My daughter harvested a beautiful 8 pounder. She’s a keeper

Beautiful, Kim! I am hoping for one someday. My daughter is ready but it's not happening so far.

Larry, listen to Madge and your daughter. So sorry, though!

So, Amy, maybe plant datura AT the haunted house away from my property? I dumped more hornworms there today, but don't know if they can find anything to eat. I could plant datura THERE, at the haunted house. It will be destroyed once the turnpike comes through, but it

might be a few years before that happens.

Hey Slow, i've got an idea. Have them tote the sack of seed around and follow you wherever you go. Get one of those little hand operated rotary grass seed flingers and take your time, just lazily going around the plot. After about 2 hours, they will yield and you can get back on that iron!

hwy20, I have been thinking along those same lines. Madge took me down to neighbor's produce stand yesterday, and he said he would do everything for me. I cant ask him to do that, but I will let him do some of the stuff that I just cant do.

I have a 500 pound cosmo seeder, a small cyclone seeder that straps to your chest, and one of the small seeders like you are talking about, so I think I can get my point across.

My grand daughter called one of her friends, who is a retired cardiologist and was told that in 4 to 6 weeks I should be healed enough that the tractors would not harm me.

I am so sore, I feel like I have been in a car wreck. When I was remover from the recovery room to my hospital room, they just slid me from the cart to the bed, covering my communication controls. Everything was fine till the cleaning lady came in and moved my urinal jug to hang on a trash can over by the window. Well, yesterday morning I needed to take care of business and could not get to my call box, or urinal. I was twisting around in bed trying to get to the call box and slid off the bed down between the bed and guard rail. I flopped and kicked trying to get unhung, while that show everything gown slid up under my chin, and that was ALL I had on. I finally got to the call box and told the nurse that I needed help. When the nurse came in she looked at me and said ARE YOU THAT WEAK, that went all over me, like I was the only weak person in the hospital. I told the nurse that if I am hanging there between heaven and earth, with everything I own exposed for God, and everyone else to look at, while I am pissin in the floor, I NEED HELP.

I call Madge and told her to locate my daughter and get me out of there. It is 82 miles from my house to Washington Regional Hospital, so it took a while to get me out of there. I go to that hospital because I believe I better care there, but I can get that kind of care in Fort Smith.

Madge went to the nurses station and appologize for me, but I had planned on getting another piece of that nurse to take with me if they had wheeled me past the nurses station on my way out, I was still hot about that.

Some of those so called "nurses" are just flat out incompetent.

If and when I have a medical problem , I'm just going to let it take me rather than trust a doctor/nurse/hospital. Probably be better off. They just want to drain you financially anyway.

Just eat yer vegetables.

Rick

Tip for the day.........Don't plant your turnips after dark.

I planted cole crops each side of the bean trellis, and the armadillos are digging them up.

Okra is looking good.

Tip for the armadillos , shotgun or a .22 right between the eyes.

your okra is looking better than mine. I did get some production this past week.

I planted another row of rutabaga and some collards and kale.

Now about that rain that weather boy said was going to occur , where is it ...Hmmm?

Rick

Madge was telling me that we are to get rain tonight. Neighbor came down and picked up my seeds and fertilizer and planted the food plot that I had ready, if we get a good rain I should have Elbon rye coming up in a week of two.

Rick, the Vates collards are the area most damaged by the armadillos, I expect they are after the earth worms in the mulch. I expect that the Florida Broad Leaf mustard will be the best growing green I have, they seem to grow really well in my soil. I think I have some Giant Curly Leaf mustard planted also, I dont remember ever growing that one before.

Amy, I tried to get into my doctor Friday but had to wait till today. And I've got pneumonia. Got an antibiotic and a cough syrup and keep an eye on my temp. Found out the thermometer I've been using is not accurate, I've had a low grade temp.

No wonder I've not had any energy and I wonder how long I've had this.

Lynn, welcome to old age. You can tell you are moving up in the world when all your friends are doctors.

I had my heart fixed Fri. afternoon, and now I feel worse than ever. My heart rate is good, my blood pressure is good, but my feet and ankles are swollen more than I have ever seem them, and I cant get in touch with the doctor. My dr. office is 82 miles away. This is a good case for getting fixed locally.

I had a defib/pacemaker installed. The operation was a snap, but so far nothing else has been.

