Tuesday, June 29, 2004
07:53 p.m.
More and more rain...
I had to drive through a partially flooded roadway between Hearne & Rockdale, on my way to Austin last week. On the way home I dodged a thunderstorm that had tornado sirens going off in Caldwell and crossed over several swolen streams between Bryan/College Station and Crockett. We also got quite a bit of rain here last week. I measured 5 & 1/2 inches at "The Outback" and 4 inches in town.
Monday, June 21, 2004
07:51 p.m.
No rain...
Well, a week with no rainfall to report! We got Friday off because of the Reagan funeral. I used some of that time to dig my potatoes, as a matter of fact, I was digging potatoes throughout Bush's remarks - I was listening on the radio! It was a pretty poor potato harvest, I got less than a gallon from a 40 ft. row.
I used some more of the unexpected, long weekend to re-pot plants. Several of the plants I bought at this spring's Arboretum plant sale are doing so well they are already in need of their second re-potting. I re-potted a Phlox, Persian Shield and one of the ferns (Tassel/Lace); the other is not growing much at all but appears perfectly healthy.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
07:47 p.m.
Rainfall reports...
"The Outback" - 1 & 1/2 inches
Hawthorne St. - 2 inches
Tuesday, June 8, 2004
02:46 p.m.
Storms
We had some rough weather last week. Both Tuesday and Wednesday lines of storms formed to the north and moved south leaving trails of damage scores of miles wide. Tuesday's storm formed around Wichita Falls and swept clear to the coast. It spawned tornado warnings and dropped up to baseball sized hail near Ft. Worth. Wednesday's storm came down from Oklahoma (it may have formed in Kansas) and brought 80 mph winds to Shreveport before blowing through here.
Our wet spring has made the foliage thick this year, so when the winds blew, a lot of timber fell. Combined, the storms knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of folks in East Texas alone. Some folks were without power until Sunday! My lights were out an hour or so on Tuesday night. I measured 1&1/2 inches of rain at the country place and estimated (I knocked the bucket over) about an inch here in town.
I knocked the bucket over while hauling hedge trimmings from the front yard on Sunday. To deal with the millipedes, I trimmed the hedges away from the house and cleared all the leaves and pine straw out from under them. I figured this was providing habitat for the critters. After clearing the debris, I soaked the area with some fresh insecticide around sundown. The high, overnight humidity allowed the area to stay wet all night long and I think this application went a long way toward eliminating the pests. I saw far fewer on the walk and steps last night. It's raining again today, so well see how many, if any, cover the walls this evening when I get home.
I had my first tomato from the container garden yesterday. It was not completly ripe but the birds had already been into it so I finished it before they could. Wonderful, as usual. The potatoes need to be dug and the Governor has just declared Friday an official day of mourning for President Reagan so I'll have an extra day for yard and garden work this weekend.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
01:32 p.m.
What's buggin' me, now!
We got another 2 inches of rain last week. All the dampness (nearly 10 inches of rain this month) has brought out the millipedes like I have never seen them before. They are all over the walk and front steps every night. After a shower they climb the outside walls...
..clear to the roof.
They are coming into the house too, although not near as many as cling to the outside. Here's a close-up of one of the little 'boogers'...
..remindes me of the arcade game, "Centepede". Where's my bug blaster? Quick before the scorpions poison the mushrooms!
I started picking up the Invaders but noticed they made my fingers stink so I'm now using pliers. Outside, I've tried several insecticides. None has worked at all, although all I've got on hand are very old and probably no longer much good.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
11:41 p.m.
Beating myself up!
I guess it was from the break I got last weekend, not having to shoot Special Olympics and the golf tournament but I woke up Saturday morning eager to do some physical work. I grabbed a quick breakfast at a local supermarket where I went to buy some non-perishables fore the postal service food drive and headed out to pull up the fences at my old place.
I had a dog pen, enclosed in 100 feet of coated, welded wire that I had burried to discourage digging out. It worked great, but now I had to dig and pull it all up. The fence wasn't the problem, though. It was the posts that I kept beating myself with. One broke as I was tugging on it in an attempt to loosen it. The suddeness of the break sent me tumbling to the ground. No real damage was done, fortunately. Later, while removing a much larger post from around the old garden, I managed to bash myself in the head as it gave way suddenly, as well. This time I drew blood, but there was no evidence of serious head injury so I went back and completed the job.
