International edible gardening

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by colne, Mar 30, 2014.

  1. colne

    colne Super Gardener

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    Nothing wrong with the Nepalese knives either, I hear.

    Wow! I am inside for a L of Iced Tea - it is hot out, easily 32C, and last evening there were good downpours and thunder and lightening - so it is steamy! And more storms coming this evening. I have not even begun pruning - I netted a few pogies, they are just getting big enough to not mostly go through the net mesh - the bayou is solid pogies, a few shrimp, cockahoes on low tide (bait fish) and mullet.

    Then I put out my long pipe fishing rod (floating 30 foot of bit of PVC one inch pipe (capped so it floats) with a hook on the end hanging down 18 inches) and gave a handful to the brim and chickens. The brim love pogies, as do anything, including Flora dog. I have never had a blank fishing spell like this! I am not getting up before dawn as one needs to here to maximize ones chances - because the fishing is bad - so it is a self feeding loop I guess. Here in summer fish bite from sunrise to about an hour and a half past, the rest of the time is not nearly as good with mid day being pretty hopeless. The water is warm to touch - 32C in the shallows, it feels positively warm when you go in. I really need to go wade fishing next to the harbor at sunrise if I really want to catch something. Net the bait the night before and have the truck loaded. (The harbor is just down the road)

    So also fed the chickens - the eggs in the incubator hatch in 4 days, it all goes so fast - got a fishing line out, cleaned some things up, and got seeds ready. Must begin the fall seeds for some kinds. I looked up seed viability - tomatoes 5 years! I found an old pack from 2011 of Italian canning tomato seeds so also came in to see if they were ok, bit late for planting fall tomatoes from seed, but I will get a dozen going anyway. Thunder is rolling closer already.
     
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    • colne

      colne Super Gardener

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      Well, I am in - the thunder coming has dumped over two inches with pretty big electrical crashes, It has slowed now, but not thinking of stopping.

      So here are some pogies - I set one out on the rod and caught a hard head catfish - not good to eat and very sharp with a bad irritant if you do get spined, so need careful de-hooking. The catfish are the reason you cannot leave a bait on the bottom or you will get lots of these - I shortened the depth on my rod to 12 inches.

      [​IMG]

      This is my floating rod taken a bit ago, before the rain begun - see how it just slides out and floats -

      [​IMG]

      I never catch much on this rod - but there is little effort, a single cast gives bait, it sets out quickly. But over time I have gotten some nice fish. Actively fishing is more effective but I can see it from my porch - and I have caught nice fish up to 8 pounds off it. The problem is the water is absolutely full of bait. Just any throw at random with that little net will usually get all the pogies you want - the competition is heavy.
       
    • colne

      colne Super Gardener

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      Very disappointing with last nights drum circle (it was full moon if you missed it) The circle has been kind of absorbed by a beach rental place across from the Holiday Inn (they rent big wheeled tricycles you can ride on the water, paddle boats, lawn chairs) and it is no longer the kind of small nu hippy thing it was when it was off remote. The woman running it mentioned donations would be appreciated and my wife stomped off.

      But the full moon was very nice, huge and orange as it rose over the water - and we drove miles of the beach and flounder giggers were everywhere - wading in the warm water with spears to catch flounders, and a net for crabs, with bright lights to see in the water.

      This morning we went fishing before the sun roze and it was gorgeous! I netted some pogies and live shrimp - I have a little bubbler pump which runs on two AA batteries (rechargeable) that keeps the bait alive. but no luck I caught 3 lovely trout but under the 13 inch limit to keep. Then I lost something pretty big - a Spanish mackerel or ladyfish (they are no good to eat) that got off and cut up my line.

      The sun coming up and the shoals of pogies being hit - a bit of a whoosh sound and masses of them go leaping into the air, skimmer birds, gulls, terns, all fishing too, and great blue herons about watching the fish and you. I hope to wake up at 4 am tomorrow and go again. My wife and the 4 dogs came and all slept in the truck right beside my spot.

      We visited the man selling the goat - It came running up to me thinking I had something for it. He will not kill it or let me kill it on his property. Which is a grand place, amazing really. 700 foot deep and a couple hundred foot wide with massive trees, fruit and nut trees and bushes everywhere, ornamentals all in perfect beds and trimmed circles and the most luxuriant lawn covering it all, barn, out buildings, two houses and the goat pasture. They are many generations from here, and are right off the beach. Just an incredible property. He is a master gardener and workaholic.

