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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 10, 2023 10:25:39 GMT -6
Don't worry Woodeye,
Remember those old, "NEVER GIVE UP" posters with that frog choking a stork?
That's me. I'm too thick-headed to give up.
www.middletownbiblechurch.org/christia/ngiveup.htm
Two frogs fell into a can of cream
Or so I've heard it told
The sides of the can were shiny and steep,
The cream was deep and cold.
“0 what's the use,” croaked Number One,
‘Tis fate; no help around.
Goodbye my friends, Goodbye sad world!”
And weeping still he drowned.
But Number Two, of sterner stuff
Dog paddled in surprise
The while he wiped his creamy face
And dried his creamy eyes.
“I'll swim awhile, at least,” he said—
Or so I've heard he said;
“It really wouldn't help the world
If one more frog were dead.”
An hour or two he kicked and swam,
Not once he stopped to mutter,
But kicked and kicked and swam and kicked,
Then hopped out, on the butter!
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Post by woodeye on Jul 18, 2023 18:41:43 GMT -6
Ron and Margaret were kind enough to send some fresh okra pods home with me Saturday. Knowing that I could not match Margaret's excellence in the frying of the okra, I also knew that I had no other choice but to fry it up and see how it turned out.
Complicating the process was the fact that I could not find any cornmeal in the freezer even though I KNOW there is some in there somewhere. Faced with resolving this crisis by any means possible, I looked extensively in other freezer, but the only thing that had cornmeal in it was Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix. So that is what I coated the okra with, then used corn oil to fry it in my big electric skillet.
I have to admit, it was pretty good cooked like that. Oh, I made gravy to go on it, Margaret got me started on that...👍
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 20, 2023 9:38:38 GMT -6
I don't think any King ever ate better than fried chicken, gravy, fried okra, and a garden ripe tomato.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 14, 2023 16:08:01 GMT -6
I had fried okra this year, first in about 3 years. The chickens have had WAY more okra than me, but I caught a few pods and fried them up right away. I did not share. I ate them all by myself.
In a pinch, flour will coat okra just fine, too. Salt, garlic powder, maybe onion powder, a touch of cayenne and cumin. Super yum.
I prefer half flour and half cornmeal (usually Mesa Harina). The thicker the egg wash, the denser the coating. Single layer onto a cookie sheet to flash freeze, then bag them up to quickly fry up later.
Freezing in this way makes good use of the tougher pods that got away from me.
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Post by Tucson Grower on Aug 14, 2023 16:30:33 GMT -6
This morning my breakfast was 3-4 pods, each, from about 8 different okra varieties. I like mine, raw. Cooked okra is just fine, but I like them, raw, the best. I ate mine, right after picking them, at about 7:30 am. Yum, yum. I find it amazing that most are the same species of plant, considering that the plants, flowers, and fruits are so different in appearance, texture, and flavor.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 15, 2023 8:08:08 GMT -6
There is likely no true evaluation for the nutrient density of eating raw freshly picked okra. Probably off the charts.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 18, 2023 11:11:49 GMT -6
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 23, 2023 8:21:30 GMT -6
I got up early this morning to go to the garden to pull weeds, and to pick some more okra for the dehydrator. I could tell right away that it was going to be a nasty hot day, because it was already 79° at 6:30 a.m. and humid as all get out.
I turned on my drip irrigation and worked, pulling several little red wagonloads of weeds for the rabbits. I worked until I was so soaking wet with sweat that I had to come back inside to throw all of my clothes in the washer.
To my great surprise, it was only 9:00 a.m. when I got back to the house. It was also already 86°. The humidity was holding right in there at 85%. The heat index was already at 99°. What!? a heat index of 99° at 9:00 a.m.? That just ain't right! I need to call my Congressman! There needs to be a law against a thing like that!
What ridiculously hot weather for 9:00 in the morning! I'll sure be happy when the remnants of tropical storm Harold have made their pass. How could a thing that never shed a drop of rain over us bring such high humidity?
By the time I finished writing this short note, it was already 88° with a heat index of 100°. If anyone has any animals outside this morning, please make sure they have plenty of shade and plenty of water. Today is already proving to be a miserably hot day and the sun is barely over the horizon.
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Post by macmex on Aug 23, 2023 10:01:46 GMT -6
On week days I only have the late afternoon hours to do outside work and that is mainly limited to caring for the animals. Last night I did do some watering. It is indeed miserable out there. I wring water out of my clothes after half an hour of work. It's even worse if I have to work with the sun on me.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 24, 2023 10:41:30 GMT -6
It's hard to imagine how this is possible two mornings in a row, but there was already a heat index of 107° by 10:30 a.m. this morning. The air temperature was already 95° and the humidity was at 53%.