I measured another 2&1/4 inches of rain at each location this past week. The rivers in the area ran above flood stage most of the week.
Tuesday, May 4, 2004
11:22 p.m.
More Spring Storms
This past Saturday was much like the previous Sunday - all day rains. The weekend started with heavy rains on Thursday. This made the field for Saturday's regional Special Olympics meet too soggy for set-up on Friday. With the forcast of more rain for Saturday, the organizers wisely called off the event about noon on Friday, a nod to travelers who would otherwise have driven as much as two hours for naught on Saturday morning.
We had a charity golf tournament scheduled for Saturday and there was a Multicultural Festival going on this weekend as well. The golf tourney was rained out and Saturday at the festival was 'a wash' as we ended up with over 5 inches of rain!
I've begun to measure rain here, in town as well as out at the old garden spot. I measured 5&1/2 inches in town and 5 inches out in the country. The rivers are expected to overflow their banks later in the week as a result of these rains.
Monday, April 26, 2004
10:54 p.m.
Spring Storms
Saturday's forcast called for thunderstorms. My fear was that we would get some of those severe storms like we had at this time last year. I was due to make a presentation and tape a banquet Saturday afternoon. This would involve a lot of equipment moving and being in a large open span structure, on top of a hill during 'prime t-storm hours'.
The weather cooperated nicely, however. We had some storms in the morning but they ended before noon and I was able to set up, present, tape, dine and strike in peace. Rain and storms returned later Saturday night and stayed through the day on Sunday. Sunday's storms forced cancelation of the air show for the first time in its history!
Monday, April 19, 2004
11:18 a.m.
Mowing and mourning the bees
The new owners* of the old garden spot have made no effort to hasten my moving on, so while I continue moving a bit each weekend I've also resumed maintaining the grounds. I bought a new mower, Craftsman, from the "Under New Management" Sears store here. Met the male half of the new husband & wife team owners. He was real friendly and helpful but I wanted to check out a TroyBilt at Lowes before committing. The mowers were the same price, both featured Briggs & Statton engines, but the Craftsman has the high back wheels, a two inch wider cut and a quarter more horsepower.
When I returned from Lowes, 'my' salesman was gone (it was lunchtime) but his wife was happy to 'steal' his sale. She probably was not happy helping me load the mower into my car in the rain shower which had blown up. It rained much of the week but cleared in time for me to mow on the Saturday before Easter. I mowed again this weekend and have the place looking pretty good.
Before the latest mowing, I finally got around to clearing the remnants of the last blow down. I was able to dispose of the top part of the tree but about 45 feet of trunk will remain to mow around until I'm off the property for good. I measured an inch of rain through last week.
*These folks have been real generous, allowing me to remain on their land at no charge, but they may have done something that really seems senseless to me. Last season, I pointed out a downed tree in which a honeybee colony had taken up residence. We stood 5-6 feet away from it and discussed how he had driven his tractor nearby many times. This was proof that the bees were not Africanized and therefore posed no threat. Recently, I went to check on the 'bee tree', the bees were gone and the tree had been piled over with brush. I can only assume, these folks killed the bees. Could they have KILLED AN ENTIRE COLONY OF HONEYBEES? - one of the most beneficial insects man has ever known! It's becoming increasingingly clear that I made a mistake in not buying land of my own that I could protect. These folks have already indicated they don't want me living on their place, if my suspicions are correct I don't want them as neighbors either!
Monday, April 14, 2004
11:00 a.m.
Easter cool-down
The Easter cool-down is right on schedule this year. Old-timers around here say to expect a last freeze after Easter. It didn't freeze this year (Easter was kinda late) but a cold front has pushed through bringing rain for most of last weekend and lows in the 40s.
Last week, a day after the anniversary of the storms that took out my house, we had some storms blow up which produced some prodigious hail around the area. None fell on me or either of my gardens, the storms didn't yield a lot of rain out at the country place. It rained more here in town but I'm not yet measuring it here.
Even earlier, we got 3 & 1/2 inches of rain the last week of March, which I had failed to note.
Monday, March 22, 2004
01:01 p.m.
The Greening of Hawthorne St.