      He is on high ground but Katrina brought in over 30 foot of water on the beach - they stayed having grown up with hurricanes. The family were up to their necks in water in the house - and were getting ready to go into the attic but the storm was ripping off great pieces of the roof.......No good options, and the flood receded and they were ok (80% of buildings in town were destroyed)

      I am taking a nap - something I never do because I want to go out tomorrow before sunrise, it is so beautiful and warm - shorts and a T shirt and the water smooth but for the fish jumping and swirling and birds fishing - looking off down the beach for miles and it is all beach and then trees inland. This whole coastal area is covered in 100 - 700 year old grand live oaks. Shrimp boats are going out and trawling.
       
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      • Sheal

        Sheal Total Gardener

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        Colne, now and again your posts paint a whole picture of what you've been up to and the area you live in, I wonder if the pictures in my mind are the same? :)
         
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        • colne

          colne Super Gardener

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          Hi Sheal - It was a lovely night, the sea calm and sand white - the moon massive when low on the horizon and then silver when up - and lighting everywhere so walking at midnight needed no flashlight.

          [​IMG]

          the moon last night

          Sheal, I have 4.5 pounds of black berries on the stove making syrup right now, this picture is from one minute ago - see the clarity? And the aroma is different from jam with its caramelized sugars - this is so pure fruit like. It needs another hour or so of low heat for the sugars to melt the berries - then straining and water bath canning in jars. I really should run to the Dollar Store - about 1 mile. They sell all the canning stuff cheaply. A case of 8 oz jam jars with lids and rings - $8. Plain pint jars (USA 16 oz pints) are $7 a dozen. 15 lids are $1.50. I have pints but should do some small jars (You can get 4 oz jars too, tiny) for gifts.

          [​IMG]

          And I am posting an 8 minute video of this in a bit - I began it downloading to Youtube an hour ago. It is not very interesting - I am a little too tired to be up to much - I did not nap - some business came up, and have had 4 hours sleep two nights in a row.
           
        • colne

          colne Super Gardener

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          opossum in the hen house again, left it late shutting them in - I grabbed it with a crab net - one with big holes so the crab does not tangle that I had put there for exactly that - and it wrestled about and managed to get its head through a hole and was really tangled! I had planned on not using my hands to grab it - and that did not work, I spent 5 minutes trying to get it's head back through the net - and avoiding it's Pterodactyl like jaws (they are passive - but a huge jaw with huge teeth so although they will not bite probably..........

          And then finally did, in the dark with no light but the almost full moon. They have cute furry ears and are soft - as I found all about. So it was tossed into the long grass of the bayou and the dogs finally calmed down by a quick walk through the woods where they sniffed to see if something needed biting.

          And NO fish still. More undersized ones though. And here is a very poor video on kitchen stuff - I had made it, but wonder why - oh well; it is all chopped about and I am just learning how to do cut bits out of a video -

           
        • colne

          colne Super Gardener

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          I am in having some iced tea and making phone calls. This morning I did muck out the chicken house and put it on the compost pile, and set up the nest box for chicks. My broody hen may be losing interest and I really hope not, that would be a big problem. I have not been letting her keep an egg because she is so clumsy she stands on it and breaks it - and the other chickens will then eat the egg spilled out - not something they should learn.

          So she was off her empty nest when I opened the door - to get some of the food I always bring when they are let out. Now I will go out and grab her - if, hopefully, she is sitting. Then she gets locked into the dog kennel I confine my mother hens in when it is time for the chicks. That is prepared - a portable pet carrier with a wire cage abutted to walk around in and eat and drink.

          The first chick has hatched. 24 eggs, wonder how it will go. I am refining the incubator every time. Tonight, if the hen is still broody, I will stick the chick under her. I may even do it wile the hen is awake if she is in the flattened brooding trance. Only the shock of being stuffed into a strange box may be too upsetting till dark.
           
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          • Jenny namaste

            Jenny namaste Total Gardener

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            Ah -the trials and traumas of Motherhood and man intervening to "help" her raise her young,
            Jenny
             
          • colne

            colne Super Gardener

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            Raining now, just as it began sprinkling I had checked the hen and she was sitting flat with that glazed stare they have; so I thought 'why not'? and got the chick and dropped it on her. She continued imperviously till the chick began to peep loudly, and then she noticed. The hen had a surprised look on her face when she felt the chick and heard it and she began the little clucks they give to calm the chicks - and it was burrowed under by then and it shut up.

            This hen is one of those bad mothers - I do not even trust her with the marked egg I let a broody hen sit - she would always break it. And she would have the egg almost out from under her half the time. She would give the chicks brandy to make them go to sleep if she had any. But chicks are robust - I lose about 5 out of 12 though. It is tough; usually the hen will knock something on a chick like a water bowl and one or more are lost that way - and they drown in the big chickens water bowl, I have stood on two wile not focused on where they are - and a couple always just end up dead with no indication of why.

