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Post by spike on Oct 19, 2022 17:31:23 GMT -5
Are you guys talking about the 3rd shot? We have gotten the first 2 but not the 3rd yet I am an idiot. We have had 3 shots!! Need the current booster. But today we went to get hubs eyes checked and his new glasses. While we were there they called to let me know my glasses were ready for pickup >,<
EDIT to add: I didn't actually get my glasses because we were THERE and not at home to get the call that my glasses were ready! sigh
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Post by paulf on Oct 20, 2022 17:03:43 GMT -5
The entire garden is now put to bed. The fall rototilling has been done and the mulch has been turned under. Elemental sulphur needs to be purchased and spread before snow flies. Now it is time to rest until January.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Oct 20, 2022 18:03:02 GMT -5
Are you guys talking about the 3rd shot? We have gotten the first 2 but not the 3rd yet I am an idiot. We have had 3 shots!! Need the current booster. But today we went to get hubs eyes checked and his new glasses. While we were there they called to let me know my glasses were ready for pickup >,<
EDIT to add: I didn't actually get my glasses because we were THERE and not at home to get the call that my glasses were ready! sigh
I need that doo hicky with the eyes looking around and whistling |
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Post by paulf on Oct 20, 2022 22:39:56 GMT -5
We are waiting for the 4th shot which was supposed to out "this fall". I had no reaction from any of the first three but my wife had pretty bad reactions to all. Does that mean she is building up better anti-bodies? She is undecided on further vaccinations since she was affected so badly; the reaction lasted at least two days.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 21, 2022 8:09:22 GMT -5
paulf , we both had sore arms for about 2 days and DH felt like he was getting a cold about 10 hours after we got the shot but we were both OK the next day. We were undecided until a friend visited and told us how a local friend of DH had died of Covid. He was in his 60's and didn't get any shots. I am glad that it's over with and done. Flu shot in 3 weeks.
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Post by september on Oct 21, 2022 22:09:14 GMT -5
No vaccination reaction in my arm or otherwise.
We had a fairly nice day, cool, but sunny and nice for working. I worked on clearing out one of the abandoned weedy 12ft beds in the woods garden for next spring's peas. While pulling tall weeds, I shook off a lot of fresh weed seeds into the dirt, but I plan on tilling it with my Mantis tiller and then after spring snow melt, covering most of it in black plastic except for where the peas will be. The last things grown in the bed were tomatoes, but it sat empty and weedy this summer.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 22, 2022 10:11:40 GMT -5
Today I made my largest garden expense of the year. I bought 10 bales of straw to mulch my garden for $40.
Last year I decided to try not mulching in the fall and that was a BIG mistake. Normally I get DH to roto till in the Fall and then I apply a thick layer of straw. In the spring I pull back the straw and plant. There are a few weeds but not too many. Last year without mulch the entire garden was covered with weeds in the Spring and since it was too many to hoe or pull we had to till again.
I really like the mulch and I also like supporting the local farm where I buy it. As soon as DH tills my 2 gardens I will cover them with straw and then the chickens will have fun digging in the straw too. Tilling brings insect larvae and pupa to the surface and the chickens eat a lot of them. I am sure that they get a few good guys and worms too but it's still worth it. I never get tomato hornworms.
I am not positive that gardening actually saves a lot of money but it gives us exercise that we would not get otherwise and we probably eat more veggies than we would if I was buying them. My home grown veggies are fresher and thus healthier too.
My garden is totally organic and if I bought only organic veggies then I think that my garden would be saving us money.
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Post by spike on Oct 22, 2022 10:56:18 GMT -5
I am not positive that gardening actually saves a lot of money My sister and I went to visit our elderly aunt. We were talking about gardening/canning/etc. My Aunt looked me in the face like I was an idiot for canning since a can of tomato sauce is only a dollar. Well, I do not know those tomatoes in that can personally. I don't know where they were grown, who harvested them, who processed them and who put the seal on them. If it is in a jar on my shelf, that I canned, I know each tomato, corn kernel, bean, pea etc personally. I planted those seeds, I tended them as they grew, harvested them with my own little hands and know how they were processed. In the long run? Maybe my jar of sauce costs me 5 dollars but I am okay with that. |
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Oct 22, 2022 15:08:35 GMT -5
I looked at a pressure canner today at Tractor Supply. It is $149 for a 16 quart capacity. The nice thing is that it said that it was safe for a smoothtop stove . I know where my. Mom's is in her attic but it looks bigger.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 22, 2022 17:33:39 GMT -5
spike, you couldn't buy a can of tomatoes of the quality that we grow for a dollar! I agree, knowing how they were grown and harvested makes a big difference to me.