I should have realized I wouldn't be able to NOT garden this year. I've boiled the garden down to its essentials and planted in containers but I AM growing tomatoes and peppers in hopes of canning some more salsa this summer.
On Saturday, I bought 8, five gallon buckets (Tractor Supply, $2.50 each) and gathered 4 more I already had. I bought 100 lbs. of "play sand" (about $5 at Sutherlands) and added two 40 lb. bags (99 cents each at Sutherlands) of composted cow manure to two I had bought earlier. I brought the old buckets in from the country full of topsoil from the old garden.
I drilled 3, quarter inch holes near the bottom of each of the dozen buckets. This, of course, ruined them as buckets but the drainage makes them better plant containers. I put a couple of inches of sand in the bottom of each container, 6 to 8 inches of composted cow manure on top of that and filled them the rest of the way with topsoil.
I arranged the containers in a grid in an area of the yard where they will get full sun from about noon to two o'clock and dappled sun to full shade the rest of the day. Before I placed the seedlings in each container, I reached through the topsoil and brought up a handful of manure to make some nutrients available for rooting.
While watering the recent transplants, it occured to me that little to none of this water would be wasted, leeching out of the soil and/or being sucked up by other plants. This seems like it could be a most efficient way of growing vegetables. We'll see...
I plan to mulch each container when the seedlings have rooted and begun to grow. I'm also turning over in my mind the idea of raising each container above the ground on timbers. It seems to me, allowing air to circulate under them would be a good thing, discouraging the growth of molds and making it harder for bugs, etc. to come out of the ground and into the containers. On the other hand, lack of contact with the ground could lead to increased heating during the hot, dry summer. Again, we'll see...
Despite copious rains the potatoes I planted 5 weeks ago have broken the surface.
This weekend it was also time to bring my potted plants back outside. I moved them from "The Outback" to Hawthorne street as well, where they now just about cover the picnic table.
Monday, March 8, 2004
09:40 p.m.
Moving ever onward...
We had rain pretty much all day last Sunday (2/29), the day I usually measure, so I didn't measure that week's rainfall until Monday - we got three inches!
I've had some more time to absorb the fact that I won't be gardening 'the old same place' again and to consider some options. I've got to find out how quickly the owners want me off the place. If it's asap, I'll try to be gone by the end of the month. If they will allow, I'll move at a more leisurely pace and try to be off by the end of May. This should allow time for container or raised bed gardening at the new place, depending on what the landloard there will allow. I suppose there is a chance I could, at least garden out at the old place for one more season?
At any rate, I've gotten back into 'moving mode'. Over the long Texas Independence Day weekend, I got rid of several things that I was not able to sell last summer. Most notable of these were the encyclopaedias. One last pick up, haul and unload made me glad I'll not have to move them again. This past weekend, I installed a heavy duty bolt lock on the storage building at the new place and measured for shelves, so I'll soon be able to start relocating the contents of "The Outback".
We had some more rain late last week. I suspect we got close to two inches but Saturday and Sunday were warm and dry, causing a fair amount of evaporation. I measured an inch and a quarter last evening.
Sunday, February 29, 2004
11:57 a.m.
I think...maybe...
There's only the slimmest hope for my gardening to continue at the old place and possibilities are high that I will do no gardening at all this year. The new owners have decided not to place another rental unit out there. I've asked them to consider renting me the spot so I could buy something to live in out there. They are thinking about it, which doesn't sound promising.
The more I think about it, the less I like that idea. It doesn't feel right to be contemplating a purchase of this magnitude at this point. What seems to make the most sense right now is to finish the move I started last spring with the tree crash, which will consolidate all my worldly goods in one place and (I hope) put me in a better position to make a more permanent move when all the other variables settle out.
Advantages include not having to keep up with two places, including water, gas and electric bills. Disadvantages include loss of the garden space, loss of our nascent mucic playing space and loss of my satellite system. Of course, if these sacrifices lead to something better and/or more permanent, then it will easily be worth it.
I think I need to find out if I'm what's holding me back. I think, perhaps, completly breaking away from the old place might free me to move on. It's been a frustrating 'year in limbo' and action on my part may be required to get things moving on other fronts as well.
Please, wish me luck.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
02:44 p.m.
Rain, sleet, snow - and I've started the '04 garden!
