Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: May 29 ~ June 4, 2022

R

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Good Morning, All!

It's a pretty day here so far - sunshine and a light breeze! It's still in the low 60's right now, but it is supposed to warm up and hit a high of 84* today. I've managed to feed the feral kitty and the grand-dog, get the coffee pot going, throw a load of laundry in to the washer, feed the inside kitties, and fill the hummingbird feeders and put them out so far. We have to take the hummingbird feeders in at night now because of the rotten raccoons - which are gonna be composting raccoons if I catch them shinnying up the porch posts to get to the feeders again...

Now I'm plopped down at the kitchen island with my coffee and some coconut and banana pudding for breakfast - I'd planned to make myself an omelet but had to move the pudding to get to the half & half for my coffee; and somehow it came to the island with me... I'm blaming Dollar General - they had coconut cookies on the shelf right there at eye level when I zipped through the store the other day. I like to put a cookie in the bottom of the pudding jars, and to chop up a few more to sprinkle in layers with the pudding as I put it in the jars; about the only type I don't do that with is tapioca - which I'll be making a batch of later this morning. I keep my stock of tapioca vacuum sealed in canning jars except for the current use jar, but it can still dry out a bit in storage, so I have to bring the milk up to a nice warm temperature, then add the tapioca, cover the pot and let it rest for a bit for the tapioca to to start to plump up before I add the eggs , vanilla etc...

I just re-read that paragraph and the first thing that went through my mind is: SQUIRREL!! I'm just all over the place this morning :lol:

Hubby is still sleeping - he stayed up late last night to stream a motocross race that one of his co-workers was riding in, so I'm trying to stay at least a little quiet. I've got enough quiet inside work to keep me busy for a while - making up a batch of hummingbird feed, dishes, another load of laundry, sweeping up after the dog, toting things up and down from the pantry, etc.. Once Hubby is up and around, I'm going to head outside and fire up the tiller - it's going to be a pretty day to get my tilling and weeding done; and the ground should dry up well with the sun and wind we have coming. Then I need to work out my garden plan again - some goof-ball put their planting plan under a rock on on one of the porch tables... but apparently didn't use a big enough rock...

Well, I'd better get up and get some work done - I can hardly believe that it's almost June and I don't have my garden in the ground yet...

Take care, All - stay safe out there, and don't forget to honor those who gave their lives so that we could live ours in freedom... there is a portrait on my wall of one of those brave men...
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Good morning, Renee. Sounds like you have a pretty full day planned.

After our trip, yesterday, I was so tired I slept all night for a change. Got up this morning ready to start another hectic week. Weather is going to be beautiful all week. Sunny and hot, and possibly rain for Thursday. We'll need it by then.

Tomorrow is another canning day for me, while Cary continues to work on the firewood. Splitting and stacking. I've got another 6lbs of ground beef thawing in the fridge. We may go ahead and Miracle Gro the gardens again ahead of the next rain.

Tuesday, we have to take my car to the shop. We have to be there at 8am. Don't have any idea how long it will take to get it fixed. Depends, I guess, on what is wrong with the AC. I hope getting parts isn't an issue.

Thursday, shopping day in small town for groceries. I plan to stock up on just about everything, again. I don't think I'll shop at Sam's this go around. Those bulk items I usually buy are just getting too expensive for us, unless they are on sale.

Today, is home fellowship with family and friends. We're looking forward to hearing all about DS and DDIL's trip to the Gulf Coast over the past week. It's the first time DDIL has seen the ocean. I believe they stayed in Gulfport, MS. DDIL is from Montana where she has lived all her life, except for a small time in Idaho.

So, this is our planned week ahead. I hope everyone has a blessed one!
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
More of the same for us this coming week. I'm not sure what DH is working on, maybe more pickets for the fences. He's putting them in three places

His garden is looking good. We mostly have tomatoes planted, but he did plant some zucchini and those plants are huge, we'll see if they make any zucchini. We also have onions and garlic planted and I think he has strawberries in another garden. They never make it to the house, I think its a battle with him and the squirrils.

This is the first morning since my other chair died that I didn't wake up with a back ache. Now if my right knee will stop hurting I'll be in good shape, the Ouch stuff is the only thing that is helping. Thank you ST.

I've got no orders coming from wm and only a couple of small things from amazon. I look at the walmart website and there just isn't anything that appeals to me that I don't already have a good supply of. I'm blessed.
 
