It's so nice to have family near. When I started my vineyard a few years ago I expected to have two rows of grape vines. The vines had a different idea. They took off on the west row and the east row died. Totally. All I was growing on that trellis was bindweed and volunteer maple trees. Today was the day to tackle the trees. Pull them one by one or take down the trellis and mow the suckers? I voted for mowing.
I got the support wires off fairly easily with my handy dandy bolt cutters, but how to remove the t-posts? The ground was soft, but there was no wiggling them out. I dug out 2 1/2 of 5 and ran out of steam. I called my son. Can you finish this?
"Piece of cake, Mom. We have a t-post puller. I'll send Lisa over with it."
A bit later, here comes my lovely daughter-in-law with this bright red gadget I'd never seen before. It works like Grandma's old waterpump from the farm. You attach the tool to the t-post and pump the handle. It just lifts that baby out of the ground! Whoo-hoo! Lisa did one and let me do the other two. That was a fun toy!
She had also brought a crow-bar to use as a handle to unscrew the ground anchors. It was too thick for the eye hole but we found one of the 16" spikes I bought to make the raised beds. It fit nicely and Lisa had the muscle to unscrew both of them.
As it happens, she is using t-posts to build a fence at her place, so she happily took my t-posts and the ground anchors. I couldn't wait to fire up the riding lawn mower and say Bye Bye! to all those trees.
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Gardening in The Time of Covid-19
Tomato vines trellised |
The Covid-19 pandemic hit just as gardening season began. There were shortages. People were hoarding toilet paper. Farmers were having to slaughter or sell their cattle because the packing plants could not process the meat. Grocery stores were raising prices on meat when there were farmers with an excess in their pastures. Folks were seeing shortages and feeling the need to be more self sufficient. Gardening became a survival skill, not a hobby.
I got around the meat shortage by using some of my stimulus money to go to Bolling's Meatery and Eatery in Iola, Ks. for locally butchered beef. So far I've topped off my deep freeze on three occasions. I won't be buying beef at Kroger's again. This is flavorful meat!
First planted |
Now I like put away 100 pints of canned tomatoes for my house before I begin on juice or sauce. Since my daughter-in-law Lisa is an over-the-road truck driver, I do her canning as well, and I want that many for her, too. Last year we got only 50 pints of tomatoes total. Ugh. :( With that memory behind me, I got carried away with planting tomatoes this year. Instead of my usual 8 or 10 plants, I planted 50!
Bundle of 50 lath |
One section of trellis being laid out |
Reyes and Merisa helped me construct more than 32' of trellis to put in the garden. We spaced the uprights 12" apart and the horizontals about 10" apart. That left us a 6" foot at the base of each trellis to pound into the ground. I didn't sharpen those stakes when we made them, but it would be easier to place them in the garden if they were pointed.
Reyes and Merisa at work |
First trellis went into the cucumber bed |
It is much easier to spot ripe fruit and pick them using the large openings in the trellis. I find it easier to wander around and weed the bed, too. The trellises are more open than those wire cages were. Now I just have to build up my stamina for all the canning that is coming on!
Location:
Waverly, KS 66871, USA
Sunday, July 05, 2020
A Quiet Holiday
Cookout with firepit and charcoal grill |
Independence Day was low key this year. Lisa was on the road. We lost Roseanna this spring to a heart attack. July 4th was her birthday and she liked to have a good celebration. Then there was Covid-19.We have been told to wear masks; to social distance and to keep groups to 10 or less.
Social distancing, Evans style |
Should we even have a picnic? We decided to do it, but to only include the family and friends that we have been socializing with regularly. No extra visitors for a special event. That meant the picnic would be the people who live in my house (Reyes, Merisa and I) and Joe and Leon as well as Gage Sims and his son, Ayden.
Merisa checked out the table |
Reyes and Joe |
Leon kept an eye on the firepit |
Ayden is ready for the fire works |
Saturday, July 04, 2020
Oh, my! Garlic!
Starting string |
With this much garlic to dry, how would I hang it? The stalks are not as flexible as onions. I cannot braid them. Hm... I could tie them but the stalks might fall out of the bundles. If I could just chain them together somehow. Hm.. Oh! Chain! Chain stitch! I'll crochet them together!!
