Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: September 23 ~ 29, 2018

[ReneeT]

Good Evening, All!

Be sure to check last week's thread; Siskiyoumom posted her update there since some slacker wandered away from the computer this morning and forgot to start the new thread

Daughter dropped off the grandsons late this morning; they'd spent the night at the other grandparents as they had a cookout/weenie roast. First thing I did was throw 'em in the tub to get the smoke smell and a couple square feet of dirt washed off them They brought along a grocery bag of apples they'd picked from their grandparents' tree, and a misshapen pumpkin - once out of the tub, they wanted me to make apple butter and a pumpkin pie TODAY. Told 'em we had other plans, but I'd see what I could get done on my next days off as far as getting the apples and pumpkin prepped so we could do that the next time they came out That satisfied them for the moment, so we hopped in the van and headed to town to take work Buddy out to lunch for his birthday and spend a little time visiting with him. I made a quick run through Aldi - found one stock up/prep item: pineapple chunks 79 cents/can so I stocked up on 12 - while Buddy and the boys went to a nearby park, then I picked up the boys and pointed the van toward their house.

The neighbor lady had texted me to see if I wanted to go to the pool so I zipped by home to grab my suit and headed that direction. Left knee is still giving me fits so I'm going to try babying it this week; at least as much as I can - I'll do any walking in the pool instead of on the treadmill or roads. I picked up what is supposed to be a 6 hour shift tomorrow; I'm betting it will end up being 8, but don't plan for it to stretch to 12 since I have to work Tuesday and Wednesday as well. I've rinsed my swimsuit and hung it up to dry; will toss it in it's bag tomorrow and take it with me to work so I can swing by the pool on the way home - felt so much better the past two weeks with getting in more exercise while I was off work.

Plans for this week depend on the weather; if it rains, I'll work inside - have a bunch of pasta that needs vac sealed and put in buckets. I could also start going through my father's financial records to see what can be discarded; in a few days he will have been gone from us for 12 years so it's well past time to start throwing out all but the necessary stuff.

If by chance it doesn't rain, I've got plenty of garden clean up, weeding, and some planting to do. I also need to go down and pick up persimmons and get a bunch of their seeds potted up. Lots of Vitamin A and C in persimmons, one of the B vitamins, and it's also a good source of potassium, so a very good tree to have around!

Well, the pool worked it's magic - I feel like I'm ready to head to bed! Maybe I'll try to hold out to 7 pm....

Take care all; stay safe and as happy as you can!

 

[connie]

Fall seems to be holding off here in Southwest. We had some rain and cooler days but temps will be back up in 80's and even 90 the next 10 days..

We did make it to Costo to stock up on few things. Doesn't take much for two people but I like to keep enough in winter to get buy in bad weather or if there is alot of illness. Last January we had some bronchitis that lingered..

 

[ivantherussian03]

More meat today. Beautiful red meat, giant roasts you have to cut in half to fit the bag. We cut up two leg bones, with marrow, for soup. Moose soup will cure the kind of sickness that hangs on. Heavy rain today so being inside cutting meat was good. Fall weather came right on time.

We're gearing up for birthday party this week.

I started the wood stove today in the morning.

 

[summerthyme]

That's wonderful, Ivan! I know what a warm, secure feeling having your winter's meat supply secured is like! No moose here... we had to settle for a Prime Dexter steer, 2/3rds ground beef and 1/3 all good steaks. We don't much like chuck roasts ir steaks... the flavor is fine, but there us just so much connective tissue and trim... we prefer to have it ground into versatile hamburger.

At least 10# will be put into a huge batch of chile con carne and canned once we finally get the time and weather (although interestingly, it's as if the Equinox flipped the switch from summer to fall... last Sunday was 96 degrees,,, today our high here in the hills was 62, and it hit 38 last night. Full moon now, though, and no frost in sight, so we *might* get another month before it freezes... we've observed that the vast majority of our first hard frosts occur during the full moon... used to be September's, two
memorable and regrettable years it was August, but normal lately has been early october... the Hunter's Moon this year isn't until October 24th... that would be wonderful. About the only things left growing in the gardens are teo big (one probably weighs 30# Moon and Stars watermelons... not quite ripe, but getting there. A bunch of pumpkins, but they are ripe and just waiting for us to find the time to cut them from the vines and haul them to the house, and my patch (probably 1/4 acre) of Silver Mine field corn... planted FAR too late last spring, but actually looking like it has a chance to mature, although I'll probably be picking it in a November snowstorm. The tomatoes keep ripening... so far, from 12 plants, i think I have 7 bushels in the freezee. Realky great crop, albeit quite late. One more reason we're grateful for every frost-free day. Sweet peppers have slowed way down, but theres probably 3 bushels cut and frozen... we'll haul out the tomatoes and oeppers on a warm fall day, add celery (still in the garden, and I'm late blanching it, darn it!), onions (currently 4 1/2 bushels are in the office... sadly, about 1 1/2 bushels are Walla Walla sweets, and even sadder, thanks to our hest this year, they are more spicy than sweet.