It ended up raining most of last week, culminating in a sleet/rain mix on Friday afternoon and a snow/rain mix on Saturday morning (I measured a total of 5 & 1/4 inches). Sunday and Monday however, were completely different - beautiful, sunshiny days. I sought relief from last weeks dreariness by going out in search of color on Sunday afternoon. I found some blooms in the SFA Mast Arboretum, beautiful yellow flowers on the leatherleaf mahonias even had some honeybees buzzing around them, white azaleas with 'Lumberjack purple' stripes and both pink and white Japanese magnolias. The Holly Row has hollys sporting red, orange and yellow berries.
Wildlife has been on the move too. I saw (and photographed) a red shouldered hawk on my outing Sunday and some mallard ducks on Monday. A fox crossed the road in front of my car over the weekend and a coyote did the same last evening. The birds are in 'voracious feeding mode', I've been filling the feeders every 3 days for the last two weeks.
Despite all the rain and freezing precipitation last week, in a fit of optimism, I got potatoes and onions in the ground on Monday. I didn't check with the land owners and have not found a source of organic fertilizer. I plan to check with the owners before doing any more planting (late March-early April) and I may just buy fertilizer this year. I found some Monday for $.99/40 lb. bag at Southerlands. I shouldn't need more than 20 bags, that's not bad when compared to the back breaking work of shoveling & hauling my own!
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
11:43 a.m.
Rain-Colder-Warmer-Rain-Colder...
The "rain-colder-warmer-rain-colder..." pattern continues. This past week the rain ended on Thursday, so with two days of drying, I cleared the old plants, stakes, cages and watering hoses from last year's garden on Sunday. I then tilled both patches in preparation for spring planting. The Old Farmer's Almanac says the 'moon favorable' days for planting onions are Feb 7-19 and potatoes, Feb 10-19. Today, we are in the middle of a three day 'rain event' but it is supposed to be dry after that through the coming weekend. It looks like this weekend will be the time to plant onions and potatoes.
Hurdles to leap for this years gardening:
1) See if the new owners will let me start another garden.
2) See if the previous owners heirs still have (and will let me have) cow manure.
Looking at the recent rainfall reports, it should come as no surprise that many small streams are flooding at the moment. We got an inch of rain last week and, as I say, it has been raining since yesterday and is forcast to do so into tomorrow.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
12:52 p.m.
Winter pattern established
Last weekend was another rainy one, 2 &3/4 inches total with most of it falling in all day showers on Saturday. Sunday was a beautiful day as was Monday but a cold front blew in Monday afternoon and temperatures fell behind a cool wind. We recorded a mild freeze on Tuesday morning and a heavy frost on Wednesday. Today is warmer and it is raining again.
Monday, January 19, 2004
10:29 p.m.
A weather report
We had a moderate freeze last night and a harder one is forcast for tonight. It's about time, I know it hasn't been this cold since I've been back and I suspect it has not been this cold since before Christmas. I noticed this weekend, grass beginning to grow and trees beginning to bud. I don't suspect these freezes will do much to the grass, I think it is responding more to lengthening days than to temperatures. Maybe these temperatures will discourage the trees, however.
I measured 2 and a half inches of rain today, most of that fell on Saturday night, but we had showers most of the weekend.
Monday, January 12, 2004
09:42 p.m.
Christmas in Savannah via Amtrak
I've been away a while. Took a Christmas/New Year's trip to Savannah on Amtrak. I was kinda fried and otherwise involved upon my return so I didn't get around to checking the rain guage untill this evening - there was an inch and a quarter in the bucket. Guess we can count that as a cummulative total of precipitation and evaporation for the period.
Before I left for the east coast most of the trees still had most of their leaves, though they were a couple of weeks past peak in changing colors. A little further south, along Amtrack's "Sunset Limited" route, there was still some fall color to be seen in the days before Christmas. As we watched an oriental ornamental loose its leaves in front of my son and daughter-in-law's place, the trees here must have been loosing their leaves as well. Things sure looked different on my return - all open and exposed! It was a big change for what seemed like such a short period of time - kind of alienating.
My brother sent another penguin calendar, so I'll have a place to record the rainfall for 2004 - if I can remember to get it out to "The Outback"!
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
09:35 p.m.