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Post by spike on Oct 23, 2022 9:04:12 GMT -5
spike , you couldn't buy a can of tomatoes of the quality that we grow for a dollar! I agree, knowing how they were grown and harvested makes a big difference to me. Thank you! I wasn't about to pick a fight with one of my elders but it matters to me also! |
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Post by paulf on Oct 23, 2022 9:24:30 GMT -5
We do not can anything! The produce we save is put into freezer bags and frozen. Yes, it is all either blanched or lightly cooked before freezing. (My wife knows all the safety stuff, I help with all the labor.)
No gardener I know of has ever done a cost analysis. Being one of those extremely anal people, about 15 years ago I started an analysis just for the fun of it...get that?; for me that is a fun process, but even I couldn't continue. I needed to go out into the garden for some reason or another and just forgot about my bad idea.
This year, as most years, the only vegetables in the freezer are tomatoes in several forms and sweet corn both buttered and plain.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 23, 2022 10:26:53 GMT -5
I don't do canning anymore either but I do freeze a lot of my produce. I freeze chopped tomatoes, whole tomatoes, pasta sauce, stewed tomatoes, rhubarb sauce, corn, peas, a few green beans, asparagus, cut potatoes, bell peppers, chopped carrots and sliced pears in light sugar syrup which I freeze.
When I started doing so much preserving I bought a small chest freezer and put it in the basement. It is full of veggies. I never store any meats in there unless I get a turkey.
I buy very few veggies at the store, just broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce.
I do think that it probably saves some money because during the winter something like a red pepper might be $5 each and I have plenty in the freezer. I also think that I can not buy veggies as nice as mine.
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Post by september on Oct 23, 2022 16:39:06 GMT -5
I love the idea of canning and am jealous of people who can get it done. I have two hot water canners of different sizes, and a pressure canner which I've only used about three times. All in storage for the past 15+ years. I used to do it, but now I am too impatient and lazy to do all the the washing and sterilizing of jars and lids to prepare before you can even start. Seems like just washing them in soap and hot water should be enough, since they get boiled again during the process. But I try to be good and follow safety instructions when dealing with food storage. I've never tried to figure out if growing and freezing garden produce saves money, but it sure is nice to just go to the freezer and pull out a pack of corn, beans, broccoli, snap peas, peppers and such whenever I need them for a recipe or side dish. As others have said, you know the quality is better than store bought, without pesticides.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 23, 2022 18:09:12 GMT -5
I am not much of a canner, either. I do can some pickles, but the only tomatoes I can are fire roasted (grilled) ones, to use in Mexican cooking - my tomatoes are not canning tomatoes, as a rule, and aren't as good as most of the canned tomatoes I buy in the stores. Most veggies I don't like
canned, and some not even frozen. This year I canned some of my version of V8, which was very good, but I didn't even grill any tomatoes to can, as I still have some from last season! Most of my things go in freezer, or get dehydrated.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 23, 2022 18:16:28 GMT -5
I learned this in cooking class. Commercially canned diced tomatoes are treated with some chemical and I forget what it is to keep them from falling apart. If you want less processing you should buy the whole canned tomatoes. I believe it because I have bought diced tomatoes and thought that they were tough. Of course the variety of tomato may make a difference too as we Know
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Post by spike on Oct 23, 2022 18:52:27 GMT -5
We have very old telephone poles, with trees starting to lean on the lines and our transformers are beyond sad. We have power issues often enough that using our freezer is a poor choice for us. I have a pressure canner so can everything including meat.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Oct 23, 2022 19:13:47 GMT -5
I learned this in cooking class. Commercially canned diced tomatoes are treated with some chemical and I forget what it is to keep them from falling apart. If you want less processing you should buy the whole canned tomatoes. I believe it because I have bought diced tomatoes and thought that they were tough. Of course the variety of tomato may make a difference too as we Know Calcium Chloride. That’s why it’s s best to read labels. There are very few brands that don’t use it, especially the cheap ones. |
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Oct 24, 2022 9:24:24 GMT -5
Calcium chloride is the same stuff that is in Ball's Pickle Crisp granules. You add a bit to each jar before processing to keep pickled cucumbers and other pickled vegetables crisp, not mushy. It is also in virtually all commercial pickles (cucumber or otherwise).
There are a lot of things to worry about in commercially prepared foods, but I don't think calcium chloride is one of them. Certainly it is much safer than the alum that used to be added to pickles.
