Whatcha Up To???

[Mr_Yan]

planted stuff at my plot in the church garden
11 squash and pumpkins (transplant)
2 summer squash (transplant)
8 tomatoes (transplant)
20 feet of pole beans
100 feet of black beans (experimental)
50 feet of sunflowers

seeded 80 soil cubes with Georgia collards

transplanted 2 eggplants (store bought)

pruned some of the lilac

helped my neighbor move the 2+ yards of soil and ~1 yard of mulch from my driveway to his (a block down and 20 feet higher in elevation)

got a mild sunburn.

guys, remember to wear a full brimmed hat

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made Italian bread.

Prune the oak trees in the yard & then picked up all the 'trash'.

Received my teflon drying sheets for the dehydrator. I want to start doing some of the potatoes & onions...

 

[wolffman]

A little care package we put together for an old friend who just got diagnosed with cancer. Too much cancer these days.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made the trip to Brenham to pick-up our quarterly liquor order & some groceries. Then bought the paint for the ceilings & woodwork (I dread painting).

 

[Mr_Yan]

Took the day off work and packed the kids into the car for a trip north of the cheddar curtain. We went to the Madison zoo for the day.

Watered the community garden. Re-filled the watering tanks (5 IBC totes at about 275 gallons each) at the garden. Mowed along the edges of about half the garden beds while the water tanks were filling.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
My hat is off to you. There is just no way i could ever make my liquor last 3 months when i was your age.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

LOL!!! 9 cases (6 half gallons per case)... It's a far drive to get our quantity discount.

 

[ErnieCopp]

I only lived 30 miles from the Canadian border in Idaho, and there are a lot of good Canadian Whiskeys they do not export. Canadian dollar was only worth fifty cents, and some of the best brands were very cheap. There were several i found that were better than Crown Royal, and i bought a lot of it by the case. Having local license plates, Customs never bothered to check, so no problem bringing it across.
I really enjoy good whiskey after a hard day's work, but have trouble working hard enough now to deserve it.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Put 'teflon slider feet' on the big porch pots... hopefully these will allow the pots to drain better than they do just sitting on the concrete.

Watered the hanging baskets.

Made another batch of guacamole.

Cut up a whole pork loin & 4 sirloins, then vacuum packed everything for freezing.

Readied the gas cans & put them in the truck as I need to get fuel tomorrow.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Went to town this morning to pick up gas for the Gator & garden tractor, then topped off the diesel in the truck.

Washed, sliced & blanched a bunch oh potatoes that then went into the dehydrator. If they come out as expected, I'll do another batch tomorrow. Here they are at the 4 hour mark & when they were finished:

​

Cleaned/sanitized all the hummingbird feeders prior to putting them away. I did refill 2 of them for the birds that stay here year round (I hung them in the trees).

Smoked a sirloin steak for supper & then made some Salsa Molcajete to go with it. Mrs. Ranch fried up some potatoes.

 

[whistech]

Mr Ranch, please let us know how the dehydrated potatoes turn out and your steps in preparing them for the dehydrator. That looks like a great way to preserve them.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Here you go whistech:
http://homegardeningforum.com/threads/dehydrating-potatoes-for-long-term-storage.772/
Dehydrating Potatoes For Long-term Storage

 

[w_r_ranch]

Put the dehydrated potatoes in quart canning jars.

Cut the grass.

Refilled the bird feeders as the redbirds were pitching a fit that they were out of 'groceries'...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Made Italian bread.

Made a loaf of Sour Cream Banana Nut Bread

Cleaned & diced up a bunch of onions for dehydrating.

​

 

[Mr_Yan]

thinned the peaches
thinned the beets

forecast to be 95 F today

 

[w_r_ranch]

Finished dehydrating the onions (they took longer than I thought they would) & put them in a canning jar.

Since it's raining again today, we decided to do a team effort & made pulled pork & onion/cheese enchiladas for supper tonight. Also had guacamole/chips & rice w/salsa as sides. Mmm-mmm-mmm!!!

​

 

[w_r_ranch]

Start another batch of dehydrated potatoes.

 

[wolffman]

A pickle experiment. The wife fermented these for 3 days and then canned them as normal dill pickles. Looking to see if they'll stay crisp with a touch of that fermented flavor.

 

[wolffman]

Mud tomatoes

 

[w_r_ranch]

Put the dehydrated potatoes from yesterday into canning jars.

Start spraying RM43 around the home site.

Treated all the fire ant mounds in the yard.

 

[wolffman]

Sam, how long does the RM43 keep the vegetation down for you?

 

[w_r_ranch]

9-12 months.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I stepped outside this morning to find this guy on my screen door. Best I can tell it is one of the hawk moth species.

Yesterday I went up to the community garden after the kids were in bed. Hoed the in ground bed, transplanted 9 sugar baby watermelon and 5 celebrity tomatoes (abandoned six pack on the picnic table). Filled the water tanks and watered my in ground bed.

Saturday - high in mid 90s, dry
Sunday - high of 69 F, dry
Monday - high mid 80s F, dry
Tuesday - high mid 80s F, little rain
Wednesday - forecast for strong to severe T-storms

 

[w_r_ranch]

The moth is a member of the 'hawk family'... It is a Sphinx Moth.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Did the weekly shopping yesterday.

Today I made a pot of pinto beans & washed another load of potatoes as tomorrow we'll process them for dehydrating.