My Favorite Time of Year

Well, things have been kind of slow lately. The tempature is dropping a little and I'm just enjoying sitting outside, smoking my pipe and watching the critters. I've been canning jalapenoes as they ripen and funny thing is now that the mercury has dropped the tomatoes are maturing like crazy and mostly without giant cracks.
As far as fall planting and upkeep, I planted some garlic cloves and laid out some lettuce seed(Black Seeded Simpson). I also topped off the compost pile with a big bag of leaves.
I almost forgot to mention that my parents gave me their old washer. My apartment in Plano came with a washer and dryer but since I moved here I've had to go to my parents house to clean my clothes. It's funny how excited I got when I got to go out and buy a clothesline. It seems to me that clothes dry a little faster on a clothesline than in a dryer but that's just conjecture. I hope everyone is doing well and flourishing.
Jerry

I Want To Can Everything!

I canned two jars of my homemade salsa today. I did much better this time and learned from my initial mistakes. Now I want to make pickles and everything else preservable with a hot water canner. Any and all recipes will be welcome and good luck to you all.

Hurricanes Can Be Good

We've had cooler tempatures lately thanks to the current crop of storms. It's not common for us to have a real fall so I've been enjoying it. I love this time of year, the smell in the air and cool breezes. The bell peppers and jalapenoes have been flourishing and I have been taking advantage of this. I 've frozen the bells and used the japs for salsa. The extra jalapenoes I am attempting to pickle. I've never canned before so my initial effort appears to not be great.
I'm planning to can some batches of salsa in the next day or two and since I've learned a lot from the internet I'm sure it will turn out better.
Other than that nothing's going down around here.
Hope everyone else is doing well.

Lack of Interest

As you can tell I have not been posting lately. Conditions around here went from drought to heavy rain overnight. As a result all of my tomatoes split open and are to differing degrees ruined. My few melons did the same and the pillbugs came in and chewed them up. The only plus this season has been squash and a few bell peppers. There may be some jalepenoes, but I'm not going to bank on those yet.
I'm working on getting a new job and focusing on getting out of the hole I've been in the last few years. I'm not going to give up all together, but right now I could care less about most anything but money.
I'm off to join the sheeple. I'll keep ya'll updated.

Relief

We've been getting rain the last couple of days. I love the smell of the air right after a storm. As a result it's been a little cooler. Last week I got borderline heat stroke and couldn't get out of bed for three days.
I finally switched over to a prepay cell phone. I couldn't justify paying so much for something I use so little. Also, the way home phones are made these days if you lose power your phone doesn't work. I can make 20 dollars of time last a couple of months plus I got to get a phone with a cool camera.
On the garden front everything is plodding along slowly. The bell peppers are finally producing well and the squash, although slowing down, are still giving about 5 pounds a week. The tomato plants are full of big green fruit unwilling to turn red. I'm actually just impatient for the amazing flavor of a home grown tomato. The jalapenoes have yet to produce anything but the plants are beautiful.
There will be corn on the cob by the end of the month. I used cotton burr compost for fertilizer and worked wonderfully. I may even try one more planting this year since I don't see it getting cold until Christmas.
The best surprise this year is the return of the pecans. I had a bumper crop last year and I was under the impression that it would be another year before my tree produced any fruit. I have coddled my tree and as a result it's given a lot of good pies and fudge.
Well that's about it. I hope everyone else is doing well.

Finally!

We finally got about an inch of rain the other day. It was sorely needed after a couple of rainless months. I had one watermelon double in size overnight because of it.
The day before I invested in soaker hoses. I had intended on doing this last year but the floods made irrigating needless. I highly recommend them. I had been using a regular lawn sprinkler and it was not doing the job. I believe the majority of the water was evaporating before hitting the grass which is easy when it's 100 degrees at 8 p.m.
The strawberries didn't make it, unfortunately.
Hope everyone else's gardens are going strong.

I feel like one of those creatures that live under the desert sand

The strawberry plants and Black Pearl peppers have fallen to the pitiless sun. The squash plants however are thriving and as is the corn. I have had a hard time keeping the garden watered. It requires watering at least twice a week for three hours at a time. Everything is growing, but a very slow rate except for Buddy. He is getting his adult teeth and has suddenly become very stubborn. I'm going to lie under the fan. Good harvest to you all.

Business as usual

Things are growing well except for the Black Pearl peppers. I guess they couldn't stand the heat. There are two tomatoes on one of the plants, so I'm hoping this is a sign of more to come. Jalapenoes are blooming as are the christmas colored peppers and squash is still going strong. The corn is starting to tassel but the strawberry plants looked stepped on. Oh well.
I added a new link on the bottom for a local radio host that also writes for several national magazines. His specialty is automobiles but his knowledge goes much further. I encourage everyone to read his BusinessWeek articles as well as listen to his show online on Saturday mornings KLIF.
Hope everyone is having a good summer.

