Steev's stuff

[philagardener]

Jun 17, 2019 19:03:46 GMT -5 steev said:

I'm mulling a street-hedge of red-bud and elderberry for permaculture and pyracantha for the birds.

Next week there will be apricots (cooking); the week after will be a fresh-eating variety.

I've pulled out almost all of the pyracantha here - it punctures the toughest gloves and the wounds take a long time to heal.  Great for a formidable barrier, and pretty to admire from a distance, but I'm opting for more friendly plants for my birds. 

Great to hear you have gotten some good precip this year and that the farm is coming along nicely. 

[steev]

Toyon is nice, but I'm after productivity; redbud seed is an edible legume; elderberry gives flowers for fritters and fruit for wine; although one can make a syrup from pyracantha fruit, I just want it as bird chow; robins are fond of it in their Fall migration.

[reed]

We have an extremely invasive bush that I recently identified as Autumn Olive. Massive amounts of fragrant flowers and massive amounts of red berries in the fall. I'v been noticing it spread around the neighborhood for several years but just found out what it is and that those fruits are food for people as well as birds. Thinking I might go out this fall and get some little ones. Well, as fast as it grows maybe just plant some seeds and save the digging.

[steev]

Black locust also gives flowers for fritters.

[steev]

My helper didn't show today, so having a truckload of cinder-blocks, I took them to the farm; I'll see if any are left to salvage tomorrow and/or load bunny-beans.

Sparked up the riega; an extra day will be to the good, as will an extra day of cat-chow.

The earliest apricots are ready, so I'll harvest some for pie; fresh eaters will be ready next week; think I'll cut some cardoon to braise with onion and bacon grease (gotta soak it in salty water to de-bitter it a bit first).

Didn't investigate in passing, but my mesch-mesch-amreh (black apricot), an apricot-plum hybrid, may be fruiting better than ever; it's not very fructivorous, never having produced but one or two fruits any year, but they're quite tasty.

Started a new client who has tomatoes from Ethiopia (as is she); I look forward to checking those out.

[steev]

Birds were working the eating apricots, so I picked a box of them; they're greener than I'd like but they'd all be ruined by next week; didn't get around to the cooking ones, since these will also serve for that; I'm thinking a slow braize of pork, 'cots, onion, and chili flakes.

Helper called; says he's still having paperwork problems, but his cousin can fill in until he gets things straightened out; I'm encouraged that he's responsible, smart, and hard-working, as I'm going to need a lot of help OTF soon. He's just the sort of immigrant El Presidente Sinverguense doesn't want (unless he can exploit them in his hotels and golf-courses).

Got the last salsify seed, which will join cardoon, wheat, and patience dock in the permaculture weed bed; mullein is blooming; its flowers are edible, as are redbud's.

Some of the spuds are growing; don't know which varieties; I was getting a tad worried, but it's not going to be a total bust.

I've got a plum, the fruit of which is small and insipid, though plentiful; maybe I'll research "crackseed" recipes, as I like a bit of that as a savory sweet.

[steev]

My across-the-road neighbors just got a nice small tractor and full implements for $20K, 60 months, no interest; I'm surprised my icon isn't green! I've definitely been thinking I need some such, but it'll be a while before I can raise the scratch, even if I go on working until I'm 78. Oh, well; what else would I do with my time? Play golf?

Found an alligator lizard in the toolshed; only the second one I've seen OTF in 15 years (prolly the same one I wasn't sure I'd seen in the attached pump-house last week; there are small pipe-gaps through which such critters can enter; tree-frogs really like the pump-house; nothing quite so thrilling as a hot night sleeping without even a sheet and having a clammy tree-frog land on me; wakes me up better than coffee); used to see lots of them in MidCal Paso Robles; we had a cat that caught them, eating the hind-half, and leaving the front half for us; 50/50 split, good kitty.

The plums will start their sequential ripening next week; gotta whack the weeds under the aamonds, so I can lay tarps and knock the nuts, which are very numerous.

First toms of the year: Sungold.

[steev]

Saw smoke today from wildfire west of Winters, behind the hills.