A Killing Frost
We had our first killing frost of the season Tuesday morning. All the garden plants are gone, but my work on Sunday was rewarded. I got all the potted plants indoors and away from the frost. There's not much left to be done in the '03 garden season, just cleanup and tilling. In past years, I've tilled in the middle of winter to let the cold air penetrate the earth for insect and weed control. I don't know if I'll be farming this patch again, so maybe this will be it for this garden spot?
Monday, November 24, 2003
09:42 a.m.
Cold Snap
We had a chance for our first frost this morning. The cold front that is currently sweeping eastward blew through here before noon yesterday and we had steadily declining temperatures and a blustery wind all yesterday afternoon. I spent the afternoon preparing my potted plants for the move indoors. I picked leaves and pine needles out of them, added soil and fertilizer to some (I recently learned that I am wasting fertilizer on my epiphyllums) and moved them into "The Outback".
I also put some insulation down in my water supply housing, but before I could do any of this work I had to clean up from yet another 'blow down'. The remains of the tree top that blew out in April of 2002 blew down on Saturday, crushing one of the sheds I constructed this summer. Of the two satellite dish roofed sheds,
 only the least important was crushed. The shed housed mostly old mowers and bicycles but my potting soil was in there too.
I saw no signs of frost as I passed by on my way to work this morning. The temperature at my place in town was 34 degrees this morning. It should be colder tomorrow morning, so the 'winterizing' will not have been for naught.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
07:02 p.m.
Slowdown continues
Not a lot of garden activity to document. I've picked less than a dozen cherry tomatoes in the past couple of weeks. A friend came out and got some jalepenos but there are still many, many over ripening on the vine. The good news is the new owner has not made any noise about my leaving. The original idea was for me to continue there through the garden season. I'll soon have to start preparations for next season, so I'll have to check to see what he thinks about that possibility.
There was no measurable rain at the garden site during the month of October. There had been none in November until yesterday. We got 3 and a half inches in showers and thunderstorms yesterday and last night. More rain is forcast for tomorrow including the chance for severe weather.
Sunday, October 5, 2003
05:52 p.m.
Ahh, Fall!
Things slow down considerably in the garden at this time of year. The lack of blog posts is partially attributable to this and to the fact that I've been busy as all 'get out' at work throughout the month of September.
As an indication of how little attention I've paid to the garden, I looked in the rain bucket yesterday, noticed a trace and couldn't remember when it had last rained. I seem to remember some scattered rains during the third week of September but who knows. We are getting some rain today so I'll just add whatever was in the bucket to this week's totals.
I picked a few tomatoes and a bunch of bell peppers yesterday. I'll be freezing another couple of packages of peppers this evening. Meanwhile, many jalapeno peppers are going to waste as there have not been enough tomatoes for another batch of salsa (I really don't need any more, either) and I've not had time to make it anyway. I may make one more batch in the next couple of weeks - I'd like to try smoking the ingredients for a batch of smokey salsa!
Monday, September 15, 2003
07:57 p.m.
Another big rain
This week we got another 3 & a quarter inches of rain. It made the grass grow a bit quicker and I broke the lawnmower while trying to keep up. After it had been crushed by the house, I was just hopeing it would last the season and it almost did. I hit a protruding root and now it won't start :-(
Sunday, September 7, 2003
11:16 p.m.
Weekly rain report
As predicted, we got a lot of rain this week. I measured 4 and a quarter inches this morning, an accumulated total since last Sunday. The rains, humidity and clouds also prevented us from seeing Mars at opposition or anytime close to it. It was a full eight days after opposition before we got perfectly clear skies at night. On the ninth night I got pictures with a 500mm lens and 2x converter. The local one hour houses cannot print or scan the negatives properly however, so we'll all have to wait untill I can arrange some time with a film scanner to see the true results of these attempts.
Dispite the heavy rains, the garden has slowed down its production. I suspect this is more influenced by shortening daylight hours than rainfall amounts but perhaps we'll see more produce yet? I got several tomatoes and peppers this week. I've not yet gotten enough tomatoes for a full 'batch' of salsa but I was able to freeze three bags of bell peppers today.
Monday, September 1, 2003
10:59 p.m.
