Today I made / bought / learnt .... (for a post oil world) 2

kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1322

For some seeds, tomato/eggplant/squash, I ferment the outer coating for a couple of days in a bowl of water, rinse off the seeds, spread them on a screen in the shade in the greenhouse. It's warm-not hot, and in the shade. The seeds dry nicely in a day.

For pods, peas and beans, I've found out the hard way that these must be spread out and allowed to dry. Failure to spread them out will result in a big pile of rot full of bugs, good only for the compost. Success in drying the spread out pods makes shelling a simple matter of twisting a handful of pods.

Most of my seed germinates just fine. I'll start 2-3 times as many seeds as I want for plants, use the biggest and healthiest, discard the rest. While the rate of germination may not be at the commercially accepted level of 80%, more like 50%, I make up for that with more starts and greater culling.
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If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984

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sameu

...bought gold
jeej!
couple of mapple leafs
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davep · Expert Joined: Jun 21, 2006 Posts: 1397 Location: Europe

Today I prepared lots of compost, and played frisbee. It's a lovely 31 degrees C here in France.
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All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become. - Buddha

Cog

Picked up a Coleman multi-fuel lantern and 2 gallons of Coleman fuel for $7 at a yard sale. Looked like it had been used once.

PeakOiler

Well, I didn't make it today, but I've used it today:

This simple herb dryer was made using some 3/4" x 3.5" wood for the frame, some window screen stapled to the underside, some self-adhesive insulating strip and some L-hooks to support the glass.

That basil will be dry in a couple hours, if the sun comes out, but will dry nicely indoors too, if necessary, over a couple days without molding.
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girlscout

Over the past few days, my husband and I bought an electric smoker, pressure canner, meat grinder, and some other food processing odds and ends. It looks to be a busy weekend here!

roadrunner

Hi very new to this, today I learned how to make sourdough starter. Would be interested to know if soybeans would grow in Central Vermont. I haven't check out the link for tofu, still trying to figure out if I could get hubby to eat it. I am planning on checking out the rest of this forum. More reading for me. Hi to all.

RedStateGreen

Went to a foraging class, learned a lot, made some new friends.

The only bad thing is that I forgot my camera again ... otherwise I would have pictures. Sad

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Conservation is conservative

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. -- Charles Darwin

FoolYap

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1749

Our friend the market gardener had sweet corn and tomatoes left over today from the farmer's market, so we're up late canning. Put up another 20 pints of corn and 14 quarts of green beans from our own garden. Dang gasket leaks on the big canner, so the 20 pints are taking a lot more fire to get the job done. Bought new gaskets for everything last spring and forgot where I put 'em!!! AAARGH! Tomato juice will have to wait a day or so.

Rotating gas from our storage barrel, and found that the new rotary gas pump from Harbor Freight works nicely, and pretty fast too. Moved a bunch of RR ties so we can get room to work on the barn addition Tuesday. Later, cutting off corn in the shade was a nice break from "Labor Day"....
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WisJim · Last edited by WisJim on Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:20 pm; edited 1 time in total

Regarding drying peas and beans--we let them dry on the vine until they are almost ready to pop open on their own, and then pick and shell them. The pods will be light tan and crisp or crunchy. Some varieties will burst open when you pick them. Then we spread them out (just the peas or beans, after shelling) on cookie sheets to dry a bit more, and that is when we might put them in a warm oven for awhile--maybe overnight, as the oven cools from just a bit warm (120 degrees F max) to room temp.

Today we moved the orchard chicken coop and fence, picked plums, cut burdock in the orchard, canned tomatoes, went to the dump with our rare bunch of trash and filled a dozen or more 5 gallon pails with compost from the compost piles (composted leaves mostly) at the land fill, and got another rain barrel into useful condition, installed under a downspout.

Shannymara

Bought some cheese making supplies (mostly cultures & such) and started studying more on cheese making. I'm going to make some simple cheese next week when it arrives.
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kpeavey · Expert Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 1322

picked up some redworms at the bait shop. Gonna grow me some worms. I need to get their population up to about 5 pounds to feed the catfish when they arrive. Unless I invest in a lot more worms, I'll have to purchase fish feed.
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If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984

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Accept the Facts.

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1749

We canned 6 qts. of tomatoes, and had some not so good ones left, so chopped them up with onions, cayennes, bell peppers, garlic and oregano, added salt and black pepper, and a splash of lemon juice for salsa. Good stuff! We canned 3 pints of it and put one pint in the fridge. Gotta get some tortilla chips now.

Searching the yard barn for nails I needed today, turned up another 5 gallon crock I'd forgotten about, so we have a total of four of the 5 gal., plus one 10 gallon. I'll put in a batch of cucumbers next year on a steep bank that won't grow anything else, and make enough pickles to last a while. I think some of the best returns on gardening are the value-added things, like salsa, pickles, sauerkraut, and ketchup, that would cost far more to buy than an equivalent amount of plain vegetables.

The pantry is a bit crowded at the moment. Time to work on organization and shelving some more. Kind of a Deja-vu feeling to doing all the things again that I grew up doing 50+ years ago.
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PeakOiler · Last edited by PeakOiler on Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

Edit: deleted
(double post)
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