July 2012 Homesteading and Gardening

blue gecko · 07-01-2012, 09:04 AM

With so many people dealing with drought conditions this will be an interesting month.

There have been some pop up storms here but we haven't had the blessing of rain. Max was looking at raindances this morning...I'd LOL but he's quite serious. The sound of drumming may be in our near future. We did some traveling yesterday and our area is definitely the worst hit that we saw. It looks like fall with all the brown leaves and dying trees. I guess there will be a lot of firewood available...

In spite of the heat the main garden is hanging in there. The mulch and shade cloth has been a big help for the more tender things. We've moved our focus to vegetables that can take the heat and they are all doing quite well. The lower garden is showing signs of stress in-spite of watering. Leaves are dropping from the berry bushes, grape leaves are browning from sun scald and the fruit trees wilt with the heat then perk up when it cools. We deep water when possible and are looking at other tactics to improve that process.

Some of the shrubs around the house are probably not going to make it. Their leaves are curled up and crisp. The River Birch and shedding their leaves and the ground around them is covered. Its very sad to see.

We watch the news of the fires in Colorado and know that it can happen here just as easily. There have been some fires in the area and everyone keeps their nose in the wind smelling for any hint of smoke. Everyone is on edge about the situation.

On our trip yesterday we saw acres and acres of brown fields. Hay fields that are not making a second cutting. Cattle with very little to eat. The rivers are drying up and there's very little flow. There were pools of water here and there but that's about it.

blue gecko · 07-01-2012, 07:52 PM

Today we worked up the bushel of peaches we got from a local farmer yesterday. There are 10 gallons of peach wine working in the canning kitchen, 6-8 quarts of peaches in the pickling process and 3 gallons of peaches about to go into the freezer. These were VERY ripe peaches by request so we decided not to can any. Also today we bottled 5 gallons of plum wine. We use champagne yeast and edge the fermenting process with Dextrose until it kills the yeast at about 19% alcohol. Its really more of a cordial

The plum wine needed a little boost flavorwise so we added Organic Black Cherry Concentrate to round out the flavor. Even "green" its quite nice.

In the last week we also made dill pickles and bread and butter pickles. Max fought me on the bread and butters because he said he REALLY liked the dills but he's changed his tune LOL. We'll try to get more cukes from the farmer on the other side of this mountain and make more B&B plus some sweet pickles (don't tell Max about that, OK?) and some more dills.

There have been some showers in the area but not for us. The humidity sits at 24%

MaxTheKnife · 07-02-2012, 07:58 AM

I didn't fight you on the bread and butter pickles issue. I just didn't want you to make all them cucumbers into bread and butter pickles while I wasn't looking! Sweet pickles!!!??? You already have 8 pints of bread and butter pickles. Whats the difference between sweet pickles and bread and butter pickles?

On another note, the peach wine is bubbling along very nicely this morning. We used fresh champagne yeast with the peach wine and it took right off. The plum wine got some of the older stuff and it took a bit more time to get going. It fermented for almost a month before the sugar content killed the yeast. It's a very clean tasting wine, if a bit dry. The cherry concentrate helps but isn't really necessary. You just have to be careful and remember that the stuff is almost 40 proof! But doing it this way almost guarantees that it will never turn into vinegar or spoil otherwise. And it makes nice trade goods too. We figured our total cost per gallon with the plum wine is right at $1 per gallon. The peach is a bit pricer at $2 per gallon. But that's pretty cheap and there's no sodium bisulfite in our wine. Its just pure wine from fresh fruit and dextrose. Get you some!!!

flourbug · 07-02-2012, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Whats the difference between sweet pickles and bread and butter pickles?

Ohh, you are looking for trouble, big boy. bg is going to give you a copy of Pickles for Dummies, right over the noggin.

I do hope you took at least a few of those ripe ripe peaches and turned them into peach ice cream. There is nothing on earth better than a big bowl of homegrown, homechurned peach ice cream during a heatwave.

MaxTheKnife · 07-02-2012, 09:26 AM

Well, I will admit that BG let me have 2 1/2 gallons of fresh pack dill pickles to satisfy my dill pickle tooth. Dawn's recipe. I wanted to use some prepackaged pickle mix but she gave me the 'evil eye' and I relented. But next time I'm doing it my way with at least half of this next haul of cucumbers. And I don't even need no dill pickles for dummies book to make that happen. I always fresh pack my pickles because that's the way I like them. I'm lazy that way but I really prefer the taste and don't want to cook those cucumbers. That just doesn't make sense to me... and anybody that don't like it can kiss my dill pickle eating backside!!!

blue gecko · 07-02-2012, 09:32 AM

Considering the way you're ravaging my Bread and Butter pickle supply you'll have to relinquish some of your dill pickles in the next batch to replenish stocks of them. Your education concerning pickles has only begun! BWAHAHAHAHA

flourbug · 07-02-2012, 10:09 AM

LOL!

The rabbi who lived next door to my grandfather taught him how to make authentic jewish dill pickles. He always had a big barrel in the basement, next to the sauerkraut.