Tropical Rains
T'is the season. It's not too uncommon for this part of the world to get tropical rains during hurricane season. Named tropical system "Grace" came up rather suddenly in the north gulf this past Saturday, today it is raining out most folk's outdoor Labor Day plans around these parts.
We got just a quarter of an inch of rain all last week. Thanks to Grace, there will be much more to report next week.
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
10:25 p.m.
Salsa, again
It had been three weeks but the wonderful odors of cooking salsa returned to my house on Monday. I'd almost forgotten how great the smell was but the memory came rushing back as I returned from buying more jars and was washed by a wave of fragrance as I opened the door. Nine more pints (a batch and a half) bringing the total to 62 pints this year. That makes three straight years of over 60 pints per year.
We had just a trace of rain the past week, the drip hoses continue to run. Tomato production has slowed as the days grow shorter. It took three weeks to store up enough for a batch of salsa but I had more than enough fresh peppers. There are more green tomatoes on the vine, so I expect at least one more batch this year.
Sunday, August 17, 2003
10:43 p.m.
More Extrodinary Weather
There were three days this last week when I didn't run the air conditioning at my house. For two days the highs were in the 80s and the third day temperatures just brushed the 90s. Humidity was much lower than usual, too. In August, in Texas? These days came on the heels of another summer cool front like we had last month. This one brought a 2 inch rainfall. I had just done a late morning/early afternoon mow and was kinda hopeing it would not rain again for a while to slow the regrowth - oh well. Daylight is becoming noticably shorter and this is slowing growth, so I suspect the worst of the mowing season is past.
Monday, August 11, 2003
10:47 p.m.
A Quiet Week
I feel like Garrison Keillor sayin' it, but It's been a quiet week in the garden. The drip hoses continue to run, it's been hot and there is plenty of sun. I got a few tomatoes but not near enough for a batch of salsa. It's good that I had some slack as there were 'big doings' on-the-job Saturday morning.
Lufkin State School hosted the National Wild Turkey Federation's, Wheelin' Sportsmen's, Bream Busters Challenge this weekend in our Woodland Retreat. The event introduces handicapped individuals to outdoor experiences and the wonders of nature.
The heat wasn't too bad on Saturday so I decided to do some mowing on Sunday. I installed a new air filter and sparkplug 'cause the ol' mower had been hard startin' of late. I checked the gap before putting in the plug and it was a little below spec. I figured, "close enough" and put it in without adjustment. After a couple of dozen pulls and some seriously distressed body parts, I set the gap properly and it started right up. Later it started running rough and eventually quit. I thought, "This is it, I'm not gonna get to finish this job today". I cleaned the spark plug and added some STP to the gas - it then ran fine the rest of the day. I even managed to get some weeding done before calling it a day.
That's it for this week from Till's garden, where the weeds are sparse, the pests are rare and all the vegees are above average.
Monday, August 4, 2003
11:44 a.m.
Phantoms Threaten My Canning
Last weekend it was a blown-up battery that got me wondering if I would ever get to my planned salsa makin'. Ultimately, replacing the battery was no big deal and only caused about an hour delay in my plans. This weekend, I feared lack of a/c would doom Sunday's planned canning.
I came into the weekend with about 3 gallons of tomatoes and geared all my activities on Saturday toward spending Sunday putting up salsa. Saturday went off without a hitch although it was after 9pm when I finally got finished with all my running around. About midnight, I awoke feeling warm. The air conditioner was running but it was not cooling. It didn't take long to realize the condenser unit (outside) was not running. No outward problems were apparant and flipping the unit off then back on was no help. Thinking it might be frozen up, I decided to go to sleep (with the aid of a fan) and try again later.
About 4am I got up and tried again - no dice, so I went back to sleep, figuring I would call the landlord in the morning, glad it was really someone elses problem but not expecting much would be done on a Sunday. I got up a little after 8 and realized I'd been sleeping pretty well despite the lack of air conditioning. I used exhaust fans to pull in cooler air overnight and it wasn't too bad. I tried the a/c again and it began to cool - the condenser was now running. I enjoyed my first (and only) homegrown cantelope for breakfast.
I watched the a/c closely throughout the morning. The condenser was 'balky' the first couple of times the unit kicked on, after that it ran normally all day and all night and I got my salsa made. I canned 14 more pints bringing my total this year to 53 pints! It looks like I will get a break for the next week or two as there are not many ripening tomatoes just now. We had no rain this week and I resumed watering this weekend, I hope that will lead to continued production. Not only is salsa production riding on keeping the garden growing but so are my 'squatter's rights'!