Sammy55

Sammy55

Veteran Member
I had a hard time finding my way back here! LOL! Come to think of it, I usually have a hard time finding my way someplace when someone else has driven the route before. And last time I was in this forum, I had followed someone else's directions. :p

But I wanted to share something.... My DH and I have done Memorial Day every year since we were married. In the early years, we used to bring his DM until she died in 1999. We used to bring our kids, but started leaving them home when they were old enough because all they did was complain. So for many years, we've done the cemetery rounds alone. We have about 200 miles to go to 4-5 cemeteries to take care of at least 6 grave sites. Both of our parents and both sets of grandparents for each of us. We used to go to another cemetery where my one great-grandfather and DH's great aunt/uncle are buried, but we dropped that off the list as we got older as it was just too much work.

So we did our Cemetery Rounds yesterday. Was a cool day, but I'd rather it was cooler than hotter. And at least it didn't rain like the weather threatened. We found that doing them all in one day, plus getting the flowers, was a LOT too much for our aging selves now. We wondered if any of our kids and grandkids will take over doing the cemetery work after we are gone? Probably not.... And that thought made both of us sad as we did our rounds yesterday.

All of these years, we've looked on these Memorial Day cemetery rounds days as being a solemn "duty" that we do to honor our ancestors. But we also look on it as being a mini-vacation. A time we get to hit the road for a day, explore the cemeteries, and eat 1-2 meals out (which we seldom do). And we don't forget the ice cream cone reward! Usually our trip costs about $60 total for gas, eats, and plants. This year, the plants cost about $50, the gas was $40, the eats out came to about $35. So over double the cost as usual! Next year - if there is a next year! - I'm going to make sandwiches (like I used to) and plant my own flowers to plant. And I'll get back to putting in perennials so there are less plants to put in, or maybe no plants in some cases.

This year, we did our trip. We had a nice time, DH and I, but worried about our own upcoming deaths. Will there be anyone to take care of our graves, much less our parents and grandparents? And the physical effort to do the work was almost more than we could handle. DH is still trying to gain back strength from his two-year battle with prostate cancer (and 9 months of chemo last year that almost killed him). I've got arthritis in my back and hip, my hip needs to be replaced, and a knee that hurts and needs a meniscus tear taken care of. But I can't do any of that until DH can take care of me for a few weeks. Plus, I do all the driving as he hasn't been able to drive for over a year. Who will drive me to my appointments and surgery? Son lives too far away and both son and daughter are "too busy."

I'm hoping to get our DGD and DGS to come up with us sometime this summer so we can show them where their ancestors are. And get them to help with raising a few stones and planting some lilac or rose bushes so that there is something more permanent there for years to come, in case no one takes over our job. At least our ancestors will have memory plants planted for them.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with someone my woes.... I worry about my DH and his cancer. I felt like the trip this year is maybe his last. His doc said that as long as this new chemo pill is working, that's great! But I got the feeling that he doesn't think it'll work for much longer. There is a new treatment coming, but it won't be ready for 6 months or more. If DH needs a new treatment, the only option right now is chemo, and the last round almost killed him. I think that DH would turn it down and just ride it out to the end. And then I'll be left alone. I'm trying to absorb and deal with that thought. It isn't easy, and I know many other women have gone through it.

Well, off the morose.

I'm (hopefully) going to be finished with the "catching up on housework" stuff by tomorrow. I'll do some today, but I'm still hurting after yesterday's trip. But I want to be done by tomorrow evening. We are going to take another trip this coming week for 3 days so I also need some time to get us packed up and ready to go. We're leaving Tuesday and coming home Thursday evening. Going to dig up some more genealogy info and the last few certificates (birth, death) that I need for my application for DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). I'm so excited!! I have another 4-5 or more lines that go back to the Revolution, but I need to get the proof on them, and way back in the early to mid 1800s, that proof is hard to find. Hopefully I'll find it for another few lines!

Our weather is behind yous alls, so my garden is just beginning to go in. Here in NE MN, we've had a lot of rain, so my garden is still too wet to plant. I have the raised barrel beds, but getting to them is the problem. I sink trying to walk in the garden area. So after we get home, I'll have the church newsletter to do and a few other things to catch up on. But starting next week, the garden beds get cleaned and planted. It seems like the last few years, due to the weather the garden gets put in around mid June. And that's okay, just as long as we have a late Fall. Otherwise there isn't enough time for the harvest to come in. So my next couple weeks will be busy. About par for the course!

