over the fence chat for 8-19 through 8-25-2001

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We had RAIN!! The first in so very long and already things look green again. We have been fortunate this year to get BOTH the second and third cutting of hay into the barn without ever getting it wet and it smells and looks so good. I keep a little log of what I put in the freezer and what I can for a number of reasons. One so I will know what I have and it won't get lost or forgotten and also to get a better idea of what we actually use in a year. Already I have over 250 jars and bags of veggies and fruit and I have done no tomatoes, grape juice, sour kraut or applesauce yet. We have such abundance and I feel so wealthy when the barn, pantry and root cellar are just bulging.

Gary has only 8 days until his surgery on his shoulder so he is rushing around trying to get done what he can. We are hoping that the 6 to 8 week recovery period they are talking about after a rotator cuff repair will not be so, but preparing for the worse. He has actually accepted some HELP from a couple of friends that are going to cut some wood for us. I was fully prepared to do it myself as I sure did it for a lot of years when it was just me and the kids. (still very grateful for the help as the big fall cleaning of the barns etc. will take a lot of time)

Well, just rambling. Anxious to hear all about Sherri's trip. I think she needs to start a herb column and share all her freshly gleaned knowledge with us. Joy, how was the Renn Fair?? John, you haven't told us about your MIL lately....is she still with you?? David and Kim, have you fallen into the canning kettle and can't get out?? So many questions I have this morning. hugs and love to all

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2001

Answers

Yes! It is the height of canning season here too! Our old apple tree, bears every other year, and this was the year for it! It is so full! They are so pretty! One side Of the apple Red, the other yellow and green, little apples they are. Don't know what kind of old tree it is. But I just love the applesause from them, also making pie filling and spicecd apples, I have to make a little spiced apples everyyear, just for the pretty.

I'm gonna try to make a swirled applesause, where you use citric acid on half of the sause, not on the other, and in the dark half you use brown suger and cinnimon, which make it darker ,anad in the light half only white suger, then I'm gonna swirl it into the jar, light, then dark, well it's an idea, I will see how it goes! When I make my jar of applesause for the fair , I use citric acid and white suger as the judges expect applesause to be fair. But at home we believe that the best applesause is dark, with brown suger and lots of cinnonmin, Yum!

Had to stop apples and do some tomatoes yesterday. Make Ketsup. Yum I love homemade ketshup. Tomorrow or the next day. It will be Peaches. It's wonderful when we have peaches, as lots of times they got frosted in the spring here, and we have to fight the fungus. But this year, we have gotton all the fungus that we can find, and the tree is so loaded that it's branches are pruning themselves. Oh goodie, ! here comes spiced peaches, peach pie filling and peach nector. I LOVE peach nector, comes from heaven , I am sure!

Yesterday made a blackberry, peach cobler. That disapeared. Still picking blackberrys too, most of them are going straight into the freezer, as I have no time to make Jam right now!

There is a beautiful dark blue storm coming, Must sign off. Love TRen

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2001


Diane, I was just reading (& responding) about your eggplants over on CS. It sounds like you may have some oriental type eggplants. I see adverts from Japan with what looks like baby eggplants that are over a foot long, I'd hate to see what the adult ones look like! Are yours more cylindrical rather than oval in shape? The ones in Japan are odd looking since I'm used to our sort of 'pear' shaped ones, but they come in neat colours, like white, green, rose, lavender striped rose, white streaked purple, and so on.

We had a couple rainy overcast days where I didn't get out into the garden (too much else going on), and when I did, there was a whole flock of green torpedoes nestled under the zucchini leaves. Now I've got to figure out what to do with the darn things. No one will eat zucchini bread (some of us have flour allergies, some just flat won't eat it), I've still got a million pickles from last year, so I don't think I want to do that with it....where's some chickens when you need them? (oh yeah, allergic to THEM too! Doggone it.) I wonder if the rabbit can possibly eat it all....somehow I doubt that.