Of course if you don't like the texture that it gives to some canned foods (like tomatoes) that's a different matter.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 24, 2022 10:42:05 GMT -5
Calcium chloride is not terrible, I just prefer to avoid ay additive if I can use my own without additives. I also think that it toughens the tomatoes. I don't know if it also affects the flavor but mine always taste better!
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Oct 24, 2022 11:20:50 GMT -5
Calcium chloride is the same stuff that is in Ball's Pickle Crisp granules. You add a bit to each jar before processing to keep pickled cucumbers and other pickled vegetables crisp, not mushy. It is also in virtually all commercial pickles (cucumber or otherwise). There are a lot of things to worry about in commercially prepared foods, but I don't think calcium chloride is one of them. Certainly it is much safer than the alum that used to be added to pickles. Of course if you don't like the texture that it gives to some canned foods (like tomatoes) that's a different matter. I didn’t mean to infer that calcium chloride was bad, I was saying it makes for tough tomatoes. I think it changes the flavor profile a little too. |
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Oct 24, 2022 11:27:57 GMT -5
Fair enough.  |
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Post by paulf on Oct 24, 2022 16:48:04 GMT -5
Watched it rain today, even if it was light it is better than the drought conditions. Drove to town and got ingredients for taco soup, then sat back and watched Andor on the Disney channel.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Oct 25, 2022 12:33:12 GMT -5
I volunteered at the school's Book Fair today for a couple of hours. I'll be doing that each day for the rest of the week. By the end of the week I will have completed half of my mandatory volunteer hours for the school year. (20 "volunteer" hours per family per year are required to keep your kids enrolled in the charter school. But I have always wished that they would call them "service hours" or something else, because the oxymoron of "mandatory volunteer hours" aggravates me. The reality is that it's only after you get your mandatory 20 hours in that you're really volunteering.) Oxymorons aside, the Book Fair is IMO one of the most pleasant ways to get my hours in. We volunteers mostly stand around in the nice air conditioned room and help the kids find books. We also re-shelve mislaid books and keep the shelves neat. Sometimes we get to work a cash register or set out new books. Usually there are 10-minute breaks between when one class leaves and the next one arrives, so we can sit around and chat with the other parents, get water or a snack, visit the restroom, play on our phones, etc. And this year they had a basket with bottled water and granola bars for the volunteers, which was a nice new touch. |
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Post by octave1 on Oct 25, 2022 13:22:24 GMT -5
I learned this in cooking class. Commercially canned diced tomatoes are treated with some chemical and I forget what it is to keep them from falling apart. Calcium chloride? |
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Post by octave1 on Oct 25, 2022 13:24:39 GMT -5
I looked at a pressure canner today at Tractor Supply. It is $149 for a 16 quart capacity. The nice thing is that it said that it was safe for a smoothtop stove . I have a 20-quart pressure canner that I have always used on our smooth top stove without any problem. Believe me that thing is heavy. |
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 25, 2022 13:34:57 GMT -5
I had a fun day today. I had to go to the eye doctor's office to order my new custom reading glasses. I was there just a few days ago but forgot to take my frames with me. Ugh.
I had cataract surgery on my left eye 2 years ago and got custom reading glasses and custom computer glasses which I love. Now that I got the right eye done a month ago the glasses are no longer correct. Medicare pays for a pair of new glasses so all I paid was $50 to get the ultra thin lenses and anti scratch coating for my new reading glasses.
I am also having new lenses put into the frames of my current computer glasses and they were 1/2 price since I got the reading glasses.
Since I was near Chick Fil A, I treated myself to lunch and then I walked around Whole Foods and bought a few goodies. Neither of these stores is really lose to home so it's a treat for me to go there.
One thing I like to do in Whole Foods is look at their organic veggies and compare them to mine. Mine look better!
The only thing I bought in the produce department was a nice big naval orange. I can't grow those. LOL.
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Post by spike on Oct 25, 2022 17:51:16 GMT -5
Is that a glass top stove? I have been afraid to use my glass top stove for canning. I have hot plates purchased especially for canning. I went out and mowed down the hubs wildflower bed. Wasn't have as pretty as in years past but this year was just sad. Gonna start it over in the spring.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Oct 25, 2022 18:45:43 GMT -5
My aunt uses her propane stove in the outdoor kitchen for canning. Keeps the steam and odors out of the house. I have an induction hot plate that I could use on the back porch.
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Post by octave1 on Oct 25, 2022 18:58:31 GMT -5
Is that a glass top stove? I have been afraid to use my glass top stove for canning. I have hot plates purchased especially for canning. I think it's what they call tempered ceramic glass. Not sure if there are different varieties of such material. |
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