Let 2025 begin....

So got out late to put birds to bed. As I did a night watering and feeding to get them inside I heard a bird then klinking as I got the birds counted and locked up in their respective pens I caught the bird out of the corner of my eye. A young goshawk. All those birds out and about, he was attacking the plastic owl in the garden....phewwww lucked out on that!

 

I’ve been putting up my tree stands, I also checked on the brassicas that I planted. The germination is a lot better than I expected but that’s good. Only one of them was disked up all the others were spray and throw and grow in the thatch. Now it needs to rain enough to keep them going so I can fertilize them. Pics don’t want to load, I will try later

 

Today we got a break temps low 70's. Heavy rains and breezy.
It is really strange, last year I could not grow
Beans
Pumpkins
Spinache
Broccoli to save my life. Also my clover plots struggled.
This year, those are all growing GREAT.

 

Eewww a few hours in cold rain my toes and fingers are still a bit icey and I've been in the house a couple of hours. Feels GREAT! I was soaked to my underwear.
The zoodler came out and I just got two huge pans filled with zucchini and yelliw squash zoodles. Way tougher to do now with the hand situation but gotter done.
Tonights dinner, Zoodles in a creamy parm,garlic,mushroom sauce and chicken thighs with fresh purple pole beans and broccoli all from the garden.
Too tired to make zucchine cake for desert . That said, huge pot of rhubarb on the stove for rhubarb/ blueberry sauce over icecream for desert.

 

Ha! No wonder I was cold 64 right now

 

About those zoodles, man supper was great! Making the zoodles just the right size, draing excess water from them. Then pan fry them with the mushrooms and roasted peppers to get rid of more liquid before adding the garlic parm sauce makes them better than al dante pasta.

 

Yes another boring garden update. Actually my doc. on yearly garden growth, all dated for me.
By the way never had tomato plants do this, with blight in full force. I do no spraying what so ever. I go in EVERY morning and pull off all damaged leaves. It gives the plants just enough time to produce fruit before the stems finally get hit. Bugs are spreading it big time right now. Also my daily harvest. First poppers are in the freezer and beets will go in. We love the greens fresh. Radish are now done, beans just starting.
BTW, My chickens have eaten so many mulberries, blue berries and raspberries, their eggs have a slight sweet flavor to them...almost weird, but good. I start "harvesting" the roos born this spring at the end of this month.

 

Hhmmm can't up load try later

 

More...

 

I ran into someone the other day in our conversation they questioned," you don't work do you?" No nope I just spend my time feeding us and maintaining our home and property. I don't have a job.

 

Today I havested the first of red taters 12#'s off 2 plants and they were mostly huge. Those were plants that came up from last years tiny taters I left in the ground. The plants died 2 wks ago. I have section about to die and the rest are still growing. Very early for a tater harvest.

 

Above, some pictures from the other day of the germination in the plots

 

I ended up putting the stock tank in the ground, it should work well if the winter freeze doesn’t kill it. That was my only concern, fingers crossed.

 

And the pictures won’t work again

 

Here’s the water hole

 

Picturing it in my minds and it looks Great , nice job!

LOL. Typed that, then went back to correct it and then the pic popped up
See see I know you...I was right

 

I will not have done a single hunting related project this year. Just between the early rains, the horrendous ticks, and now the 3 wk no rain and mid 90's. Just doing basics is killing me. I'm hoping to end the season early then attempt the woods work before winter hits hard. 3 deerand a fall Tom would be great for us.
Now with the sous vive I will be doing multiple roast. The sous vive makes wildly great rare/med rare " roast beef " sandwich meat. I do the same with wild turkey breast. It's crazy how it changes flavor ,texture and moistness.

 

It's been a marothon morning . Hubby is up and out the door by 5:30 gets home at 5:30 6 days ,yes 6 days a week... School jobs he's too old for this crud...
So I'm up getting my work going this morning I have made a huge casserole of zucchini crisp . It's in the oven making the house smell wonderful. Then cleaned quartered then shredded enough zucchini and summer squash to fill an industrial mixing bowl. That is salted and weighted with a turkey fryer filled with...squash. this will be for my marothon zucchini patty making to freeze. I'm not sure if I'll fry each or bake on cookie sheets to firm then griddle to crisp sides. The house also smells like sweet musk melons. I cleaned and cut up 5 this morning and have another 5 to do, also in turkey fryer waiting for me. It's been a great melon season this year. I'll freeze those and ones still growing as well as the 12 watermelons.
14 bags of beans and hundreds of poppers are already in freezer. Beets and swisschard get picked today. My corn has finally started cobs, and cabbage needs to be cut and processed into saurkraut. Tomatoes, well, I have tons, they just aren't ripening well . 68 plants you'd think they'd be coming out of my ears, but it's just 2-4 every few days.
I hope I will be able to hold my crossbow or gun by Sept 13th. My hands are wrecked. It's all worth it though.
I love it when I can put a meal on the table and say. Everything your eating came off our land.

 

Today was the first day I've been able to get my saw out. I cleared a huge downed beech tree blocking the trail to the stand I took the bow buck last year. I had to winch the sections out of the way . I then winched a other downd beech across same trail. That was one of two I had a stand in years ago. I took many many deer fron that stand.
Then I cut a bunch of brush and dead apple branches hanging over our across street drive. Loaded that all up and topped a section of brush pile fancing along road frontage. Late lunch at 2p.m. and resting a bit.
Man that work felt good.