I’ve been gathering blueberries from my 6 bushes for the last week or so. Thus far I’ve gather 3 quarts and I suppose that In the next day or two I’ll gather another quart. After that I believe that the bushes will have given all they can this year. Not bad (I guess) given that this is the first year the plants have been in the ground.
After each day of picking I’d lay out the harvest on a rimmed cookie sheet (a single layer thick) and place them in the freezer for a few hours. Once frozen they were transferred to a quart baggie. This keeps the berries from freezing together.
The very simple recipe I’ve chosen from the array of ‘internet people’ is at Taste of Southern. You can cruise over there and see how simple it is. Ingredients are:
10 cups of blue berries (results in 6 cups of crushed berries) 4 cups of sugar 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
I took the photo of two young hawks perched together on a pine a little while back. I thought it unusual as I’ve never seen haws pal around together. The image on the bottom has been slightly modified in PaintNet to produce a more surreal feel.
Linda B has sent along a recipe for Pesto that works well for folk that are not big on Basil. I’ll be trying this when I can get some Arugula into the ground.
Thanks Linda !
Ingredients
4 cups packed fresh arugula 1 tablespoon minced garlic Salt and freshly ground pepper 1 cup pure olive oil 2 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted, plus 1 tablespoon 1/8 teaspoon lemon juice 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Directions
Prepare an ice water bath in a large bowl, and bring a large pot of water to a boil. Put the arugula in a large sieve and plunge it into the boiling water. Immediately immerse all the arugula and stir so that it blanches evenly. Blanch for about 15 seconds. Remove, shake off the excess water, then plunge the arugula into the ice water bath and stir again so it cools as fast as possible. Drain well.
Squeeze the water out of the arugula with your hands until very dry. Roughly chop the arugula and put in a blender. Add the garlic, salt and pepper to taste, olive oil, 2 tablespoons of the pine nuts, and the vitamin C, if using. Blend for at least 30 seconds. In this way the green of the arugula will thoroughly color the oil. Add the cheese and pulse to combine. The pesto will keep several days in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.
Pull out before dinner to get to room temperature. Before serving, add the remaining 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts.
I did get the opportunity to put the boat in the water today and managed to catch a few catfish. Here is a lesson learned for those of you that have a boat: check and make sure that you have the drain plug with you before you drive all the way to the water. I got down to the launch site and no drain plug. That’s really odd in that it is permanently attached to the drain fixture. So I lash the boat back down to the trailer and off I go to my dealer (The Boat House in Athens, AL) who, with a smile, told me that they don’t make those drain plugs or drain fixtures anymore. They did sell the the new model and saved me a small fortune by providing me the silicon and tools that I’d need to swap out the assembly. Half an hour later I was on the water.
The fishing was worse than uneventful, I was using chicken liver on circle hooks and fishing roughly 18 foot deep in 20 feet of water. My line was tied to ‘jugs’ and I had 10 of them set out. The catfish loved the bate! The only problem was that they could grab the bait and would slide right off of the hook. Only two of the catfish were dumb enough to actually get caught (a blue and a channel cat), in the end I gave them back to the lake (no one wants to eat dumb fish).
I’ve got chicken gizzards in the freezer so weather permitting I’ll put it back into the water tomorrow.
Looks like I’ll finally be able to get the boat back into the water this week; Monday and Wednesday may prove to be the best. I changed the engine and gearbox oil last month and then ran it for about an hour to make sure all was well. I don’t relish being on the water during a thunderstorm so wherever I put in will be where I can make a short run back to the ramp.
Speaking of ramps, the ramp at Elk River Mills (my favorite launch site for Elk River fishing) was completely wiped out in March. Huge logs had washed down the river and piled up against the dock and then the millions of gallons of water pushed against the drift and destroyed it. I can still get in the Elk at the Al Hwy 99 launch, but there is no dock and the ramp sucks. So will put in at Second Creek (the first creek east of Wheeler Dam) or First Creek (the second creek east of the dam). Both are good launch points and while I cannot go fishing where I would like, it’s a short run from the fishing zones to the boat launch. The diagram below shows how all of this lays out.
