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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 22, 2019 5:41:18 GMT -6
Japanese Beetle Squishing Foray!
I have not seen this many Japanese Beetles in our area since about 2010. The problem has been escalating for the past several weeks and (hopefully) will soon reach a crescendo!
Yesterday afternoon, after Church, but before our monthly seed savers meeting, I was out in the okra patch, catching and squishing Japanese Beetles by the dozens. Within half an hour, most of my fingers were green, black, and brown, from a great quantity of beetle juice, but I had gotten over 100 mating pairs of them by that time. One hundred pairs will hardly make a dent in the population of this generation of beetles, but the effort will be multiplied many times over in the next generation to come.
A female Japanese Beetle may lay between 40 and 60 eggs during her lifetime.
Depending on the temperature, her eggs may hatch within 10 to 14 days after they are laid. Larvae complete three instars while feeding on plant roots and decaying plant material. Japanese beetle adults feed on more than 300 plant varieties; okra plant foliage, being one of their all time favorites.
At 1:00 pm, yesterday, the okra blossoms were still fully open. It was quite breezy at the time, so the Japanese Beetles were seeking refuge in the interior of the blossoms to shelter and to breed. It got to where nearly every blossom had 2 to 6 beetles hiding inside, so I was just walking along, sort of on 'autopilot' reaching inside each blossom, picking out and squishing dozens of beetles; without my glasses on.
I had sort of become desensitized to their specific pattern and had begun to reach in and pinch anything that resembled a pair of mating beetles without really looking at them very closely.
About the 50th blossom I reached into had a bumblebee inside it instead of a beetle!
The Bumblebee didn't get me though. I think it was just as surprised as I was, and was probably just as happy to part company.
Well, I had better be getting out of here now. The sun is coming up hot again and I have lots more Japanese Beetles to squish!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 22, 2019 17:54:36 GMT -6
I was planning to pick some okra for George today ... Sorry, George, this is as close as I got to picking any okra today. We got 2" inches of much needed, heavy rain last night. I sank in over my shoe tops this morning, trying to find some solid ground to stand on to no avail.
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Post by macmex on Jul 23, 2019 5:55:42 GMT -6
The rain was much less in Tahlequah proper, but I was pretty sure we had 2" at my place. Our garden soils are so different, Ron. Within hours of a heavy rain, mine has drained enough to cultivate and you get swallowed up in the mud if you try to enter your garden. When your garden is finally navigable, I'm hoping for some more rain....
I keep thinking that I've processed all the tomatoes (including the ones you gave me) but without exception, including this morning, I congratulate myself and then spot some more that I had forgotten about! Still, I'm making progress.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 23, 2019 12:22:59 GMT -6
I know what you mean, George. I'm processing elderberries today. I picked a 5-gallon bucket full of the umbrels, last evening.
As I strip the berries away, they seem to be multiplying. I didn't think I had this many berries when I was picking them but I suppose the weight of the ones on top were compressing the umbrels underneath. The deeper I dig into the bucket, the more densely packed the umbrels are. in my mind, I had about 2/3 fewer berries than it seems like I am getting from the bucket.
It's beginning to feel like I accidentally put berries into one Elijah's oil jars.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 24, 2019 21:28:54 GMT -6
Thanks, for the compliment, Bon, you're too kind.
So far, I can't keep enough okra on hand to ever make it home with any for myself. I sold out again this afternoon at our Wednesday evening market. I picked most of the day, today, after missing a day because of heavy rain, then missing another day because of digging 200 pounds of potatoes, and canning elderberry syrup yesterday.
I think I fed 40 pounds of tough pods to the hogs today because the okra had gotten overgrown from neglect. I have three hogs; they ate so much okra today that they just left the last bucketful on the ground and walked away.
I didn't weigh the tender pods I picked, but I'm guessing there were about 30 or 40 pounds there too? I had several plastic grocery bags of tender pods on the truck; I didn't count them. It was a long, long, long, day. I ache everywhere. Getting a day behind on a garden that size is not an easy thing to catch back up from.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 25, 2019 7:53:04 GMT -6
Bon, That's funny. I thought I was the only person who picks okra at night. What a small world. My Wife and Kids got me a really compact and fairly bright headlamp to wear at night, so I'd have both hands free to use my hardware cloth shears to harvest pods. A couple of nights ago, I was walking back from the garden with the headlamp on and a bat almost flew right into my face! I suppose it was chasing a bug? It was weird; it felt like the breeze off a butterfly's wing, when it turned away. I expected a bat to be a little clumsier in flight, but they can tun on a dime while hardly stirring a breeze. They are beautiful creatures in their design.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 28, 2019 15:26:20 GMT -6
Bon,
When I read your comment, it put me in the mood to look up an old family recipe that my wife cooks up and serves on rice.
MARGARET'S OKRA & TOMATO
4 - CUPS OKRA
2 - 15 OUNCE CANS OF DICED TOMATOES (OR ONE QUART HOME CANNED TOMATOES)
1 MEDIUM DICED YELLOW ONION
1 CAN ROTEL
3 TBS SOY SAUCE
2 tsp LOUISIANA HOT SAUCE
1 CLOVE GARLIC, MINCED
1/2 POUND BACON FRIED CRISP
2 TBS PARSLEY FLAKES
1 tsp LEMON JUICE
1 - 4 OZ CAN MUSHROOMS (DRAINED) OR 1/2 CUP FRESH MUSHROOMS SLICED
2 TBS HOMEMADE PICANTE SAUCE, OR STORE BOUGHT, IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY
7 OZ CAN TOMATO SAUCE
PREPARATION: Fry bacon until crisp, remove to a paper towel to drain (reserve the hot skillet grease for sauteing.
