What have you picked/planted today?

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george47

Banned
Aug 14, 2015
194
0
North Gulf of Mexico
I posted a link here to composting, I will try to copy it here - this is me and my wife doing the bagged leaves into the compost - it takes a year, and we use it all.

[video]https://youtu.be/kwlKfHmwo68[/video]

I do not know if this works.
 

george47

Banned
Aug 14, 2015
194
0
North Gulf of Mexico
Picked the plums, pears and apples off the trees in the garden , missus is making jams and crumbles, woohoo.

Would she give her give us the recipe? - I always like trying things others have figured out. My crumbles are never great as I am too frugal with the oil. I have a thread in food on cooking the harvest if you would post it there, or here -

My wife got 4 peaches from a friend at the Farmers market we give fish to, and I am making a peach/blueberry pie - frozen blueberries from someones garden. I may add an apple to stretch it depending on how big the peaches are.

This is that "Impossible coconut pie" I used to make all the time and will make today as well - we have guests coming so two kinds of pies is good. I make a lot of pies.

12794022704_d89346431e_c.jpg
 

george47

Banned
Aug 14, 2015
194
0
North Gulf of Mexico
CHICKENS.

I have 6 chicks that are really juveniles, and now 17, what are called biddies, little chicks. I have a brown banti hen as the mother and she is doing a great job. In about a week I will let them free to join the flock - their corral is in the hen-house so they can all get familiar as a flock.

A Great Horned, or maybe a Barred, I have both, the night is always full of owl calls, was sitting at its station above the hen-house as they were going in, and to bed. The night is a lethal pace to be with several kinds of ground predators, and some owls working. When I let my old chickens roost in the trees they all got eaten except the ones who went into a box I had in the air on a pole, and locked up at night. Now all go into their house.

Nothing picked today, but some muscadine grapes gotten yesterday. I really could use a steam juicer and am going to ask the local community center to get one. They have a kitchen and give cooking classes occasionally - why not get a steam juicer, $160 from Amazon, and then we could take our bucket of muscadine grapes or blackberries there and juice them. I know a number of people who would use it - they just bought a bunch of new chairs, each one costing as much as that.

Snaps of where I was fishing last night under a light, and last evening the owl and my chickens, and letting the chickens out this morning.

[video=youtube;WDMF9JQrhxY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDMF9JQrhxY&feature=youtu.be[/video]
 

Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
27,807
2,893
62
~Hemel Hempstead~
I didn't pick them but a friend did and gave me two nice marrows which I converted into 6 jars of marrow and ginger jam.

Just have to resist temptation and let it mature for a couple months :)
 

george47

Banned
Aug 14, 2015
194
0
North Gulf of Mexico
Hi Mesquite

The jam sounds lovely,,,,

I made that 'Impossible Coconut Pie' yesterday and it is vanishing fast;

in a bowl add 5 eggs, 6 if they are small, 2 1/2 cups milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla or less, 1 cup of sugar (tiny bit less if you like) and beat for a bit, beating in the flour. Let it beat for a for a minute or two - beat in some melted butter for better flavor, I use a bit

((1/2 cup flour and 1 cup coconut strands, unsweetened (reduce sugar if sweetened) reserved)

oil pan, stir in coconut and pour into pan, bake (350F) 1 hr, 10 minutes. Till nice and brown on top, at least an hour.

That is it. The flour settles out and makes a sort of crust. The coconut floats to the top in a layer and gets toasted.

10 minutes to make batter - cook, cool, then in refrigerator for hours to set properly. Amazing! A dessert, coconut quiche sort of. **** 4 stars out of five, five out of five for being so easy. See old photo below.
 
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george47

Banned
Aug 14, 2015
194
0
North Gulf of Mexico
I have just planted: nasturtiums, thyme, coriander/cilantro, curly kale, yellow beans, chard, dill, fennel, and parsley. Then a gojo berry bush I began from a cutting.

The chicks double in size every few days although I give them ground up grains instead of the high protein - bought - chick starter. I need to begin microwaving them some fish as they are too small to eat it raw.
 

Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
I have just planted: nasturtiums, thyme, coriander/cilantro, curly kale, yellow beans, chard, dill, fennel, and parsley. Then a gojo berry bush I began from a cutting.

The chicks double in size every few days although I give them ground up grains instead of the high protein - bought - chick starter. I need to begin microwaving them some fish as they are too small to eat it raw.