Have a great week! I'll check in after we get home...if I can find my way here again! :jstr:
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I lived away from my long gone relatives graves for over 50 years, so I never got into the memorial grave cleaning. My family that served in the military, grandfather, father and now my dear brother are all buried in national cemetaries, so I can only remember them in my prayers. My mother's ashes are still in a box in my she shed. My brother was going to mix mine and her ashes together and let the wind spread them here where I live, part of long long ago family homestead. DH's ashes will go back to illinois to be buried next to his first dear wife who is the mother of his children. So maybe my brother's daughter will do mine and my mothers ashes together in the wind.
 
E

etdeb

Veteran Member
nomifyle said:
More of the same for us this coming week. I'm not sure what DH is working on, maybe more pickets for the fences. He's putting them in three places

His garden is looking good. We mostly have tomatoes planted, but he did plant some zucchini and those plants are huge, we'll see if they make any zucchini. We also have onions and garlic planted and I think he has strawberries in another garden. They never make it to the house, I think its a battle with him and the squirrils.

This is the first morning since my other chair died that I didn't wake up with a back ache. Now if my right knee will stop hurting I'll be in good shape, the Ouch stuff is the only thing that is helping. Thank you ST.

I've got no orders coming from wm and only a couple of small things from amazon. I look at the walmart website and there just isn't anything that appeals to me that I don't already have a good supply of. I'm blessed.
Click to expand...
I had my doctor prescribe a compounded cream that really helps my knees. I get so tired of swallowing pills .
 
P

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
I hit the Farmers Market/Flea Market yesterday. Got lots of veggies for eating this week. Got some limes and lemons to dehydrate for powder. Limes are done, lemons just went in. Meat bought last week has been canned. Tomorrow I will make the berry jam.

Flea Market had a discount grocery. Everything was 50% off. I found 6 lbs of split yellow peas for 25 cents a lb, a box of unsweetened cocoa powder for 50 cents, and a bottle of syrup for $1. Everything was well in date.
 
Sammy55

Sammy55

Veteran Member
prudentwatcher said:
I hit the Farmers Market/Flea Market yesterday. Got lots of veggies for eating this week. Got some limes and lemons to dehydrate for powder. Limes are done, lemons just went in. Meat bought last week has been canned. Tomorrow I will make the berry jam.

Flea Market had a discount grocery. Everything was 50% off. I found 6 lbs of split yellow peas for 25 cents a lb, a box of unsweetened cocoa powder for 50 cents, and a bottle of syrup for $1. Everything was well in date.
Click to expand...
What do you use the lemon and lime powder for? And how do you make the powder? I was going to buy some of each, but they are now out of stock at Sams Club. (Another thing missing?) But the lemons themselves are still there. Being Minnesota and now an area that citrus grows, I'd like to get something like that to use to prevent scurvy.

I have to clean out some of the meat in the freezer to can. I also want to can up some concentrated juices like orange juice, cranberry juice. On my list for upcoming weeks.
 
M

moldy

Veteran Member
Work, radiation, and piddling in the garden are tops for this week. DH's sister may be coming to stay with us for a bit, so I need to get the guest house cleaned out. Most of what that is is canning jars I bought last spring. They were.... Icky enough that they require a few days soaking in vinegar and CLR to pretend to be clean. I'm down to probably 60 jars or so, so not insurmountable. I still have a few herbs to plant, and I'd like to do some canning to clean out the freezers, but I'm not sure how long my stamina will hold up.

Farmer across the road decided to chop all his alfalfa and wheat instead of bale it. DH thinks he (large dairy owner) may be/thinks he will be short of feed.
 
Last edited:
Cardinal

Cardinal

Chickministrator
_______________
I finally got some tarps over the chicken pens to keep rain and sun off the birds.
Introduced a new Roo to the orphan hens whose boy bird i killed yesterday, he is a Banty but a larger than normal one, so he can handle the full sized hens.
Tomorrow I will mow the lawn and they all get grass clippings.
 