A few days ago I mentioned that I was going to try out a recipe I had for Pesto (write-up here). Well I did and I’ve got to tell you this is some great stuff. The garlic I pulled has not yet had time to cure so I used what we had earlier purchased in the super market.
Pesto is some great stuff and simple to make. Get a few basil plants in the ground, if you live in an apartment you can clear off a window sill and raise them there. Plenty of time left in the season to get some cranking.
I used: -2 cups basil -2 cloves of garlic -1/2 cup Parmesan cheese -1/4 cup pine nuts -1/2 cup olive oil -1/4 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of black pepper
If you’ve made some recently, and used a different recipe, let me know how it came out.
A couple of years ago I discovered an excellent series of TEOTWAWKI survival articles, written by ‘Foodgrower’, and hosted by Kenny over at ‘Knuckledraggin’.
The articles are no-nonsense, in-your-face, read-it-and-weep information on what it really takes to be self-sufficient. It’s a real eye-opener that I strongly suggest be read by anyone that is ‘prepping’ or knows someone that is.
I’ve snatched an important concept from one of Foodgrowers articles that gives good insight on why you may want to heed what he says, It goes: I don’t want to just survive, I want to enjoy life. Come a Sunday morning I don’t want instant oatmeal from a foil package for breakfast. I want a two egg omelet with bacon and diced tomatoes, diced peppers, chopped mushrooms, a spoon or two of cottage cheese, maybe a sprinkling of sausage, fresh grated cheddar cheese, a healthy dose of sour cream and several shots of tobasco sauce. Which would you rather have? How about a strawberry waffle smothered in fresh butter and whipped topping? Maybe bacon, two eggs over easy and hashbrowns with a short stack beside ’em. These menu options sure beats those survival rations.
Link is here, then click the A-Z Foodgrower on the black ribbon. Say hello to Kenny while you’re there.
It will be another week or so before I can begin harvesting the wild blackberries that are hiding around the property. I went out and looked in the nooks and crannies where they are known to flourish and I guess there will be plenty for the jams and jellies I’ll be attempting this year. I’m most interested in two of the jams. The first is a mix of strawberry, raspberry and blackberry. The second is strawberry and raspberry and chipotle to use as a glaze on fish and chicken. Of course I plan on putting a dozen jars or so of just blackberry jam together.
I’m getting about two cups a day of strawberries out of the garden right now so if that continues for another couple of weeks I’ll have plenty for canning. The blueberries are producing well, but I don’t think the six bushes I have will be enough long term.
Here are a couple of photos I took while wandering around looking for the blackberries.
One of the great things about being retired is you really don’t have to focus on any one thing (unless that one thing involves power equipment or sharp, pointy objects), but rather you can sorta follow rabbits until you find something that grabs your attention and prompts you to action. Here is the ‘rabbit’ I followed a little earlier today:
As I looked at the pictures I posted of my garden I began wondering about how, and how often, I needed to harvest the basil. Via the magic of the intertubes and the many postings of kind folk knowledgeable in such things, I got the answers I was looking for. Several of the sites mentioned basil ‘pesto’. Pesto this, pesto that, best pesto recipe, etc. Intrigued, I followed that rabbit as well.
I’m 65 years old and feeling pretty blue about now cause there is this supposedly delightful condiment called pesto and I’ve never heard of the stuff. Is it a one off high-brow delicacy? Apparently not because of all of the down to earth folk and websites tout it’s ease of preparation and great taste. Here is one site that I found that not only talks about how to make it (which generated another rabbit to chase) but also how to use it. Well, the rabbit that was generated was the ingredient list for the pesto, the garlic in particular.
