The Garden Thread - November, 2025

November 1, 2025 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

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This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go - and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to/removed from our New & Improved Ping List.

NOTE: This is a once a MONTH Ping List, but we DO post to the thread all throughout the month. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time.

[Pollard]

Jeff won the mule deer lotto?

Did some shopping, did some dishes, made a water run and by that time it was getting chilly and close to sun down so I ended up inside where I got quite a bit of house cleaning done. Seems I fell back into single guy mode pretty easy when it comes to having an unkempt place. I've also been working on cleaning up rarely used kitchen center type gadgets. I never put any thought into making sausage 20-25 years ago when I was collecting those things but I guess there were signs.

I've also got a couple more old style all metal crank type meat grinders that are clean and rust free and still usable. Had no plan or idea as to what I'd use them for.

I ate some of the smoked butt roast and gave the rest to a neighbor. Not going to do that weird andouille recipe that calls for smoked pork butt plus raw pork butt. In fact, I'm going with brats again. Gonna put off mechanical work until tomorrow so I can have clean hands today. Grocery store had a couple of cut down pork butt roasts yesterday about 2 lb each so I grabbed them. Gonna cut up, grind and season the meat this morning, re-fridge and stuff casings tonight. Will see what the wind does tomorrow and decide if I can do smoked brats. We're having the typical Fall gusty winds which will last until late Spring.

Gotta make a second water run after I transfer the full trailer tank to a tunnel tank. Then I'll probably work on figuring out the tunnel shed. Get pole holes laid out and started/marked. Gotta go through my wood and I see how I can utilize what I have. I have enough good corrugated tin for the roof and remembered yesterday that I have a lot of not as nice corrugated tin that's still good enough for walls. Couple of 4x4s for poles might be all I need to buy.

I make a To Do List every week for my days off but hardly ever stick to it. Making sausage was not on my list. Cutting up trees got cancelled by saw still in the shop. Rake and burn is a permanent to do list item because weather cancels it most of the time. Too wet or too windy is the norm around here.

Son is finally up. Time to fire up some noisy meat grinders.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Safety First! Meat grinders are as accident prone as snowblowers!

Other than animal chores, I’m not sure what I’ll get done other than cleaning out more beds.

It’s windy as heck and will be all week. Too windy to put down light straw mulch. Light snow this weekend. As she has proven all season long, Mother Nature is working against me. :(

All is not lost, though. The beds still have a decent amount of mulch on them from this summer. Strawberries need covering and the asparagus needs to be cut back and mulched. Those will be the priorities.

Also, I love a sunny March day when I’m MOTIVATED to get the garden beds back into shape. ;)

[Augie]

Are you saying your man has Hound Dog Hearing? That’s what I think you’re saying. lol

Half a dozen times a year I’ll have someone ask me if I would be willing to bring Nanner to their place to dig this or drag that.

My answer is always the same - NOT FOR HIRE.

Not today, not tomorrow, not ever, will I risk destroying my worn out machine in exchange for $50 or a 12 pack, which is the typical offer that comes with such a request. lol

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Beau gets $70/hour for his efforts, and people happily pay it - but for someone that’s a total Math Nerd, I just can’t understand how he can’t see that he’s really not earning squat!

But, it’s his life and his headaches. The most it effects me is giving him a ride here or there to drop off or pick up a vehicle.

Skid steer had to go all the way to Madison and they had it for over a month, but he hauled it there himself. He also put all new tracks and bearings on it himself. I got to help with that. Oh, Joy! Oh, Happiness!

Hound Dog Hearing, LOL!

[Qiviut]

Wonderfully warm here today @ 76°; however, the wind is howling & it’s a “high fire alert” day. It’s hard to work outside when the wind is so strong.

We went to the old house yesterday & I have a PU full (seats, floorboards & bed) of stuff I brought back plus a trailer load as well. It was a long day & extra stressful because mom took her car too. We were trying to get back over the mountains before dark on the way home & barely made it in very low light after sunset. She did very well keeping up with me, etc., but I told her she can’t take her car any more until we get back to some longer daylight hours in the spring.

While she was going to her appointments & having lunch with a friend, I was loading up the truck & trailer. I (carefully) wrangled some pretty heavy stuff by myself that I was determined to bring back. With no rain in the forecast, it might be a day or 2 or 3 before I tackle getting it back off the trailer ..... I am just ‘whipped’ today.