R

ReneeT

Veteran Member
I take care of my parent's, and my aunt and uncle's graves who are in the same cemetery. I have one aunt and one uncle left on my father's side of the family; the aunt takes care of my grandmother, grandfather, and uncle's (who was KIA in WWII) graves; cousins help out. The other cousins take care of their parent's graves. The rest of the extended family graves are down south; and local families care for them. I don't foresee my daughter taking over the care - she is a bit weird about death (I still swear they switched babies on me at the hospital) but one grandson may... I don't plan to ever leave this farm - they refuse to put me in the compost pile, but I will settle for my ashes being spread in the flower beds, with a small container being buried on my parent's gravesite.

My cousin and at least one of his adult sons are down today; a large tractor just went by on a trailer, so it looks like they are planning on getting the wildlife food plots worked up and planted, as well as doing some mowing around the field edges while they are here. I'm so blessed to have family that helps like this. Of course, they have the run of the property for hunting, etc... so they are getting value as well. I probably do need to throw a couple hundred bucks in their truck for fuel, the way prices are going up...

My plans for today are watering and sorting the bedding plants that are waiting to be planted, going over the garden with the tiller again, weeding the raised beds, trying to whack back the lemon balm in the front flower bed to reasonable size so the flowers can grow, and making out a new garden plan. I'm going to wait until the next time Hubby is at work and go out and till up where the back garden used to be so I can plant sweet corn - he doesn't think we need to 'go hog wild' as he calls it, but I can feel the anxiety building to keep stocking up as much as I can. I don't complain about the dirt bikes that seem to switch out frequently in the shed, so he can keep his nose out of my garden :lol:

I keep watching the forecast for a time when I can go pick up another load of compost, but the days they are available to load it and the weather just don't seem to want to cooperate. Maybe I'll get a lucky break and it won't rain much on Wednesday before I can get home from work and hitch up the trailer to go get a load...

Hubby found another pile of dilapidated cardboard boxes full of grubby canning jars I bought at auction Heaven only knows how long ago stuck back behind some other stuff in the shed, so now I need to find a few more apple crates and start packing them up and putting them in the store room. I'm not bothering to wash them as they will just get dusty again in the shed; time enough for cleaning them later on as I have plenty stored in the house.

Well, I'm not getting anything done sitting here at the computer, so I reckon I'd better get outside and get to work!

Take care all; stay safe out there!
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We got all the gardens Miracle Gro'd in and watered. Everything looks to be doing really good. Me giving the tomato and pepper plants a good shaking must have woke them up, cause they are loaded in little tomatoes and peppers now, LOL!

I've got my canner going with more ground beef. I need to pull more out of the freezer, and get more jars washed. I think, Friday, will be another canning day. Hopefully, Thursday, when I go to town, I'll be able to find more pint canning jars. I only have one more case. Gonna need a lot more than that if I can all the ground beef in the freezer. I'm trying to dig down to the bottom, and get the oldest to can it first. I'm hoping to more or less empty out this one freezer of all meat, and leave it just for cornmeal, flour, butter, and cheese. I'd like to have the other freezer just for meat such as roasts, pork chops, chicken breasts, larger pks of ground beef, etc.

ETA......Cary just came in the house from being out in my mini barn. He told me that I had 4 cases of pint canning jars out there! That takes some of the pressure off me trying to find some on Thursday. I thought all I had out there were quarts. The pints were under all of our camping gear. The quarts are all stacked on the shelves. I'll still buy more if I can find some.
 
Last edited:
H

hd5574

Veteran Member
Dehydrating more spinach today.
Will start on kale soon.
May try broccoli leaves soon and make some green powder for soups and stews during the winter. .really ups the nutritional value.

Has anyone used large Romain leaves as wrap for meat and cheese "sandwich"...simply delicious. ...just love it.

I don't freeze my flour..I use King Arthur in 5 lb bags and just vacumn seal in avid armour 1 gallon bags...once the air is sucked out they turn hard as bricks and not bugs can grow....it really saves on freezer space..I have recently been able to get King Arthur AP flour at Costco in 12 lb bags will measure 6 cups in to lunch bags and vacumn seal those.

I vacumn seal my butter before freezing. ..I found a pound last year "lost" in the back of the freezer from 2008...we defrosted it ..just to see..lol...figured it was going to be bad...
to our surprise the butter was perfect.. sealed in the carton just the way it came from the store.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
hd5574 said:
Dehydrating more spinach today.
Will start on kale soon.
May try broccoli leaves soon and make some green powder for soups and stews during the winter. .really ups the nutritional value.

