Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: March 8 to March 14, 2026

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Hoping this weather will give us a break soon for everyone!
It's been gusts of 60mph since 6 am. There are branches and sticks all over the yard. Some are pretty big.
I managed to get the horses fed. Made some food on the coal stove.
County has power down in many places, trees down covering the roads. Power lines down all over. So far we're ok. This won't quit till about 8 pm.
 
Wildwood said:
I can't get the varieties I want locally so I have to start them myself. I really need a green house and someday we may build one...DH is always trying to talk me into it but he needs to get his own business back in production before he can take enough time to build a greenhouse.

I have fourteen flats in my dining room right now. That's too much for lights and I'm not done yet so I take them out on the days that are warm enough and line them up across the front edge of my forty foot wide front porch...it works. I bring them in at night til it warms up. When it really warms up, I put folding tables out in front of the porch, in the yard, and put them there. With the new fence up, I'll probably just lay them out in one of the raised beds once it's past the danger of frost.

If I ever retire from my business, I'll take my main work room and put up grow lights. I already have the tables in place. I just start so much stuff, it takes a lot of room but it feeds us all year long on the items I grow. My goal has always been to turn it into a source of income. With farm stands popping up everywhere and already having items I make professionally, it would be a good match. We are getting more eggs than we can eat too so those can be sold also.
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Consider making a homemade plant shelf... buy a wire shelf unit (you want about 24" between shelves)...look at second hand stores or a Habitat for Humanity re-store.

Install 2 LED strip lights on the underside of the shelves. I found it was easier to used fixed mountings for the lights, and built several mini shelves (2 2x4s or 2x6"s and a chunk of old plywood) to raise the flats up closer to the lights...I have 6" and 3" mini-shelves, and I'll even stack them to get the tiny plants closer to the light source.

Full spectrum LED plant lights are best, but not *really* necessary if you are just growing plants to transplant...if you are trying to grow something like tomatoes or peppers indoors, the full spectrum are more important.

Plug the lights into a timer, and you're all set... a 4 foot shelf unit with three shelves will hold 12 flats.

If you buy everything new, you're probably looking at around $200 for the setup, but that's still a lot cheaper than a greenhouse! Plus, you're already paying to heat your house...you don't have to run an additional heater overnight in a greenhouse.

Summerthyme
 
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I'm feeling a bit better today but still not willing to leave the house or I should say proximity to bathroom.

I started watching the boy's state basketball tourney and the first game was very close. I didn't choose a team to cheer for because my only connection was two great-nieces graduated from Ballard and dh's great-nieces and a nephew from ADM (Adel, Desota, Minburn). The game went into overtime, Ballard won. The next game is just starting, and I need to go see who is playing. Johnston vs. Cedar Falls and the first quarter is a rout for Johnston. Johnston girls won in the girl's tourney last week. Johnston is primarily a bedroom community just north of Des Moines. Cedar Falls is home to University of Northern Iowa in NE Iowa.

We are now under winter storm watch starting at 10 a.m. on Sunday through Monday. Depending when it starts, I may go to church or may watch on U-tube or church may get cancelled. A good bit of our congregation does not live locally.

Other than physical therapy I have no goals for today beyond rest and feel better. We'll see how that goes.
 
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hd5574 said:
I know that transmission line will go through your county also...will it go any where near your place...we did find out that since it is a private company...not a public utility...that they have to survey every inch of the proposed route...and it is possible for each landowner to send a letter to both they company and your county sheriff..informing them they don't have permission to trespass on your property to survey...since we are married and co-owners...they will get two letters from us..it will not go through us but they will try to move it if they get too much opposition...to putting it where they propose..(this mess is to mostly benefit Northern VA ..and their AI centers...who gave us the stinky new governor)

Another site is asking that we all call the governor's office and complain about something they are planning...to do...so many things to pick from..just more calls than they can handle..

Yet another group is busy trying to get the word out to Vote No by April 21...

