Nothing to preserve at the moment but the fall garden is doing well. We
have broccoli that will be cut soon and at least two of the cabbage
plants are ready to cut. I may try making sauerkraut again because we
have so many cabbage plants we can hardly eat them all and they don't
freeze at all.

The kumquats are starting to yellow up meaning we soon can pick them to
eat. Not enough on the four foot tall tree to make marmalade but I can
indoctrinate my youngest great grands in the joy of eating the fruit
right off the tree. My Dad and I would stand around his kumquat tree
when I was eight or ten years old and get our fill of the fruit, Dad
taught my kids that trick but passed away before our eldest grand child
was old enough for it. I taught the grands and the elder great grands
but we have four more great grands that haven't participated as yet.

We're expecting a hard freeze next week but today we will still be
harvesting green beans, looks to be enough for a meal for two. Lawdy, we
still have 20 pint jars from last year on the shelf and another three or
four bags of frozen beans from last year. Not to mention about twenty
bags of frozen broccoli from 2012. We don't grow okra anymore due to the
amount of space it takes, don't really need to. We emptied the big
freezer a couple of weeks ago and cleaned it then refilled in a more
organized way. We have thirty packages of okra in there, just how much
fried okra and gumbo can two old people eat! Reckon we will find out
this winter.<G>

The front gardens are exposed to the north wind so we will be covering
flowers and shrubs with old sheets before long. The new Barbados
cherries and the Tennousi pear tree are all doing fine. I will be
pruning the fruit trees about late January to ensure proper growth and
health. The pear tree has limb spreaders on it since we planted it. I am
trying to do what the Ag agents advise and am ensuring plenty of sun
gets into the inner parts of the tree. We're still busy working on this
house to ensure it survives all the years we hope to survive. The back
gate Miz Anne and I installed recently appears to be working well and
we're slowly improving the small stretch of grass on the outside of the
fence so that little critters from the drainage area, things like mice,
rats, stray cats, snakes, etc. can't get into our yard. Plus it gives us
a short cut to do a half mile walk around the drainage empoundment.


George, Miz Anne, and Tilly Dawg
working on Christmas decorations now

George Shirley wrote:

> Nothing to preserve at the moment but the fall garden is doing well. We
> have broccoli that will be cut soon and at least two of the cabbage
> plants are ready to cut. I may try making sauerkraut again because we
> have so many cabbage plants we can hardly eat them all and they don't
> freeze at all.

and it takes a lot of cabbage to make saurkraut!


> The kumquats are starting to yellow up meaning we soon can pick them to
> eat. Not enough on the four foot tall tree to make marmalade but I can
> indoctrinate my youngest great grands in the joy of eating the fruit
> right off the tree. My Dad and I would stand around his kumquat tree
> when I was eight or ten years old and get our fill of the fruit, Dad
> taught my kids that trick but passed away before our eldest grand child
> was old enough for it. I taught the grands and the elder great grands
> but we have four more great grands that haven't participated as yet.

i hope you've avoided the cold blast? will that affect
kumquat flavor or are they ok if they get a nip of frost?


> We're expecting a hard freeze next week but today we will still be
> harvesting green beans, looks to be enough for a meal for two. Lawdy, we
> still have 20 pint jars from last year on the shelf and another three or
> four bags of frozen beans from last year. Not to mention about twenty
> bags of frozen broccoli from 2012. We don't grow okra anymore due to the
> amount of space it takes, don't really need to. We emptied the big
> freezer a couple of weeks ago and cleaned it then refilled in a more
> organized way. We have thirty packages of okra in there, just how much
> fried okra and gumbo can two old people eat! Reckon we will find out
> this winter.<G>

my brother is the okra grower in our family. i tried a
few plants last summer, they did ok, but we didn't do much
with the fruits so i just harvested seeds when the pods
got old and dry and gave them to my brother.


> The front gardens are exposed to the north wind so we will be covering
> flowers and shrubs with old sheets before long. The new Barbados
> cherries and the Tennousi pear tree are all doing fine. I will be
> pruning the fruit trees about late January to ensure proper growth and
> health. The pear tree has limb spreaders on it since we planted it. I am
> trying to do what the Ag agents advise and am ensuring plenty of sun
> gets into the inner parts of the tree. We're still busy working on this
> house to ensure it survives all the years we hope to survive. The back
> gate Miz Anne and I installed recently appears to be working well and
> we're slowly improving the small stretch of grass on the outside of the
> fence so that little critters from the drainage area, things like mice,
> rats, stray cats, snakes, etc. can't get into our yard. Plus it gives us
> a short cut to do a half mile walk around the drainage empoundment.

good luck with the fence. sorry to be short here,
not much going on to put up as it is frozen garden season
now. temperatures below average. will be glad to see
the days getting longer again soon and more sunshine. been
too windy and cold to even get out for walks. we're not
as adventurous this year as previous years. i think that
could be that we've finally learned or we are getting a
bit too cushy.


