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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 17, 2019 4:21:44 GMT -6
Well, Glen, and George, I suppose you've talked me into doing just that. As soon as it gets light enough to see, I'll start a new Heavy Hitter Photo thread. Right now, I'm taking a breathing treatment in the dark, to keep from waking everyone up, as I do every morning at 5:00 am.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 17, 2019 22:33:39 GMT -6
My favorite part of the garden is the last side of the last row of okra. I finally got there by about 11:30 pm, tonight, after picking 49 pounds of tender pods, using a headlamp. Sometimes, I pick my okra at night, to beat the summer heat.
I'll be so glad when August is over and done. I'm tired of sweating through two pairs of clothing each day, then taking a third shower before I can even go to bed at night.
The irony of it all, was that I had no okra this morning (Saturday morning) for the Farmers Market, because the pod growth timed out wrong and they needed to be picked on Saturday night, rather than on Friday night. On Saturday morning, they were only about an inch long.
Oh well, I'll have plenty of tender okra to give away at Church on Sunday morning. That is always a 'happy making' thing to do. I enjoy having surplus.
God, takes really good care of me; and for that, I am truly thankful.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 19, 2019 14:07:57 GMT -6
IT'S HOT !!! The okra is back up and going strong! I've picked 45 pounds so far, today. I'm not finished picking it yet, I just got roasted off my job for a while. It's 97 degrees out there, with 50% humidity and a heat index of 108 degrees. I drank four bottles of water and still got a migraine headache from the poor working conditions.
I had to mow the lawn earlier this morning, rather than picking my okra when it was decent outside. That caused me to get a late start on the garden. It was already 90 degrees by the time I got finished cutting the grass. I might call it a day until this evening when the sun goes down. I think I'll end up with about 60 pounds of tender pods by day's end.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 19, 2019 22:30:21 GMT -6
Yesterday, I picked 75 pounds of okra by 11:30 pm but I still didn't get finished. I need to pick again tonight, or else, I'll be picking again tomorrow morning before it gets hot. Sometimes, having one of the world's most productive strains of okra is kind of hard on a guy. (I'm glad I only planted three and a half rows.)
I have more okra ready to pick tonight, at 11:00 pm, than I have buckets to put it all in. (I have 6 buckets). They hold 4 gallons each. Each bucket is already brim full of okra for tomorrow's Farmers Market. I'm not going to pick it tonight though. I'll pick tomorrow morning at 6:30, I'll have to or else my pods will all get too tough and have to be fed to the hogs. My local okra market is not as large as my supply of okra this year.
Actually, that happens nearly every year. I grow more okra than the market will bear. That's why I price it below retail. I need to be able to move vast quantities of okra in a relatively short period of time. My season only lasts about 8 weeks. I'm already approaching the 700 pound mark on harvested pods. That's nearly 100 pounds of okra per week. (Lately, I've been harvesting, 1" inch to 2" inch, pickling size pods, just to be able to get more of them to fit into a bucket) My customers are getting a really great deal because pickling size pods usually sell at a premium and I am still selling at $2.50 per pound. That's about $1.50 below retail.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 21, 2019 9:04:57 GMT -6
Okay, I'm done picking okra for the day, at least until nightfall anyhow. I have 110 pounds of tender pods on hand. The Wednesday Market opens at 4:00 pm and I still need to eat breakfast and go pick my tomatoes.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 23, 2019 17:39:57 GMT -6
Hey, Bon, You Go Girl!!!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 24, 2019 13:42:20 GMT -6
Bon,
I used to use a knife to harvest okra, but after a few hundred pounds of pods, I would have to wrap my thumb in masking tape because the skin would become so thin. Finally, my Son bought me some little pruning shears that sure work a lot better than the knife ever did.
I still accidentally top plants from time to time, but usually because of poor vision. I was out there in the garden, last night with a headlamp on. I topped at least one plant, in the dark. I couldn't pick okra during the day, yesterday, because of heavy rains, so I picked okra until almost midnight. I ended up with 135.2 pounds of it by the time Farmers' Market opened this morning.