I'm not sure which is crazier...the weather or all the things going on in this state...

Good to hear from you..
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It i not projected to be on our property or close, but I am not a fan. There was a public meeting for it last night. Many attended. The state has definitely had several issues.
 
lunch with my sisters was good. Youngest sister wasn't too steady though so we kept a close eye on her. She's the youngest of us but physically the worst shape. Lupus is a horrible disease. Got home and dh was in the garden so I changed and we spent the afternoon out there. All the beds we wanted down are gone and the others raised up some more, most of the dirt is moved too. Now I need to set up a compost bin since I have some wire we took off a trellis. He wants to buy two new pieces to do my beans and the cucumbers. I think I even have enough wire to make a couple bins for potatoes since ds wants to try those. Supper tonight is pulled pork and a big salad. Tomorrow we're going to stock up on chicken feed and maybe get a few cabbage plants to put out.
 
hd5574 said:
@Wildwood...many years ago I had the Hongkong flu..it was horrible many people died..but in the winter of 1981-1982...I got sick with another no name influenza...I have never been that sick..in my life...my Dad had passed some months earlier....my fever was very high and DH was beside the bed feeding me ice chips...he got me dressed and carried me to the doctor's ..I mean carried me in the office in his arms..
After I was well..I told him how Dad had given me ice...he looked at me tenderly..and said honey that was me feeding you ice ...at that moment I realized how sick I had been..and I decided I never wanted to be that sick again..or even catch any virus...if I could find a way not to

I began studying all things that were said to killed virus ..I have tried them...all ...they all helped some but I still got sick to one level or another..my goal was not to get sick at all...I have been studying this 45 years now...I gave up on most all the over the counter stuff..and most of the herbs..that mitigate virus...I was out to kill them..years ago and threw them in the trash..

Zinc is your friend..

Bread also can be your friend and help keep you well or make you ill...years ago we had lots of iodine in our bread...It helped us stay well ..it was removed..( by who ??? )
We are nowgiven tons of bromine in most bread now, flouride in our toothpaste and chlorine in our water(except well water )...all of these..force the iodine out of your thyroid...your blood circulates through your thyroid..every 17 minutes..and if you have enough iodine it treats your blood to remove or KILL...virus and bacteria...it is a huge part of your immune system...who knew..the only companies I know of that make bromine free bread and pastries are Pepperidge Farm and Entenmann's...more expensive but worth the price...I have actually called those companies about bromine ..
Our breast cancer rates jumped like crazy once the iodine was removed..from our bread...breast cancer is very low in Japan...they eat a lot of seaweed...it is very high in iodine...I grew up in VA...near the bay and have eaten a ton of shell fish all my life..but not as much now ..it has gotten crazy expensive...so i take kelp pills to make sure I get enough iodine ..also not enough iodine and you gain weight...

Back during the civil war ...the southern soldiers carried 2 canteens...one with water and one with iodine....they covered wounds of any type with iodine...lots of iodine..it saved many a life...since iodine is absorbed through the skin..their thyroid was getting plenty also..which was helping them fight infection at the site of the wound and also in their blood stream..
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THank you so much for all the info. It makes sense. Have you ever used Lugol's Iodine?
 
Wildwood said:
THank you so much for all the info. It makes sense. Have you ever used Lugol's Iodine?
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Yes...we have that ..we are close to the Chesapeake bay...we eat a lot of seafood and fatty ocean fish
I learned that if you get an old fashioned bottle of Swan's iodine (Amazon has it)...the old fashioned kind that we used for cuts..and paint a 2" x 2" square on your inner arm a couple of inches above your wrist before you go to bed...if it is gone in the morning...you are iodine deficient...and easy test...
 
77 for our high, today, and 80 for tomorrow. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday it will be cold again back down in the 40's for our highs. I'm so ready for the cold to be over with. I get pressure headaches every time a low pressure system comes through. Sometimes, an earache, too. Tomorrow night, we have storms moving in, again. We are in a 3 out of 5 risk for tornadoes this time.

