Lazy Gardener's Little Town Farm

[Britesea]

I found this pic of both types- the Wild lettuce on the left, prickly lettuce on the right.

The more I read up on this though, the less interesting it looks. It's been touted as being a major painkiller on several sites online, but with deeper research it looks to be a very mild painkiller. I think I'll stick with willow bark.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

google searches: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3031874/

https://www.drugs.com/npp/lettuce-opium.html

Sounds like it might be ok in a do or die situation if it's a very young plant, but... why risk it? There are better options.

 

[Britesea]

I agree. Pretty much everything that's "good" about it can be found in other plants.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Today, I turned the soil (and amended with chicken compost) the second green house bed. Now, the fun begins: planting the seedlings. And moving the strawberry plants to their final position, scavenging some more volunteers from the garden.

Harvested some concord grapes from a friend's vines. Hope to make some jelly with Pomona's pectin.

We tarped the tomato bed due to frost warning. I think I'll leave that tarp in place. The plants won't be getting any sun, but... they are essentially done producing, anyways. I'd rather have the remaining fruit ripening on the vines under the tarp, than setting in bowls in the house, collecting fruit flies.

I have a lot of apples to process, as well as the tomatoes.

 

[baymule]

I found this pic of both types- the Wild lettuce on the left, prickly lettuce on the right.

The more I read up on this though, the less interesting it looks. It's been touted as being a major painkiller on several sites online, but with deeper research it looks to be a very mild painkiller. I think I'll stick with willow bark.

I have the prickly kind growing here. Thanks for the pictures!

 

[baymule]

Concord grapes are my favorite. Lucky you! And you have a lot of apples too! A friend used to make apple butter with cinnamon candy, Red Hots in it. It was so good!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I've never been a fan of apple butter. Sounds good. Smells good. Looks good. Just can't wrap my head around the texture. Perhaps I've never had GOOD apple butter. I intend to chunk them up and can them with just a touch of sugar and cinnamon, perhaps some nutmeg. that way, I can buzz them with the smart stick for apple sauce, or have the beginnings of an apple pie. This time, I'll hot pack them so they don't siphon.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

The molt is on... big time. The girls are more temperamental, as they tend to be when molting. I have to close up the nest boxes every evening. One of the BE gals insists on trying to sleep there. The floor level boxes are not as desirable, so... they remain open. Egg count varies: 5 yesterday, 11 the day before. I've stopped selling eggs for now. I intend to take one of the bottom bins out of the fridge, and fill that up with eggs. Hoping that area will hold 8 doz. Then, if I have more, I can put them in the upper part of the fridge, and rotate out as needed. This just MAY allow me to get through the winter on natural light, without running out of eggs. We'll see. If it looks like I am running out, I'll start ramping up the light again.

It was 34 when hubby got up this morning. He said: "No frost." But, I think there is a skim of frost on the grass below the garden. I can see my breath. So... any potted plants that have not been killed will be brought into the garage. Today, I will pick tomatoes, hopefully make a batch of salsa, and can the rest. After dealing with the ripe ones, I'll pick the not so ripes, and move them into the garage. We picked up some boxes yesterday, so I'll be able (finally) to dig and box the potatoes, get the garlic properly stored, I also hope to get some mint and lemon balm hanging for tea. My bucket of mint looks absolutely awesome. I've been pruning it every time I make iced tea, so it's grown nice and bushy.

 

[baymule]

34 degrees! BRRRRR!!! My chickens are molting too, on their second molt, so they are slated for the canning jar. I have 16 pullets to replace them. I like your idea for extending the eggs for the winter. Got to have eggs!

 

[Britesea]

I'm wanting to try storing eggs in lime water (pickling lime). I've read that some eggs will stay good for as long as two years.