Has anyone used large Romain leaves as wrap for meat and cheese "sandwich"...simply delicious. ...just love it.

I don't freeze my flour..I use King Arthur in 5 lb bags and just vacumn seal in avid armour 1 gallon bags...once the air is sucked out they turn hard as bricks and not bugs can grow....it really saves on freezer space..I have recently been able to get King Arthur AP flour at Costco in 12 lb bags will measure 6 cups in to lunch bags and vacumn seal those.

I vacumn seal my butter before freezing. ..I found a pound last year "lost" in the back of the freezer from 2008...we defrosted it ..just to see..lol...figured it was going to be bad...
to our surprise the butter was perfect.. sealed in the carton just the way it came from the store.
Click to expand...

I don't have a vacuum sealer. Wish I did. That may be the next appliance gadget I have to get for more food storage options. I do freeze all cornmeal and flour when I bring them home from the store. I take some of it out, and vacuum seal it up in 1/2gal canning jars with O2 absorbers. I also have some in 5gal buckets with O2 absorbers. It all starts out in the freezer, though, just to kill off any eggs that may already be in the bags.

I date everything, and I'm using butter that has been stored in my freezer for 5 years. Still taste like fresh. I don't vacuum seal it, but do put it in the freezer storage bags still in the cartons they come in.

I've used Romain leaves as buns for hamburgers, not just for sandwiches, when I was doing the keto dieting.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
nomifyle said:
SB, I recently ordered 4 cases of pint jars from walmart. They still have them for 2 or 3 day delivery. However, they'll switch them to pickup sometimes.
Click to expand...

Our Walmart still had plenty of pints the last time I was there, but that was 2 weeks ago. I hope they still have some, Thursday. If not, I can go to Hometown Market to pick up some. I don't like to order anything that might get broken. The case I have in the house, plus the 4 cases Cary found in the barn will be enough to do me for awhile. I'm just canning small batches at a time. 4 pints, today. I'm having to do small batches, because I don't have anything large enough to cook more than 4 or 5 lbs of ground beef in at a time. I'm thinking of using my roasting pan on the stovetop to cook more next time.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
SouthernBreeze said:
Our Walmart still had plenty of pints the last time I was there, but that was 2 weeks ago. I hope they still have some, Thursday. If not, I can go to Hometown Market to pick up some. I don't like to order anything that might get broken. The case I have in the house, plus the 4 cases Cary found in the barn will be enough to do me for awhile. I'm just canning small batches at a time. 4 pints, today. I'm having to do small batches, because I don't have anything large enough to cook more than 4 or 5 lbs of ground beef in at a time. I'm thinking of using my roasting pan on the stovetop to cook more next time.
Click to expand...
my experience with wm,com regarding breakage has been they will replace the entire case even if only one or two are broken. But the last several times I've ordered from them there has been no breakage.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
nomifyle said:
my experience with wm,com regarding breakage has been they will replace the entire case even if only one or two are broken. But the last several times I've ordered from them there has been no breakage.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. I'll keep that option in mind if I can't find any. I have over a hundred quart canning jars, but that's not doing me any good. I need the pints for the ground beef.
 
R

ReneeT

Veteran Member
The only sizes of new canning jars I'm buying nowadays are 1/2 gallons and 24 oz 'asparagus' jars. The only things I will actually can in the 1/2 gallon jars are high acid juices; I make the juice in my steam juicer. Otherwise I use them for storage when I'm prepping other stuff for canning. Sometimes I will pick up a case of 4 - 1 gallon jars when I go to the Amish bulk food store, but I am running out of space to store them. I was an auction fiend for years so that is where I got most of my jars, although I did hit an amazing close out sale at Menard's once, plus a guy at Habitat for Humanity got in a truckload of grubby jars and wanted them out of there ASAP, but there are fewer and fewer of those types of deals to be found, and prices on single canning jars at Habitat, the Sallies or Catholic Charities are nuts!