I made a mistake and twisted my back this morning making the bed. Now, my sciatica is acting up. So, a sore knee and a bad back is what I'm dealing with, today. I'll try to sweep and dust, but that's about it for me. Home fellowship, tomorrow.

I baked chicken breasts for supper last night, so we'll have the rest of the chicken tonight for supper. I'm baking spiral potatoes to go with it. I'll have a broccoli salad with mine.
 
WanderLore said:
OMG Hfcomms!

The wind's blew and gusted all night over 60 mph horrible. It's better today. I have to go get some cold and other stuff.
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I work third shift just on weekends (semi-retired), came home this morning got an hour and a half of sleep and have been clearing snow all morning. Got the driveway and yard blowed as much as can and got all the snow off the woodshed, chicken coop and three storage buildings. Too say I’m pooped is an understatement. Wasn’t too worried about falling off a roof as the snow banks are up to the rooftop eaves already. I’ll have to take a picture later and post it.

Got to make hay as this is the calm before the storm. Sunny, no wind and will be thirty today and it starts going south tonight. Probably do the same thing tomorrow after working third again tonight. Get a few hours sleep tomorrow morning and will be out clearing snow every three or four hours probably all night Sunday and into midday monday. With snow like this if you don’t keep up with it and don’t have heavy equipment you’ll be buried overnight and there is no way a snowblower can power through the drifts from 50 mph winds or more if it gets away from you.

No matter where you live there are challenges and if it pans out the way they are warning this one is going to hurt.
 
hd5574 said:
@Wildwood...many years ago I had the Hongkong flu..it was horrible many people died..but in the winter of 1981-1982...I got sick with another no name influenza...I have never been that sick..in my life...my Dad had passed some months earlier....my fever was very high and DH was beside the bed feeding me ice chips...he got me dressed and carried me to the doctor's ..I mean carried me in the office in his arms..
After I was well..I told him how Dad had given me ice...he looked at me tenderly..and said honey that was me feeding you ice ...at that moment I realized how sick I had been..and I decided I never wanted to be that sick again..or even catch any virus...if I could find a way not to

I began studying all things that were said to killed virus ..I have tried them...all ...they all helped some but I still got sick to one level or another..my goal was not to get sick at all...I have been studying this 45 years now...I gave up on most all the over the counter stuff..and most of the herbs..that mitigate virus...I was out to kill them..years ago and threw them in the trash..

Zinc is your friend..

Bread also can be your friend and help keep you well or make you ill...years ago we had lots of iodine in our bread...It helped us stay well ..it was removed..( by who ??? )
We are nowgiven tons of bromine in most bread now, flouride in our toothpaste and chlorine in our water(except well water )...all of these..force the iodine out of your thyroid...your blood circulates through your thyroid..every 17 minutes..and if you have enough iodine it treats your blood to remove or KILL...virus and bacteria...it is a huge part of your immune system...who knew..the only companies I know of that make bromine free bread and pastries are Pepperidge Farm and Entenmann's...more expensive but worth the price...I have actually called those companies about bromine ..
Our breast cancer rates jumped like crazy once the iodine was removed..from our bread...breast cancer is very low in Japan...they eat a lot of seaweed...it is very high in iodine...I grew up in VA...near the bay and have eaten a ton of shell fish all my life..but not as much now ..it has gotten crazy expensive...so i take kelp pills to make sure I get enough iodine ..also not enough iodine and you gain weight...

Back during the civil war ...the southern soldiers carried 2 canteens...one with water and one with iodine....they covered wounds of any type with iodine...lots of iodine..it saved many a life...since iodine is absorbed through the skin..their thyroid was getting plenty also..which was helping them fight infection at the site of the wound and also in their blood stream..
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I agree on the zinc...the problem is, everyone in the family gets very nauseous taking it. I can take 50 mgs, IF I take it with food. But it definitely works!