I had some nasturtiums and Herb Robert in a wee salad with my tea tonight. Great taste, not a lot of folj eat them over here, are they popular in the States?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Ive been working on the raspberries today. Our Joan J lates are cropping like crazy and we didn't plan on any this year. Came out of the fruit cage like I had lipstick on :eek:
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
..... I made that 'Impossible Coconut Pie' yesterday and it is vanishing fast;

in a bowl add 5 eggs, 6 if they are small, 2 1/2 cups milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla or less, 1 cup of sugar (tiny bit less if you like) and beat for a bit, beating in the flour. Let it beat for a for a minute or two - beat in some melted butter for better flavor, I use a bit

((1/2 cup flour and 1 cup coconut strands, unsweetened (reduce sugar if sweetened) reserved)

oil pan, stir in coconut and pour into pan, bake (350F) 1 hr, 10 minutes. Till nice and brown on top, at least an hour.

That is it. The flour settles out and makes a sort of crust. The coconut floats to the top in a layer and gets toasted.

10 minutes to make batter - cook, cool, then in refrigerator for hours to set properly. Amazing! A dessert, coconut quiche sort of. **** 4 stars out of five, five out of five for being so easy. See old photo below.

Sounds like a variation of the egg custard pies my grandmother used to make. I loved them and your recipe sounds great too!
 

george47

Banned
Aug 14, 2015
194
0
North Gulf of Mexico
I need to plant that elder unruley. I have salt flooding - so sensitive plants fail, but worth a try if it is not too delicate. I always want wild foods for animals and birds - and would like the syrup! I am in 8b.

Sant, I love that pie and it is so very quick and easy; make one and let me know. I never spend money on gardening - I get all my mowers and such on the side of the road where people put them out for trash pickup and fix them. I currently have 3. Same with wheelbarrows so mine are crummy and rusted out, but free.

I envy you all your raspberries. I would like some, and have started some that are for this hot place but do not know if they will work out, first year. The black raspberries died in the hot.

The tiny chicks, still puffballs, got their first pogies (a sardine I net) microwaved today. They did not quite understand it - but worked on it and soon will be eating them daily with the flock.

Red, your blog mentioned it not being legal to feed chickens plant remains from the garden. What is that? Is it possible the government is looking over your shoulder to that degree?

Here to sell eggs technically, and if one sells over 6 dozen a week, ones needs the flock inspected. I have had appointments 3 times to have the guy come out but he never shows, bigger flocks being a priority. All they do is draw blood and vent samples from 6 chickens, salmonella being the biggest thing. Then you get a certificate you are supposed to display at farmers markets - we sell less than the 6 dozen so do not really have to have that, but want to anyway - it is free if the guy will ever come out.
 

george47

Banned
Aug 14, 2015
194
0
North Gulf of Mexico
Brynglas, I picked mushrooms for years but never really liked them for eating, but love the picking. They are so gorgeous, and what fun hunting them. Tommy - I still have not planted my purple potatoes, today if possible, thunder and rain out right now.
 

Brynglas

Full Member
Brynglas, I picked mushrooms for years but never really liked them for eating, but love the picking. They are so gorgeous, and what fun hunting them. Tommy - I still have not planted my purple potatoes, today if possible, thunder and rain out right now.
I'm totally agree with you about the fascination of discovering fungi, they're amazing organisms to learn about. I'm no expert and I'm extremely cautious in my approach to eating them. Foraging is one of my primary interests in bush craft and whilst there are some things that I'd only ever eat as a last resort I very much like to treat foraged items as real ingredients. Mushrooms/ fungi and seafood can very often be the showstealer in a meal some of my best meals have been with foraged mushrooms. If I'm ever in any doubt about ID though, I won't eat it.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk
 

george47

Banned
Aug 14, 2015
194
0
North Gulf of Mexico
We commercially picked mushrooms in the Far North for four years, living in bush camps. If you have picked morel mushrooms their is more variation than most people know. The black/burn come first and are the standard. Then the Gray fallow, with the yellow. Grays being huge with very thick and robust walls, yellows being largest by volume but thinner walled - and in the Arctic proper - the elusive Green. Like the gray it is very heavy, but a beautiful green velvet outside.

Here is a picture of some yellows and grays and blacks with a Swiss Army knife for sizing. These are likely in mid Alaska. A basket full weighs 14 pounds.

4598267794_7d2939e6c4_b.jpg


Commercially we mostly picked morel, boletes, matsutuki. On a good pick we would hope for 100 pounds a day, but were a top crew and would work very hard - sometimes 18 hour days weeks at a time.
 

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