Jason is making soda. He bought a carbonation set up that is just a series of plastic soda bottles connected with rubber tubing. Add one cup of sugar, two tsps of yeast, and fill the rest of the way with water. The carbonation builds up and is diverted into other bottles. You can bleed the carbonation off into your own drinks - force carbonate them. We made root beer, cream, and orange soda, and fruit drinks. The fizz is really strong, IMO even stronger than store bought sodas. It's fun to experiment.

lilly · 07-02-2012, 01:27 PM

Was very shocked to see my lawn turning yellowish, as are the neighbors who are watering theirs. I don't water and let nature take its course and my lawn, not fertilized, or chemically altered in any way is just as handsome as anyone elses who go the whole 9 yards. Walking down the road on the way home, and suddenly there is this great yellow area, all the lawns are turning at once, they were a brilliant Ireland green till last week. Amazing that in 38 years I only once fed this lawn and while it isn't a gold course immaculate, and is a country lawn, it holds up well. The guy across the street had Mexicans weeding his lawn by hand, he waters, he fusses non stop, and ya know, it isn't a gold course yet.

I snapped off the overgrown Andromeda bushes so they have less leaves to feed, they had gotten unsightly and I hadn't looked at the back of the house all year.. Will clip them back tomorrow and see if I can grow cuttings from the tender new growth. We did have a wet spring, so a drought is overdue.

Very happy I abandoned my community plot. No way I could have done it, even with the artists help. I ate the dozen tomatoes I did grow, and frankly they weren't special.

blue gecko · 07-02-2012, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flourbug

LOL!

The rabbi who lived next door to my grandfather taught him how to make authentic jewish dill pickles. He always had a big barrel in the basement, next to the sauerkraut.

I'll bet that basement had an air about it LOL. Personally, I LOVE stillrooms and all their interesting odors.

Quote:

Jason is making soda. He bought a carbonation set up that is just a series of plastic soda bottles connected with rubber tubing. Add one cup of sugar, two tsps of yeast, and fill the rest of the way with water. The carbonation builds up and is diverted into other bottles. You can bleed the carbonation off into your own drinks - force carbonate them. We made root beer, cream, and orange soda, and fruit drinks. The fizz is really strong, IMO even stronger than store bought sodas. It's fun to experiment.

I'd like to see pictures of that operation!

blue gecko · 07-02-2012, 02:36 PM

We have no lawn to take care of except for a tiny patch of bermuda that has taken over an area. We use those clippings and clippings from whats growing in the garden for mulch. Its the only good thing I can think of when it comes to bermuda unless its in a pasture. I can't understand people who keep watering grass in conditions like this. Seems like a terrible waste of water to me.

All we have left of the peach project is a few quarts of pickled peaches that we'll can in a little while. Sure am glad to have that project behind us!

CanadaSue · 07-02-2012, 04:09 PM

Lawns go dormant in during protlonged periods of heat & no rain. They come back in the fall.

blue gecko · 07-03-2012, 02:12 PM

Today they banned all extra watering, gardens included. Livestock is an exception. Sure am glad we got things mulched.

lilly · 07-03-2012, 02:38 PM

Actually my lawn is just as presentable as the one across the road with no watering and fussing. No golf course lawns on the street no matter what they do. I do throw out white clover seed every few years, but allow nature to take its course as a rule. The lawn remains green under the trees that provide shade. Under pines its wild violets, and under the sweet gum trees its more sweet gum seedlings. I've had generations of trees growing, and some after decades have used up their life spans. (the mountain ash, the birches for example.) I used to drag home trees from flea market auctions, and plant them in groups of three. All gone sooner or later. The last were my $1 pine trees and $1 holly trees. My tree planting days are over. What comes up now is anything seeded by bird droppings.

At least they shade the house and keep it coolish in the heat of summer.

I don't have the energy for householding or gardening. Will get a two Alberta Spruce to flank the front door for winter. The last I had died off this last winter.

So I enjoy other peoples gardens just as much as anything that is my own.

MaxTheKnife · 07-06-2012, 08:16 AM

Well, today is another day of 105 degrees in the shade. Since the water ban, BG and I have put our heads together to find ways to beat the heat for our tender garden. Since we mulched everything with wheat straw, its been doing pretty good. But one problem we face is the high temps and low humidity causing tomato blossoms to fall off. So what can we do to prevent the blossoms from falling off? The only thing we know of is to reduce the temp during the heat of the day. We already water nice and deep every morning without fail. But controlling the temperature is a real challenge.

So we noticed an ad in the Wednesday newspaper that Atwoods was selling an "Ocean Breeze" misting settup for $17. We scooted over there and bought one and will have it installed and working this morning before its time to water. Each misting emitter uses 1/2 gallon of water per hour and we figure we'll run the thing from about Noon till 4:00. The sun screen we put in several weeks ago helps reduce the temp on the plants, but this misting setup is supposed to decrease the temp up to 20 degrees during the heat of the day as long as the humidity is already low. It was 22% yesterday and I expect no change today.