On the iodine... you also used to get a significant amount in milk. Dairy farmers used an iodine based teat dip both before and after milking, to sanitize the tests. This reduced bacteria getting into the milk, and also prevented it from getting into the still-open teat opening after milking, which caused mastitis.

It worked great. Then TPTB decided "too much" iodine was getting into the milk (it was in "parts per million" levels, and pretty low at that!)
They mandated teat dips be either chlorhexidihe based, or have no higher than 1/2 of 1% iodine levels.

As long as we milked cows, we were never iodine short! We absorbed splashes of the stuff through our skin 4 hours a day, every day!

Now that we only milk one cow a few times a week, we use Lugols solution (2% iodine) as a topical ...not daily, but for a few days at a time, until it shows we've topped up our levels again...

The Great Lakes region is known as "The Goiter Belt", due to the prevalence of goiter. (Enlarged thyroid), which is because the soils are deficient in iodine. Before so much food was imported, ocean fish being much more available, and the introduction of iodized salt, there were MANY older women (seemed like women were much more prone to it) suffering with huge goiter...

Summerthyme (one thing..DO NOT use "strong iodine" (7% iodine) on your skin, and *especially* do not cover it with a bandage (or even somewhat snug clothing)!! It will first blister the skin, and 8f not washed off immediately, can cause third degree burns! I don't think they sell it anymore, because it supposedly was used in manufacturing meth...but it keeps forever, so I'm sure people still have bottles sitting around.)
 
I hope your back calms down, SB!

I have regular onions, chives, and walking onions poking up their tips this morning. Since it might snow -- nothing like HFcomms! -- I threw a little mulch over them. I'll carefully move it aside when the snow melts. The last totals I saw were 2" - 4" but there will be 60+ mph winds, so there will be a blizzard warning.

I'm also seeing the tips of what might be snowdrops and also early tulips. I tossed a little mulch on what I think are tulips. They are two weeks ahead of schedule, if so. The snow drops will be fine.
 
Meemur said:
I hope your back calms down, SB!

I have regular onions, chives, and walking onions poking up their tips this morning. Since it might snow -- nothing like HFcomms! -- I threw a little mulch over them. I'll carefully move it aside when the snow melts. The last totals I saw were 2" - 4" but there will be 60+ mph winds, so there will be a blizzard warning.

I'm also seeing the tips of what might be snowdrops and also early tulips. I tossed a little mulch on what I think are tulips. They are two weeks ahead of schedule, if so. The snow drops will be fine.
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Down here, all the red bud and Bradford pear trees are in bloom. Daffodils and tulips are blooming, too. I'm seeing several tulip trees in full bloom as well. My azaleas are starting to bloom. Our neighbor down the road that has such beautiful gardens every year, has planted his Spring garden.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, our night time lows are supposed to be in the 20's. If any fruit trees are in bloom, I'm afraid they will get frost bit.
 
If I had to keep the fruit alive, I'd be looking at borrowing a propane air heater or something similar. I don't have any fruit trees at the moment. I'm buying and dehydrating apples about once a week. I've got a dozen right now that I will process tomorrow.

I may also clean and freeze some of the strawberries that have been coming in from Mexico (or wherever) just so I have some in reserve.
 
Meemur said:
If I had to keep the fruit alive, I'd be looking at borrowing a propane air heater or something similar. I don't have any fruit trees at the moment. I'm buying and dehydrating apples about once a week. I've got a dozen right now that I will process tomorrow.

I may also clean and freeze some of the strawberries that have been coming in from Mexico (or wherever) just so I have some in reserve.
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Yep...Last Spring, just as the apricots, peaches and almonds were blooming, we had temps of 27-28°. DS built a couple of bonfires in the orchard and kept them going all night.

We harvested 6 bushels of peaches off four trees...

I used to set up a couple Aladdin kerosene lamps under my apple trees if we had a freeze warning during bloom...it kept them just warm enough to save the crop.