> George, Miz Anne, and Tilly Dawg
> working on Christmas decorations now


songbird

On 12/13/2013 12:27 AM, songbird wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
>
>> Nothing to preserve at the moment but the fall garden is doing well. We
>> have broccoli that will be cut soon and at least two of the cabbage
>> plants are ready to cut. I may try making sauerkraut again because we
>> have so many cabbage plants we can hardly eat them all and they don't
>> freeze at all.
>
> and it takes a lot of cabbage to make saurkraut!
>
>
>> The kumquats are starting to yellow up meaning we soon can pick them to
>> eat. Not enough on the four foot tall tree to make marmalade but I can
>> indoctrinate my youngest great grands in the joy of eating the fruit
>> right off the tree. My Dad and I would stand around his kumquat tree
>> when I was eight or ten years old and get our fill of the fruit, Dad
>> taught my kids that trick but passed away before our eldest grand child
>> was old enough for it. I taught the grands and the elder great grands
>> but we have four more great grands that haven't participated as yet.
>
> i hope you've avoided the cold blast? will that affect
> kumquat flavor or are they ok if they get a nip of frost?
They're okay down to about 10F and we don't expect any of that.
>
>
>> We're expecting a hard freeze next week but today we will still be
>> harvesting green beans, looks to be enough for a meal for two. Lawdy, we
>> still have 20 pint jars from last year on the shelf and another three or
>> four bags of frozen beans from last year. Not to mention about twenty
>> bags of frozen broccoli from 2012. We don't grow okra anymore due to the
>> amount of space it takes, don't really need to. We emptied the big
>> freezer a couple of weeks ago and cleaned it then refilled in a more
>> organized way. We have thirty packages of okra in there, just how much
>> fried okra and gumbo can two old people eat! Reckon we will find out
>> this winter.<G>
>
> my brother is the okra grower in our family. i tried a
> few plants last summer, they did ok, but we didn't do much
> with the fruits so i just harvested seeds when the pods
> got old and dry and gave them to my brother.
We've always eaten okra on a regular basis, I add it to soups, stews,
and always, gumbo. Pretty good fried for a side dish, helps thicken
soups, etc. It's a staple of food for folks in SW Louisiana where we
lived for 24 years. We won't grow it here because we garden in raised
beds and okra can get very tall and heavy with fruit. Maybe, once we run
out of frozen okra, we will grow some in the beds along the fence line
in the so-called soil we have.
>
>
>> The front gardens are exposed to the north wind so we will be covering
>> flowers and shrubs with old sheets before long. The new Barbados
>> cherries and the Tennousi pear tree are all doing fine. I will be
>> pruning the fruit trees about late January to ensure proper growth and
>> health. The pear tree has limb spreaders on it since we planted it. I am
>> trying to do what the Ag agents advise and am ensuring plenty of sun
>> gets into the inner parts of the tree. We're still busy working on this
>> house to ensure it survives all the years we hope to survive. The back
>> gate Miz Anne and I installed recently appears to be working well and
>> we're slowly improving the small stretch of grass on the outside of the
>> fence so that little critters from the drainage area, things like mice,
>> rats, stray cats, snakes, etc. can't get into our yard. Plus it gives us
>> a short cut to do a half mile walk around the drainage empoundment.
>
> good luck with the fence. sorry to be short here,
> not much going on to put up as it is frozen garden season
> now. temperatures below average. will be glad to see
> the days getting longer again soon and more sunshine. been
> too windy and cold to even get out for walks. we're not
> as adventurous this year as previous years. i think that
> could be that we've finally learned or we are getting a
> bit too cushy.

Sooner than later we will have to put in a new fence, the builder crew
did a crummy job seven years ago when they built the old fence. We're
limited by restrictions to a seven-foot tall fence but I will replace
the posts, which are set to shallow, stringers will go as all the wood
is cheap, untreated pine. Probably end up with ceder and galvanized
steel posts with treated pine stringers. We've got enough grown-up kids
and grands to get it done in a day. Easy enough to rent motorized post
hole digger. After that you dump in a bag of Sak-crete and water it
good. Last for years, I've strung every thing from barbed wire to
ten-foot tall wooden fences so you know it doesn't take a genius to
build a fence. Brick and stone are different critters to us.

