Wednesday

The morning ed out as cool and cloudy.  No rain here.  Some close though.  Yesterday we made up 3 heads into of cabbage into Amish Slaw.  Very tasty stuff.  I use it on a lot of food.  The cabbage cans up well and stays crisp through the process.  This is the first year we have raised cabbage.  It has turned out well.  We gave some away and still have a few heads to go.

We went to neighboring town yesterday afternoon and picked up some pallets to use on a project.  We are making a garden area for  my sister-in law.  She lives in a town close by and doesn't have a good garden space, so we are helping her out on that aspect.  We will use the pallets to build a fence around the garden area, and other things.  Always something to use the pallets for.  They are just about as handy as "a pocket on a shirt."

A little story I heard today:

  Two little boys are going to the hospital the next day for operations.
Theirs will be first on the schedule.
The older boy leans over and asks,
"What are you having done?"
he second boy says, "I'm getting my tonsils out, and I'm afraid."
The first boy says, "You've got nothing to worry about. I had that done when I was four.
They put you to sleep, and when you wake up,
They give you lots of Jell-O and ice cream.
It's a breeze."
The second boy then asks, "What are you going in for?"
the first boy says, "Circumcision."
"Whoa!" the smaller boy replies.
"Good luck, buddy. I had that done when I was born. Couldn't walk for a year."

God Bless--johnnyb

Another nice morning.  Temps around 60F.  That is very comfortable for this time of year. Only supposed to be in the 80's today.  We are planning on taking advantage of the cooler weather  and doing some canning today.  Won't tax the AC quite as much.  The cabbage is ready, so we will be making some Amish Coleslaw.  Good way to preserve it.    
Picked our first tomatoes yesterday.  My tomato vines have become a little unruly.  I had been keeping them pruned, but as you can see, I failed on that part.  Oh well, I just have to look a little harder for the ripe ones.  The vines are loaded with fruit so that probably won't be a problem

Cucumbers have been plentiful this year.  Cooler weather has helped.  Sweet corn is going to be late.  Had problem with some rodents digging up the seed corn before it would sprout.  I planted some Bloody Butcher corn for grinding.  This is my first year to do this.  Hope it turns out ok.

Coffee cup is empty.  Need to do something about that.  God Bless--johnnyb

Rocket stoves

I have been looking at pictures of rocket  for a while and this summer built a couple of simple ones.  A larger one we used for cooking beets before canning.  Kind of fun to experiment with and a good way to use up some of the twigs that have fallen in the yard from the high winds this year.

I even had to make a pot of coffee.   I am going to make more permanent ones.  We like to do as much of our canning outdoors as we can to keep from heating up the house.  We have propane cookers also, but this is good to have just in case.

God Bless--johnnyb

Some of my garden rodent control crew.

The snake in the second picture has had lunch.  As  scary as they can be, they do a lot of good around the place.  They must be getting plenty to eat as they seem to be healthy looking.  We have never had any rattlesnakes around the place.  Some neighbors occasionally find one, and we see them on the road.  Old timers say if you have bullsnakes, you will not have any rattlers.  I don't know.  

God Bless.--johnnyb

Sitting here with my morning coffee and trying to decide what to do today.   I have many projects started and need to finish.  I am building a small shed out of pallets,  a boardwalk and fence around part of the garden.

 The building inspectors were doing a final walk-through before signing off on the permit!!

The garden has done pretty good so far.  Our early crops, asparagus and rhubarb have been good.  We have canned beets, green beans and chokecherry juice for jelly later.  I have some beet chips in the dehydrator now.  

Enough for today, temperatures have been in the 100F + and today will be no different.

God Bless all who read this and above all God Bless the great Country we live in.--johnnyb

Back after a year +

After a year of not posting, but reading and keeping up, decided it was time to get back into it.  I guess maybe I missed putting down a few words whenever anything would strike.  So here goes.

Our garden this year is doing pretty goo so far.  Our temps have not been to bad yet.  This week will change that.  Temps in the 100-105 F range.   The spring was very dry as was the winter.  Not a lot of the fluffy white stuff.  Rains came in May and June.  Saved a little of the wheat.  And I mean little.  Corn looks good,but still need a little more moisture to keep it until harvest.  Pastures look pretty good and the cattle are contented.

I have to go do something constructive.  Later--johnnyb