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w_r_ranch

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Finished cleaning up everything from yesterday's cook.

Watered the garden & asparagus bed... forecast calls for a high of 96 here.

Harvested some 'Heatmaster' slicing tomatoes to go along with the smoked sirloin & baked potatoes for supper tonight. They will be served with a slice of onion & a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese stacked on top & then drizzled with a little olive oil/balsamic vinegar.
 
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w_r_ranch

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Ordered Dieter's new crate. Ended up going with one that is 54"L x 37"W x 45"H. Also got a 2" thick pad for it.

Sharpen all out kitchen knives.

Assisted Mrs. Ranch in vacuum packing the Eggplant Parmesan. We ended up with 42 portions, enough for 21 meals. (y)

Harvested 13 more jalapenos that will be stuffed & wrapped in bacon to serve as a side for tonight's supper. They have some really meaty, thick walls this year!!!



Also harvested 7 additional cucumbers...

 
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Mr_Yan

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Yesterday was dry and about 70 F. I went to the local feed and garden store and bought popcorn seeds and sweet potato slips. I also go word that the 25x25 bed next to mine at church we still unclaimed and unplanted.

With this new 25x25 area I have 50x25 unplanted and will split it between sweet potato, popcorn, butternut squash, and cantaloupe.

I went up to my church garden at 6 a.m. today. After getting the new 25x25 bed weeded and ready to plant it started to rain call it 7 a.m. when that started. Back home now as it's raining harder and started some lightning.
 

wolffman

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Woke up to a roof leak, a water pipe leak in the SLAB that goes to the kitchen island sink, and the dsl modem was dead. Fixed the modem issue. The water pipe leak, well that's another issue.
 
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ksk

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Finally some rain [1.1].Canned 12 pints of dill pickles.
 

w_r_ranch

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It was raining when I woke up but then it fizzled out. Today's total was 0.25"...

Spent the day prepping the cast aluminium porch table for painting (hopefully tomorrow).
 
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Mr_Yan

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Starting to dry out. About 36 hours since last measurable rain.

Spent much of the day working in my church garden.
  • Planted sweet potatoes (~40 slips in the ground)
  • Planted sunflowers (one 22' row)
  • Planted seven 22' rows of popcorn
  • Planted seven 26' rows of dry beans
  • Knocked down the weeds on 3/4 of the garden
  • Got a mild sunburn again (my wife thinks I should learn)
On the sunburn -- I don't look like a lobster but my arms look like neopolitan ice cream. I was wearing a longsleeve tee-shirt with the arms shoved up just below my elbows. Upper arms - to short sleeve length are white. Just below elbow to mid-bicept is tan. Wrist to just below elbow are red. Hands are tan / dirty mix as I often wear work gloves too.
 

w_r_ranch

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Sprayed 3 coats of paint on the cast aluminium porch table. The prep work paid off as it now looks like it did 32 yrs ago when it was new. I'm just glad that lil' project is done since Mrs. Ranch has been hounding me about it...

Harvested 6 lbs of tomatillos, the necessary peppers & some cilantro to make 'Salsa Verde'. I'll can it up tomorrow...




 
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w_r_ranch

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Went to pay the quarterly taxes & pick-up the license stickers for the big truck & one of the trailers.

Canned the 'Salsa Verde'.

Played musical tables (moved the little table back to the service porch & the cast aluminium table returned to service on the back porch).

Watered the garden & asparagus bed.

Seasoned up the chicken fajitas for tonight's supper.
 

w_r_ranch

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We had 1.15" of rain last night, lots of lightning & thunder too. I told Mrs. Ranch, it only rained because I watered the garden yesterday... UPDATE: We just had another 1.11", bringing our rainfall total for today to 2.26". We certainly need this to starve off the burn ban!!!

Made bread.

Harvested 13 more jalapenos for another match of stuffed japs to go with our supper tonight. While I was out there, I also harvested a meat tub of cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers & eggplant for our mail lady in appreciation of her special attention. Then threw in some red potatoes for good measure. We have excellent mail service here!!!

Cleaned a 5 gal. bucket of potatoes for slicing/dehydrating tomorrow, as they are fully cured.

Both Dieter & I are awaiting the delivery of his new house (it's supposedly on the truck). UPS finally delivered it at 2120 hrs... I hate UPS, they NEVER deliver at a reasonable time out here.
 
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Mr_Yan

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A friend of mine tilled a section of my garden for me today so all I had to do was stake out the rows and plant beans.

Planted 4 rows of black beans, 2 rows of pink beans, 2 rows of kidney beans.

I know I lost several sweet potato slips that were planted on Monday. Just how many I lost is unknown right now. I think I set out 44 slips up there.
 

w_r_ranch

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Unpacked & assembled Dieter's new kennel this morning (2 person job). That sucker is huge... if he outgrows this one, we're in trouble, LOL!!!

Did the weekly shopping.

Sliced & blanched the potatoes before putting them in the dehydrator. I got to try out the ripple blade on my new mandolin slicer.

 
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w_r_ranch

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Made a pot of pinto beans.

Burned the trash.

Killed the fire ant mounds that popped up after the recent rains. I must have drenched 100 of them (mostly small).

Refilled the 2 remaining hummingbird feeders.

Cut the grass.
 
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w_r_ranch

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Start my beginning-of-the-month chores (cleaning toilets, sinks, tubs, showers, computer maintenance & refilling the chlorine reservoir for the septic system).

Processed & started dehydrating another batch of ripple-cut potatoes.

Harvested the first of the green beans (I finished just as the rains hit). We'll process them tomorrow for vacuum packing. We have a good crop of them this year!!!

 
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ksk

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Harvest the corn today and very happy with first ever planting.Canned 10 pints of bread and butter pickles also.
 

w_r_ranch

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Made bread.

Received another 1.22" of rain this afternoon... came down hard.

Vacuum packed the dehydrated potatoes (double bagged) & put them away. They should have a shelf life of 15-20 yrs (from what I've read) when done this way.

Started processing the green beans. We started by snapping the ends off & breaking them into bite-sized pieces before blanching for 3 minutes. After blanching. they are dropped into ice water for 3 minutes (to stop the cooking process) & then allowed to drain in a colander before air drying on towels. When somewhat dry, they are transferred to trays for freezing prior to vacuum packing. Ended up with 13 - 1 lb. bags.


 
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