Saute onion, and minced garlic clove, until clear. Remove to a thick-bottomed soup pot.
Saute 4 cups of freshly sliced okra in what is left of the bacon grease until the okra is de-slimed, or until, only slightly browned. Remove okra to the soup pot.
Add remaining ingredients to the soup pot in the order they are listed above. Bring to a light boil, stirring frequently. Turn flame down to simmer, and cook until sauce begins to thicken, stirring only occasionally. At this point, crumble fried bacon into the soup pot, stir, and continue to thicken until you reach the desired consistency for serving over rice.
This pares well with hickory-smoked pork ribs and extract of lemon-elderberry syrup, mixed 1-1/2 Tablespoon per cup of iced water.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 29, 2019 16:09:46 GMT -6
I hit the garden by 4:30 this morning, to collect Tomato Horn Worms using a black light flashlight before sunrise. After that, I waited around until about 6:10 am for it to get light enough to see color, then it started pouring down rain before I could pick any okra.
It rained off, and on, until after 7:00. I came back after 8:00 am to pick 15 pounds from one side of the first row, then took that to the house to put in storage. Next thing I knew, I got cooked out by the hot sun before I hardly even got started on the second row.
Finally, about 8:00 pm, it cooled off a little, but it was still nasty hot and humid out there. I ended up harvesting 37.3 pounds of okra from the first two rows and still had two more rows to go when it got too dark to see.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 30, 2019 10:42:23 GMT -6
I've been stuck in Tulsa all day today ... I sure would rather be home picking okra.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 1, 2019 6:07:40 GMT -6
To Bon, I hope you enjoy that recipe. My Wife worked all day once, just getting the kinks worked out of that one, so we'd have a family heirloom recipe to go along with our own strain of okra. I picked 60 pounds of okra yesterday. I was nowhere near done, I just ran out of time because it was farmers's market day and I had to hurry to get set up in time to sell. I also picked 125 pounds of tomatoes, so I was running low on time. I was going to finish picking this morning but it is currently pouring down rain. It was 97-degrees yesterday while I was loading okra on the truck and getting ready to go to town ... Where was this cool rain then? Oh well, I suppose I ought not to complain; I can just put on a bathing suit and go pick okra anyway. It's forecast to rain every day for the next 3 days, so I might as well. Just think of the money I'll be saving on shower water.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 1, 2019 6:25:37 GMT -6
Enough is enough with the crazy rains this year. I nearly stepped on a water moccasin between the house and the summer kitchen while ago. I think I'm awake now though; that worked better than downing a whole pot of hot coffee!!!
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Post by macmex on Aug 1, 2019 7:58:53 GMT -6
One time it was pouring so hard that I had to run, carrying my milk pails, so that the milk wouldn't get too watered down by the time I got to the house. I did chores, running and still had to completely change for work (this was before daylight). That afternoon I found, that in my rush, I had trampled and killed a copperhead! It was laying, dead, right outside the door of the milking shed! I was so glad that I normally wear muck boots during the early morning chores!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 2, 2019 18:39:07 GMT -6
I remember milking at your house last Summer. I wore muck boots every day to keep my feet dry from walking through the heavy, morning dew. Then, after the dew burned off I'd put my regular shoes back on. I never thought about possibly stepping on a snake.
I never thought about it until just now, but I'll bet getting stepped on would be pretty scary for the water moccasin that I about had a heart attack from seeing, so we're probably about even there.
Although, after he scared the wax out of me, I came back with a hoe and chopped him up. So, I came out a little bit ahead on that deal.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 2, 2019 18:47:11 GMT -6
I've picked 156 pounds of okra this week and only have 45 pounds of it left for sale tomorrow morning, at the Farmers' Market. I just can't seem to keep up with demand this year. It's kind of weird.
I've had more 'U-Pick' customers this year than I've ever had. I enjoy the fellowship.
I spent most of the day, today, processing elderberries and just having one okra customer after another show up at my house. It has been another busy, but fruitful day ... I just remembered I'm out of lemons and sugar. I'll be too busy tomorrow to process berries, so I'll have to drive into Tahlequah this evening to buy sugar, lemons, and get change for tomorrow's market. After the Farmers' Market, I'll be busy all day, processing salsa from the 30 pounds of tomatoes I blanched and peeled yesterday.
This is a busy, busy, time of year here. Last night, we finally found time to pasteurize and bottle the honey that we harvested Monday evening. It's hard to find time to get everything processed and put away for winter but we enjoy it so much later, that it will all be worth the effort in the long run.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 3, 2019 17:13:34 GMT -6
I sold out of okra at the Farmers' Market by 10:30 am. When I got home, the okra was ready to be harvested again, but it was raining ... Boy, was I glad it was raining! I was so tired I don't think I should have gone another step; I just went to bed to get some rest instead.
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