            You can hear chicks peeping in the egg through the incubator walls, it is not quiet. One has made a hole and quit - I find a couple die like this, well enough to grow and then crack the shell - and then they pass on. Just not strong enough for actual life outside the egg. I hope this one gets going again - they can take a day to fully emerge - and it is best to not help them. I enjoy keeping chickens and may just keep hatching batches. I could sell pullets for $10 - $15 if I wanted to get rid of some I liked, these are really nice crosses, bantam and Orphington - these are good back yard chickens because they lay so much (small eggs) and can run really fast if pursued by a predator - and fly well if unclipped. No one buys roosters unless they are purebred though - so it is the pot for them.
             
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            • colne

              colne Super Gardener

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              I have had a great day; up before light and check the chicks - 4 more, so carried them out to the hen in the dark. Then off fishing. My spot was not good - wind coming at it and waves, not pleasant. So I went elsewhere and took 40 minutes to catch bait because my usual place was too rough. In all I ended up not fishing till after sunrise and was late for the best time. I caught a nice flounder and undersized trout and then nothing for a couple hours. Then I moved back to my usual spot because the wind had finished (our weather is storm cloud driven so they pass and it is calm and sunny - the storm was off shore and black with falling rain wile we were just in clouds.) My place had loads of bait then, just masses of pogies. I tried to throw my net to the side of the bunch but still caught 8 pounds of them. I kept about fifty and let the rest go. Small redfish were harrying the pogies (reds have to be 18 inches long to keep, trout 13, flounder 12) and I caught a couple dozen of them and undersized trout, and another flounder 11 inches so they all went back. I also lost a big flounder right as I had it to the rocks - flounder throw the hook more than any other fish - I only land about half of the ones I get hooked. None of the fish were hooked badly, and all unharmed, except for the flounder I kept.

              [​IMG]

              But the place it so pretty - the Gulf calm, birds all around - terns diving a lot, gulls and herons all about. (our gull, the laughing gull, does not bother people like the British gull does) The beach right where I fish but 300 yards down is a 'least tern' nesting spot. They are so funny because they make absolutely no nest, just lay the egg on the sand and sit it. The beach authority puts a rope around their nesting areas and people keep out - you can see them as you drive, terns sitting on the sand and small markers they put out for helping them count the birds. They are not bothered by humans being near. I think they nest on the beaches with towns on them because the raccoons are fewer and the beach road is a barrier. The next town has several nesting sites too.

              The sun coming up, the shrimp boats out, the long beaches stretching off - buildings hidden by trees, It is just beautiful at my spot at the harbor. I just had a great morning even if I did not get to keep more fish. The flounder is big enough for both of us.

              My spot - a young man drowned off there this spring because all the surrounding water is waist deep but there is a hole the tide keeps to the right of the picture about 8 foot deep - just a hole in a massive area of shallow water. It is where we wade out to net shrimp to eat and for bait but now is closed to wading. Sad, but a reminder everyone needs to learn to swim. To not know how to at least swim a couple of feet is just wrong. The hole is right off the beach and is about 20 foot wide and is a channel going out to sea that is not so deep after about 50 foot, there is no current. That is why the signs are there.

              I took this picture to show the storm - the gray extending to the water is torrential rain in the distance. The sun was out and all calm in a couple hours. This is my favorite spot

              [​IMG]

              Here is where I went first, the harbor is to the left, it is a pretty harbor with all the fishing boats looking picturesque - it is mostly a working boat harbor, but pleasure boats too. I sometimes night fish off this harbor wall but others use it and I like to be off by myself. They are very good here about providing public fishing spots.

              [​IMG]
               
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              • colne

                colne Super Gardener

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                So a bad night - coming home from going to a city function my wife discovered she could not find her truck keys (she drives a forty foot truck) and had to get off on a run early the next morning. We turned the house over (dinner had been made and never eaten), retraced our steps, all the wile she was barking and snapping at me from sheer frustration ( 'two words; anger management') So I went to bed at 1am having been chivvied for hours although no one thought it was my fault in any way..........sigh.

                Thomas Otway, the seventeenth century writer of tragic verse, put it well:

                What mighty ills have not been done by woman!
                Who was ’t betrayed the Capitol?—A woman!
                Who lost Mark Antony the world?—A woman!
                Who was the cause of a long ten years’ war,
                And laid at last old Troy in ashes?—Woman!
                Destructive, damnable, deceitful woman!2
                The Orphan. Act iii. Sc. 1.