Have I mentioned how much I really like my cousins? The ones that mow and plant the fields to game food crops? They came down today and one of the 'boys' (daughter's age) asked if I had anywhere he could try out a new 'tiller'. I pointed towards the Creeping Charlie Hell under the clothesline and the area in front of it. I unhooked the lines and in he went - did I mention the 'tiller' was either 6 or 8 feet wide and tractor mounted? It broke up the ground amazingly well, but he went over it twice as he decided it needed to be tilled deeper than he did on his first run. 30' x 40' area; and he was done in less than 20 minutes - and it only took that long because he has the same OC, no D gene I have :lol: I'm giving the sun a couple of days to work on the Creeping Charlie that was scraped out of the ground, then I'll rake as much of it as I can out of the area and get prepped to plant my sweet corn and punkin' patch.

Plans for tomorrow - well, I work tomorrow night so a nap will be in my plans somewhere; don't know if I will go to the pool with the neighbor lady beforehand or not. I have plenty of things I need to do here at home, but the pool counts as exercise, so at least I can honestly tell my doc that I've been exercising regularly at my next appointment. I have to schedule another MRI for my anuerysm; hard to believe it's been a year already. I think I'll ask for a bone scan as well - it's been at least 6 years, maybe more; and my bones are giving me fits lately. Might as well get stuff taken care of before I retire - though that's not likely to happen for at least 3 more years...

I did get the front garden tilled again; and got the rows marked off; now all I need to do is plant, but the signs aren't right today - and, of course, by the time they are, we've got rain in the forecast. Oh well, maybe it won't rain too much... I have to work Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights this week; have to pick up some elderberry plants after I get off work on Wednesday morning, plus will do a little stock up shopping as well.

Well, it looks like the cousins are loading up their equipment, so I need to run out there and thank them for all the work they did :)

Take care all; stay safe out there!
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
After we had covid last October my brother bought me metal shelving units for my pantry room and then he found another kind on sale and bought 6 of those for me. DH has put one up in the bathroom of the cabin to hold his tools that he's using in there. Today we dragged one in the house and DH put it together for me in my 10x12 walk in closet. There is actually room for a second one in there, so we'll do that one tomorrow. This will give me extra space for an over flow of jeans (mostly too small right now, but in graduating sizes). I use to keep all of the towels on shelves over the commode in the bathroom, but now I'm keeping extras of bathroom things on those shelves now. So there is also room on the new shelf for all of our towels.

I had a folding two shelf high with many cubicles for shoes. I've never had a space for it but now I have opened it up across one end of the shelf to the built in shelf that DH put in the closet. That will hold many many 6 qt shoe box containers that have many different items in them. They are labeled on the end. So if I need, say, deodorant I just look for the box that says deodorant on the end. So I have the cubbie holes in the shoe unit and also the boxes will fit across the top, I think its about 6' long. This will really help in getting my stuff organized.
 
H

hd5574

Veteran Member
SouthernBreeze said:
I don't have a vacuum sealer. Wish I did. That may be the next appliance gadget I have to get for more food storage options. I do freeze all cornmeal and flour when I bring them home from the store. I take some of it out, and vacuum seal it up in 1/2gal canning jars with O2 absorbers. I also have some in 5gal buckets with O2 absorbers. It all starts out in the freezer, though, just to kill off any eggs that may already be in the bags.

I date everything, and I'm using butter that has been stored in my freezer for 5 years. Still taste like fresh. I don't vacuum seal it, but do put it in the freezer storage bags still in the cartons they come in.

I've used Romain leaves as buns for hamburgers, not just for sandwiches, when I was doing the keto dieting.
Click to expand...

The avid armour bags that I use for flour are 11" wide...be sure that a vacuum sealer you get on the will allow you to use bags the 11" wide bags...the reason I bring this up a cousin in AZ managed to get one that will not use bags that wide...now she is looking for one that will.
Avid armour bags are slightly larger than the food saver bags and much less expensive and they seem to fit more things.
The food savers will use the 11" bags.
 
D

Digger

Veteran Member
I got the rest of my plants in my little green house planted. I took the green house apart to store for next year. It is just a little 4 shelf unit with a zip up plastic cover I bought on clearance a few years ago. It worked fairly well. I intend to get another to put back to use when this one bites the dust.

Our son came and helped hubby install an outlet for our generator with a lock out switch in the panel box. He has been wanting to do that for awhile now. Son took home some flowers for his wife, some tomato cages, and his pressure canner. Their garden is doing really well.

