Fourteen Quarts of Veggie Juice

 

Before breakfast this morning we started making veggie juice.  Carol cut off all the blemishes and put them a large pot.  I turned them in to juice with blender.  There were to many tomatoes to put them in one pot so we boiled two pots of tomato for thirty minutes.  

I squeezed out all of the juice in this colander.  This took a little over an hour.  We had enough juice to make fourteen quarts.  Carol boiled two batches.  The cooker would hold only seven quartsl

Here they are on the counter.  They all sealed except one.  We put labels on each with a date.  Each group had to be boiled for fifty minutes. They are now in the pantry.  

Rod, read the meter.  We had gone over our allotted amount. I have to find the water line that provides water for the house.  I dug at low spot in the east lawn and found the water line.  It turned out to be the line that came from the well.  I turned off the water  and discovered it.  Our lawn and garden are irrigated from the well as well as some of the hemp plants.

I cut away the shrubby around a broken water hydrant.  I called a person with a small backhoe to dig it up.

Carol put up three pints of peaches.

We had sweet corn for supper.

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Cats and Kittens

After breakfast I began working in the garden.  It was mostly weeding.  There is a lot of morning glory by the pepper plants.  I dug a lot of them up and hope to keep them cultivated to eventually kill them off.  We made a quick trip to Fillmore for groceries.  Mainly things to make ice cream for the twenty-fourth of July which is Saturday.  

One of several photos of the cats and kittens.

The orange kitten resting on top of Shadow, the gray cat through the screen door.

I went out side through the front door and quietly walked up to shadow and the orange kitten.

I got this picture through the the back storm door.  I had to hold my phone above the screen.

I dug up a bunch of allium bulbs.  I have a friend that wants some.  It is a little to early to dig.  I dig more towards the end of August.

I picked some sweet corn yesterday and some more today.  It really tasted good with a little salt and butter 

I dug weeds during the day when the clouds hid the sun.  

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Sunday & Monday

SUNDAY

We attended our church meetings.  After Sacrament meeting, Carol went to relief society meeting and I attended priesthood meeting.

I got this picture of two of the orange kittens laying in the pomegranate tub.  It is cooler there on these hot summer day.

MONDAY

After breakfast, I started some water in the garden.  I then was going to water the baskets, but there was not water.  I walked up to the well, and the water pressure was zero.  I walked back to the garden and shut off all the water.  Back to the well and the water pressure was the same.  There was water running on four different hemp patches.  I shut off the water to the hemp plants.  The water pressure at the well returned to normal.   I pruned all of the delicious and beef master tomato plants.

We needed to get gas for the car.  We stopped at Maverick and filled up.  We bought a few groceries and cam home.   I did more weeding.  I kept water running on both gardens and by the end of the day, I had watered everything.

The Burpless cucumber plants are doing well.  The male flower is blooming on several plants. I hope to get the trellis built Wednesday.  I got the conduit pipe ready.

I had water running on the corn.  A closer look at the some of the cobs, I found three ripe ones.  I picked and shucked them.  The ears are small.  I put them on this saucer for a picture.  We had them for supper.  A couple of them were over ripe.  I ate the two bigger ones and Carol at the other ones.

I was working in the garden and a white car drove into the driveway.  A handicapped sign was hanging on the mirror.  I first thought that it was Carol.  It was Jim Burns.  He was after a stepladder that he left here over a year ago.  We found it.  I offered them some apricots.  I helped them pick some.

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I started watering the garden again.

Putting the Garden to Bed

Richard, our son, stopped by yesterday around eleven.  He had been down south and had to me in Nephi Monday morning by six.  Dinner was nearly ready.  He ate with us and stayed with us all night.

The first things this morning was to start the wash.  We washed the sheets and clothes.  We made the beds with the clean sheets.  That took most of the morning.

I got the battery weed eater and cut the peony plants to the ground.    There was a small elm tree about eighteen tall that I cut down and painted the stems with Kills All.

I dug up all of the old tomato plants in the south garden.

I threw away all of the weak Toma-hooks.  They are weak because they are made of twenty gage wire.  I saved the good ones for next year.   

I ate this sweet corn that has been in the fridge for nearly two months.  The husks were nearly dry.   They could have been a little riper, but they tasted really good.  I still have a dozen or so in the fridge.

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Fixing the Corn

After breakfast and the news, I picked all of the early corn.  I shucked some for us and Carol washed it and put it in the fridge.  I didn't want to shuck all of it.  We decided to give some to Raymond and Anne Stephenson, rest went to the post office. 

Some ears were pretty good size and some were quite small and not completely pollinated.   We drove to Fillmore for some medication and I bought two turnbuckles.

The rain and the wind tipped most of the corn over in the south garden.   This is the north side of the corn patch.

 This is the south side of the corn patch.  There are two rows planted close together.  Some is starting to tassel.

Last night I killed a lot of the yellow jackets.   I smashed them on the driveway.  I put some in the garbage, and even this morning they were crawling out of being double bagged.  I sprayed them again with WD-40.

Here is the north side fixed.   I tried to straighten them up buy grabbing the stalks and pulled the straight.  They wouldn't stay straight.   I drug twin down the middle and then used conduit stakes to hold up the twine.

I did the same with the south side.

I had stakes on both ends and the twine stretched tite between them.

I had to put a series of stakes down the rows.  I corn was pushing outward.  I used tie wire to pull the corn more inward.  I wrapped it around the stake.

I couldn't tighten the compression coupler so this afternoon I took it off.   The treads in the coupler were full of dirt.