I sold every last pod of it before noon. Then, when I came home, my wife said, "Do you have any okra left?" She was wanting to dehydrate a batch of it. Now I'll have to go pick her some when it cools off a little.
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Post by glen on Aug 26, 2019 22:13:40 GMT -6
I like the new thread Ron. Beautiful photo's. Best of luck on the new skyrocket trait! First time I had heard of it.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 28, 2019 15:00:21 GMT -6
Thanks, Glen. I first observed the "Sky Rocket" trait last Autumn. This will be my second year to get that tri-fruiting variation. The Sky Rocket mutation produces three pods at every node, rather than just one per node. I'll try to post photos of this phenomena. Sky Rocket, stage one. Three pods have developed at a single fruit node on this plant. Sky Rocket, stage two, and stage three is coming in at the very top. Each node has three pods to equal 9 pods between three nodes, rather than only three pods, as you would normally get for three nodes. These Sky Rocket plants are well grounded, to stand the extra burden of heavy pod production. When these branches are loaded with mature pods, they are incredibly heavy. Smaller branches would break off under the added weight.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 30, 2019 4:04:10 GMT -6
A lot of times, tip curl is caused by insect bites along one side of the newly forming pod. Sometimes, it may be a genetic defect, as one side grows faster than the other, but usually, it's caused by bug bites. I throw the curly pods away.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 31, 2019 22:03:38 GMT -6
Usually, I blame okra pod curl on stink bugs biting it when it's only first coming out of the blossom. Though, I'm not sure exactly what causes it?
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 3, 2019 22:32:06 GMT -6
AshLee is down for the weekend and has to leave tomorrow, so we've been up all evening, pickling baby okra for her to take back to Mid-West City. We got 12 pints pickled and tucked away in the refrigerator so they will be nice and crispy when they're done.
(One pint per month, to last her for a year).
To see the pickle recipe we used, follow the link below.
Read more: seedsavingnetwork.proboards.com/thread/82/okra-recipies?page=3#ixzz5yWlftn8P
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 4, 2019 13:50:10 GMT -6
Bon,
That pickled okra recipe can be found on page one of the Okra Recipe Thread. It's the second recipe from the top, called, "Mom's Pickled Okra."
seedsavingnetwork.proboards.com/thread/82/okra-recipies?page=1
There ought to be plenty of electrolytes there for sure! Good for hot Summer labor and lots of sweating going on.
Large batch pickled okra brine recipe for Bon:
One gallon white vinegar
4 cups of purified water
28 Tablespoons of pickling salt = 1 & 3/4 cups.
Stir ingredients together and heat to nearly boiling to dissolve salt into brine mixture. Add spices to each jar, pack with baby okra. Then, pour brine over baby okra pods, leaving 1/2" an inch head-space at the top of each jar ... (For spice, I add one teaspoon dill seed to the top of each pint jar, one or two cloves of garlic, and one skinny, hot, red pepper.) Sometimes, I omit the pepper. Not everyone likes their pickled okra that hot.
***Important Note:*** These will be refrigerator pickles, since I used no hot water bath to process them. That way, they will always be crunchy. The hot water bath method is required to securely seal the jars for pantry storage, but it causes the final product to be mushy because of boiling temperatures.*** For that reason, I store all my pickled okra in refrigeration until they are consumed.
Read more: seedsavingnetwork.proboards.com/thread/82/okra-recipies?page=3#ixzz5yaY41HJQ
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Post by hedgeapple on Sept 12, 2019 20:08:03 GMT -6
Well, well, well... Just got my new book in from Sow True Seed entitled "The Whole Okra" by one Chris Smith. 257 pages dedicated exclusively to okra in all its forms and uses. Ron Cook's Heavy Hitter is photographed and described among all the other okra luminaries. Congratulations, Ron!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 14, 2019 17:55:49 GMT -6
Thanks, Hedgeapple.
Starting in the Spring of 2020, Baker Creek Rare Seeds will be featuring Heavy Hitter Okra too. I don't know what their price structure will be yet. I suppose we'll all just have to wait and see. I haven't sent them any seeds yet.
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