Several plums are full of ripe fruit; this year's crops are so abundant that branches are breaking on several plum, peach, and nectarine trees; Black Monucca grapes are ripening, the ones dried for "currants", also Cabernet Sauvignon.

My weed-whacker's been in the shop, since it didn't want to spark up; I'm very antsy to get it back before aamonds start to drop, so I can whack under the trees and spread tarps to catch the nuts; missed a bet at the dump last week, there was some very substantial black bamboo that would have been great for knocking down the nuts; sometimes my scrounge gene goes recessive; guess it's an epigenetic thing.

Must harvest seed of Patience Dock and the dry seed from the various peas I planted; cardoon seed is coming; I think I'll save asparagus seed this year.

I'm getting interested in aquaculture; I think it would greatly facilitate growing several things that aren't very happy under ambient conditions OTF.

[steev]

I'll explore the aquaponics thing when I have a greenhouse, a well-anchored one, unlike the one that turned into a box-kite.

Two peaches are ripe; others will be soon, as will Purple Gage and Elephant Heart plums, French prunes, and Asian pears; it's looking like a good year for quince; I look forward to having the wood-burning stove OTF, so I can slow-cook dulce de membrillo for candy and to snack on with Manchego cheese.

AAmonds are dropping and my weed-whacker is still in the shop, so lots are getting lost in the weeds; must remember to take the mower next week, whether they spring the whacker or not.

Grapes are ripening about as fast as the birds can handle them; I wonder how Cabernet-fed twits taste.

[reed]

Aug 5, 2019 20:57:33 GMT -5 steev said:

I'll explore the aquaponics thing when I have a greenhouse, a well-anchored one, unlike the one that turned into a box-kite.

Why do you need a green house for aquaponics? I dream of having a big aqua set up similar to the small one I have now.

Mine is only about 300 gallons, has a little flowing stream section and a pond about 3' deep. We grow lots of stuff in pots of gravel in the stream, mostly ornamental but I'v grown lettuce and a few other things. The blue gills I brought home from the lake breed like crazy in the pond and I don't even feed them. I'm sure a bigger, say 5000 gallons set up could easily produce vegetables, protein and a nice spot to cool off. 

[steev]

The climate OTF is such that it would be very problematic to have an unsheltered setup; evaporation and resulting mineral concentration, mostly.

[reed]

Ahh, never considered that although I do occasionally have to add city water to mine during dry spells such as right now. In wetter weather it catches water off a small part of the house roof which usually keeps it topped off and even overflows. I think if I ever have the bigger version I envision I want a considerable portion of it to be in the shade.

[steev]

Yes, shade is also important, both for fish and veggies; I expect the water mass would also tend to moderate temps in the greenhouse; I'd been thinking of a sunny-side water trough under a south counter for temp mediation, but I think aquaculture would kick that into high gear, productivity-wise. I'm not big on fish, but I do like celery, lettuce, and herbs like basil and cilantro, all of which can be fickle OTF.

I'm starting to mull the potential value of selling produce, being on the only road in a ranching, not farming, area, that gets mostly weekend traffic, aside from the largely non-gardening locals; adding fish to poultry, fruit, and veggies might be worthwhile; couldn't hurt to have a little jing generated OTF, not that I want to go all commercial, though I do toy with the idea of flogging a range of melons at a farmer's market, in season; I also mull the idea of building a catapult to fling pumpkins, squash, or melons where a pig could clean up the carnage (vegage?), only when the pig isn't in peril of being "squashed", of course; childish, no doubt, but if I don't enjoy my second childhood, who will?

[reed]

My little pond used to be in pretty good shade till the Ash trees died. Good news is the water lilies like the full sun, they exploded and covered the entire surface with big leaves and constant pink and yellow flowers. Bad news is I can't see my fish any more. Also even with the lilies covering the surface the water gets too warm.

Catapults are great fun, we made good use of them when we were kids.

[steev]

I discovered that if I took the rubber hand-guards off my bike and plugged up one end of the handlebar, I could stick in a lit firecracker and a marble and hit a signboard a block away; we boys often do like things that go boom. I admit, one of my criteria for movies is "are there any explosions?"

Do you eat the lotus root? I find it rather tasty and crunchy.