I washed them, scrubbed them, and used a small nail to remove the hard mud/dirt

I put it back together and guess what.  I turned on the water and no leaks.

No pictures, but I put up one more tie wire for the cucumbers in the north garden.  There will soon be burpless cucumbers.

Beautiful flowers in the kidney.

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Shopping, Meds, and Bait

We usually shop Friday morning at eight.  This morning we went at nine, because we had to have our prescriptions filled.   We got the groceries first.  There were a few of us that had our masks on. At the pharmacy Carol had two fill and I had one.  We had to wait quite awhile as there were people ahead of us.  They wouldn't fill mine because it was already filled at Sam's Club.  He said that I could get ninety tabs for about $17.00.  That is pretty cheap.

The early corn is starting to tassel.  This is a new variety that we haven't tried before.  I watered almost everything.  I did a lot of weeding while watching the water. 

We were expecting company tonight.  They would get Carol's bedroom and Carol would sleep with me in my bedroom.   The tub didn't have a stopper.  I bought one while were in Fillmore.  We then wouldn't have to go to the main bathroom bathe.

Earwigs have damaged the Pole beans.  I went online to see what will kill them.  I was and equal mix of Olive oil and Soy Sauce.  I found a couple of small portion cups, but I needed a lid.  In the pantry there was a pint plastic peanut butter container I thought might work.   

Then I found a glass half pint bottle.  I found a lid and drilled five holes.   One at four edges and then one in the middle.   I put the the mix in the bottle.

I made a deep hole next the Blue Lake pole beans.

 I put it in the hole and covered soil against the lid. 

I did the same with a  fourth quart bottle on the other side of the bean hoops.

I read the directions again and the hole should be a quarter inch.  I re-dilled the holes with a quarter inch bit.

I have done this before and the cats have eaten the bait.  A lid and ring on the bottle prevents cats from eating the mix.

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Our First Corn Crop This Year

As soon as it was light I picked our sweet corn.  Most of the ears were small.

Carol and I shucked all the corn.  We put the shucks on a tarp.

I carried them out and fed them to the chickens.  They ate corn kernels, earwigs, and sap beatles.0

The zucchini and crookneck squash are doing well.  They were planted late.   No squash bugs yet.

The green arrow peas in house six are doing well.  I planed to make split pea soup out of the over ripe peas.  I started them soaking and put them in the fridge and forgot them.  The next time I looked  the radicals were showing.  A week later I was going to throw them away.  Carol told me to plant them.  The above photo show them and they are looking good.

There is on tall tomato plant that had only one tomato.  I climbed the ladder to lower it .  Then the thought came to mind is to take it out.  I cut if off and removed all of the tomato clips and the twine.

Other plants have a good amount of tomatoes on them.  I lowered them and the above photo shows how close to the ground.  I didn't take any photos of any of the plants that I lowered.  I had to use the ladder to reach the wire.  I also put in some 2x2x8 foot pole to hold up the overhead wire.

I didn't get pictures, but I hung and lowered the tomato plants.  They are so tall I lowered them. I picked the cucumbers and wrapped them in plastic wrap.  They are in the fridge in the garage.  We will take them with us to the family golf tournament.


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Cleaning and Picking

Last night Carol mentioned that the kitchen floor needed cleaning.  After breakfast I swept the kitchen floor and started to mop.  It was hands and knees on the floor.  Carol was doing the washing while I was mopping.  It was about 9:30 when I finished the kitchen floor.

I went to house two and did the watering and picked three cucumbers.  I then proceeded to house six where I picked more cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and a verity of other tomatoes.   While I received a call from Robert Reidhead, from Zion's Bank called and wanted some tomatoes and cucumbers.  I continued to pick.  I had a bucket of cucumber and another bucket of tomatoes.  About and a hour later I got a call from Carol, she reported that he was there.  I carried all of the pickings to the house.  It took several trips.

The two buckets were full.  He took half the cucumbers and tomatoes, which left two buckets half full, or as some may say, half empty.  He took two cartons of tomatoes.

Carol needed some groceries at the market and we got gas for the lawnmower and filled the car with gas.  We then went to the car wash.  Our car was pretty dirty and the windshield and the front of the car is covered with bugs who met their death by being in front of our moving car.

As we drove into Fillmore we passed trucks striping the highway.   When we left the market to go to the car wash, we were behind the painting trucks.  The painting truck was way ahead and the one in front of us was driving slowly to allow the paint to dry.  We washed the car; got the gas and drove home.  After lunch I removed the hoses from the lawn and began to mow.

I always start mowing the front lawn,  The grass was pretty tall.  I filled the catcher and dumped the grass in house six.  It helps to control the weeds and prevent water loss through evaporation.  The above photo is after I finished mowing.  I dumped the bag on the left and then took the one on the right into house six.

By this time it was time to let the chickens out of the hen house.  They always walk through the mulberry bush.  I got the photo of one hen.

I did all the trimming with my weed whip.  I hadn't trimmed for along time the about photo shows the front side walk.  I blew off the trimmings with my blower which is one of the best tools that I own.

I was walking through the sweet corn and picked an ear of corn.  To my surprise, it was ripe.  Carol cooked it.  The ears aren't all that big, but tasted really good.

I received a call from a lady in Fillmore who wanted to by a large black post.  While I was having lunch she came and I sold on of the large black pots for one dollar.

Our jade plant has tipped some and needs to be straighten out.  Carol mentioned it to me.  I had to take out most of the soil.  I put the soil in a tub.  I made quite a mess on the floor, but finally got it fixed.  I tied twine to the trunk of the plant and them back to the edge of the pot.  I did it on the four sides.

 
Comments and questions are welcome.