George

George Shirley wrote:
> On 12/13/2013 12:27 AM, songbird wrote:
>> George Shirley wrote:
>>
>>> Nothing to preserve at the moment but the fall garden is doing well. We
>>> have broccoli that will be cut soon and at least two of the cabbage
>>> plants are ready to cut. I may try making sauerkraut again because we
>>> have so many cabbage plants we can hardly eat them all and they don't
>>> freeze at all.
>>
>> and it takes a lot of cabbage to make saurkraut!
>>
>>
>>> The kumquats are starting to yellow up meaning we soon can pick them to
>>> eat. Not enough on the four foot tall tree to make marmalade but I can
>>> indoctrinate my youngest great grands in the joy of eating the fruit
>>> right off the tree. My Dad and I would stand around his kumquat tree
>>> when I was eight or ten years old and get our fill of the fruit, Dad
>>> taught my kids that trick but passed away before our eldest grand child
>>> was old enough for it. I taught the grands and the elder great grands
>>> but we have four more great grands that haven't participated as yet.
>>
>> i hope you've avoided the cold blast? will that affect
>> kumquat flavor or are they ok if they get a nip of frost?

> They're okay down to about 10F and we don't expect any of that.

we've been near or below 5F a few evenings lately
(the average is somewhere around 25-30F this time of
year). quite a change from the past few winters which
started late and were mild.


>>> We're expecting a hard freeze next week but today we will still be
>>> harvesting green beans, looks to be enough for a meal for two. Lawdy, we
>>> still have 20 pint jars from last year on the shelf and another three or
>>> four bags of frozen beans from last year. Not to mention about twenty
>>> bags of frozen broccoli from 2012. We don't grow okra anymore due to the
>>> amount of space it takes, don't really need to. We emptied the big
>>> freezer a couple of weeks ago and cleaned it then refilled in a more
>>> organized way. We have thirty packages of okra in there, just how much
>>> fried okra and gumbo can two old people eat! Reckon we will find out
>>> this winter.<G>
>>
>> my brother is the okra grower in our family. i tried a
>> few plants last summer, they did ok, but we didn't do much
>> with the fruits so i just harvested seeds when the pods
>> got old and dry and gave them to my brother.

> We've always eaten okra on a regular basis, I add it to soups, stews,
> and always, gumbo. Pretty good fried for a side dish, helps thicken
> soups, etc. It's a staple of food for folks in SW Louisiana where we
> lived for 24 years. We won't grow it here because we garden in raised
> beds and okra can get very tall and heavy with fruit. Maybe, once we run
> out of frozen okra, we will grow some in the beds along the fence line
> in the so-called soil we have.

it seems to grow in about anything as where i put
it the one time was fairly compacted clay soil. the
plants didn't get that big, but they did grow. of
course adding some mulch on top of that area for a few
years will help soften it up. no tilling needed.


>>> The front gardens are exposed to the north wind so we will be covering
>>> flowers and shrubs with old sheets before long. The new Barbados
>>> cherries and the Tennousi pear tree are all doing fine. I will be
>>> pruning the fruit trees about late January to ensure proper growth and
>>> health. The pear tree has limb spreaders on it since we planted it. I am
>>> trying to do what the Ag agents advise and am ensuring plenty of sun
>>> gets into the inner parts of the tree. We're still busy working on this
>>> house to ensure it survives all the years we hope to survive. The back
>>> gate Miz Anne and I installed recently appears to be working well and
>>> we're slowly improving the small stretch of grass on the outside of the
>>> fence so that little critters from the drainage area, things like mice,
>>> rats, stray cats, snakes, etc. can't get into our yard. Plus it gives us
>>> a short cut to do a half mile walk around the drainage empoundment.
>>
>> good luck with the fence. sorry to be short here,
>> not much going on to put up as it is frozen garden season
>> now. temperatures below average. will be glad to see
>> the days getting longer again soon and more sunshine. been
>> too windy and cold to even get out for walks. we're not
>> as adventurous this year as previous years. i think that
>> could be that we've finally learned or we are getting a
>> bit too cushy.
>
> Sooner than later we will have to put in a new fence, the builder crew
> did a crummy job seven years ago when they built the old fence. We're
> limited by restrictions to a seven-foot tall fence but I will replace
> the posts, which are set to shallow, stringers will go as all the wood
> is cheap, untreated pine. Probably end up with ceder and galvanized
> steel posts with treated pine stringers. We've got enough grown-up kids
> and grands to get it done in a day. Easy enough to rent motorized post
> hole digger. After that you dump in a bag of Sak-crete and water it
> good. Last for years, I've strung every thing from barbed wire to
> ten-foot tall wooden fences so you know it doesn't take a genius to
> build a fence. Brick and stone are different critters to us.

a 7ft brick or stone wall would be a whole different
thing that is for sure. the fences here are simple and
most are made from recycled fencing. so i would not be
one to critique a fence of others... the main veggie
garden fence is held up by stakes pounded into the
ground. it will get blown over eventually, and then i'll
put in heavier poles and cement them in properly. to
get anything to stay put around here due to the frost
heaving it has to go down 2-3ft.


songbird