Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
-
Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
-
Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
-
Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
-
Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
-
Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
-
Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
-
If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
-
Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Had an overabundance of tomatoes and green peppers from my garden this year. It has kept me busy.
I have canned 16 quarts of salsa, 16 quarts of tomato sauce and 8 quarts of spaghetti sauce. Get yourself a Squeezo strainer, take the handle off it and put a electric drill on there. Turns a few bushels of tomatoes into sweet juice in no time.
My apple tree I planted few years ago is finally producing apples. I had 2 apple trees but 1 died last winter. Luckily my neighbor across the street has a small apple orchard to pollenate my 1 apple tree. I made 12 pints of apple butter, plus I have been putting them in my smoothies.
My watermelons and cantaloupes were kinda small this year, I have been feeding them to my chickens, they love them. I got 10 chickens and I am stocked up on chicken feed for the winter. I have so many eggs, enough to give away to friends and family.
I had canned like 10 pints of sweet relish and 10 pints of bread and butter pickles earlier this summer. Cucumber crop came in early, I should have planted another crop for a late fall harvest. I will do that next year.
I made 4 loaves of blueberry walnut zucchini bread couple nights ago, I ran out of gallon size freezers bags and had to shut down the operation. I have enough zucchini to make 20 more loaves, I will continue that this weekend.
I have been digging up my carrots and beets. Cleaning, dicing and freezing them on cookie sheets. I then bag them in gallon size Ziplock's to put in my smoothies. So far, I have 4-gallon bags frozen and I only dug up aprox 50% of my crop.
I dehydrated a shit ton of chili, cayenne and Habanero peppers. I will grind these up in my coffee grinder and add the powder to my smoothies. Lots of good health benefits from these, keeps your arteries clean.
My kale got attacked by worms, I sprayed them with some organic pesticide, but it did nothing to stop them. I make the mistake this year and let them grow too long. You have to harvest the entire plant mid-summer to get the leaves before the bugs infest them. I typically wash them, trim the stems away and cram a couple pounds of leaves in a gallon size freezer bag and freeze it. They store really well this way. Cut a chunk off, toss it in your smoothie. The key is harvest early!!
I am going to plant some garlic soon, late fall is best time to plant them.
We had a litter of 4 kittens that was born under my deck this summer. They have been running around terrorizing my dog, chihuahua, lol. The wife has me building some winter cats houses out of storage containers (Small container in a big container stuffed with hay as insulation), so they don't freeze. What is it with women and cats, its a strange connection.
Needless to say, I been busy but its almost over.
Gosh! I’m exhausted after reading all of this. You get my vote for Husband of the Year 🥳
Well done! Sounds like you’ve been having a blast. Who would’ve thunk? At this time in life that this is the thing that we are interested in. Enjoy your bounty.
Amazing fren - blessed with bounty AND the energy to work it well!
Bless your Harvest!!! I miss those days, my gardens have become just flowers and medicinal herbs, a patch of onions, and garlic and fresh greens. At 73, and a son who does not have a knack or motivation to do the gardening for food that I did while he was growing up, I have let some gardens go back to nature. Makes me sad, he may want to some day when I am not around, I tried to pound into his head that on these five acres, he really could survive on the food he could grow here, but all he hears is nagging and dissapointment, so I have let it go. I will continue to keep those spaces brush hogged, I think, it breaks my heart to have it all go back to wild raspberries and trees, but I just cannot do it anymore, and I live in an agricultural area, there are farms all around that I can get bushels of potatos and winter squashes and tomatos for sauce, but it is not the same.He is great with the animal care, the poultry and goats. I love cats, but I also must have a dog or two in my life. Who would I take on walks with me?
OMG, you're amazing, now I want to marry you! 😄