I’ve got a butt-load of garlic planted and really never gave much thought to how/when it was to be harvested. I figured that when I needed some I’d just go dig it up. I figured wrong according to folk purportedly knowledgeable is such things and need to remove about 80 or 90 head/plants of garlic. The balance, 30 plants or so, need another couple of weeks before they are ready. So up to the garden I go, dig out the garlic that’s ready, and then off to the barn to hang it in the framework I made for last years bush beans.
Now I’m a red meat kinda guy, but some of these pesto recipes sound pretty good to me. Given that you can make the stuff up and freeze it for up to a year (leaving the grated cheese out until it’s going to be used), I’m in. I’m done chasing rabbits for the day !
Posted on
Much catching up to do around the homestead this week. I needed to mulch down the garden: 27 beds, newly planted trees, and around strawberries and blueberries. Have about half of this finished. Mowing and trimming ate up bunches of time. I used the zero-turn mower to knock down what is near/around the cabin (about an acres worth of hillsides). If you’ve ever used a zero-turn on steep hills you know the challenge that presents. Everything done downhill is accomplished by a ‘controlled slide’. I also have about 60 trees on these hills so it’s quite a challenge. I’ll need to hook the brush-hog up to the tractor to cut the remaining areas near the back side of the property (about 15 acres).. Will be back to greater postings when I can get ahead of the chores once again.
Thanks to all of you for the words of concern. I’m back on line, so your worst fears have been realized…..I survived the great computer outage of 2019.
To tell you the truth I’m OK with having been down during the last couple of weeks as there was so much blather back and forth over Barr’s report on Mueller’s conclusions that my wee voice would have been lost in the storm. In the end, Orwell may have only been partly correct in his pronouncement (below). 40 percent believe what the mainstream media wants them to believe, 40 or so percent what Fox tries to ram into our ears/eyes (primarily a call to be outraged at one thing or another). 10 percent are probably too wacked-out or stoned to know anything is going on at all. Of the 10 percent that remains, 5 don’t give a shit and 2 are actively working for the media in some capacity or another. That leaves us 3 percent (not III percenters) that look at both sides and realize that we are being played.
Thanks again for your concerns, all is much good now.
While not as bad as it is in other places, it’s damn cold here in paradise (again). My well laid plans to reinforce the soil in my garden are on temporary hold and it will be Thursday afternoon before the soil will be workable. I’ve got seven 4 X 12 raised beds earmarked for strawberries and the soil in them must be well amended before the first sets go in; there will be no way to till in additional organic material once the plantings are made.
There are three types of strawberries; Day Neutral, Ever Bearing, and June Bearing. I’ll be getting 20 of each type as this should provide me with a steady supply across the summer months. I am so looking forward to canning these into jams, preserves and jellies. I’m pretty sure that if they can be planted in the next couple of weeks they will produce fruit this year.
I also need to start my onion sets. The plan is to put these out in a series of plantings so that I’ll have fresh onion throughout the season. What doesn’t get used while fresh will be dehydrated. It’ll be the first time I dehydrated onions, but folks swear that this is a good way to put them up.
I collected a trailer load of old cow manure a couple of weeks back and have it piled up to complete the degrading/composting process. I’ll use this in the other 20 or so raised beds. My plan is to work it into the soil mid April and begin planting my main garden the first week in May.
I’ve got the hay out to the cows so they are set until Thursday. Will just kick back until then and ‘enjoy’ the cold weather.
I haven’t posted much about the goings on around the farm for several weeks now. It has rained so much that there was nothing that could be done except making sure the cattle had plenty of hay. The two photo’s below were taken off of my back porch. There are two waterfalls that should be in the pictures, but the creek was swollen so much that they disappeared. Note that the trees that are in the water actually sit on the creek bank when it is flowing normally.