The Bun turns out not to be BunBoy after all...she's apparently HoneyBun (or Hop Sing), and having a false pregnancy. I was pretty worried for a while there and had to go back and find out when I got her, because I was not counting on raising a bunch of babies to try and find homes for too. Any idea how long I should wait before pulling out all that mess of hair in her box and get rid of it? I've put her onto two papaya/pineapple tablets a day so she hopefully won't get a hairball, as well as more hay, but she was just carrying the hay into the box and using that for her nest as well.

I think that the shallots should come up now. The tops are pretty well down, and I pulled a few experiementally that were rather disappointing (maybe because the volunteer potato came up and shaded them). The ones that were out in direct sun look HUGE. I plan to peel and freeze the little ones, and dry the big ones. This is my first time growing shallots, so I'm sort of wandering on, doing what it looks like I should be doing. I think I'll be digging up potatoes in the next couple days as well, once time permits and maybe the soil gets a little bit drier so it's not as heavy digging. That'd probably make all of you with clay gardens laugh, since ours is mostly sand, but it still gets heavy. Then I have to think about how I'm going to dry them all and where to store them. The plastic bucket trick worked pretty well last winter, I think the green ones blocked more light than the white ones.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2001


I'm back! I had a great time, although the weather was less than co- operative. The rain did let up around sunset on Saturday and I got to see a fully complete double rainbow over the campsite. Very cool.

I'll write more later. Right now all I want is a hot shower, a hamburger, and my own warm bed! :)

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2001


hey packrat...or would that be julie.....thanks for the egg plant info, haven't been over to cs yet but did manage to find the seed catalog that I ordered the egg plant seed from and discovered I had ordered "Green Goddess" which is in fact an oriental eggplant and is suppose to be green. It is also supposed to be best if picked by 8" long so I have got to pick and feed to the lucky chicken. TONS of little ones and TONS of blossoms. Funny thing is the discription was right there for me to read when I ordered but I was looking at the picture and they had the wrong picture by the discription and I did the assume thing and walla..........green egg plant. Can't wait to hear about the herb fest Sherri!!!

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2001

Hi.

Yuck! Aphids all over the tops of a few of my corn plants!!! Even with a few lady bugs on there, they were taking over. I cut the tops of the plants off...hope everything already got pollinated enough.

We are going hiking in the wee a.m. so I have to get off my peecee and go to bed! We had our church picnic/barbecue this afternoon. The sun was out and we played croquet and ate too much.

I hope to read stuff from some folks that haven't been posting lately....everyone must be busy putting up food. My stuff isn't even ready to pick yet! Beans are just starting to blossom...rain in the forecast...time to get the hay delivered (means a deep-cleaning of the barns again...ugh.........)

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001



The hay is in,the mare is bred (Ihope)My hens are laying eggs we can't fit in the egg cartons.My eldest son ,21,gave his sweetie a ring, so next year ...a wedding!!My 10 year old daughter and I chopped all the burdock and thistle out of the pasture.I am going to a portage in -canoe trip next week with my husband and 18 year old son .Zucchini.Zucchini.Zucchini.Need i say more.I do have a fabulous relish recipe if anyone is interested.The calendula is on ,and producing well, but my arnica looks pretty sad.Started some white Echinacea this year too.My littlest (6) is thrilled to have giant pumpkins growing in amongst his corn.We live north of y'all so nothing is really ready to can yet,and we got a late start due to a damp spring.We have had rain here for two glorious days.The ground is so dry we lost a lawn chair leg in a crack today!!!!I have made a garden angel outside that is a meter high and is made of twigs,moss ,chicken wire and birch,really quite elegant in my rustic little garden!!The horse shows here start in a week or so and then things wil really fly,canning ,homeschoolin',drying the herbs,straw to get in yet,a barn to stain,wood to haul.And guess what my husband did to surprise me????I went to teach at a mentor camp for a week and he gutted the upstairs bedrooms(our house is 150 yrs old)He really wanted to surprise me and he did it in a hurry,hit a wasp nest and got stung really bad.Apparently could'nt see his knuckles, for a day or two cuz his hand swelled so bad.Has anyone noticed that the bees and hornets are super aggressive this year? Diane ,hope all goes well with Gary's surgery,my husband had similar,he ripped the cartilage out of his knee and had surgery on it 2 yrs. ago in the fall.If you can get your hands on some homeopathic arnica,or traumeel you may find it speeds up healing. love and killer dustbunies, teri

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I'm back home now, still trying to get "back to normal" -- not sure what that is, really.

