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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 10, 2017 21:52:27 GMT -6
We had a great seed savers meeting today ... George and Hank, thank you for all the seeds. I had lost all my Roselle seeds to freezing. You guys saved the day.
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Post by macmex on Dec 11, 2017 5:11:25 GMT -6
I guess one good turn deserves another! I'd lost our lemon grass, and now I have a new start!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 18, 2017 19:55:26 GMT -6
I'm still enjoying pumpkins from the Fall harvest, via a fresh batch of George's Pumpkin Atole Recipe. No wonder the Pilgrims liked squash so much, they store almost as well as sweet potatoes. Which makes me wonder if sweet potatoes would work as a substitute in the Atole recipe?
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 21, 2017 21:08:54 GMT -6
Today was the first day of Winter. It was a sunny 70 degrees. Tomorrow night, there's a 50% chance of snow.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Dec 22, 2017 17:05:17 GMT -6
George,
Thanks for stopping by with the Old-Timey Cornfield Pumpkins and the Chili Rayado seeds. Did I spell that right?
We'll be making Pumpkin Atole for Christmas now.
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Post by macmex on Dec 22, 2017 22:02:21 GMT -6
Yep, that's spelled right. Glad you will enjoy them!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 11, 2018 21:55:42 GMT -6
I'm still getting turnips and Jerusalem Artichokes from the Fall garden. My Austrian Winter peas look out of place amongst the dead grasses of Winter. It's 17 degrees right now, with a howling 30 mph wind. despite that, my sweet potatoes inside the house are starting to sprout on their own.
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Post by macmex on Jan 12, 2018 6:52:35 GMT -6
I have a tray of Cook Family Heirloom sweet potatoes, which survived the summer on the roof of our pump house, with little watering. I lost the whole crop in the garden, so I'm trying to nurse these through for spring planting. So, every day I have to move them from the sun porch into the house and then, when it's warm on the sun porch, back out there for some light!
I very nearly lost my Brinkley White sweet potatoes, due to rodents. I believe I have four tiny little roots stashed. I need to get them started soon, so they don't shrivel up an die.
Our turnips look awful. Though, I know that some will survive, hopefully enough to make seed.
I haven't dug Jerusalem artichokes yet. I know we have a WHOLE LOT of them! What a great crop for production!
Ron, you gave me a pawpaw last summer. I saved the seed and set them to stratifying in the fridge. Apparently, though, someone (maybe even myself) through them out when cleaning the fridge! I just ordered to small pawpaw trees from Oikos Tree Crops. I REALLY want to get some going, now that you explained their special requirements, while they're small. Years ago I tried twice to grow pawpaws. But each time I planted them, the little trees would peter out during the heat of the summer.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 17, 2018 9:39:10 GMT -6
Don't feel bad, I've never been able to get my pawpaw seeds through the Winter months either. Something bad always happens to them (probably around the Holidays) and they get dried out.
When I order seedlings, I stake two of those Atwood's coffee bean sacks by each pawpaw seedling, one on the Southeast, and one on the Southwest side of the seedling, to form a 90 degree "V" about 12" to 18" inches out from the trunk. The coffee bean sacks are stretched across three, 4" foot re-bars that are driven into the ground deep enough to prevent the wind from wrecking your burlap sunscreen during a Spring storm. I either skewer the burlap sacks over the re-bars or tie them on using bailing wire. It takes about two years for the heavy burlap sacks to rot. That's about as long as the seedlings need sunscreen, so it works out pretty good.
They need hand watering in the heat of Summer. I mulch mine with sweet potato vines, and straw, to preserve moisture. The sweet potato vines help keep the mulch in place from my chickens who constantly try to scratch it all back every day. Chickens don't like to get their feet wet, so watering helps deter them some. I fill a wheelbarrow with water and use that to pour water on my trees. One wheelbarrow load of water will do two fruit-bearing trees in dry weather. Seedlings don't need quite so much.
A few years ago, I rigged up a tree watering jig for Gerald Trammel, using a blue plastic fruit juice barrel turned on its side in the back of his truck. It sits on a 2x4 cradle made of old pallet lumber. The 2" inch hole on top is for filling the barrel with water. The 2" inch hole on the bottom is reduced down to a water hose bib attachment.
Some people use those barrels to build a 'water wagon' to pull behind a riding mower or a 4 wheeler. Pinterest has some nice photos of homemade water wagons.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 20, 2018 19:55:45 GMT -6
I'll bet my Fall turnips are toast now! I went out a couple days ago when it was -2 degrees and they were frozen as hard as billiard balls! I couldn't even kick one loose, much less pull one up by hand.
I haven't been back out there since the thaw.
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Post by macmex on Jan 21, 2018 5:41:54 GMT -6
I don't know why, but I always have a couple which survive, no matter how cold it gets. We'll see. That was some EXTREME cold!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 21, 2018 20:40:23 GMT -6
Today, it got up to 70 degrees right before it rained. The ground is still frozen about three inches below the mud. The ice under the sidewalks at Church was making the concrete sweat all day. It was weird.
The few turnips I saw this afternoon were sluffing off flesh about a half inch thick from being frozen. (They were softball sized turnips close to the edge of the field). I didn't venture into the mud. I'm like you though, I've rarely seen a year that a few didn't survive.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 29, 2018 21:10:54 GMT -6
I've taken advantage of a few of these nice 60 degrees days to haul out and stack some of my 220 tomato cages. I've got a long, long ways to go, but at least I've got a good start on that arduous task now.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 11, 2018 7:24:24 GMT -6
No Church this morning. It was canceled due to the ice storm and a case of the flu that's been going around. It's 25 degrees this morning and slicker than all get out. Today is the first day all year that it's really looked like Winter, because of all the icicles hanging from our eves.
The reason I'm writing today is that we're having deer stew with Jerusalem Artichokes and onions (all from our garden). It sure feels nice to finally be eating the deer that ate my sweet potato vines all Summer. The sweet potatoes won't be joining us for lunch, thanks to the deer, we had such a light harvest that we ran out of those about two weeks ago.
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Post by macmex on Feb 11, 2018 7:46:15 GMT -6
We had such a light sweet potato harvest that we had to purchase them for Thanksgiving and I am pretty sure we lost one or two varieties for the upcoming year! It is fitting, though, that you feast on venison! We'll abstain from eating the rats and voles that ate ours
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