I was fortunate enough to get my first set of trees in the ground before the heavens opened and so in a couple of years they will begin to produce. I’ve put in apple, plum, pear and peach. I still need 3 more apple trees (2 Granny Smith and an additional Fuji). I wish I had known how to prune fruit trees before I bought them as that may have helped me select trees that didn’t need to be cut back so severely. FYI, the diagrams below show how it should be done. The first is ‘Open Vase’ for the peach and plum, the second is ‘Central Leader’ for the apple and pear.
I planted 6 blueberry bushes (three varieties) , they will produce this year. Also put some garlic in the ground and it is coming up well. As a test I planted some ‘California Soft Neck’ garlic I purchased at a nursery along with two types I purchased in the food section of the local Walmart. The organic garlic from Wally’s came up perfectly while the regular garlic did not come up at all.
I won’t be able to get the boat back on the water for at least a couple of weeks, the runoff from the flooding rains has pushed the rivers well out of their banks and they now have ’embedded’ tree trunks a foot or below the surface. The rivers are running so rapidly that there is no way to hold position.
Anyway, that’s the way things are in my neck of the woods.
Postings have been nonexistent over the last couple of days as I’ve been busy getting the winter work done in the garden. Some of that work took quite a bit of research and, despite my killer analytical skills, I should have researched a little more.
I did manage to get 4 apple trees in the ground along with 3 each peach, pear, and plum. The research involved determining which variety each required which ‘pollinator’. These had to align with my taste in fruit. Finally nailed it all down and was able to find all that I needed at a nursery between Huntsville and Madison in Alabama. I put these trees as shown in the diagram below.
The large square in the diagram is my garden (60 by 120) Mid size boxes are large planting areas where crop is rotated from one to the other. The small boxes are 4 X 12 raised bed planting boxes, there are 27 of them.
So, between getting the fruit trees in, planting 6 blueberry bushes, cleaning up the mess in garden that was left over from last year, and feeding the cattle I’ve had little time to post.
Super Bowl beginning in a few minutes, y’all take care !
Seven? Seven degrees on Wednesday evening for my little place here on the Tennessee/Alabama line. That’s damn nippy. Here is the historical reference (where ‘today’ is Wednesday of next week):
I won’t be alone with this misery, looks like half of the nation is going to get spanked.
It also looks as if the cold has it’s old companion–snow. Y’all stay safe.
There are many places like this here in my neck of the woods. Every time I drive past one of these old homesteads I think of who might have lived there and what their lives were like.
Time and life has moved on and the earth reclaims what these folk scratched from the it in the course of their lives.
I am determined to catch my own live bait, so I bought a 5 foot cast net a few weeks back. I’m (so I tell myself) manly, strong, smart, quick, and fairly coordinated so this should be no great challenge. After watching several video’s and applying a few discontinuous practice session I’m no closer to mastering this manly task than I was before I started.
Then I see this video. I am now a completely broken man. She is better at 90 lbs with a 8 ft net than I am with a 5 ft net.
The last couple of days have been great and both today and tomorrow promise clear skies, light winds, and warm temps. It’s hard to believe its the early half of January and we such great weather. I’ll take it.
I charged the batteries on the boat yesterday afternoon and have a full tank of fuel. The better half promises a hearty breakfast after which I’m headed for the Elk River.
Well, the rains came and the winds blew over the last two days in Southern Middle Tennessee. Our little creek (above) swelled a little, but it is not nearly as full as I’ve seen it in days past. The photo was taken off of the back porch of the cabin. The creek runs south to north and our porch faces to the west. Many great sunsets from here and the sound of runny water can really make for a pleasant end of day. I’ve zoomed in a little in the next two photo’s to give a little detail to the two small waterfalls.
The Christmas madness is over and I have a little breathing space before the soaking rains move into the area. Oh, then there is this:
I’m dropping all of the wife’s mandated taskings and heading out to the Elk River a little later this morning. I’ve put new line on the fishing rigs; 8 lb for the Crappie and 20 for the Bass. I’ll let you know how it comes out.