Hang in there slow, its gotta get better.

Having trouble posting again. Rebooted, thought it would be better, but still problems.

Larry, I'm sorry you're feeling bad still. Don't go putting a shot gun butt against the side where the pacemaker is. ;)

Lynn, I have discovered urgent cares get you in (I've been to one 2 new years eves in a row). They do minor labs and xrays and prescriptions. I actually like the doctor I saw last better than my primary. However, my primary explained whyni keep getting pneumonia. I get it in the lower left lung, because there's a "tube" that goes horizontally over the heart to the bronchial "tubes". The right side is a straight shot. So gunk has a hard time getting out of the left lung and kind of ferments there growing bacteria until, boom, I'm sick again. I have other breathing issues. To help clear the left lung, if you have that, you lay with your head lower than your rear and then some one can beat on your back or use a muscle vibrater thing to loosen things up. I also take mucinex with expectorant. My doctor told me that some times old people like me don't run fevers. I'm usually a degree below normal anyway.

Enough of Doctor Amy.

We got no rain last night. 1/4" today. Maybe more tonight.

Did I mention we're finally getting okra? Ridiculous cucumber harvest. They don't make me burp, but too many. He says he will plant seeds tomorrow.

Congrats, Kim.

Jennifer it might be easier to plant sacrificial tomatoes to put the horn worms on. Then maybe you'll see the moths they turn into.

Y'all know we didn't start a new thread yesterday?

TTFN

Mine is in the lower left. Thanks for all that info. This is gonna be another learning experience. And my insurance limits me to my GP .

Amy, I am out of business on high powered guns, both shoulders have been rebuilt, the right shoulder has a Delta Reverse joint in it, I really have to take it easy with that one.

I am a very blessed man when it comes to medical expenses, there is no way I could pay out of pocket for the medicine and repair I require.

Get a pistol if you need to shoot something (or somebody).

It's a rough world.

Rick

Rick, I have a hand gun and .22 rifle, which is more gun than I need. I would like to have a pellet gun, but don't the guns I have very often.

Looks like Shawnee got almost 2". My volunteer sunflowers are beaten down, a couple are flat on the ground. I tried standing them back upright, well see how that works. A couple will need to be removed. Oh well, they were pretty all summer.

Jen, I pushed or brush hogged all my sunflowers down, but I saved seeds for you if you want them. I have not tested the seeds, but I have sunflowers coming up all over the garden, so assume at least some of them are good.

My garden has been disappointing this year. So far my onions have been the shinning star for this years harvest. I am going to try to depend on onions more heavily. The bulbing onions taste better, but the walking and bunching onions seem more reliable, I have them growing in the garden, and in tubs now. Containers are another thing I must learn about. I also want to take some pointers from Jennifer and Rick and have a protected row in my garden. What little I have fooled around with a protected area, it seemed that I had more than my share of insect problems. I am thinking that if I left the ends open in the day, would the birds help me with insect control?

I don't know that the birds would want to fly into the hoop tunnel.

Insect netting over hoops might work if the grasshoppers don't chew through it.

Right now we're just shading fall beans from the hot midday sun.

Rick

Hi Everyone. I read all your posts.

Larry, I'm so sorry about your medical issues and issues with the health care workers. How rude, frustrating, and irritating.

Jen, two inches is a good amount of rain! (sorry about your sunflowers!)

My neighbor said her rain gauge had 3/4 inch. Sometimes I wonder about her amounts, though. Just because she runs her sprinkler often. But, maybe! It's enough rain that I don't need to water today.

Instead of watering, I sat in the kitchen garden and sketched it out. It needs a bit of a remodel. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time or money to build it all at once and some of the layout is weird. I don't mind a weird layout--in fact I want a weird layout. But it needs to function a bit better. Some of my plant choices need to change as well. Pole beans are out for instance. I'll be on the search for a good viney plant for the arched trellises. I love, love, LOVE squash, but the dang bugs. The Kajari melon is pretty and maybe it will do well here. Maybe. If I can get the seed. I know that Jessica from R & R has made it very popular. If anyone has another idea for a viney edible, please share. I'll do cukes on the other arched trellis.

More herbs and flowers will be added to the kitchen garden. And I'll probably go back to tucking in a few okra plants and cowpeas. We put plenty in the other garden, but in case they don't do well out there (like this year) maybe they'll do well in the KG. Plus okra is pretty.