The shop is still a mess from the last load that I didn’t have time to deal with so adding this load to the mess will be quite the organizational challenge. Next week will be much colder, too cold for comfortable work outside so I will see if I can fire up the wood stove in there & figure out where everything goes.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Another successful trip over the mountains! *I* don’t even like to drive in these diminished daylight hours! I’m ready for bed now at 6pm, LOL!

I’ll be back to myself starting December 21st when the Winter Solstice hits and we get more SUNSHINE!

Beau, and all racoon hunters, LOVE this time of year. The darker the better. Ugh!

He called a while ago. They finally made it to the eastern edge of Colorado! Had to replace the alternator in Jeff’s truck this morning, so they are about 6 hours behind schedule. But, those Mule Deer aren’t going anywhere. ;)

[Qiviut]

I don’t like driving after dark this time of year because the bucks are chasing the does & neither one looks both ways when crossing the road! I saw 4 dead deer on the way to church Sunday - it was early enough the road crews hadn’t picked them up yet.

[Pollard]

Never met a person who worked in the deli that didn’t say they and everyone else gets cut by the meat slicer and not while slicing, while cleaning it.

I’ll be using the motorized meat grinders which by their design, solved the safety problem by having a 5 inch tube to push the meat down with the supplied pusher.

No meat grinding done this morning. Looked at the recipes for brats and they require 25% beef to 75% pork. I had no veal/beef. I was thinking it was an all pork sausage. Hit the grocery store and got some but by the time I got back, it was outdoor working weather.

Full tanks of water on tunnel and house. I’m soaking the tunnel for three hours right now with micro-sprinklers. It’s dry as a bone under that roof.

Moved the tank back on the trailer and it’s better. Rearend of suv still squats down and the tongue weight is needed for pulling up out of the creek bed but the front end isn’t way up in the air all goofy looking like it was. Now I need to lock the tank down with steel instead of the straps that are holding it now. I think I can do it with turnbuckles.

Got the tunnel ends and shed on one end figured out. They openings need to be 18’-6” wide on the inside. I have an eventual plan of using the little tractor to work/prep the beds and that will give me enough width to do the outer beds.

[Pollard]

4 lbs of Bratwurst

• 3 lbs pork butt
• 1 lb beef
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 2 tsp mace
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fine ground pepper(white)
• 1 tsp onion powder

I've looked at 5 recipes and all differ so this what I came up with. Three recipes had mace while any other spice was only in two recipes max so I figure mace is a must. Some spices were only in a single recipe. Will take 3-4 foot of casing which means 6-8 sausages which seems like not much for the $20 of meat.

Need to get some of these Kune Kune pigs

Along with the Kiko goats, I could make Kune Kune Kiko sausage for nearly nothing.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Glad you still have all of your fingers at the end of the day.

Beau is considering pigs and I have been campaigning for the Kune Kune.

But for now, I just need to get through the next two weeks caring for Stew the Steer. He’s 800 pounds, now. Hoping the fencing in his pen holds; he gets VERY excited when he sees the grain bucket heading his way.

But, don’t we all? LOL!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Augie;

Sorry about your mare! Glad you had options other than calling a knacker.

Deer....maybe time to wrap some rabbit fencing around any chestnut tree left standing and wrap it with barbed wire until the tree calipher is 4 or 5 inches?

I pulled up any remaining pepper and tomato plants today and accumulated a small bucket of green tomatos... mostly Pineapple and Aunt Rubies green. I had some leeks I planted in the spring that were growing in between the tomatoes, forgotten, small, and not pickable, so I hand tilled around them and fertilized and watered them and will see how they do this winter. Estonian Garlic and topsetting Egyptian Walking onion were planted. Some rows of turnips are are about 3 inches up and growing. Will need to cover them Sunday and Monday morning. (20F will be heading your way!) I will till the rest and hope the bird have anything turned up.

Mrs. Augie....happy to be retired??

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Beautiful spot! It should attract lots of birds and animals too!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Small, docile, do not root, can live on grass, produce a lot of fat. Interesting!

https://homesteadingfamily.com/kune-kune-pigs/

[FamiliarFace]

Thank you! The birds are playing in the water quite a bit! The animals have always been a part of this property. I chose several deer resistant plants, and hope they won’t eat everything! Most of our property is mature woods, so we have all sorts of animals here. They’re welcome, as long as they don’t come up onto our deck. When they do that, they’re chased off.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"Small, docile, do not root, can live on grass, produce a lot of fat..."

Listen, Pete! There's no need to make this PERSONAL, LOL! :)