Friday, July 30, 2010

Friday Night Already......
Geez, how'd that happen?

I guess those 2 extra days at the beginning of the week threw me off. I've been as busy as a One Legged Man at an Ass Kicking Party the last couple of days and just missed the time going by.

I spent a lot of years missing things and wasting time. I don't like to do to much of that anymore. Having entered a statistical group where everyday above ground is a good one, I feel like I ought to be doing SOMETHING everyday. Doesn't really matter if it's all that important.
I figured out a long time ago that I'm probably not gonna go down in history as anything special and will, like most everyone who has ever walked this planet, be completely forgotten by the time my Grandchildren are gone.

I'm ok with that. Very few folks are ever remembered in the history books and 1/2 of them are remembered as jerks.

I figure a life well lived and being an ok guy is a good thing and nothing to be ashamed of.

OK. That's enough philosophical Horseshit for one day.

The weather here has been absolutely beautiful the last 2 days. Mid 80's and low humidity. Damn, I'd like to see a few more (9-10) months of that. Supposed to get hot and humid again tomorrow.
Screw it. I'm gonna be working the next 2 days so I guess it doesn't matter.

We'll hope for the best Monday.

We're entering the busy harvest and preserving season now and things are gonna get busy around here as we kick into canning mode big time.

The tomatoes are really starting to come on now and the wife will be making sauce, etc and putting that up soon.

The Pear tree had such a big crop it decided to break a big section off because of the weight the other day. This wasn't just a limb hanging down from the weight of all the fruit, it was a BIG section that was growing straight up. No way to prop that up with poles.
Self Pruning I say. Look at the bright side.

The good news is that there is enough wood holding on that the whole section hasn't wilted up. The leaves are still green and not curled up and the fruit is ripening well. Gonna have a ton of them.
QueenBuffness makes an ass kick Pear Jelly and cans the hell out of them. Hmmmm. Good stuff come February.

Trying to save on electricity an not use the dehydrator, I set a couple of screen door inserts across some horses and spread shell beans on them to dry. Perfect weather for it. As they were already dried pretty well on the vine I think they're good to go as is, but will probably spread them out there again tomorrow and give them another day to make sure before putting them up in jars.
We got close to 20# of beans from the two 4x12' beds. Not bad. Not as much as I'd like for storage but I will need to have more room next year.

Still have Black Beans and Great Northern Beans coming on and the second planting of Green beans sometime in the middle of September for canning. As you may have guessed, we eat a lot of beans. I love 'em and there are just so many ways to enjoy them.

My buddy with the Apple orchard says there's Apples ready now and told me I should get over there and get started on them. Another friend wants me to come over Monday and pick Peaches that are just going to waste.
I'm leaning towards the Peaches. Mine didn't do to well and Apples will be available for another couple of months.

And there's not much better in this world than a fresh Peach. Yep. Peaches it is, Monday.

As you can see, lots of food gathering going on now. It's amazing how much food you can grow, gather and collect for next to nothing. With the cost of everything going nowhere but up, it would behoove all of y'all to get going on raising some of your own. Plan now for next year. Think long term and get trees started first. Yeah, plant then this Fall. Figure out a way to scrape a $100 bucks together and order some trees.

The Arbor Day Foundation would be a good source. Pretty affordable when compared to other places and if you become a member it gets even cheaper. They do good work too. So giving them cash is doing everyone a good turn.

Win - Win as they say.
Since I've had such crappy luck with getting Nut Trees to grow lately, I'm gonna order some from them this Fall. Gotta be better than what I've been getting from the places I've been dealing with the last 2 years.

Probably more Peaches and Apples too.

Face it. How can you have To many fruit trees? Yeah, that's what I thought.

OK. That's it for tonight.

Gratuitous Picture for a Friday Night-