I hope that Gary's surgery does go smoothly with a short recovery time (but don't let him overdo it!). Just don't kill yourself trying to take up the slack! I second the arnica notion. It's not supposed to go on open wounds, so taken orally would probably be the better route.

Hey Teri, about stings, I have found that lavender essential oil is WONDERFUL for reducing the pain. It also is marvelous for burns. Burnt my finger tip on Thursday (hot oven rack), put on lavender immediately, then ice, then more lavender. It soon stopped hurting, though it was tender the rest of the evening. Since then it has not hurt at all, and though I can still see where it was, it if almost gone. I used it several years ago on a THIRD-degree burn (fortunately a very small one, about dime size) -- same thing, although I had to apply for several days under a bandage. It never scarred.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001


Teri, What an interesting and buzy post! You really should put that in your journal to keep forever. Someday when you are old! YOu will look back on that and start wondering, how you ever did it all. Love TRen

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Teri, I'd *love* to have some seeds from your white echinacea if you wouldn't mind saving some for me. Are there any herb seeds that you need, maybe we could do a swap?

I got to meet my favorite author, David Hoffman, at Herbfest. I had been trying to locate his book on Welsh Herbalism for several years without any luck. He was speaking on that topic so I showed up a little early in hopes of asking him if the book was still in print. He had copies of the book with him for sale and even autographed one for me! He's a very interesting person, he lived at Findhorn in Scotland for a while before starting his own herbal practice in Wales. He said something in one of his lectures that really struck a chord with me: "The most important thing in herbalism is not learning which herb to take when you have the flu. The most important thing to learn is how to hug a tree and feel it hugging you back."

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001


Wow...my worst nightmare has always been getting up close and personal with a wasp's nest!! I can remember when Hubby and I had a dairy cow and no pasture fencing up yet. Since all animals have always been my responsibility, I had to stake her out on a huge 4 ft. crowbar that I'd drive into the ground with a sledge hammer. This is how we pastured her. I'd move her twice a day. Picture this...me holding onto an 1100 lb. Holstein with a 30 ft. rope, and driving that crowbar in the ground. You know how "frisky" some cows can be!! Well, she was very frisky one time and I was having a H... of a time holding her and when I turned around to calm her down she was covered with yellowjackets!! My pounding on the ground drove them crazy and they went after the darkest object they could find. I had to let go of her rope so that she could get away! She escaped alright...then went and visited the neighbor's corn field. She actually was only stung a few times! Wasn't long after that I decide that goats were looking better and better!!

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001


Hello everyone, I am back from Florida. I had posted to the welcome back Phyllis and said that we were so busy all summer and headed to Florida. We drove down to Michael's aunt's house in Sunrise FL. and we visited there for a couple days. We went to Ft. Lauderdale beach and shopped in the river front stores, then went up to Orlando and went to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Seaworld. We had alot of fun there, with Seaworld being my favorite. We also went for a day to North Hollywood beach and rode a big wooden roller coaster there by a big arcade place called Boomers. We had never been to Florida and it was nice. The weather was hot and humid and no breeze. Michael's aunt was thrilled to see us acually come. She said that noone in her family ever comes to see her. We were only the second of her family to come to Florida for a visit. She was very nice and drove us everywhere and opened her home to us. She says that she wants to come up here now and show her youngest son Bobby, who is 12, a different life style. She wants him to see the farm and what we do and how the kids lifes are different. I don't know if she will get him to come or not. Everthing had gone pretty well for my sister, who was keeping up with all my animals and the garden while I was gone. One of the dogs had gotten bitten by something in the hind leg and she doctored him , she had a minor problem with locking herself out of my house. Then having her daughter crawl through the window and let her in. She picked the tomatoes and corn from my garden and cut the corn off and gave it to grandma, and also the tomatoes. My niece Samantha thought that doing my chores was like the Arthur book something about a pet store. So my sister said that she would play like it was her pet store and she had fun. We came home last night and there are so many apple and pears down on the ground. So the children have been out picking them up today and Michael has been hauling feed for the pigs. I helped him unload a couple loads and have tried to get the laundry caught up. I took grandma to the store this morning and I think she really missed me. I am back to babysitting my nephew Curtis tomorrow and I just had to go see him last night when I got home. He will be two in Sept. and just growing up too fast. I must get some supper for the family and the children also start back to school tomorrow. So to bed early for them and up and at it in the morning. I read one of your postings and it said something about a rabbit pulling hair and making a nest. If its a female, she will make a nest anywhere from 1 to 1 1/2 weeks before they have them or I have had some does that wait till the day before. If you know for sure her 1 month is up and she is not having them, you could take the nest out any time. I hope I havn't board you all and I like reading your words. bye for now Phyllis