We dodged the small caliber tornado bullets that whipped through the area the night before last. Not everyone in the area was as lucky, and we saw minor damage between our place and Loretto TN. While there was not that much that got tore up from the half dozen touchdowns, those that were hit didn’t have much to start with, a little damage to those that have little is devastating. No loss of lives or significant injuries.
I changed out the fishing line on all of the poles yesterday. The Crappie are said to be begging to be caught. Checked the weather this morning and saw this:
I don’t feel much like getting wet so will defer the outing until Saturday.
Thanks to all that have shown patience over the last couple of days of slow/no postings, I’ve been heads down clearing the deferred maintenance items and tackling urgent new requirements.
We had about a dozen large (100 footers) trees that were encroaching (read as: could have taken out a cabin) that we hired a pro to come in and drop. I have no problem dropping any tree, but when they stand a good chance of falling on one of the cabins, I wanted someone licensed and insured. So he and his crew got them down and me and my son-in-law cut them into 30 or 40 foot sections and drug them over to our burn pile.
While the trees were falling, the cows were birthing. Because we have about 25 acres of woods that border our two main pastures, and because when a cow is ready to give birth she goes to the most remote spot she can get herself to, I’ve had to go out and scour the ravines and brush to make sure they are doing OK. So far so good. Last year we had one that could not birth so we had to pull the calf from her stillborn. We were able to save the cow, but only because we recognized that was having issues. And the only way you can know a cow is having issues is to find it!
I also needed to clear up the garden. This year was the first year for my garden in its current location. The soil was so poor that most of my plantings would start but not do well. I’m commuted to beefing up the soil, so have a fairly large compost pile that I’m building. As you’ve probably guessed, I’m collecting cow dropping and using those as the primary ‘fuel’ for the pile, the balance is a half bale of hay left over from cutting the fields and the sparse remains of what the garden produced.
Finally, I broke down and washed the windows on the cabin. This is easy to do on the inside side, but all of the windows are either single hung or stationary. There are 36 widows that can be washed and 7 that cannot. I’ve built my cabin on a hillside. This means that the windows off the back side of the house are 10 or 12 feet above the ground (to the bottom of the window). These are cleaned with an extremely long telescoping pole with a soapy brush (for cleaning) and a squeegee (for ‘streak free’ water removal).
So that’s where I’ve been and done over the last couple of days.
There are many good things about living in a remote location and, as you would expect, some not so good. One of those not so good things is connectivity. Where I live in rural Tennessee is serviced by a phone company, but I built my home about half a mile from the road. I was willing to run the power underground because power lines across the landscape is damn ugly and I was able to find someone willing to dig a trench 4 foot deep and 2500 feet long at a reasonable price. Water was the same way, but it came in from a different direction. and ran almost a mile. When it came to phone lines and an internet connection I opted for a satellite. Now satellite service is perfectly adequate until heavy rains or significant cloud cover blanket the area. I had both yesterday and it made it difficult to post. In short, blame the weather and not your host for yesterdays slim postings !
I read an article about Harley a short while ago on Breitbart that I believe completely misses the mark. I’ll point out the error of there ways shortly, but reading the article brought to my mind some of the many journey’s I’d taken. Below was shot at Yosemite a couple of years back. Photo’s of your host with mods by paint.net.
I’ve finished getting my deer stand in and stabilized. Because I will be using this stand to bow hunt, I wanted to make sure that it was well concealed. Here is how it came out.
Now a photo where it can be seen. The seat is 18 feet off of the ground, the shooting rail is at a little over 19.
Finally, here is a view from that portion of the property looking south. While the bow will be used in the wooded area near the stand, I’ll be using a M1A (308) once gun season opens. It’s about 600 yards from where I was standing when I took the picture to the trees in the distance.
With Alabama up 42-14 at halftime on the road against Tennessee, Nick Saban headed into the tunnel and was doused with a cup of ice thrown from the stands.
