Those Pesky Maple Trees!

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.

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

The kids were eager to garden, and I was feeling the need as well. Last year was odd. There were no bulk quantities of tomatoes to be had. All I could can were what Lisa and I grew ourselves. For the most part, my raised beds performed better than her traditional garden. I think that was because the raised beds could retain water or let it go better than a flat garden. I have also been building the soil in my raised beds for several years. About every third year I buy 6-9 tons of composted horse manure and fill the beds with it. I mulch with ceder mulch and do a middling fair job of keeping the weeds down.

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

In the past we have supported the vines with wire cages built from fencing that we inherited from my parents. Those cages are at Joe and Lisa's place. I didn't want to make that sort of support this year. Pinterest saved the day. Lisa found a post about building trellis from lath. Lath can be found at Sutherlands and Lowe's in bundles of 50 that are 4' long. (I used 4 bundles).

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

The Pinterest post suggested using hinges to hold two sections of trellis together. I didn't want to go to that expense. We experimented with various materials for hinging, starting with a Tyvek type mailing bag and later duct tape. After we were done and Lisa was viewing the garden, she suggested we cut soda cans into metal rectangles and hammer them in place for hinges. If the duct tape doesn't hold, I may do that.

First trellis went into the cucumber bed

We put the first trellis in the cucumber bed. They have loved it! By July the vines have reached the top and are falling over the frame. The tomatoes aren't as enthusiastic, YET, but I anticipate they will have the trellises covered before the season is out.

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!

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

 Joe, Gage and the kids brought fire works for later. We enjoyed hot dogs, bratwurst, and hamburgers with all the fixings, as well as watermelon, pasta salad and baked beans.There were a couple of small tomatoes from the garden, but we had to make do with ones from the grocery for most of the burgers. There were some cupcakes as well.  We didn't go hungry. 

Reyes and Joe

Leon kept an eye on the firepit

Ayden is ready for the fire works

Ayden was happy to eat, but the promise of fireworks was always on his mind. He got his wish at dusk when the guys started the fire works. 

Oh, my! Garlic!

 I found out I've been planting my garlic in the wrong season all this time. I would plant it in the spring, with the onions. No. It wants to be planted in the fall.

Starting string

So, this time I did it right. I bought several garlic bulbs last fall and planted them in the triangle bed. When I harvested them today, there were a lot of other plants around that looked suspiciously like garlic. What happened to my leeks? They sure look more like garlic. What about those "flowers" in the south flowerbed? Isn't that -- oh, my! Garlic.  What happened?  I don't know if the birds planted them or if I did something in my sleep, but Wow! Do I have garlic! (The shiny round circle, by the way, is the electric meter on the back porch.)

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

My back porch has vinyl siding. That was too brittle to hold drying nails easily, so Leon helped my place some of the left-over lath from the tomato trellis across the wall between the back  door and the kitchen window. We nails into the lath every 6-8 inches apart. I hooked the crocheted ties over the nails and hung the garlic to dry. When I feel it is fully dry, I'll cut the bulbs off the ends and store them inside in net bags. The tops and the cotton string will go to the compost pile.

The New Normal

Lala models masks

I have been making masks. They recommend we wear them but they cannot be had. The ones that are the best protection need to be saved for doctors, nurses, and support staff.

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. 

Self-Quarantining

Stocking up

There is a pandemic. Covid-19 is spreading around the globe and we each need to do what we can to contain it. A vaccine might contain it someday, but that is not here now and won't be for some time to come. What do we do? We stay home. We wear masks in public, and we limit our access to others.

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

Staying home isn't really hard for me. I stay home most of the year. The shortage of stuff has triggered my self-sufficient instincts. Mom was a farmer's daughter who lived through the Great Depression. She taught me to garden and can and put enough by to survive a year. I find myself falling into that mode. I don't believe that we have shortages, but if I cannot get things because others are panicking, I'll make do with what I have. (And yes, I bought that 25 pounds of flour. I'm a baker. It won't go bad.)

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

The kids -- my grandson and his lady -- are all for self-sufficiency. We've been planning this year's garden. They have seeds growing in the living room and they are plotting what we can do for ourselves. (Why do I get the feeling that that will translate into what Grandma can do?) The dog Jane digs too much and she has torn up a lot of the old orchard. Reyes tilled it the other day and we'll be planting corn and potatoes there. The potatoes are a gift. The ones I had in the south room sprouted, so we cut them up and will plant them. Thank you, Lord.

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

I do worry about my weigh-in at the Bariatric doctor in a couple of weeks. The way I've been making homemade bread, cookies and other snacks, I am afraid I will be bigger than I was last year.