From the beginning, I wanted the garden surrounded by fruit bushes and small trees. More need to be added. I have the fig from Kim. It's still in a pot. It can be planted there....and maybe a couple more blackberry plants.

So, elderberry bushes. Mine don't do well. They live and produce a little, but maybe they need more shade??? Perhaps they're more of an understory type of tree/bush in Oklahoma? I'm really uneducated about all of this (but have been researching). Would it be beneficial to put a tree "behind" the elder bushes? Would a small type of tree help at all? Like a crabapple? Would it even give enough shade? The elders near the kitchen garden are the ranch variety. They do not get very tall. They certainly haven't gotten tall on my property. I need help with this.

One of the other elderberries might have died. It's an Oklahoma John variety. It's at the back of the property. I really did water it almost every day.

Other than that, all the waterers/feeders in all the extra coops are soaking and disinfecting. It's time to clean those up and put them away for next year. Normally baby chicks have used those items, but this time it's been broody hens who were "broke" from their broodiness. I do need to keep a hospital coop functioning as our flock is aging. (and for Maizey who breaks out of the chicken yard all the time.) My old hen Rosslyn Kaye is in the hospital coop now, but she's better. I feed her yogurt and water every night. The other hen that was ill, is back to normal and with the flock now. Her issue was more of an injury rather than an illness. Rosslyn is just old. But she still wants to come down to the pen each day and hang out with Maizey.

(I'm ridiculous. I do realize that. I just can't help it)

The young man (graduated with Ethan) who lives in our neighborhood, bought 240 meat birds. He's built a pen for them. I saw them all for the first time a couple of nights ago. That's a LOT of chickens. I'm still wondering how he will be able to process so many.

We were able to purchase a few chickens from a woman who used to work with Tom. She sells them once her (and her kids) freezers are full. It was $60 for 4 birds, but I usually get 3 meals from each bird plus broth. So, not so bad really. And I know that her birds were cared for properly.

Someone mentioned how it's been a hard gardening year. I agree. I was very discouraged last night but perked when we got some light rain. And, we did have successes too. Trying to remember that. I'll try to remember it when it's a million degrees out there this afternoon.

I like the area around my chicken pen. It's wild and out of control. I'll come back with some pictures of it.

At this point, a new thread for this week isn't needed. We can start a new thread next week.

Just for Lynn: my doctor told me to be very aware of allergies, etc, and prevent the drippings that runs into the lungs in the first place. I have a nebulizer and I'm supposed to use that, too. If I'm congested. (If you're not familiar with this, it uses the medicine like inhalers, usually albuteral, for a 5 minute breathing treatment.) Also mucinex when starting congestion. I can't do decongestants due to my blood pressure, maybe you can. Also, be careful working with potting soil and compost, maybe wear a mask. I have had pneumonia too many times and wish I'd known this sooner.

Jennifer, thanks for the long post, that is just one thing I miss about not having Dawn with us anymore. She always had the most interesting post, there will never be another Dawn.

Madge came in and ask me if i was ready to go on a walk. I would have normally said "no", but she said we would walk to the garden, I could not turn that down. We went to the garden, I still had my tiller sitting there, I started it and she drove it around back. I have been trying to get her to use that tiller for 15 years, I even started pulling weeds in the garden, and she started pulling weed also, this is really great, I am going to ride this horse as long as it will run. I will just start groaning and holding my chest every time I need something done. I will probably die of a gun shot wound rather than a heart attack.

I just read Amy's post to Lynn and realized I missed several posts.

Lynn, I'm also so sorry that you're sick! I hope you feel better soon. Glad you were able to get a diagnosis and reason for feeling so icky.

Amy, that's great advice. I'm going to keep in all in mind if I ever get pneumonia. My "allergies" cause drainage down the back of my throat instead of outwardly ...and sinus headaches.

You know, I thought about sacrificial tomatoes. The only thing is tomatoes are so difficult to keep healthy. LOL. Is tobacco easy to grow? What other plants do hornworms like? Peppers, I know. And one variety of hornworm likes the chaste tree.

I use allergy medication every day, I too, find that I have to keep the drainage at bay or I am in big trouble. I feel that I have a great Dr. and medication is just a phone call away. I think that my allergies have gotten worse as I age, or maybe I am just getting softer.