Same old thing

I haven't made an entry lately because things continue as normal. I'm still harvesting a couple of pounds of squash a day and it's still hot. I get up at dawn and do what I need to before the sun breaks over the trees. Buddy (my stray puppy ) is growing fast. He went from skin and bones to chubby pretty quick and is almost 100 % housebroken.
Thanks to Ron and his advice about the newspapers under straw mulch, I think I've finally defeated the grass and weeds.
There are three baseball sized cantaloupe on the vines and my lone watermelon plant is beginning to flower. My tomato plants are full of blooms but still refuse to set fruit. The bell peppers will be ready to start picking next week (finally).
Now that I look back on this after I've written it I guess plenty of new things have happened.

Grandpa Witmer's Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Mixer Review and Stuff

After the tainted peanut butter last year (which I had a jar I had eaten half of ) I decided to start buying one of the natural (non-hydrogenated oil) brands. Anyone who has purchased this type knows that when opening it there is a layer of peanut oil on top that you have to stir into the peanut butter itself , not just to mix the oil but also the salt. Sometimes this can get very messy so I decided to purchase Grandpa Witmer's Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Mixer from Lehman's.
I am very pleased with it. All you have to do is screw the included lid on to the jar, insert the crank and turn for about a minute. The lid has a built in rubber grommet so when you remove the crank it comes out clean as a whistle. It is advised to return the original lid so you can clean and store the mixer pieces.
The mixer set's lid from Lehman's fits small jars but you can order larger diameter lids from the manufacturer, Witmer's.
I don't have much other else going on. The corn is about knee high, the first cantaloupe is growing, green peppers are finally producing and I'm getting about 5 pounds of squash a day. Hope everyone else is having a bountiful harvest and staying safe.
Jerry
P. S. I tried to upload some pictures but once again something screwed up!

Common Sense-Very Long!

I'll preface this piece by saying I'm not writing this to start a debate or discussion. I have to vent the frustrations I have building up somehow and this seems to be the easiest way to do so. I'm not trying to piss anyone off!

The earth does not need saving. This is a fact. It was here a VERY long time before us and will continue to be when man has ceased to exist. It is the height of arrogance to believe that we can destroy the planet. Man is no more significant than any other living thing. Countless creatures have become extinct and millions more have taken their place. Yes, we can and have wiped out whole species of animals,the Carolina Parakeet for example, and that happened not because they made them money but because people believed they are more important than anything else. I do believe in conservation probably more than any asshole that lives in the Hollywood hills in their 10,000 square foot ego pad. I actually go into the woods and enjoy the animals and plants and yes I even sometimes kill them for food. If it were possible to NOT eat I'd be fine with it but unfortunately it is not.

Man made global warming does NOT exist. Global warming DOES. The air has become exponentially cleaner in the last 100 years. This is also true of water. The people that have fought for this change haven't been believers in some doomsday prophecy scare tactic. Change has been caused by simple people who were tired of smelling a sewage laden river or grew tired of leaving sooty fingerprints in their bread. Yes,its hot. I live in Texas and 100 degrees is common in the summer. In fact it's 91 right now. That being said I could go 100 miles east to the Piney Woods area to a hunting camp and it'll be as much as 10 degrees cooler and that's because there's not concrete to radiate the sun's heat. Every inch of pavement laid makes the ambient air tempature higher, not my air conditioner. It is an astronomical fact that we get closer to the sun every day and the moon gets farther away. The moon will some day release it's hold on the earth and it will crash into the sun. That being said a volcano could erupt today and cause a new ice age by blocking out the sun.

I personally conserve and reuse things to save money and I once being a garbage man I've seen the ridiculous amount of waste in this country. I grow my own food (as much as I can considering I can't have chickens in town)because I like the taste of a REAL tomato grown in healthy soil. I'm organic(I prefer natural) because using poison and salt heavy explosives are expensive and contradictory to having fertile soil. I don't list all these things to get a pat on the back, only to show that you don't have to live your life like Chicken Little screaming about "green this" or the end of oil. There is still plenty of oil in this country. There are many who have become rich for NOT running their pumps.

I'm sure there's more I could rant about I've grown tired of complaining. I do feel a little better. I think I'll go use my flush toilet then turn down the a/c a notch and lie down and watch my cable television because I didn't work 13+ hours day in all weather 6 days a week and sacrifice a vertebral disc for nothing.

Busy for a lazy guy

Well,I have managed to get some things done the last few days. To start I decided against the Foodsaver. I had it in my basket and I started getting buyers' remorse before I even paid so I may just not get one. Can't decide. I did try for the sorbet' machine but they were out of stock(our Wal-Mart is awful). I was intending on buying some red chili plants and ended up with strawberries. They are everbearing Ozark Beauty. After buying them I did some research and discovered they may not produce for a year which kind of sucks because I don't know if I'll be in this house that long.

I went to a little produce stand by my house and bought four jalepeno plants and came across some ornamental christmas peppers and a new variety called "Black Pearl". I asked about the "Black Pearls" and they are supposed to be very hot so I had to buy both. The "Black Pearl" plant is black along with the peppers but when the fruit ripens it turns red.