Hubby and I got the first wire of the electric fence up on the new garden. The rest will go faster since the corners are done. We are using fiberglass post with the insulators built on in between tpost. I planted 5 rows of purple hull peas, a short row of okra, 16 ft of Anasazi beans, and some melons in the new garden. I have never grown the beans before, but we have eaten them. I found an arrow head in the garden after tilling. That was exciting to me. I used to find one on occasion on the road before we put down gravel.

My 40 year class reunion is coming up. I am not sure if I will go. I would like to, but we may be cutting hay. It depends on the weather.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Up early getting ready to leave to take my car to the shop. I hope it doesn't take forever to get the ac fixed. I'm gonna feel lost not having my car. Since the ac went out, we've been doing all of our running around in Cary's Jeep. It's cheaper on gas, but I like my car.

I've got house cleaning to do when we get back. More jars to wash. Floors need to be mopped. Seems I have to go with a mop in my hand all the time around here, LOL. I have ceramic tile throughout the house, and with a DH and a DDog, dirty footprints show up everywhere, especially when it rains. I've been thinking of giving Cary "mopping duty detail". :groucho:
 
SammiP

SammiP

Contributing Member
This week's prep for me is twofold. I'm a week past my last eye surgery and need to figure out this new vision and depth perception. Still not allowed to do heavy lifting or gardening so my husband dropped me off at our site B which is 40 acres of woods. My tent and screen house got set up and he will pick me up Saturday. This is supposed to keep me out of trouble! It's a good camping refresher and lets me figure out where we should put the small camp we want here. The deer, coyotes and a turtle are curious and mosquitoes have murder in mind! Going down near freezing the next few nights, maybe a few will get frozen if I'm lucky.
 
alpha

alpha

Veteran Member
Over our traditional morning 'coffee chat' my DW suggested that we purchase and freeze Heirloom seeds for the varieties we frequently save seeds from. These will be placed in with the generic (hybrid) seeds we already froze earlier this Spring. Her gut feeling is that, like firewood sales, once the need appears - the rush will be on!

There are certain vegetables that we rely upon for the year... Winter squash, dried beans, potato etc. among several others that serve to stock our pantry and root cellar as well as feed the chickens. These must be non-hybrid obviously when you resort to saving seed from a harvest.

Baker Creek and High Mowing seeds got my business this morning. :chg:
 
turtlegent

turtlegent

Contributing Member
moldy said:
Work, radiation, and piddling in the garden are tops for this week. DH's sister may be coming to stay with us for a bit, so I need to get the guest house cleaned out. Most of what that is is canning jars I bought last spring. They were.... Icky enough that they require a few days soaking in vinegar and CLR to pretend to be clean. I'm down to probably 60 jars or so, so not insurmountable. I still have a few herbs to plant, and I'd like to do some canning to clean out the freezers, but I'm not sure how long my stamina will hold up.

Farmer across the road decided to chop all his alfalfa and wheat instead of bale it. DH thinks he (large dairy owner) may be/thinks he will be short of feed.
Click to expand...
I found it strange that the farmer had decided that he should cut all his alfalfa, and not bale it . Silage truck after truck. They ran it directly back to the feedlot. This is Southern idaho.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Got the floors all mopped! Cary and dog are locked outside. Nah, he's splitting and stacking wood, and Frisco has to be where he is. It was a good time to get it done. I reminded myself that I need to get more vinegar when in town. I use vinegar and water to mop the ceramic tile floors with. All the rugs are outside airing out. I'll beat them, before bringing them back inside. That's always a big job. They are so heavy. No, I don't have a vacuum cleaner. No carpet in the house.

Car is in the shop. The guy said he didn't know how long it would take. I just hope it doesn't break us getting it fixed!
 
R

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Walked out to the front garden and looked at what I had marked out yesterday. Nope. Didn't like it. Re-worked the plan, and re-marked the rows, measured in where the pole bean fence posts and cucumber posts will go, got the flags in the ground where the tomatoes will go, and figured out which raised bed I'm going to put the peppers in. And then I made a list for the greenhouse and the Feed 'n Seed because I needed one of these and two of those and more marigolds, blah blah blah. Gotta get more sweet corn seed too; and more of both regular and Mammoth Sunflower seed. I'm going to be a busy girl on my way home from work tomorrow :lol: Really, really, really hoping that the rain holds off until afternoon; reckon a little mud won't hurt me if it doesn't...

Well, if I'm going to get a nap in before work, I'd better head that direction...

You all stay safe out there!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top