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

You didn't bore me, Phyllis, but you did wear me out! Must nap now, I think! ;-)

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Well did you get your nap Joy? I sure have been tired since our return. Don't know if you could call it jetlag or what. It was a nice breezy day here today. I picked two 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes and will get them canned in the morning. Got the kids off to school and my nephew was back today. He was so onry! Had to make another trip back to walmart tonight for special things the teachers wanted for my son. The weather lady said we are to get back into hot and humid weather here and just as the kids go back to school. The dogs seem very happy that we are home. They just play and play. I will check on everyone tomorrow and see who has posted. Phyllis

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

glad to see you back phyllis. TWO buckets of tomatoes??? I am so jealous. I have not had a ripe one yet, nor have my neighbors.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Well, I got those tomatoes canned and that made for a long day. Then I picked up more pears and took them to my grandma's down the road. She ended up having me pick peaches and sent them home with me. So now I am doing peaches today. I have to dig up Maranda's (my daughter) potatos soon too. Something has ate all the green leaves and so I will just have her dig them for I figure they have done all they are going to do. Also the apples are falling and we pick them up and give them to the pigs. I will pick some soon and get them put in the freezer. My brother loves for me to make fried apples and the rest of us like those good ole apple pies. Well, sent the kids off to school for the third day today. Sure is quiet around here. Justin is getting along fine so far but Maranda has already got a teacher she doesn't much like. I told her to give her a chance and maybe she will seem different. She is in 5th grade and this year they started them going across the school to another teacher for math. When they use to switch just between rooms side by side. It a new superintendent and principal this year and alot has changed for them. This is our 4th new super in the last 6 years or so. I dont' know why we keep losing them. Justin thought the last one was like being in the army, but he says this one may be worse. I have my nephew Curtis today again and he is playing with his trucks and tractors right now. He will be two sept. 17. He is finally starting to talk a little more. But the potty training will be awhile yet I'm afraid. I need to get busy and I hope that everyone is well Phyllis

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001


hey phyllis, I have never heard of fryed apples. How do you fix them?? Sounds really intersting.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Hi diane, I take and slice apples into a skillet not real thick. They will cook down so I usually make a whole big skillet full. I put in butter or margarine and sugar and cook under medium heat. The apples will make alot of juice and stir frequently. Cook down until almost all the juice is gone and apples are tender. You will have to try and get them to a sweetness of your liking. I have no measurements of butter or sugar, try about 4 to 5 Tblspoons of butter and 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar. Let me know if this makes any sence and if you try it. Someone in the family use to put a dash of cinnamon in it too , but we like it better without it. Phyllis

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

White sugar or brown sugar? MMMMM, I think I'd try brown, unless you tell me that gets too dark or burns or something.

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

Hmmm, I've never tried brown sugar on them. We've been known to sprinkle a scant handful of red-hot candies on top when we start to cook them, but you have to add a bit of water so the candies don't stick to the skillet. We also use the red-hots in stewed apples sometimes - they look bright and pretty on the table, good cold too!!