So the system will use approx. 5 gallons of water per hour and that means about 20 gallons per day. Not too bad, even with the current water ban. But that doesn't matter because yesterday we got the well system up and running and are now watering the garden with well water, which in itself should be an improvement. We shall see what we see. More later.

blue gecko · 07-06-2012, 08:49 AM

The water ban isn't because supplies are critical. Its because the peak demand is higher than they can treat from our reservoir. They have clarified to include agriculture and livestock so we're still ok. Even so we're conserving as much as we can and learning a few tricks along the way.

MaxTheKnife · 07-06-2012, 10:36 AM

It went like clockwork! I decided to reduce the flow to 4 gallons per hour so only used 8 emitters total for 24 linear feet of garden beds. We tested it out with well water pressure and the emitters weren't atomizing the water well enough. So we hooked up to city water pressure and they went great guns! We should have happy tomatoes for the rest of the summer growing season and it may actually increase the growing season for them as long as we are consistent with our misting activity. I'm sure we'll stay on the ball because we really miss having our own home grown tomatoes and this nasty hot weather has defeated us three years running. Maybe this year will be different...

blue gecko · 07-06-2012, 11:20 AM

We'll be sure to stop the misting in time for everything to dry by nightfall. Hopefully, it will keep fungus at bay.

We tried something new today in the battle with grasshoppers. We mixed 1/4 cup molasses with a quart of warm water and about a half teaspoon of salt in a spritzer. Then we went grasshopper hunting with the spritzer on stream. Once hit they stopped moving/flying. The wasps seem to be happy about the situation and it won't hurt the birds. We found the recipe on-line and it said it clogs up their pores so they can't breathe. It seems to be working and may actually help bring in predator insects. We've used Semaspore Bait twice this season so perhaps as they cannibalize each other it will spread.

Coyote · 07-06-2012, 11:43 AM

Be careful, raccoons love molasses.

And gardens...

blue gecko · 07-06-2012, 11:54 AM

We'll keep that in mind Coyote. Raccoons have never been much of a problem for us. I've been here 21 years and have only seen 3. I guess the dogs help keep them at bay.

lilly · 07-06-2012, 12:32 PM

Notice the library has a gardener come in with a water tank to water their two gardens. The young man was winding up the hoses as I came in. The gardens by the train station seem to need a watering. Hundreds of hydrangia bushes are wilting though the dog roses don't seem to mind. They are wildlings. The day lilies are ok also as they thrive in the wild. I usually pause on a shady bench in the train station gardens midway to the library. Very refreshing as I sip my coffee or a bit of icy Red bull and catch my breath. Getting off the cool train, the conductor took my warm hand in his cool one. In the 20 minutes on a air conditioned train my hand hadn't cooled off. The brisk loping walk I've developed to the train really heats me up. But I seem to walk very fast now that I'm conditioned. I do take water with me and towels to wet down my arms to cool off if I feel overheated in this heat wave. We need hydration as much as the gardens.

I am glad I gave away my community plot. Even with the help I was offered, there is no way I could have walked over to that particular library in this heat. I would have had heat stroke.

MaxTheKnife · 07-06-2012, 08:32 PM

We had good results with the misters today. We went out at about 4:00 this afternoon as some thunderclouds were moving in. It was about 95 degrees in the shade on the front porch. We checked the thermometer at the base of the Parks Whoppers tomato plants and it was 85 degrees! That's not bad. The misters ran about 4 hours today and we'll keep this up as long as this real hot weather holds. The tomatoes look happy and the blooms are all in good shape. Whew!

MaxTheKnife · 07-08-2012, 08:58 AM

I think we've found a good organic insecticide for garden pests. We've been using it for the past few days and observing the results and it seems to kill grasshoppers in a few minutes. The mix is two teaspoons of Neem oil, 1/4 cup of blackstrap molasses and a teaspoon of salt with a quart of water. So far we've found that it kills blister beetles, grasshoppers and flies. We can now walk through our garden without scaring up a bunch of grasshoppers. It's quite a novelty I can tell you. Of course, we've been spraying them morning, noon and evening so there is some work to it. But we're seeing the results and are well pleased with them. We're very careful about the beneficial bugs and there are many about. In fact, we have named one of them Larry. He's a war beetle or some such. They eat grasshoppers and blister beetles and probably many more besides. They do no harm to the garden plants as far as we can tell. Sometimes it takes teamwork to make a garden. We're good with that. Now if we could just get some rain...

DBA · 07-09-2012, 06:13 PM

As I posted in the fishing thread after being away for little more than a week I find that the gophers moved into one of the gardens and levelled the peas, ate cucumbers and trimmed all the new shoots and leaves and started in on the zucchini. I’ve trapped three this morning already.

DBA · 07-10-2012, 02:19 AM

Make that four for the day.

blue gecko · 07-14-2012, 01:23 PM

Its amazing the damage such a small creature can do!

The weather has cooled down a little and there are scattered showers in the area. We're grateful for the ones we've gotten. Everything is still very dry but some of the grass is greening a little. We picked a peck of peppers this morning and there's a little color showing on the tomatoes. The peaches are starting to soften a tad so we'll be picking peaches in a few days. In all the garden has come through this in good shape and our thoughts are turning toward another round of planting.