on the back porch or garage.
I have been harvesting the Sugar Snap peas for a week or so. The turnips and peas and green onions are a great addition to a fast and easy to cook Raman noodle soup.
Above right, herbs on the left, Daughter's cat Fred walking the path, and a row of Purple Top Turnips ending at a bed of Japanese Multiplier green onions.
Groningen-Brussle-Sprouts. 95 days. The cabbage loopers and southern diamondback moths have died off allowing removal of the cover and full sunlight for at least 6 or 7 hours a day. Because of the heat and loopers these have a limited cool growing season in Kansas. I Topped the plants a bit early to force the side sprouts to grow. I have also removed a few of the leaves on the sun side to allow more light to reach the sprouts. I am still watering and fertilizing with a fish emulsion fertilizer. I have not covered them. I am on a hilltop and in a sheltered area. They should be cold tolerant to about 20F so still hoping to get additional size and production in the next couple of weeks.
Amazing and Durgesh cauliflowers. Picture is of a Durgesh Cauliflower taken on a Day when I was applying some Phosphate Bat Guano Fertilizer to the plants. Because it was going to freeze I Picked it the next day, the cauliflower was clean tasting did not have the skunky taste of store bought heads. Because of the cold I also covered the other 9 plants with a winter cover to try and protect the other developing heads from freezing. I may add some Miricle Grow blossom formula to my next watering to see if I can hurry head development along. We have 2 more days of 40-50F weather but I think that after that the warm growing weather in NE KS 7B is probably gone for the year so I am saying good by to the cold sensitive plants like this Drift of edible Nastersiums!
I suppose it falls in the nostalgic look back "Snow-bound-winters-when- I- was- growing- up" catagory? Logs in the fireplace and sweaters and extra blankets.
Snow is fun the week before Christmas and 2 days after new years. After that I want it to melt. (However, if I were farming wheat--I am not--I would want a heavy field covering snow that that hung around until March.)
Its like crack to gardeners; one of those payoffs that keep you gardening.
Super cool! I love that you get to see these new babies!
Not for green tomatoes, but my Sis told me that if you put them in a small paper bag, and put that on the windowsill, they’ll ripen pretty quickly. I tied it as an experiment with a couple of green ones that the birds had gotten to. It worked! They didn’t ripen real fast, but they did ripen. Good luck to you, no matter what you ultimately decide on! :-)
True dat! I’m already scoping out where to put the watermelon patch next year, so that the vines won’t choke out everything else I’ll be trying to grow.
Who would’ve thought that just a very few years ago, I wouldn’t have even dared to try my hand at growing stuff?
So sweet! :)
Fantastic! You have SO MUCH still growing! I have Kale, LOL!
Anyone remember your windshield covered with bugs in summer?
Mine have been drying out in the garage. I just brought them in today into the cold front closet. They’ll sit there at least until after Christmas. I like to save them for later.I had 6 but lost an old old Minerva. It was a spectacular one, two stalks. I don’t have a clue what happened to it, the skin of the bulb is there on the top but bulb gone. weird.
Thanks Pete for posting such beautiful pictures.
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