Summerthyme
 
Meemur said:
If I had to keep the fruit alive, I'd be looking at borrowing a propane air heater or something similar. I don't have any fruit trees at the moment. I'm buying and dehydrating apples about once a week. I've got a dozen right now that I will process tomorrow.

I may also clean and freeze some of the strawberries that have been coming in from Mexico (or wherever) just so I have some in reserve.
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I'm buying apples and peaches to put up in the freezer for pies. On down the road from us about 1/4 mile, an older couple once had a huge peach and apricot orchard. You could go pick as much as you wanted right off the trees at a cost. We always bought from them every year, but they got too old to work it, so they let it go. Makes me sad, too.

I can hardly wait for the man who has the farmer's market/ stand on our way to small town to set it back up. He's been absent the last couple of times we went shopping. He brings a lot of his produce up from Florida to sell at his market. He always has lots of fruit and veggies. Supposedly, all organic.
 
Meemur said:
Yes, kerosene lamps would work, too. Smudge pots . . . you'd use whatever you could find.

Added: that's great, SB! I buy some stuff at the markets. Locals don't want to grow potatoes, so that's my focus.
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My grandparents always used lots of old flat bed sheets to cover the fruit trees as best they could if frost was in the forecast.

I'll be buying lots of veggies and fruit from the market this year, I'm sure. I don't think we'll grow much, ourselves, this year.
 
I've got to figure out how many potatoes we have left, and figure out if I need to order any seed potatoes. Hubby and I aren't eating many...he'll have a 3-4oz baked potato with his otherwise low-carb supper, but that's a huge change from our previous pattern, where we'd have potatoes in some form every night, and often eat leftover homemade French fries at lunch. Or fried mashed potato patties with breakfast.

But DDIL is a great cook, and has really loved having all the high quality organic potatoes she could want,sitting in a root cellar just down the stairs from the kitchen. And we had a dry year last year, so got essentially BIG potatoes...or tiny (good size for seed, but a PITA to peel) ones.

I asked DS if they wanted me to put up a bushel or so of homemade French fries in the freezer...I bought a commercial fry cutter (before hubby's autoimmune issue made us go low carb) and we've got 30# of tallow in which to fry them.

He said they'd love them, but he thought the remaining potatoes were all too small to bother with...

We put 9 bushels in the root cellar last fall!

Which means I need to be sure we have at least 100# of seed potatoes to plant! I hadn't really forgotten how much growing, active kids eat...but I HAD forgotten how early it starts! When we had 4 teens, I'd grow 1200-1400# of potatoes every year, and we'd almost never have any left over, except for the 200# of seed I'd sort out and tuck away first thing after harvest.

Summerthyme
 
Meemur said:
While potatoes might not be Keto-friendly, they help stretch my budget, and they're more filling for me than rice.
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Unless someone has serious inflammation issues with carbs, potatoes are a wonderful, nutritious food. Hardworking men in Ireland were surviving on a "complete diet" of 8# of potatoes and a quart of milk a day. It's amazing how many nutrients are provided from those two foods.

I don't trust commercial potatoes these days, and can't afford organic ones. They are using RoundUp to dry down the vines on the commercials tubers in many areas, and there's NO possible way it doesn't get into the tubers! But, except for late blight, we have little trouble growing all we want. If this war situation continues to look dicey, I may buy another hundred pounds of seed potatoes and plant enough for everyone in the family...

Summerthyme
 
summerthyme said:
I agree on the zinc...the problem is, everyone in the family gets very nauseous taking it. I can take 50 mgs, IF I take it with food. But it definitely works!

On the iodine... you also used to get a significant amount in milk. Dairy farmers used an iodine based teat dip both before and after milking, to sanitize the tests. This reduced bacteria getting into the milk, and also prevented it from getting into the still-open teat opening after milking, which caused mastitis.

It worked great. Then TPTB decided "too much" iodine was getting into the milk (it was in "parts per million" levels, and pretty low at that!)
They mandated teat dips be either chlorhexidihe based, or have no higher than 1/2 of 1% iodine levels.