When asked about the event. we get classic Saban: “The ice doesn’t bother me at all,” Saban said. “I’d rather have somebody upset when we’re playing on the road than happy about the circumstances.”
This summer I took a picture of one of the many wild Spider Lilies that we have growing around the farm. It is immediately below. The two images that follow are the same picture that have been modified using paint.net. Both mods are using the ‘Tile Reflection’ tool/utility. Tried to post these earlier, but the image size was so large they would not upload. Enjoy!
This photo was taken a few minutes ago. I wanted to get a shot of the little one yesterday when it was born but momma would have none of that. Number 14 is 8 or 9 days old.
This picture is a modified photo that I took of an old homestead on AL Hwy 207 near the Tennessee line. It is one of several that I placed on this page
The picture was modified using a program called paint.net, the version is 4.4.1 The ‘effect’ used is called Oil Paint.
Given that the program is free, powerful, and scary easy to use, if your into playing with pictures I highly recommend it.
Here is a shot of my Jeep and Triton as I prepare to launch on the Elk River. The boat is about 19 ft and powered by a 115 HP Mercury 4 stroke. Caught no fish!
I took this photo as I was leaving my property on Tuesday Morning. The fog was laying in on the gently rolling hills of the front pasture. This is as far south in Tennessee as you can go without crossing into Alabama.
This old farm home sits next to my property on the very southern most tract in Giles County Tennessee. The elderly gentleman that lived here died at age 93 two years ago.
Another neighbor (SL) bought the house and roughly 45 acres that it sat on. Along with the acreage he previously owned, SL now has about 500 acres. All of these acres, less those purchased along with this house, are in timber. He is a big hunter, and so planted the acreage around the house in soy beans to draw the deer in.
Looks as if things will turn more seasonal later in this week. Will take some time away from the daily chores on the farm to coax a few catfish into the boat !
“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any
government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to
keep and bear arms. … the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more
guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against a
tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved
to be always possible.”
Temperatures are finally moderating and the rains will end today. Looks like I’ll be able to get into a tree stand this coming week.
One rather large setback in my hunting plans is the closure of two nearby deer processors. By asking around, and by research on the Tennessee health departments website I was able to locate another is roughly 20 miles away. It’s a ‘setback’ because, while this is an excellent butcher, he will only process deer that are field dressed; he does not do taxidermy, he is closed on Sunday’s and Monday’s, and I have to take the bones with me when I pick up the meat. More on these ‘sorrows’ later.
I’ve had the Game Cams out for a couple of weeks now and we
have several good groups of deer roaming about.
Still have not identified where the big bucks are at, the big ones didn’t
become big ones without being very cautious.
Have seen some smaller ones but I really need to find something that
will both fill a freezer and decorate a wall.
Looks like we are going to finally catch a break in the weather. We have not had any reasonable amount of rain here for several months and this has hurt the farmers in area; particularly those in corn and beans. All of the corn has been harvested and I suppose the soy beans will be taken from the fields in the next couple of weeks. Cooler weather is also much appreciated as the fishing (not the fisherman) has been terrible.
Not much chance of catching a weather break here in southern Tennessee. The heat is bad for fishing and we could really use some cooler temps as deer season approaches; opening of bow season is this Saturday (22nd).
This will be the first season that I’ve hunted with a bow (actually cross-bow) and was looking forward to dropping a monster. That’s not going to happen any time soon as the bucks will stay well hidden away until the weather cools. Next week (below) shows some moderation.
On the upside, the cross-bow I picked up throws bolts down range at 370 FPS. That’s a blistering speed for a $300 bow. It came with a inexpensive scope but will still group three bolts in an inch at 30 yards.
I finally stopped and took a couple of photos of an old homestead that is along Al. Hwy 207 roughly 3 miles south of the Tennessee line. For a couple of reasons I’ve been reluctant to take photos anywhere except on my own property. One of those reasons is that unless you have a death wish you don’t just—More—
