Sunday, September 20, 2020

                                  Pear Preserves - A Story

 


    One of my biggest goals on the farm is trying to learn as much as I can from the experts who have lived on this land. Canning and preserving food is just as important as learning to grow that food. It’s wonderful to have that fresh out of the garden produce on the dinner table but one can only eat so much. Preservation will Allow us to enjoy the bounty of our garden during fall and winter. 

    There a three pear trees on the property but it is the youngest tree that has produce all the pears this year. I am used to the pretty store bought pears so these oddly shaped and tough skinned fruit had me concerned about the flavor. My first Crisp sliver of the fresh pear changed my mind. It was a nice mildly sweet flavor.

    I helped my mother in law pick a basket of fruit one day but the next day while I was busy at the barn, she cleaned the tree getting every last fruit off that tree. I came in later to find her peeling and slicing up her pears. After dinner and a shower, I pitched in to help. I made a mess. Pear slices flew everywhere no matter how hard I tried to keep them in the container. A few flew into my mouth but just a few, I was still full from dinner. 

    My mother in law used two large plastic bowls to hold all the fruit. I watched her place a lajyer of fruit about an inch then she would sprinkle a cup of sugar sometimes two cups over the fruit as she went. Once we sliced up the last of the pears, she added the last of the sugar on top of the sliced pieces then covered the sugared fruit with a lid. I could not even guess how much sugar she used. The bowls were large and it was a lot of fruit. 

   



    The containers sat overnight and in the morning she showed me how much syrup was in the bottom of the containers. She judged it was more than enough liquid to start processing the fruit. She poured both containers into a large pot, turned the burner on a medium-high heat and waited for the pears to come to a boil. She stirred the fruit often during this step. 


    The fruit came to a rolling boil, the temperature was turned down to low and let the pears simmer. It took several hours for the pears to reach the consistency that she wanted. Once they were done to her liking, she ladled the fruit into hot mason jars, sealed them and let the jars seal on the counter. All but one jar sealed. 



    The next morning after working up an appetite in the garden, I popped some frozen biscuits in the oven to go with our eggs and sausage. They were the perfect delivery system for pear preserves from table to my mouth. The pears were delicious. Kudos to my mother in law. I hope that next year, I can be more of a participant and maybe even get a video of the process.



    As for the leftover unused pear pieces, it’s one of the nice things about having chickens. They will eat almost anything so I bagged up four gallon bags of left over pear peels and cores for chicken treats at a later date. It makes me happy to know that nothing goes to waste. 

See the entire video of Pear Preserves on my channel. 


 

Friday, September 18, 2020

 

I have an electric fencing addiction.


We have terrible time with the deer. They will eat everything we grow if we let them. This is my first spring here and I can vouch that the deer will eat anything and everything to a naked stalk. Out tomato harvest was pitiful because every time we would get a pretty tomato plant going the deer would decimate the tops to nothing. I have accidentally discovered that deer are weary of netted electric fencing. We have had more luck protecting are delicate plants from these garden scavenger than anything else we’ve tried and the list is long.


Once we put up the electric netting around our plants most of the destruction has stopped and we were able to get a few nice tomatoes before it became to hot. Now I find I need more of this glorious deer repealing fence so we have invested in more almost electric fencing. My original purchase of 200 Feet of fencing was to keep my dogs contained while we adjusted to our new life in the farm. I never would have believed that the investment in another 400 feet would be used to keep deer out of my garden but I am. 

                                      

I know I will buy more in the future that is inevitable because I want to raise more animal. However right now I will have to be content with what I have.

Watch my latest YouTube video for the full story. 



Thursday, September 17, 2020

 

My Planting Method


    Since moving to the farm, I have listen carefully and taken the advice of the family that has lived and farmed here all their lives. I am very familiar with the sandy loam of south Florida. I knew how to grow in that but now I was challenged with growing in the red clay of central Alabama.
    I start my melons late but I still believe I can have a harvest before it gets to cold but we will see. My seed came up quickly and grew nicely in their pots but it was time to get them into the soil for some real growth.

My planting method is pretty easy.

Dig a hole the approximate size of the potted plant.
Add about a quarter cup of 13-13-13 fertilizer
Add water
Plant
Cover plant with soil leaving a depression around the plant for water.
Water plant
Done.
 
See more at my Youtube channel for my planting method along with my coyote story.
 
 

 

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

 

 

                         The Coyote Story

   

 
 After moving to the farm, I made it a habit to take a walk with my dogs in the morning while it was still cool. My dogs often run off the path after an appealing scent but this morning it was obvious my dogs were tracking something as they ran into the thicket and over a small rise into a hollow. I waded into the woods using a narrow path trying to avoid the briars.
 

 
    I yelled for my dogs and my pittbull, Tank, ran back to me and stood at my side. A howl came from the hollow now just ahead of me. At first I thought it was my Doberman, Justice, but it was not her. I know what my dogs sound like. I yelled her name know scared and she ran over the hill and came back to me.
 

 
    I was armed as we live on a large wooded property that is home to numerous predators including coyotes and bobcats. I drew my weapon but held it at my side as the howling continued from the wooded area in front of me. No sooner had the noise stopped that a large tan coyote came running over the hill and at me just off to my left. I was able to get off three rounds before a movement in my peripheral on my right reoriented me. A small tan and black coyote was running towards me on my right and I was only able to get off two rounds. 
 
    At the same time my dogs took off after the tan coyote while the smaller one ran in the opposite direction. I’m know standing alone in a dense thicket trying to fight my way back to the road. Once there I start calling for my dogs and they meet me as I am almost half way back to our farm house. They are both in one piece and neither one of them look injured other than a few scratches from the briars. I don’t believe either of the dogs came close enough to the coyotes to even have a confrontation. I have no clue if I hit either one of the canines but over the past few months I’ve only been able to capture one coyote on our trail cams. I am hoping that I scared them bad enough that they never come close to the farm again. However the experience did sour my morning walk routine with my dogs. Even armed I am afraid to take the chance of running into a pack of coyotes and risk injury or death to my dogs. 
 
 

    Tank is no longer with me, he lives with my daughter now. He loves her more she saved him from the pound. Justice however is my dog now and we still walk in the mornings but I never go to far past the barn or walk the road near the hollow. 
 
    I recount the story on my Youtube page but I write much better than I story tell but I am getting better.  Please take a look and enjoy!.
 

 

Friday, September 11, 2020

Fall Tomatoes from Cuttings / Part 1

 

 
 
 
 

                            I have seen other resourceful gardeners use root cuttings from their tomatoes
                                       I thought I would try my luck with fall tomatoes from cuttings. 
 

                    I went into our garden where most of my tomatoes were finished for the season.
                                I found a few plants that still had healthy limbs and collected them. 
                                I placed them in a 5 gallon bucket to root in water for several days.



                                                                     I potted 14 plants.
 
 
                                                                                                  
                                      This is an Orange Pear Cherry Tomato with Purple Basil.
 
  Cant wait to see what happens and maybe I have a better plan for the future........ 
 If you want to see the video for this blog please visit my channel and subscribe.