I need to run all but a few through the dehydrator... leaving enough for fresh... if kept in the fridge, wle often manage to have the last few in Christmas salads. Although given the dearth of sweetness, I'll probably store fewer than usual.

And there is still some cabbages that need to be harvested, cleaned, wrapped in newspaper and stashed in the root cellar. It hasnt been chilly enough at night to even start cooling it down, though.

(Hmmmmm... it sounds like there's a lot more out there than i thought! So why is every surface in my kitchen convered with pears, tomatoes, peppers (including som which were sold to me as "half-hots", and wh8ch in fact are so hot that my soice loving DDIL RUINED a stew with just two of them! I felt so bad... summer squash, canteloupe, and a couple of Sugar Bsby watermelons that are about the size of a softball... cute and just enough for one person.?)

9 1/2 bushels of really nice potatoes are currently under a tarp on a wagon in tbe shed. They also should be in thre root cellar... same problem as above. Fortunately, potatoes have a built in "rest period" of about 4 months, so they dont start sprouting early if not immediately chilled... but i don't want to wait too long.

We havent sorted them yet, but out of 200 feet of row, we only got TWO rotten potatoes, and less than a half dozen chipped or forked. I'm guessing over 90% would grade #1, and it would be higher except the Russet Burbank variety ran really small this year. I suspect hubby (who planted that row, and doesn't have my experience in knowing that, for whatever reason, planting the Purple Viking variety farther apart than 10-12" can leave you with a lot of outsized tubers... sometimes up to 2#. But if you pkant Russet Burbanks 10-12" apart, you get a million 2 ounce potatoes. Sigh... pkenty which are perfect for seed next year, but to be honest, Burbanks are probably my least favorite variety out of the 5 we planted. My son requested them.,,

I harvested nearly a bushel of grapes and cleaned them while watching rodeo on TV with hubby. He's been hauling wood steadily on dry days, and his wrist that was involved in that severe infection over Labor Day is causing him severe pain. I dont see any real sign of infection, although it swells some from use, but I'm still terrified about the potential for a MRSA bone infection. Mine had completely healed on the outside, and the doctor was openly suggesting i was "drug seeking" when he condescended to ordee an xray, and discovered the pain was due to two rather important bones being eaten away by infection.

I'll give the wrist another week (the wood hauling should be done in another 2 afternoons, and that should hopefully give us a better idea. Getting him to even make an appointment is going to be tough... he's burnt out on doctors, and has another eye surgery scheduled in early November.

So we're hurrying through all the fall stuff as quickly as possible. One fun thing the cooler weather is going to let me start is training the miniature horse to drive. My Amish neighbors reinforced and modified a Christmas gift of a heavy black sled like you guys use to haul firewood, adding runners and shafts. Naturally, by the time they got it finished... it was early March and our last snow was still melting!

The grandkids and i are going to have a ball if we get out our usual winter snowfall and cold!

Hoping everyone has a productive week!
Summerthyme

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Our gardens were a total bust this year. I had to stay 3 weeks with my mom while she was in the hospital, and when she got home, because she still wasn't able to stay by herself. Weeds had plenty of time to take over. Our weather just wasn't right for gardens this year, either. We managed to get a few tomatoes and peas for several meals, but I didn't get to can anything. So, we are making runs to Sam's Club every two weeks to stock up on canned veggies to make up for those things I didn't get from our gardens. I've still got a lot canned from last year's gardens, but I don't like to let any empty spaces begin to show in my pantry room.

DH is still working on cleaning out his workshop to make room for putting in a new floor. Hopefully, he can get it all done, before winter sets in. We still have another month, before our frosts begin. I hope it holds off longer to give him even more time. It's been raining off and on ever few days, and he can't bring this tools/saws outside while he cleans when it's raining. He's also waiting on a friend to finish a project he's working on so he can come help with the flooring.

