Posted on 07/01/2025 5:32:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
“Anyone got any recommendations for a food mill/strainer?”
I can’t live without my Foley Food Mill. I’ve had it for decades and it still works like new. They are made by Mirro, in Wisconsin. Quality!
Put that on your Christmas Wish List. :)
https://products.bestreviews.com/best-foley-food-mill?
Don’t bother with anything plastic. Get metal.
I tried the straw bale gardening, too, just so I could talk to customers about it. It was all the rage for a while, there. Then, I went back to dirt. :)
I am a total fan of Ruth Stout, though. I love how straw mulch works with my raised beds.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/ruth-stouts-system-for-gardening-zmaz04fmzsel/
If you don’t want to go new, check thrift stores and/or eBay for the ‘vintage’ Foley Food Mill, which is what I use. I’m sure you can find one at a good price.
Any humane solutions on these threads re: groundhogs?
So far I have made regular Pickle Relish, the hot (but not insane) Jalapeno Pickle Relish and Bread and Butter Pickles. Awaiting more supplies to be delivered and I need to make a run for more sugar and vinegar, but I think I'm going to WIN the battle of too many cucumbers...and live to tell of it!
I have two tabs open to ebay right now looking at them LOL. I figured if they’re making copycats using the Foley name, the original must have been good and they’re probably available used and thicker and sturdier. Model 101 it seems. One on ebay says never used. No back story about how they bought it or got it as a gift but never used it. Ebay name of Bergen Treasures aka I sell used stuff I got at yard/estate sales which Seller’s Other Items makes obvious. Never used. Yeah, prove it. Just take good pics and call it super clean and be done with it. It’s a couple hunks of SS plus Bake-O-Lite handles, geez.
Congrats! I am getting a steady small supple and am picking them smaller. Just eating cut up with a little italian dressing for now. Might make just one or 2 jars of refrigerator pickles.
Rims are split with the outer part being a 4.5" dog dish and the inner part being a 1.5" dog dish for a total of 6".
The six smaller bolts hold the rim parts together with a flat rubber seal between them. Cut the outer down to 1.5" like the inner and 3" is the proper width for the new tires. Then I can call them rim halves. LOL 
The new 3 rib AG tires will be a perfect match to the newish rear lug AG tires. The old rear tires looked like a larger version of the current front tires and the old front tires were round/balloon shaped and smooth with 5-6 little grooves around the circumference. Slicks. Will look like a little AG tractor instead of a tall riding mower now. 
Tractor fired right up after a few months of sitting. Gonna use it to move a couple of big/heavy items and then park it in a good spot to tear the front end apart. Just added an alternator to my ebay watch list which it needs.
Humane as in “kills them very quickly” or humane as in “live traps and removal” (which may not be all that humane)?
I guess humane in keeping them from eating my veggies without killing or moving them. May not be a great possibility.
Install fences
Even though groundhogs are good climbers, you can protect your gardens with fencing, which work best when protecting relatively small areas. To be a successful barrier, a perimeter garden fence should:
Be made of a chicken or welded wire with mesh size no bigger than 3 by 3 inches.
Reach 3 to 4 feet above ground level.
Wobble as the groundhog tries to climb it. (Leaving fence tops unsecured can make them nice and wobbly.)
Have an L-footer base that is buried or pinned to the ground or a single strand of electric fencing 4 inches off the ground and 6 inches in front of the fence to prevent digging.
If you are building a more rigid fence, bend the top 10 to 15 inches outward at a 45-degree angle to create a barrier to help prevent climbing.
Electric fences will work as well, and often a simple single strand of electrified wire set 4 inches above the ground is enough to discourage visits. If not, you can add one more strand about 9 inches from the ground. Follow standard safety protocols when using electric fences.
Link: https://www.humaneworld.org/en/resources/what-do-about-groundhogs-woodchucks#stop
Post 804. Re: Groundhogs - Humane Disposal v. All Out War
Trapping (Hav-A-Heart) and relocating them, or throwing the smoke bombs down their holes to flush them out and move them on, if you can locate their current dens.
I have pinged the ‘experts’ for you! :)
I got my Mrs. Wages mixes in the mail, today. More Bread & Butter and Dill Chips later in the week. Beau is proud of me that I’m taking this windfall and filling up the pantry.
Still wish it was tomatoes, though. *SOB*
Need more vinegar and sugar. Grocery & Gasoline* Run on Thursday, I’m thinking. I’m normally better prepared going into the canning season, but this Cucumber Crisis has left me flat footed. ;)
*No pickles will be made with the gasoline; that’s for the mower, NOT a new recipe! :)
https://themillions.com/2017/07/the-thoreau-diet.html
“Thoreau did kill, cook and eat a woodchuck that was eating his beans. But he decided that was a lousy way to treat a woodchuck and he never did it again.”
(Like Pollard and Daniel, Thoreau was from MA!)
Johnnies might have some good alternatives given that they are geared toward small farmers. (Marmond? I have not tried this; Diana have you?)
Maybe some sort of repellent strategy might work, such as ground vibrations.* Not the sort from Russia last night, that is.
*Most such small, battery powered devices are effective over only a small area. (I have one, a solar powered version. Amazingly, after 10+ years out in the garden, it still comes on in good sunlight!)
However... A weatherproof version of a hi-fi “Bass Shaker” (or weatherproof it yourself) might be pretty effective?
Also, repellent plants like Coleus canina might work. So far, the ones I bought from Menards and put in 5” pots seem to deter opossums, but only in a small space near the plant. Ie., I can only protect a tomato plant or maybe two, near the Coleus canina. However, my Coleus canina are still young and pretty small - not even 8” tall.
Will groundhogs burrow beneath a fence (possibly electric) or a fence with a strip of edging right under it?
My (supposedly) Golden Jubilees from Menards and the Cherry Falls have at least partially recovered from all OUR rains. The plants look good now, but the fruits are smallish. The 2 Sweet Cherry tomato plants seem pretty normal. Ditto for the Romas. Everything else (tomatoes) still seems to be catching up & not yet flowering.
The two Ichibahn eggplants are doing great, except they only produce one (really nice and big) fruit at a time, so far.
The struggling but still 15 ft.(?) long Opo cranked out one smallish fruit - smallish meaning about 18" long. That's small for an Opo, but, it's useable. It stopped getting bigger, so, I harvested it. The other Opo plant is only ~ 5 ft. long and is just barely hanging on -- I may try routing the vine back through some Miracle Grow garden soil.
Two more hot days, then we get a break! :-)
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