Chain stitching each stalk |
I began by laying a length of cotton yarn on a table. I then laid a handful of garlic over the yarn. Each time I picked up a stalk, I'd work a chain stitch around the stalk and then go to the next one. When the garlic was a good handful, I cut the yarn and tied it to itself to create a bundle. This kept the garlic together and created a way to hang it for drying. It works best to make this tie about 2/3 the way up the stalk so that it hangs well when placed on a nail.
Bundle stitched together |
Monday, April 20, 2020
The New Normal
Lala models masks |
I'm okay with that. I have more sewing machines than I can count. I can make masks!
I have found two different patterns. The first I made were a basic flat mask. They are easy to do and have a lot of coverage. The second pattern is more fitted. It reminds me of sewing bra cups. Who knew that my bra making skills would translate into mask making for a pandemic?
Jen is working from home, but Granddaughter Lala is a receptionist in a doctor's office. She finds paper masks uncomfortable. I sent them a selection of the first masks I made. You can see how she modeled them for me.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Self-Quarantining
Stocking up |
The Kansas legislature where I work has sent us on break early. We don't know if we will return at the first of May as we usually do, or if it will be later.
People are panicking. Toilet paper is nearly impossible to get.(Why? It's a flu. A cold. Tissue paper, maybe, but toilet paper?? I don't get it.) Anyroad... Things cannot be had. Paper towels. Antiseptic wipes. Rubbing alcohol. Some foods. We are encouraged to wear masks, but they cannot be had. I went looking for flour the other day and the only thing on the shelf was ONE 25 lb. bag. What do folks think is going to happen? It isn't a hurricane. The supply line isn't broken... Oh, well.
Working on that 25 lbs. of flour |
Now yeast cannot be had! I buy yeast by the pound and store it in the deep freeze. I have yeast. I have mailed some to my daughter in Texas and to a friend in Mumbai. I will be trying sour-dough starter, too, but I have never had much luck growing sourdough yeast.
Mini-greenhouse starting our garden |
Corn and potato patches |
I've been a bit more practical. I pulled out my make-ahead cookbooks and stirred up meals-in-a-jar, home-made biscuit mix, and other do-it-yourself things. The kids like my make-ahead pizza crusts. Pull one out of the freeze, add spaghetti sauce and toppings. Pizza Hut was never this good.
Made ahead pizza crust |
Homemade spaghetti and pizza sauce |
Labels:
cooking,
Covid-19,
make-ahead.meals,
self-sufficiency
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Why Do I Blog Less?
You would think that now that I'm retired, I'd be blogging left, right and sideways. Instead, the blogging has dried to barely a trickle. I've been pondering this. Why? What is different?
Well, EVERYTHING is different. My life doesn't have the routines that it had when I was working. There is very little sitting down after supper and surfing the Net. Now I have Internet on the cell phone; on the tablet; on the laptop. I can check e-mail everywhere. Anywhere. Because it is so easy, I use the laptop less and zip in and out on the Android things.
If I am not on the laptop, there is no inclination to pop open the blog and post an entry. For the blog I want a REAL keyboard. And time. And access to my photos.
The real culprit, however, is that big time waster: Facebook. If you drop a sentence to your friends that you spent the day in the garden, it has been said. The Inner Writer has expressed herself. Why sit down and compose a few paragraphs on the topic?
Now that I know this, I hope I will skip Facebook and post more often. There are interesting things going on around the Old Home Place. I should record them.
Well, EVERYTHING is different. My life doesn't have the routines that it had when I was working. There is very little sitting down after supper and surfing the Net. Now I have Internet on the cell phone; on the tablet; on the laptop. I can check e-mail everywhere. Anywhere. Because it is so easy, I use the laptop less and zip in and out on the Android things.
If I am not on the laptop, there is no inclination to pop open the blog and post an entry. For the blog I want a REAL keyboard. And time. And access to my photos.
The real culprit, however, is that big time waster: Facebook. If you drop a sentence to your friends that you spent the day in the garden, it has been said. The Inner Writer has expressed herself. Why sit down and compose a few paragraphs on the topic?
Now that I know this, I hope I will skip Facebook and post more often. There are interesting things going on around the Old Home Place. I should record them.