As long as we milked cows, we were never iodine short! We absorbed splashes of the stuff through our skin 4 hours a day, every day!

Now that we only milk one cow a few times a week, we use Lugols solution (2% iodine) as a topical ...not daily, but for a few days at a time, until it shows we've topped up our levels again...

The Great Lakes region is known as "The Goiter Belt", due to the prevalence of goiter. (Enlarged thyroid), which is because the soils are deficient in iodine. Before so much food was imported, ocean fish being much more available, and the introduction of iodized salt, there were MANY older women (seemed like women were much more prone to it) suffering with huge goiter...

Summerthyme (one thing..DO NOT use "strong iodine" (7% iodine) on your skin, and *especially* do not cover it with a bandage (or even somewhat snug clothing)!! It will first blister the skin, and 8f not washed off immediately, can cause third degree burns! I don't think they sell it anymore, because it supposedly was used in manufacturing meth...but it keeps forever, so I'm sure people still have bottles sitting around.)
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The Swan's iodine I mentioned is 2%...so not a problem..easy way to check your levels..

I also mentioned Cold Eeze lozenges...and Zicam nose spray...which seem to work if used at the first sign...homeopathic

There are 12 types of zinc...some are harder on the stomach than others..plus many zinc rich foods..oysters for example...we love smoked oysters in olive oil..
Cashews are also a zinc rich food...if you are using 50 mg of elemental zinc at a time it can be very upsetting on the stomach
 
Meemur said:
Most commercial potatoes around here are nasty! That's why I grow my own. Commercial squash isn't much better. Who knows how long it has been in storage.
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They are nasty here as well. I don't know why the grocery stores down here have such bad potatoes. I have to buy 2, 8lb. bags of Idaho jumbo potatoes every 2 weeks just to make up for all the bad ones in the bags. Sometimes, I run short. For the most part, that's only Cary eating them.

We have tried every trick that we can think of to grow our own, but it never pans out. The years that we had a huge inground garden, we produced a lot of potatoes, but these raised beds just won't grow them. Not enough, anyway.
 
I've always had decent potato crops although in the last few years not so much. Before I lost my trees, I always composted leaves over winter and then used them as a heavy mulch on my potatoes. The lack of that mulch is, in my opinion, the reason for the not so much. Used to be I'd dig 1 to 1½ wheelbarrow of potatoes in a row but now I'm lucky to get a wheelbarrow full in two rows. Most years I bought seed potatoes and cut them to plant but last year none were available other than a package of 4 eyes for $2.99 (or maybe $3.99). I planted from grocery store sprouted potatoes last year which also might have something to do with the poor harvest. I have sprouted potatoes from last year's harvest that I'm planning to use this year if seed potatoes are not available again.

A trick my mom taught me, when you pick up a bag of potatoes give it the sniff test, if there is a bad potato in the bag you'll smell it. I was doing that one day and a woman was watching me and asked why ... I told her and she immediately did the same and thanked me for telling her!! Food is too expensive to buy it already spoiled and if there is one bad potato it will have spoiled all those touching it. I bought a 5# bag last time I shopped and am irritated at the sizes from too large to bake to too small to easily peel. A bit of conformity would be nice.

Do any of you weigh bagged produce to find the heaviest bag? I've seen that as a suggestion but have never bothered to do so. It does make sense though when a bag is a set price, why not find the heaviest!

We have incoming blizzard tomorrow with winds to 30/40 mph gusting to 55/65 mph. It is not going to be fun. Snow/ice accumulation around 6" but with wind that means huge hard packed drifts. Only good thing is this is March so it shouldn't hang around long. Better news, I can stay home all week if necessary, Bible study is the only thing on my calendar and that is just across the street.
 
anna43 said:
I've always had decent potato crops although in the last few years not so much. Before I lost my trees, I always composted leaves over winter and then used them as a heavy mulch on my potatoes. The lack of that mulch is, in my opinion, the reason for the not so much. Used to be I'd dig 1 to 1½ wheelbarrow of potatoes in a row but now I'm lucky to get a wheelbarrow full in two rows. Most years I bought seed potatoes and cut them to plant but last year none were available other than a package of 4 eyes for $2.99 (or maybe $3.99). I planted from grocery store sprouted potatoes last year which also might have something to do with the poor harvest. I have sprouted potatoes from last year's harvest that I'm planning to use this year if seed potatoes are not available again.