I bought a straw bale for my strawberries and after I put it on my berries I decided it may work well for keeping the grass from coming back in the garden so I started using it to mulch the garden today. I don't know if it will work but a little straw goes a long way so I'm not concerned about wasting money.

Last of all I have have been starting to freeze this years batch of squash. I gave some to my parents already along with some of last years. I decided to slice it up so I can be more aware of how much I'm cooking each time. I'm trying to knock out out last years but I don't want to get sick of squash.

The corn is doing well but I don't believe the cilantro will appear this year or at least until fall. We'll see.

Weather not permitting

I've been busy helping my new buddy get used to life here. He is the most well behaved puppy I've ever seen. He still does the little things like biting with his little needle like teeth and digging in the compost pile but other than that he's been great. There was an accident his first morning but he walked into the bathroom to do it. Since then he let's me know when he has to go outside.

Other than hanging with the puppy I stay inside due to the heat. It has yet to hit 100 but walking outside is like standing in front of a pizza oven. I work the garden in the morning and stare at the corn and wait for it to grow. My single watermelon plant is doing well.

I received my stimulus check today and plan to take part of it and buy a Foodsaver and a used, in good shape, freezer.

Hello all

I followed Jerry home this morning after he tried to bum some cinder blocks from his neighbor for his rain barrel. I got a bath right off but I've still got some fleas. I may only stay until my original owners find me but between us I rather stay here in the cool a/c. When I get a name I'll be sure to let ya'll know. I hope I'm housebroken because Jerry looks like a neat freak.

A whole lot of nothing

Didn't do much today other than take some pictures in the garden. After yesterdays much needed rain the squash flowers were showing off. Word is squash flowers are tasty on their own, but I have yet to try them. Later in the day I took the mesh bags to my parents place and we bagged about 40 pounds of onions. I brought about 20 pounds home for myself to stash in my "root closet". The garden was a rain out so I just spent the rest of the day reading. Oh yea, the corn is poking out in the front flower bed.

Frustrated

I wrote a long post about today but when I uploaded the pictures it all got screwed up! Long story short, my dad tilled the garden, I mowed the front yard, made a little planter on the side of the house, got my onion bags, dad said he picked about 100 pounds and it finally rained. I hate machines!
Pictures now

I was sooooooo wrong

By some miracle of nature I managed to sleep late today. When I did finally get out to the garden I thought I'd pick a few squash and retire to the a/c since it was already 90 degrees but it was not to be.

First off there was a lot more squash than there was yesterday. No it didn't just appear over night but the few small fruits that were showing the day before had grown a lot.

Well I figured since I was already out I would cut and clean a monster batch of lettuce and gift it to a neighbor. It would bolt soon and I hate to see food go to waste. Unfortunately it had and I tasted it just to make sure. Oh holy night! Bitter lettuce is just that. Too bad all that stuff was wasted but I guess I can grow some this fall. So I proceeded to pull up all the plants that were left and gave them to the compost pile.

I can't say I'm too bummed that the lettuce is gone. I usually put something in it's place and I think this will become the new home to some jalapeno plants. I plan to jar some salsa this year and maybe pickle some peppers. I love hot stuff and it's hard to find a good pre-made salsa at the store. Now all I have to do is con my dad into bringing the tiller over one more time. I don't have my own tiller and even if I did I couldn't use it very well with the state my back is in.

The corn and cilantro I planted yesterday and the day before in the front yard haven't peeked their heads out so I finished the afternoon by sitting and watching the birds. I used to use a birdfeeder but now I just throw the seed under the mulberry tree. A Baltimore Oriole came to the hummer feeder to eat and even though I had seen him before he seemed extra beautiful today. The bright orange yellow on his breast stands out among all the green around it.

Back to my coffee,
See ya'll later

It's just too hot!

I picked my first squash of the season today and they look great. Although I prefer the straight neck variety, I suppose the crook neck taste just as good.

Please excuse the poor pictures. I only have a 10$ Wal-Mart camera, but I think you'll get the idea.

Amazingly enough my lettuce hasn't bolted or gotten bitter. It's great to still have salads but I usually use the space they're in to plant something else .

Other than watering the garden (we've been taunted by clouds all week but no dice on the rain) I finally came to terms that the heat had killed my poppies. Since the the Bermuda grass overtook my corn I planted in the garden I replaced the shriveled flowers with corn seeds. My only concern is the neighborhood cats will dig up the bed before the seed has a chance to sprout. We'll see if it's too late to grow but since it stays warm here until Thanksgiving I thought I'd give it a shot.

Preserving Your Root Crops

I didn't grow onions this year, but my dad did in two places. Needless to say,he's got a lot and this got me wondering how I could preserve as many as possible. The best way I found seems to be mesh bags,so I went surfing the 'net in search of some and while a may use the 1000+ bags I'd have to buy in about 20 years,I could not afford that many. I was bummed until I found some on Italian Seed and Tool. Not only do they have them in different sizes,but you can buy them 100 at a time. The value will be determined when I get them and maybe I can have stir-fry veggies year round finally.