Dawn419 & doc's LSTA: Confounded Computer!!!

[Denim Deb]

 

[Dawn419]

Hope y'all enjoyed the vacation....I'm back!

Docs' week off is coming to an end and since I won't have him home around as much to harass, I decided to start on my other home!

Wasn't as productive as the looooong list we always end up making but still got a lot accomplished!

The cut up trees/logs are finally out of the orchard and stacked by the firepit...it hasn't been quite so windy so garbage burning is caught up...hauled some deadfall from the woods (a never-ending job)...finished rocking up Bubba J's grave (now to decide what to plant there come Spring)...still chipping away at brush pile clean up but making a dent...and I'm almost done in the prepping of the garlic bed. Wanted to finish off the last 4' x 5' section today but my back said "NO" so I'll finish that on Friday...

Once the garlic bed is done, I'll begin terrorizing the Asparagus bed. It shouldn't be near the work as the garlic bed since I've worked that one a lot more. Once the new asparagus plants are in that bed then I'll move to terrorizing the orchard and fnally get the berry bushes in the ground.

Need to do a bit of cleaning in the "Palace", too, as my Granny is coming in for a visit in 2 weekends. She's wanting me to send her friend home with some fresh garlic and I'm going to...just not the way she is expecting. I'll pot up a bunch of the recently dug up "sprouters" and then she can grow her own! If I had had a good harvest, it would be different. As it sits right now, once I plant my larger cloves planted there won't be a whole lot left for eating.

As much as we wanted to go visiting in TN this past weekend, we're glad we didn't go due to the cold front that moved in on us.

Got our order made for the salt tank and it should be here on the 2nd...Merry Christmas to the Reef Tank! We bought the chickens a table saw for Christmas, several years ago. Yep, it belongs to them but we use it for them since they can't!

I'm no longer pouting over the death of my old garden fork but it was like losing a limb, since I'd had her for so long. The new one is working just as well and I've retired the original gal over to humanure compost pile duty so she's not really dead, yet! She'll become garden art the day she finally gives up that job!

Well, gonna close this for now...

 

[the funny farm6]

wow i need to buy my chickens and goats things for christmas!

 

[Dawn419]

11 bags of compost/humus mix and 13 bags of potting soil and the garlic bed is officially amended! There is a huge difference in the soil now...it's so light and fluffy and super-easy to turn now! I plan on giving the bed another good turning to mix everything together even better and then will proceed to get my seed garlic in the ground.

The last section I needed to finish was done today and it's shallower than the rest of the bed so I decided to use that section for some winter greens. Have the seed on hand just need to rig together a cold frame for that area.

Tomorrows game plan is to get some of my potted herbs planted along the fence inside the orchard and once they're in the ground then I'll terrorize the asparagus bed.


The stuff we ordered for the salt tank showed up a day earlier than expected! It got here on Thursday so we were able to take it with us when we went to moms' for our civilized visit. We had to move the filter, skimmer and a few pieces of live rock around in order to get the in-tank refugiom in place. Will get some pix on our next visit.

Before it got dark, I cat-proofed the lettuce bed for mom. One of her kittens decided the plastic "lid" was a kitty trampoline. 2 cedar slabs, a wire shelf and a large piece of hardware cloth and the lid is now kitty-proofed! The "offender" did me the favor of checking it out and he couldn't get off of the lid quick enough!

Eventhough we've had a couple of frosts; my tomatoes, cukes, watermelon and Fairytale squash plants are still growing and blooming. Got our fig tree tressed up, caged and strawed in...still need to cover the outside of the chicken wire cage, just not sure what I'm going to use though.

Well, gonna close this for now and get me some supper! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

 

[Dawn419]

Brrrr......high of 46 today and it's been rainy/drizzly/misty so nothing was accomplished outside today except for feeding/watering the critters.

Spent last night getting this years' garlic harvest cleaned and separated (into cloves). Even though the harvest wasn't as good as I'd hoped for, I still have plenty for planting and eating! Feels good knowing that we didn't have to spend money on buying seed garlic. Once I get off of here, I'll pick out the best cloves for my seed garlic and get them planted over the next few days (hopefully).

