This weeks preps check-in

jimLE said:

the lanterns aint high dollar,or the best in town.but their sure enough better then the brooklyn lanterns we have.the one in the middle is a portable fan.both the lanterns and fan can be plugged into a outlet for recharging the batteries..we still need to get the power cords for them thoe...and the 3rd pic are the copper skillets.and they are are worth getting..
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Got one of those lanterns as well works great.

We had frost again last night. Not sure if we lost any more plants in the garden yet. High temp yesterday was 58. Supposed to start warming up today.

Arcticdude said:

We had frost again last night. Not sure if we lost any more plants in the garden yet. High temp yesterday was 58. Supposed to start warming up today.

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Sounds like heaven. We're setting heat records allready. My cucumbers are getting burned up allready, and today was the first day of summer!

Brent S said:

Sounds like heaven. We're setting heat records allready. My cucumbers are getting burned up allready, and today was the first day of summer!

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It warmed up a lot today. It hit 71 here. Down in the valley was in the mid 80's. The garden looks OK. Some plants look like they're a little frost damaged but they should pull out of it.

i got a shopping bag full of purple hull beans today.in which i've already started on shelling..i just hope there's enough there for 2 pints..

I just finished canning some more green beans, and I'm canning a batch of peeled red potatoes now. I've never canned potatoes before, and am hoping they don't get too mushy. Those three trays of potatoes, and the 13 pints in the cooker right now, are from 1 of the rows I planted this year. I still have five more rows to dig up, with about half red and half white potatoes. I'm really diggin potatoes right now, literally......

Just put up a new 2 meter high fence around the rear of my property.

Silent Earth said:

Just put up a new 2 meter high fence around the rear of my property.

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Now, you know the UN frowns on things like that. You should be willing to share everything you have with anyone who wants it. You wouldn't want to make all the people that are unwilling to work feel inferior when they see how well you have it behind your fenced security would you....... You know I'm gagging just from writing this crap!

I'm canning another pot full of red potatoes tonight. The good news is it's five o'clock on Friday afternoon, so I just made a glass of wine with grape juice and peaches in it (yum), the bad news is the canner just got to 11 lbs pressure so I have 35 minutes to babysit the buggar.

Planted a couple cherry trees yesterday and have been working on a fence to keep the deer and elk out of the garden. Some of the pepper plants are starting to grow some peppers and the tomato plants are a foot high now. We had frost last week but I think we're done with the cold temps, until at least late August.

Brent S said:

Now, you know the UN frowns on things like that. You should be willing to share everything you have with anyone who wants it. You wouldn't want to make all the people that are unwilling to work feel inferior when they see how well you have it behind your fenced security would you....... You know I'm gagging just from writing this crap!

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I wanted a THREE meter fence topped with a single strand of razor wire, NOT ALLOWED in case a tresspasser hurts themselves according to the cops and council. So Two meter it is with carpet gripper rods tacked at the top on the inside edge smeared liberally with dog shit. If I cannot keep them out then when they leave they go with tetanus as a parting gift.

Ok, I'm a little slow sometimes, I admit it. I've been canning with the pressure valve that comes with the pressure cookers, which is set for 15 lbs. since I only need 11 lbs I had to sit close and watch the cooker, releasing pressure each time it went over 11. You can regulate some with the heat adjustment on the stovetop, but on electric it's tough to get precise. Anyways, I just ordered an adjustable regulator that I can walk away from. I told my son about it and he's like, why in the hell didn't you order that ages ago. Like I said, I'm a little slow sometimes! I love Amazon prime, they have just about anything you can think of, and it ships to your door. Can't wait to try this thing out.

Well, tonight it's pickeled beets. I picked beets, red and white potatoes, and blueberries today. The berries are washed and frozen, just shy of 1 gallon today. I have several different varieties of them and th come ripe at different times. I'm about 1/5 through the bushes now. The beets are sliced with onions and spices and are cooking right now, yum. The kitchen smells great!

Started excavation on the garage\shop today. It will be 28'x30' with 10' walls. The barn should be just about done next week. When the barns done I'll build some corrals and fence about 10 acres off around the barn/house area. Should be ready to bring the cattle up here by Spring.

Are you doing the work yourself, or hiring help? Even with help, that's a lot to do.

Brent S said:

Are you doing the work yourself, or hiring help? Even with help, that's a lot to do.

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I'm doing the dirt work myself but hiring a crew for the construction. I am building the well house myself, starting today, and just finished building a storage shed yesterday. Still have the chicken coop, hog pen and garden shed to build this summer. The house will be last.

Arcticdude said:

I'm doing the dirt work myself but hiring a crew for the construction. I am building the well house myself, starting today, and just finished building a storage shed yesterday. Still have the chicken coop, hog pen and garden shed to build this summer. The house will be last.

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You're either smarter than me or just have more money. . I tend to do it all myself, but sometimes you can hire someone and not only is it done quicker, but with a lot less wear and tear on your body. I just finished putting a roof on a 16x14 covered parking area to park our bucket/lift under. It's so hot that I could only work a little in the am and then again in the pm. I don't know if it's hotter now or maybe I'm just older . When I built this house I bought a bandsaw mill and cut the lumber for the whole thing. Framing, cabinets and all. It was cool doing the Daniel boon thing once, but now that I look back it wasn't even close to being economical. You can buy lumber much cheaper than cutting it yourself.

Brent S said:

When I built this house I bought a bandsaw mill and cut the lumber for the whole thing. Framing, cabinets and all. It was cool doing the Daniel boon thing once, but now that I look back it wasn't even close to being economical. You can buy lumber much cheaper than cutting it yourself.

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I've done the same thing when I built my house, I setup a wood mill and cut my own timber from the trees on my own property then I got hit with a 5% yield tax from the timbers I cut down. When I purchased my land the land was considered 'forested land' then meaning the trees were considered crops (lesson learned) I should have purchased my lumber and saved a year of cutting and milling the timber, at the time it would have been cheaper to purchase pre-cut, though I take comfort in knowing I have TRUE 2x6, 2x4, 4x4 and 4x12s!

Maverick said:

I've done the same thing when I built my house, I setup a wood mill and cut my own timber from the trees on my own property then I got hit with a 5% yield tax from the timbers I cut down. When I purchased my land the land was considered 'forested land' then meaning the trees were considered crops (lesson learned) I should have purchased my lumber and saved a year of cutting and milling the timber, at the time it would have been cheaper to purchase pre-cut, though I take comfort in knowing I have TRUE 2x6, 2x4, 4x4 and 4x12s!

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There's always someone in the government trying to figure a way to seperate you from your money. I got fined 150.00 for cutting down a couple trees on my last house build. They said I didn't get a permit first. I remember in fla. a county worker told me anything over 50.00 needed a permit. Hell, you can't get someone to repainted a room for 50.00 .

I've had a pretty good Sunday here. I'm tired, but always feel satisfied when I accomplish things on my lists. I got the gardens watered today, and started on the grapes. I bottled 20 gallons of muscadine wine, and am almost done canning another batch of red potatoes. I even made a loaf of banana bread with oats in it. ( friggin awesome!). Earlier I made a box to hold the fluorescent light bulbs for the work truck. We have been changing literally thousands of lights for a grocery store chain. Anyways, as soon as these potatoes are done I plan to spend the rest of the evening sipping muscadine wine and lying down with a remote control in my hand. Good way to end a busy day.