The good news is, there are only 8 days left of August, so this can't last much longer.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 26, 2023 13:44:53 GMT -6
Today is Saturday, August 26th. It has been hotter than Satan's tailbone every day this week. it's currently 104° with a heat index of 118°. I'm so ready for this hot, humid, weather to break!
Some of my okra has not been successfully setting blooms lately. I think it's because the heat of the day shrivels the delicate parts of the flowers before they are pollinated, causing some of the pods to abort and fall off the plants as unformed buds.
That, and the grasshoppers have been playing havoc with the blossoms lately, crawling inside them to eat the succulent centers. (What I wouldn't give for a decent exorcism about right now!)
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 26, 2023 16:24:55 GMT -6
Yeah. I’m tired of sweating. I drive my son to work in the hottest portion of the day. This week we have been sweating bullets at 65mph with the windows Down. Even he is complaining. Would be nice to have a little a/c in the vehicle but the tires have systematically gone out on this truck, the steering gear box needs replaced on the other truck and the starter on the motorcycle just went out all while Bill is working graveyard, overtime and left without a cool place to work on the vehicles.
So, he was in West Tulsa, an industrial area at 3:30 in the morning when his bike wouldn’t start. His co workers helped him jump start it. Remember those days? I remember jump starting a VW Baja that I owned.
I’m still mowing the lawn with a weed eater, but I’m not complaining! As soon as I finished, it was time to start over. Have you noticed the hay bales? Copious amounts of hay harvests this year. Lots of animals are going to have full bellies this winter.
The washing machine screams when it’s running but it’s still working! Hahaha If it should break down, I’ll be doing laundry by hand in the heat. Vehicles first!
we could all do a lot more and in a more timely fashion if we didn’t need to overcome potential heat strokes while trying to get everything done.
The chickens have demolished all the beds and have even demolished some of the Trombocinos. My hands are tied.
Something needs to give! The heat is the worst!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 29, 2023 13:57:54 GMT -6
Thank goodness, my garden is so far from my house that my chickens rarely venture that far. Back when we lived in Hulbert the chickens destroyed my backyard garden. I finally had to build them a pen and just keep them fenced in. That worked out well. I don't think the chickens knew the difference.
It sure was nice to feel that North wind today. Even though the thermometer said the temperature was 89° it didn't feel like it because the humidity was a lot lower than it was last week. I'm loving this much-needed break in the weather!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 19, 2023 10:30:35 GMT -6
It hasn't rained here for so many weeks that it doesn't even seem like that could be a real possibility, but the weatherman is telling us that we have a 90% chance this evening and that there might not be a let up from it for several days running. (I believe it too, my joints are on fire with pain and my whiskers have been curling and trying to hide inside my ears and up my nose all day long).
So, I've been frantically harvesting and hauling out dried okra pods for seed ever since sunup in an attempt to beat the downpour. We've had a few sprinkles so far this morning, but nothing serious yet. I've got almost two 55-gallon barrels full of okra pods harvested so far and I'm not even halfway done yet.
My poor aching back! I just came inside for a few minutes to eat a quick bologna sandwich, take a breathing treatment, and try to rest my bones a little, then I'll get right back out there and do it again until the rain or sundown runs me off.
The grasshoppers have been costing me precious time this morning. I just cannot make myself not grab them up to chop their heads off every time I see one; which is just about every time I look down to cut another okra pod. My rows are about 150' feet long. I've harvested pods from both sides of 4 or 5 rows this morning. Because of that, there is a little trail of dead grasshoppers for about the equivalent of two football fields in length (a little over 600' feet). My chickens would absolutely love that kind of a feast, but I don't want to train them to follow me around in the garden. They have no filter when it comes to pecking ripe tomatoes, pecking my wife's favorite cantaloupe just as it's almost ripe enough to bring in, or an abilty to curb their desire to scratch up all of my seedlings in Spring.
They are such loyal creatures, you just gotta love 'em, but you also have to use discretion or you'll end up losing entire crops.
I do bring them back goodies from the garden though. I pull around a little red wagon with sideboards on it with two empty 5-gallon buckets to put my okra pods in. I have an old coffee can bailing wired to the back of the wagon boards to put grasshoppers in.
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Post by macmex on Sept 19, 2023 11:53:41 GMT -6
I'm kind of like you, Ron. Whenever I can lay a hand on a grasshopper in the garden, I pinch its head and toss it. Whenever possible I toss it outside of the garden with a brief hope that the poultry will pass by and eat it. Hope you get the seed in! I just got off Wednesday through Friday in order to catch up on things on the farm. I want rain but not steady, non stop rain. The Lord knows!
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