Relish, Jam, & Vegetable Bucket

Carol got everything ready for making relish.  After breakfast we started.  I shredded the onions, peppers, and cucumbers.  The onions and cucumber were from our garden.

It made nine pints and one half pint.

There has been a leek in one of the irrigation pipes west of the hen house. It has been a breeding place for mosquitos.   I turned off the water and then unscrewed the hose bib stem.  The photo shows the water draining out of the pipe.

I put the hose bib stem back in and turned back on the water.  I have to walk up to the south east corner of our yard to where the well is to turn off and turn on the water.  With the water on I can find the leak.

Just above the arrow, I found the leak.  With a large pipe wrench, I tried to unscrew the leaking part.  I couldn't turn it.

I cut out a section that was leaking.  While in Fillmore I bought some replacement parts.  It was raining lightly when I put it back together.  I walked back to the well and turned the water back on.  There was a small leak.  I screwed the hose bib stem more and stopped the leak.

Here is the finished project.  I will back fill tomorrow.

The photo should have been in yesterdays blog, but I took it today, so here it is.

We drove to Fillmore for some more bottles and pectin for apricot and pineapple jam.  We also took a bucket of vegetables for Kim Christensen.  It took me a couple of hours to prepare the vegetables.

We made two batches.  There was a little left over for a bread and jam treat.  It was really good.

 We planted corn last Thursday, a week ago tomorrow.  It is coming up.

 I had an hour or so to work in house six.  I pruned off some branches on the tomato plants.  I also, pruned off some of the leaves.  With the leaves gone, it is much easier to see the tomatoes.

There are a lot of spoiled tomatoes.  Some were touching the ground, others cracked and aloud an opening for sap beetles to enter.

There were some that had partial defects.  I took them to the house and cleaned them up.  I ate some of the for a late evening treat.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Saturday, Sunday, & Monday (today).

The chickens are starting to lay.  It seems like it has taken a long time.  I put a clock and light in a last week to keep the day light longer.

The sweet potatoes are beginning to grow.  I have sprinkler that is turned down low and leave it on most of the day.

The potatoes have been doing really well except for the one on the right. It should be looking like the one on the left.  Flea beetles and earwigs have been eating them.  I sprayed them with Sevin.  It really works on grasshoppers and the label says it will kill flea beetles and earwigs.

When we got home from church Sunday, the little bucket was at our front door.  It has some kitchen items in it.

When I was watering Sunday afternoon, this dove was in house 2.  It was gone by Monday morning.

I started work this morning at six.  It was much cooler.  I tied up all the cucumber plants and some of the tomato plants.  I picked a whole bunch of cucumbers this morning and wrapped them.  I took seventeen of them to Duane's Market.  He gave me 45 cents each.  

We used the cucumbers and store bought peppers to make sweet relish.  There are thirty-one half pints, and one pint and one fourth pint.  We made three different batches.  These should last all year.  

I moved more plants onto pad one.  Less that I have to water. I lowered the watering time by ten minutes. The water will run for two hours and ten minutes.

Comments and questions are welcome. 

 W