I think that I am getting softer. I picked the okra a while ago, and did not enjoy it as much as I had planned, 95 degrees seemed hotter than it did last week.

I can’t find this weeks thread. I can’t start them if there isn’t one yet. If this is it good. Then I am not lost. I got 3” in one gauge and 2” in the other. My son said my small glass one was more accurate. So 2” Is fine by me for the let 20 hours. Plants are so happy.

This is this week's thread. Next week will be Labor Day week starting out.

Right now I'm all about fall plantin, and bitching about the heat ,little rain and the bugs.

But I've already said all that.

Sept is one of my favorite times of the year , or used to be.

Whoever wants to start it then , go ahead.

Glad you got good rain Kim.

Up north here we're still screamin in pain , gashin of teeth.

https://www.google.com/search?q=screaming+in+pain+%2Cgashin+of+teeth&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS689US690&oq=screaming+in+pain+%2Cgashin+of+teeth&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160l2.21079j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcXBF357G4o

Rick

Kim, I am glad you got rain.

I watered this evening, but it seems like a waste of time and water. Normally I am having sweet potatoes poking above the ground this time of the year. I really don't feel like looking for any.

Rick, I got a chuckle out of your comment, it sound like something I would say. The heat, lack of rain, and the abundance of bugs, plus I cant get out and do anything has me depressed.

I noticed while watering that I had a few baby cucumbers. I have never planted this kind, nor this late in the year, so I don't know what to expect. They look to be long thin cucumbers, the long thin cucumbers we bought at a farmers market, we liked those.

Hang in there Larry. it's a rough year.

Rick

I watered very nicely right before we got rain. My peph peas busted out of the row cover. The ones in the good soil already are producing. The other bed is pale and tall but no blooms yet. I hope they catch up and do something.

I also noticed last night while watering that my Zipper Cream peas are starting to bloom. The ZC's are the peas that Madge likes, but I had rather have the PEPH for taste, but the ZC's are much easier to shell. I also noticed that my peas look like they are getting too much nitrogen, that is one thing that I don't like about crop rotation, some crops seem to like richer soil than others.

Larry, did you say somewhere on this thread that your sweet potatoes are NOT poking up from the ground? Is that normal for them to do? I have some in buckets/feed tubs this year and I see sweet potatoes popping up. Is that good? They don't look very big. Are there usually others deeper in the ground/bucket that are larger? How does that work?

Jennifer, the poking up above the soil surface is normal in my shallow hard soil. I have no idea how sweet potatoes grow in good soil. I my garden I usually have larger potatoes down in the soil also, and I have a lot of damage from rats and gophers. I expect rats and rabbits eat the places above the ground, and gophers eat what is down in the soil. My whole garden is a honeycomb of tunnels, and I really don't know what to do about it.

My daughter is over mowing my lawn, that makes me feel sorta like a second class citizen. I am supposed to be a man and take care of my own home. She is very head strong about helping, which makes me feel good, but I still don't like it. I will say, that taking care of my mother in her old age is one of greats blessing that God has given me, plus the fact that my mother was such a wonderful person.

Daughter did let me pick the okra, which I will send home with her.

I have noticed that some of you have received rain, which I an thankful for. I hope you have enough left over to send a little to me.

Larry, the cream peas are the one that attracted aphids so bad in my garden that I will never grow them again. It probaby was not their fault, and I get some aphids on any peas I grow, but I just can't bring myself to take the chance. I grew them beause you can make jelly from the hulls and it's a different flavor than PEPHs. I've forgotten the difference. https://whittlersresthomestead.com/purple-hull-pea-jelly/

Ron says something ate the Brussels sprouts plants - completely. That suggests rabbit to me, but I'm hoping the new dog doesn't like salads.

Had a nice lunch with what I call the single girls. They aren't single, but our friendship goes back to the days when we all were. This includes my best friend from Bartlesville and we go back to 7th grade. That was the 60s people! Tomorrow I have lunch with the Y girls. The gardening group needs to get together.

Larry helping you is going to be a great blessing to your daughter. Let her have that. It’s not about man or woman anymore. It’s about able and needs help.

Thanks, Kim, it is much easier to help than to be helped. Maybe, pride gets in our way.?

Larry it's been raining over here . Looks like it's headed your way tonight.