It may seem strange that someone who puts such stead in old fashioned activities like gardening and home canning would balk at the prospect of having no air conditioning. I think I could cope with the heat and humidity that we are currently having (heat indecies near 110) but engaging in such a heat producing activity as making and canning salsa would seem to be contraindicated. I could have done the cooking and sterilizing on a camp stove outside but cooking the salsa in an open pot outside doesn't seem very sanitary. Covering it would not allow it to 'cook down' properly. If I had too, I could get it done but this is, after all just a hobby, not the life and death necessity it was to our ancestors.
Like so much of our modern life, our technolgy makes it possible for many of us to engage in activities we could not otherwise be a part of. I'm glad my a/c 'came back' yesterday, I enjoy making salsa in the summertime and I really like getting to eat it all year long. I hope I will be in a place where I can grow a garden next year!
Monday, July 28, 2003
10:28 p.m.
Extraordinary Rain
Early last week it looked like we might get some rain from Hurricane Claudette. That rain didn't come our way but this week we got an extraordinary amout of rain courtesy of a very unusual cool front. Big rains are rare around here at this time of year, when we get 'em, they usually come from tropical systems. Big rains are also triggered by frontal systems but these don't usually penetrate this far south at this time of year. That's just what happened this week, though. Temperatures didn't drop drastically but I recorded 2 & 3/4 inches of rain after the front came through.
The rains promoted growth - I had to mow at both places and I got enough ripe tomatoes to make a single batch of Salsa (6 pints). Year to date: 39 pints.
Monday, July 21, 2003
12:25 a.m.
More salsa
I started the day Sunday with another 4 gallons of ripe tomatoes. My onions are through producing and I used what I had in the first batch of salsa. I only had enough peppers to go along with 2 gallons of tomatoes. I had to supplement with peppers and onions from local roadside stands. I ended the day with 16 pints of Salsa. We had just a trace of rain this past week and I'll have to begin watering again if we don't get rain soon.
Monday, July 14, 2003
12:07 a.m.
Dog days
The dog days are definitely here. It's been hot & humid. I worked up quite a good sweat putting walls on my sheds on Saturday around mid day, had to cover up with mosquito repelent, too after last weeks rains. That was plenty of heat for me so I decided to work indoors, cleaning up "The Outback" on Sunday afternoon and wait until about 7pm to mow and harvest. Before I finished inside, a thunderstorm rolled in so I never got to the mowing and harvesting.
The thunderstorm was a surprise and the first I had experienced out there since April 6th. It had me quite jumpy. I kept scampering about as it approached. The rain had not yet begun and I was still outside when a tree was blown over. It caused no harm to me or my structures but kept me looking out windows as the rains came, hoping I could see if/when one was about to crash down on me!
For all it's bluster this storm produced less than a quarter inch of rain for the garden.
Tuesday, July 8, 2003
01:40 p.m.
Time (off 'the job') to get some work done!
Spent the middle part of 'The Fourth' putting shelves in one of my satellite dish topped sheds. Finished up about the time a shower rolled in. Came back out later in the day to pick tomatoes and peppers and pop a few firecrackers.
Spent the day Saturday on this season's first batch of Salsa. I had collected about 4 gallons of tomatoes so this was to be a quadruple batch! I started cutting up vegetables about 11am, broke for lunch at 2 with peppers and cilantro still to be cut, began grinding at around 3:30 and finally got it all on the stove by 6pm.
I was hoping to shorten the cooking time (I have cooked the salsa for 6 to 8 hours in the past) so I decided to cut the amount of liquid by cutting the vinegar. According to the recipe, 4 pints of distilled white vinegar were called for, I cut it to 3. My goal was accomplished, 4 hours of cooking was sufficient and the salsa is actually better, so I think I've made the first major change to the recipe since 1995!
I started putting the salsa in jars at 10 o'clock and wrapped up just after 11.! The final tally, 17 & 1/2 pints and 12 hours of work.
We had scattered showers in the area throughout the holiday weekend. I measured 1 cm (3/8 in.) for the week.
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