A trick my mom taught me, when you pick up a bag of potatoes give it the sniff test, if there is a bad potato in the bag you'll smell it. I was doing that one day and a woman was watching me and asked why ... I told her and she immediately did the same and thanked me for telling her!! Food is too expensive to buy it already spoiled and if there is one bad potato it will have spoiled all those touching it. I bought a 5# bag last time I shopped and am irritated at the sizes from too large to bake to too small to easily peel. A bit of conformity would be nice.

Do any of you weigh bagged produce to find the heaviest bag? I've seen that as a suggestion but have never bothered to do so. It does make sense though when a bag is a set price, why not find the heaviest!

We have incoming blizzard tomorrow with winds to 30/40 mph gusting to 55/65 mph. It is not going to be fun. Snow/ice accumulation around 6" but with wind that means huge hard packed drifts. Only good thing is this is March so it shouldn't hang around long. Better news, I can stay home all week if necessary, Bible study is the only thing on my calendar and that is just across the street.
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The problem we have here with bad potatoes is that you can't smell or see the bad ones. I examine all the potatoes in the bag. They all look and smell perfect. I bring them home and immediately pour them out of the bags into a straw basket that I have just to store the potatoes in. Then, I pick out the potatoes to cook for that night. They still look perfect, until I cut into them. The middle is usually rotten, discolored, or have black spots all throughout the potato.

Possible tornadoes with a high of 80 degrees, tomorrow. We have already been issued a Freeze Watch Alert for Monday night. Good Grief!
 
I’m tired! We worked in the garden most of the day. I feel guilty posting it though cause so many of you are still in bad weather. But all the beds we didnt want are gone, the remaining few are deeper, still need to fill them more, and we finally agreed on how to proceed with the garden. We’ve had different opinions lol.
If Dh is off next weekend we’ll be getting a load of dirt. Thanks to our red clay, that we’ve been amending for 20 years, we can only till down about 6 inches. So we’re essentially going to do huge “raised” beds, they’ll only be deep enough to keep the good dirt from washing away though. With what we already have and these that should get us deep enough to let everything set up good roots.

Took a break for lunch and then went and got chicken feed. We were about to be out and I wanted extra. Also going to add a couple extra smaller bags of dog food to my big list.
 
SouthernBreeze said:
The problem we have here with bad potatoes is that you can't smell or see the bad ones. I examine all the potatoes in the bag. They all look and smell perfect. I bring them home and immediately pour them out of the bags into a straw basket that I have just to store the potatoes in. Then, I pick out the potatoes to cook for that night. They still look perfect, until I cut into them. The middle is usually rotten, discolored, or have black spots all throughout the potato.

Possible tornadoes with a high of 80 degrees, tomorrow. We have already been issued a Freeze Watch Alert for Monday night. Good Grief!
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I believe the gray/brown interior mess is a micronutrient deficiency. And yes, that's the biggest complaint I hear from my kids about store-bought potatoes. They rarely bake potatoes, because you can't tell if they're good, and so many aren't!

The "smell test" works on the ones rotting, especially if it's from blight. OMG, it reeks! Several years ago, I had potatoes in the root cellar at planting tine, but they were three years from certified seed, and I thought it would be wise to refresh my stock. I went to the local feedstore...they had several hundred pounds of Canadian certified seed potatoes (and I thought, WTH, we can't have American grown seed?"). The minute I walked in the door, still 50 feet away from the potatoes, I could smell the reek of blighted potatoes! Yep...Several slimy ones in each bag! I planted old stock..it did fine.