Thursday, we are meeting up with a relative of DH's that he found online while researching his ancestry. They began corresponding by e-mail, and he wants to come see us, and see where his ancestors settled just down the road from our place. He was also doing research on his ancestors. That's how they came upon each other. It should be a fun time for them both. He lives in Texas.

Our coffee maker quit on us, so I had to dig, out of our supplies, our camp coffee pot. It's a pain to use it, but it's better than not having our morning coffee. I'll pick up a new coffee maker when we go into town in about another week. This one will have to do, until then.

A load of laundry to do today, and it's raining outside. Guess I'll be using my drying racks and clothes hangers today......

Have a great week, everyone!

 

[moldy]

School is challenging - I'm trying to finish my thesis project before mid-October when DD#3 and DM come to visit. Learning Word has been more time consuming than I had hoped. Anyhow.... classes are scheduled, syllabus (just my outline) is done, and one handout of 4 is finished. DH is working on a water project that is pricy, and that I dont' fully understand, but the man is brilliant, so I just support him and do what I can to help.

The garden is a mess, but it has been all year. DH asked if I wanted to do a garden next year. I told him I'd let him know after the election,but honestly I think we should have one every year. Our renters have said they will help with it - and so far, they've been pretty great. Hopefully the weather next year will cooperate better. I'd really like to start trees and a garden at the retirement place, but it's just not ready for that yet. I did pull a really nice Delicata squash last night for supper.

just got a text that the instructors are announcing my class, so I guess it's a done deal. The classes are a series on food and herb preservation with demonstration.

Need to go thru my BOB (GHB) before Thursday. I commute once a week about 85 miles one way to school, and I just want to know it's functional and ready.

 

[Digger]

My ginseng seeds arrived along with the book on growing it and other medicinal herbs. I hope they are ready to plant this weekend. Then, in about 8 or 9 years I may have a cash crop. If i can keep them alive. I only ordered 3 oz of seed for just under $30. But the bag is 4 ozs. Nice guy. There is sure to be some duds in the bunch. I am planting on a wooded hillside that we won't be using for anything else. Iwas hoping there was wild growing here, but have not found any. We are within the area that ginseng grows though. I have found lots of Texas snake root. I have been digging some of that and picking herbs. There is a lot of work to be done. We have been bush hogging the pastures. Some of them have not been touched in 12 or more years. We hope to cut our first hay in early October. That field was cut about 3 years ago, so it was not as bad. We have some fences to move. Some are preventing us from properly maintaining the driveway. We have 4 ponds onthe property also. They all need clearing around them. I would love to be able to fish.

 

[ReneeT]

So nice to see everyone posting! Sounds like y'all are keeping busy!

My 6 hour extra shift on Monday turned into 12.8 hours (and only 2 RNs instead of the 3 scheduled), but I only had to work 8 hours on Tuesday as a trade off, so I will have some overtime on my paycheck next week; it will be welcome as I have discovered a new neighborhood handyman I can hire to get a few things done around here. What I had him do last week - taking up the frames from some older raised beds - is cutting back on my garden area in one way, but making it more accessible in another. I'm going to stack the frames that are still usable 4-5 high at the back of edge of one of the gardens closest to the house, and start filling them by using them as compost frames and by hauling composted manure from the sale barn. The area where he took up the frames will be mowed, tilled, and planted with clover as a cover crop this winter, then I will start adding a few fruit trees on the end by the current orchard, and plant small fruit plants and pollinator plants on the end closer to the road.

Dang, my ride to the pool is coming down the road; guess I'd better gulp down this coffee and head out the door - take care all; stay safe!

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Picked up some Spaghetti squash for next to nothing at an Mennonite store. It'll keep in a cool dark place for few months.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Picked up Water Bandit* and Food Grade hose to go with it. Neither item was particularly expensive. Not an endorsement of Amazon or the product cause I haven't tried the thing out yet. If it works as advertised it will allow me to fill up a five gallon water tank in the back of my vehicle. The idea is that if we run into a faucet camping or traveling that has striped threads or slightly damaged so that it can't accept a regular hose fitting we can still get water. Sounds a lot easier than schlepping it. YMMV

*Link to Water Bandit on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Connects-Standard-Various-Sources/dp/B000EDOSKG