Mom and company got back from their trip up North early yesterday morning. She called to let me know they'd made it back okay and proceeded to get the giggles telling me about how mad the kitten is since he can't get into the lettuce patch now.

Granny may be coming for a visit this weekend, but who really knows (except for her ). She tells me they are and then tells my mom that they aren't sure. Whatever! Don't give us a straight answer, don't expect much cleaning to be done! She always says that she doesn't come to see how clean my place is, she comes to see me...guess we'll find out just how true that is!

Got my Valerian plants in the ground yesterday but ran out of dayligh to get a hole (more like dig rocks to produce the hole) for the Horehound. I love daylight-losing time.

Gonna close this for now and play in the garlic some more...

 

[Denim Deb]

Hey Dawn, how to you preserve your garlic? I don't plant it and hate to buy the cloves in the store because it either dries out B4 we use it all or it sprouts.

 

[moolie]

You've been a busy lady! Hope your visit with your Granny (if it actually happens!) is a good one

 

[Dawn419]

Deb,

I just hang the cloves in a mesh bag and try and keep them in a cool/dark spot. Right now, the garlic bag hangs near the camper door, partially behind the curtain. I'd love to keep it in a cabinet under the sink but the mice get it there. I'm wondering if we could drill holes in one of our many clay/terra cotta pots and make a "garlic keeper".

After looking up the garlic keepers, I'm going to have to go through our orchid pot collection...they could be just the thing since they have drainage slots along the outside of the pot, towards the bottom. Hmmm, I just might be on to something!

I also plan on trying this as some of the skins came off the cloves when I was seperating them out and they need to be used first:

-Fermented Minced Garlic:

For Pint Jars (prepare in a quart jar):

4 - 5 garlic heads (bulbs)
2 teaspoons Sea Salt
2 Tablespoons whey

Peel and mince garlic, put into glass jar. Add sea salt and whey. Top ingredients off with filtered water (in quart jar) for 2 - 3 day fermentation at room temperature, then transfer to pint jars, store in refrigerator.


For Quart Jars:

15 heads (bulbs) of garlic
A couple Tablespoons Sea Salt
6 - 7 Tablespoons whey

Peel and mince garlic, put into glass jar. Add sea salt, whey and filtered water (add enough water so that the garlic is under the liquid). Ferment at room temperature for 2 - 3 days, then refigerate.

I am soooo glad that I held off on the fall-planted garden and amended the garlic bed, instead. We had some rain yesterday so I decided to put my "hard" work to the test and see if I could turn the soil in there today...and it turned, instead of coming up in a huge clod and sticking to the fork! Saaa-weeeet!!!


Husband Abuse:

I can never keep up with what day of the week it actually is with docs' weird schedule. It doesn't help that I've been on a swagbucks binge, racking up amazon gift cards, either, as I've been staying up waaaay late to take advantage of a lot of easy-peasy offers that show up when the site turns over at midnight Pacific time aka 2 a.m. here. He started his "3 day weekend" tonight and I was still thinking it's Monday, brought a uniform in from the shed and woke him just after 4:30 p.m. since his alarm clock didn't go off. I stayed outside until it got dark, ya know...just in case...but he was in a good mood, when I had no choice but come back in cuz it was getting dark. I think the fresh pot of coffee played a big role in that!

 

[Dawn419]

My computer has been acting up lately, that's why I've no been around. Doc and I took the tower apart the other night and took everyhting apart and gave it a good cleaning. Still had some trouble last night so we got into it again and realized one of the main fans is acting wonky. Pulled it out and cleaned it again and so far, so good! Our friend Steve has a bunch of spare parts so he may be able to replace the fan for us.

You-know-where is probably frozen over...I spent yesterday, all day CLEANING!!! It was a balmy 75 degrees so I opened the camper door and decided to wear the Palace out! I would have rather been outside working but Granny is in town so had to be good and make the place a bit respectable for company!

Doing a family dinner today so will be back later this evening, hopefully with some pix, if the computer keeps working right.


Hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend! I'm ready for it to be over so I can have my life back!

 

[Denim Deb]

If you had done the cleaning earlier in the week I would have blamed you for the snow we got!