Hey Cass!! I'm starting to get some eggs from the chickens you gave me - even though they are younger than the others, maybe it's because they are light breeds. Dumplin' (the rooster) is mighty proud of his harem, but we're gonna have to sign that boy up for some crowin' lessons. Instead of going Err-err-err-ROO!; he goes Err, um, pardon me, what was I saying, err, oh yeah - ROO! He misses a syllable or two in there somewhere. Haven't caught John out sharpening the hatchet with that certain gleam in his eye yet, so I reckon they have decided to peacefully co-exist. He did mention putting the chicken house over on the west side of the shed, where the sun won't reach it 'til later in the morning, tho!!

The garden has gone to heck in a handbasket - weeds everywhere! We've been getting melons out the whazoo and cukes and okra (yechh!); small pear tomatoes are starting to come on and I have managed to can a whole 7 pints so far! Wooo-hooo, we'll eat good this winter!! My green beans got let go too long while I was working; maybe next year I'll learn to just say no to overime! My butter beans seem to be doing okay - now do I let those dry on the vine or pick and shell them green? I'm getting ready to go pull the Cleome out of the front flower bed - just can't take that smell anymore!! I'm thinking it would look awfully pretty somewhere else - maybe across the road or over at the neighbors! I'm still collecting Hollyhock and a few of the balsam seeds are ripening - my friend Jan has a beautiful patch of zinnias this year, a midnight seed head raid might be in order!!

Well, I've finally got a couple of days off work (and I'm NOT answering the phone - I MEAN IT this time!!) Our community is having it's annual Harvest Picnic - just a little gathering in the park. There are a few carnival games for the kids, all kinds of fund raising raffles including quilts and crafts and oil changes and haircuts....The Kiwanis (Pop and cronies) have a hot dog and Polish sausage tent and also sell soda pop, the FFA sells elephant ears, the Dare group does Sno-Cones and the politicians shake hands. We can go look at the snakes in the Corp of Engineer's wagon, check out the giant tomato that Bill dropped off at the newspaper office at their display and see all the folks we haven't seen for the past year and catch up on the gossip -er, I mean news! Then, it's over to the pavilion; where tonight, grilled pork chops are on the menu - along with baked beans from a secret recipe that the same family has been doing for years and years now. After that, gotta have a piece of Homemade pie from one fund raising group and top it with ice cream from yet another; I'm goin' for Annabelle's apricot pie tonight, Hubby will undoubtably go for her sister's Blu-barb pie! We'll watch the local pon-pom squad perform and toss a couple dollars in the bucket that gets passed around during the performance. Then,we'll all stand with our hands over our hearts as the band for the evening performs the National Anthem before they start in playing country music. If old Bill has had a couple of snorts, he might even be willing to buck dance for us - let's see if the band can keep up with him!! I'll make Hubby go through the Fun House with me - doubt if I can talk him into sneaking a smooch in the haunted maze like in years past, but there is always hope!! Then, I'll gather up my free yardstick courtesy of the hardware store, and my emory board and pens from the politician and head for home - well, after I stop by the cotton candy booth, that is!! Friday night, I'm going to do the same thing over again, except the band will be playing 50's and 60's rock 'n roll, and ribeyes and fried walley are on the menu. I think I'll bow out of the limbo contest this year, but I'm still considering that I might have a shot in the Twist contest - in the 40 and over age catagory!!

And speaking of porkchops, it's time to go pull on a clean dress and head to town!

Wishin' you all some happy times,

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001


Polly, I put those redhots in my applesauce.....the grandkids love it and it looks so pretty on the shelf. Phyllis....hubby is looking forward to me making the fryed apples. I was thinking bown sugar also joy....like peach upside down cake. Got to be wonderful!!!

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

I use white sugar on mine, but I bet brown would be good. I'll have to try that on my family, don't know how my brother Phillip would like that. Nice hearing from Polly again. I got a few peaches done, just to eat. Tomorrow I plan to do a pie and some jam. My grandma called and said that the grapes were ready too. From one thing to another , to another and so on. I must go for now and get my beauty rest and so I can get the kids up at 6am. Phyllis

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001

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