Rick

Rick, thanks for the heads up. I can sure use some rain. We can only water on the even days, and with a hand held device, so a good watering takes a lot of time.

Amy, I have heard of pea hull jelly, but never tried any. I need to check my seed supply. I feel I have plenty for home use, but I wont have enough to plant a market garden. At this point In feel I should go back to grass and small grain in the wildlife garden. It cost too much for diesel, seed, and fertilizer if neighbor cant afford to water. I need to break up more of his land and free up the wildlife garden, and continue building a nice homestead area. The 8.2 acres could make one of the grand daughters a nice building site.

Rick, the TV is saying we have a 60% chance for rain for tonight and early tomorrow.

We got a little rain late yesterday, and a little more now, if it keeps this up we may get a good total oven enough time. I had gone out to the garden to check on things, and almost got wet before I got back to the porch.

I found a spot to stick a few onions, or garlic, and I may as well take out some tomatoes, they look pretty good, and have a lot of blooms, but they are sitting on valuable real estate.

Weather boy says it's going to cool down a few degrees and rain some more on into next weekend. I'm going to go ahead and plant out the spinach , lettuce , mustard greens and whatever else , the works for the fall .

It might get hot and dry again later on in the month of Sept , but hey ...it's a crap shoot , same as the spring plantin.

Roll the dice.

Rick

Happy September you all!!

Rick

It looks like I am the only one with nothing to do, so I thought I would bore you a little. This is some peppers I picked from the tubs at the edge of the deck. The fruit is not great but it is producing. I think with a little practice I can make container growing work.

Some of my sweet potato plants are starting to poke up at the base of the plant, so, I expect I will at least get a few sweet potatoes.

Staying still and doing very little is a hard task to do, but so far each time I have failed to follow Dr.'s advice I regretted it.

Larry that’s how my cucumbers are. They have been bitter and I had hopes for them for nice fall cukes but I am thinking pull them and plant collards

Kim, this is the first year I have planted cucumbers in about 3 or 4 years, I have just had volunteers that came back each year. I bought a 1 oz pack of seeds a month or 2 back that were marked long green, or long thin, or something like that. I was wanting the ones like Jennifer was talking about, but the co-op did not have any. Anyway I planted about a dozen seeds along a 3 ft. strip, and made a trellis for them. I pinched out all but 4 or 5 of the plants after they came up. The plants I have, have only been producing for about a week, and we love them. They are not bitter, maybe because they are young plants. I still want to buy the Beit Alpha, I hope I got the name right, and try those.

I may have to plant more collards, the armadillos are digging in the garden, and seem to really like the area that I have Vates collards planted in. I will have peas, sweet potatoes, and Arabat squash, along with a row of other squash coming out in October, that should allow me more room for more greens.

I came back and changer the name of the cucumbers, I think the cucumbers Jennifer planted were Beit Alpha????

We wound up getting a pretty good rain, even though It came in about 5 showers, but no run-off.

I tried to start new week on my phone but it does not work

I finally got one up.

My cure for armadillos is a .22 right between the eyes.

I guess wolf traps would work too if you don't catch a pet or something else.

Rick

Rick, the armadillos raid at night. I am not sure I could hit an elephant between the eyes even in the daylight, an armadillo at night, no way, but thanks for the idea. I have live traps, but getting an armadillo in one is a tough job. I have steel traps also, but have never used any because of other critters that run around.

Rick, I managed to miss the pictures you posted, they are really nice, you are much ahead of me. We have a few greens up, but they are very small.

I have been out more today than I have been in a long time. My heart beat is more regular than I can ever remember, but when I was young I never paid any attention to things like that. Dr. said some things about my heart cant be fixed, but my heart rate has run from 60 to 64 bpm for going on 2 weeks.

I watered most of the south garden, did not get to the north garden. The wildlife garden is hurting for water.

The deer got in to the north garden, so I cleaned out the weeds that were in the electric fence and have it turned on tonight. I had been leaving the power off on the fence around the south garden also, so after powering the north fence, the deer decided to go to the south garden. The power is on the south garden also, now, but I am going to have to trim some okra, tomatoes, and peas to keep them off the wire. The deer have broken the fence around the wildlife garden also, because we were not going to water anymore, but the rain has caused the peas to perk up and we may be able to get more peas out of the wildlife garden