                And then soon after going to sleep Flora dog was sick - she is a sickly dog, her litter got parvo with all 8 dying but her, and she never has been well - she has some mental problems like she will not go through a door ahead of a person but has to fallow, and is subject to sudden, irrational, fears - and gets gut upsets. And so in the middle of the night I had to walk her after cleaning up the mess on the floor.

                But who can not remember 'Old Dog Tray' from Foster, the 1800's minstrel song writer

                The morn of life is past,
                And evening comes at last;
                It brings me a dream of a once happy day,
                Of merry forms I’ve seen
                Upon the village green,
                Sporting with my old dog Tray.
                Chorus:
                Old dog Tray’s ever faithful,
                Grief cannot drive him away,
                He’s gentle, he is kind;
                I’ll never, never find
                A better friend than old dog Tray.
                The forms I call’d my own
                Have vanished one by one,
                The lov’d ones, the dear ones have all passed away;
                Their happy smiles have flown,
                Their gentle voices gone;
                I’ve nothing left but old dog Tray.
                Chorus:
                When thoughts recall the past
                His eyes are on me cast;
                I know that he feels what my breaking heart would say:
                Although he cannot speak
                I’ll vainly, vainly seek
                A better friend than old dog Tray.



                But what I am getting at is I did not get up before sunrise and go fishing. dabs eye...



                (Flora is fine today but I think of my line of loyal dogs going back to my infancy......)
                 
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                • Sheal

                  Sheal Total Gardener

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                  In defence of women, just look at the state of the world now, who is that down to? Did your wife find her keys Colne?

                  Where would we be without our ever faithful dogs, I haven't had one for some years but probably will sometime in the future..... if I can twist my husbands arm. :)
                   
                • colne

                  colne Super Gardener

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                  Yes, in the morning light they were visible - downstairs she had clipped them onto the back of a wrought iron chair (her keys have a clip on them) But still had to drive to the office and get a spare key and use my keys to drive her car because her keys were not found till later.

                  In defense of men just look where the world is now. In all the Western parts there is peace, prosperity, and freedom. In all the world there is science, industry, amazingly productive agriculture, mostly a good degree of personal freedom. This was all brought about by men - Western men, and shows a remarkable propensity towards intellectual curiosity and compassion.

                  To return to Thomas Otway:

                  Who can describe
                  Women's hypocrisies! their subtle wiles,
                  Betraying smiles, feign'd tears, inconstancies!
                  Their painted outsides, and corrupted minds,
                  The sum of all their follies, and their falsehoods.
                  - Orpheus [Women]

                  But then that was his from a play on Orpheus, so what with the Sirens and Eurydice and all he was pretty wrought - but goes on to change tracks in another play:

                  O woman! lovely woman! Nature made thee
                  To temper man: we had been brutes without you;
                  Angels are painted fair, to look like you:
                  There's in you all that we believe of Heaven,
                  Amazing brightness, purity, and truth,
                  Eternal joy, and everlasting love.
                  - Venice Preserved (act I, sc. 1)

                  So he does tend to flip flop to a good degree.

                  And today I must plant tomatoes! I have neglected to do so and time is late. I will plant the ancient Italian canning tomato seeds - and will pick out side shoots, and try to root them, from some beefsteak, yellow cherry, and some unknown which is producing madly in the yard between my houses here. (we get tomatoes here and there in odd places I put them although at least 90% are eaten by animals - we must pick them when turning from green to yellow, and they ripen in the house.) Also I must take a walk about with my string trimmer and call the guy who is fixing my big mower. And hi Iliana. Also I am modifying my pickled egg recipe to 1/2 cup vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar. I used the recipe as written and it is too much vinegar and I had way overdone the sugar.
                   
                • Jenny namaste

                  Jenny namaste Total Gardener

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                  There have been a handful of mighty female warriors but the vast majority by far are MEN Colne, irrespective of colour. cast or creed. I loathe the thought of women being trained to kill alongside men in battle. We give birth - that is our natural function - we are not designed to kill,
                  Jenny
                   
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                  • Sheal

                    Sheal Total Gardener

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                    It may be all brought about by men but women are still pretty much the underdogs as far as a high percentage of the male species is concerned. The late Margaret Thatcher, past Prime Minister was a great leader and got things done whatever our population thought of her politics. Today's male politicians don't seem to have a clue how to how to run a country, they just go from one disastrous decision to another. More women are needed in politics and high ranking positions in the workplace, they have the ability to think, collate data and get things done in a more methodical way and may be that's because they have the ability to multi-task.
                     
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