Summerthyme
 
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summerthyme said:
I believe the gray/brown interior mess is a micronutrient deficiency. And yes, that's the biggest complaint I hear from my kids about store-bought potatoes. They rarely bake potatoes, because you can't tell if they're good, and so many aren't!

The "smell tes5" works on the ones rotting, especially if its from blight. OMG, it reeks! Several years ago, I had potatoes in the root cellar at planting tine, but they were three years from certified seed, and I thought it would be wise to refresh my stock. I went to the local feedstore...they had several hundred pounds of Canadian certified seed potatoes (and I thought, WTH, we can't have American grown seed?"). The minute I walked in the door, still 50 feet away from the potatoes, I could smell the reek of blighted potatoes! Yep...Several slimy ones in each bag! I planted old stock..it did fine.

Summerthyme
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I stopped baking potatoes for that same reason. If we get baked potatoes it's when we go out to eat.

I made baked spiral potatoes for tonight's supper. I peeled 2 medium sized potatoes. When I started slicing up the first one, it was rotten in the middle. I threw it away and started on the second one. Half of it had black spots in it, so I threw it away. That was 2 potatoes I had to throw away just tonight, because they were bad.
 
SouthernBreeze said:
I stopped baking potatoes for that same reason. If we get baked potatoes it's when we go out to eat.

I made baked spiral potatoes for tonight's supper. I peeled 2 medium sized potatoes. When I started slicing up the first one, it was rotten in the middle. I threw it away and started on the second one. Half of it had black spots in it, so I threw it away. That was 2 potatoes I had to throw away just tonight, because they were bad.
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OK, you may be wasting a lot of potatoes! If it is just discolored in the center, and there is no odor or sliminess, it's a harmless mineral deficiency (also you'll see center defects from uneven watering). Simply cut out the discolored portion, and cook the rest of the potato.

Even with our homegrown ones, an occasional one may have some brownish or gray color in the center...but it's closer to one or two per bushel, not half of them!

Summerthyme
 
I've been working on blizzard preparations.

I've got food, gas, clean dishes & laundry, and I'm going to take a shower before bed.
All of the electronics and batteries are either charged or being charged right now.
I finished all of my errands and canceled my Monday appointments.
I'm off this week. I had been planning to get doctor visits out of the way, but that probably
won't happen. That's OK. March is like that.

I got in some extra steps today, and I'll stretch and maybe do some dance steps while I sweep,
vacuum, and mop tomorrow.
 
I love potatoes but the ones in store have not been great this year.
Years ago they grew potatoes in sandy soil of west Texas. We could buy them at processing plant. They weren’t organic but were fresh. It closed years ago.
We have had very warm weather but it will freeze here two nights next week. Trees here are blooming. High winds and big swings in temps not unusual.
 
That is what the snow on one of my outbuildings looked like today and updated storm totals are 36 inches plus for my area. This is the first time I can remember seeing NWS warnings about roof collapses. This is on the cold side of the storm and a lot of you are going to have to deal with the tornado and straight line winds threat. Choose your poison I guess.

This is another reason we prep as most things we run into are not necessarily TEOTWAWKI.

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We have grown a few taters here...but don't eat that many...so stopped..the grocery store potatoes are totally hit or miss...black inside...i also don't store them near onions..
so I grabbed some canned potatoes..would be too expensive if we ate lots...the store brands..had some with black in them....but the Del Monte...were fine..so I stocked up on some their sliced, whole and diced...so far fine...wonder why the difference..
I also got some Bob's Red Mill... for mashed...they are nothing but potato flakes...Vacuum sealed those in Mason jars..and had no problem with them going stale..we make them with half and half and butter...which helps

I have used the diced for homefries with lots of onions and butter..and potato salad if you heat them first they take the flavor better...also have the dried shredded..for fried...and have dehydrated...some frozen hash browns.which also work fine..
We just heaved too many fresh taters..to keep buying them.
 
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