Four pints of the wretched things are in the BWB, about 20 minutes left.

--
Barb,
The latest jammin'; http://web.me.com/barbschaller July 1, 2011

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> Four pints of the wretched things are in the BWB, about 20 minutes left.
>
Send 'em to me!

Between flood fight, finches, and rabbits this year, we may be lucky to
get a few for fresh eating.

In article >,
pheasant16 > wrote:

> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> > Four pints of the wretched things are in the BWB, about 20 minutes left.
> >
> Send 'em to me!
>
> Between flood fight, finches, and rabbits this year, we may be lucky to
> get a few for fresh eating.

Where are you up there, Mark?
--
Barb,
The latest jammin'; http://web.me.com/barbschaller July 1, 2011

On 7/3/2011 6:56 AM, Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> In >,
> > wrote:
>
>> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>>> Four pints of the wretched things are in the BWB, about 20 minutes left.
>>>
>> Send 'em to me!
>>
>> Between flood fight, finches, and rabbits this year, we may be lucky to
>> get a few for fresh eating.
>
> Where are you up there, Mark?
I was wondering about that too. I had this sudden vision of a horde of
finches attacking everything in sight. Might make a good horror movie.

pheasant16 wrote:
> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>> Four pints of the wretched things are in the BWB, about 20 minutes left.
>>
> Send 'em to me!
>
> Between flood fight, finches, and rabbits this year, we may be lucky to
> get a few for fresh eating.

some seasons sure are a challenge...

we had chipmunks get a lot of the
radishes and beet seedlings this
season, but i massively over planted
so we should be ok for some kind of
first harvest. now if the critters
would thin them properly then i
wouldn't be annoyed at all.

replanting them is possible or do
you have other plans for the space
already? sometimes hard to keep
them watered when it gets hot and to
remember to pick them and pickle/can
in the heat. too bad i can't just
leave the jars out in the sun to seal...


songbird

Melba's Jammin' wrote:

> Where are you up there, Mark?

We're in Bismarck ND.

Still dry, and the Corps is starting to cut releases up at Garrison Dam.
We're hoping the River behaves and drops appropriately as releases slow.
So far with cut releases the levels have remained about the same. Not
sure if it's tributaries contributions or sand being redeposited. Plus
groundwater may be a concern for the next 6 months or so with the high
river levels it has started migrating toward us from the river, plus the
normal flow toward the river has stared to back up with the pressure
from the river. Going to be lots of cheap houses in south Bismarck in
the next couple years. Sump is still dry so far. Yay!!

We have a doe with 5-6 little ones under our deck. They've developed a
taste for everything, including marigolds. Lots of chicken wire this
year. Momma wants to take our sandbags(when this is all over) and put
the deck at ground level to avert this problem in the future. We just
put our dog down so the bunnies figure our backyard is now a safe place
to raise their litters. Have a Havahart "feeder". Trying to make the
trip plate more sensitive hasn't had any effect; they wander in, grab
the apples and leave. Mebbe if I keep feeding 'em they'll leave the
garden alone, gain some weight, and trip the trap. LOL!!!

The finches mow down the seedlings as they sprout. Didn't get the
garden covered in mesh in a timely manner with the above diversion this
spring, so when I finally took the time to do some more mundane
(routine) things, I'd already lost about 3/4 of the seedlings.

We have a couple pints left from last year, so we'll just save them for
treats. Course with just the two of us around, we could can a few and
eat less fresh.

We're hoping for a good chokecherry crop as wasn't any last year, and
the jelly supply is down to about 3 half pints.

I finally made a point about preserving so wasn't totally off topic.

Have a wonderful 4th. Our first grandbaby's going to the Mandan Parade
today. The kids both marched in it for many years as they grew up, now
they want to start passing it down. Corndog and funnel cakes for lunch
today. Nothing from the pantry.

songbird wrote:
>
> some seasons sure are a challenge...

> replanting them is possible or do
> you have other plans for the space
> already? sometimes hard to keep
> them watered

With the heat now on, it's too hard to keep them watered. Plus the City
has suggested we not use much water outside, to not add to potential
groundwater issues. Lawn is already going dormant, weeds are having a
field day, and I sprinkle the garden sparingly to keep it going, but not
thriving as we would normally do. Yep. Challenging season, but so far
we're doing fine. Will be SOOOOOO glad to put the basement back
together in a couple months.

In article >,
pheasant16 > wrote:

> We have a doe with 5-6 little ones under our deck. They've developed a
> taste for everything, including marigolds.

And you're developing a taste for venison?

In article >,
pheasant16 > wrote:

> We're hoping for a good chokecherry crop as wasn't any last year, and
> the jelly supply is down to about 3 half pints.
>
> I finally made a point about preserving so wasn't totally off topic.

Hallelujah.

I think chokecherries are about as low on pectin as a berry can get. Do
you put any almond extract in yours? What's your recipe? How do you
juice them? AIR, they are mostly pit.

I made chokecherry jelly a couple times maybe 20 years ago but my source
dried up on me and I'm to frickin' lazy to look for and pick them
myself.

--
Barb,
The latest jammin'; http://web.me.com/barbschaller July 1, 2011

On 7/4/2011 9:19 AM, Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> In >,
> > wrote:
>
>> We have a doe with 5-6 little ones under our deck. They've developed a
>> taste for everything, including marigolds.
>
> And you're developing a taste for venison?
Rabbits Barb, probably cotton tails, good eats either way.

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> In article >,
> pheasant16 > wrote:
>
>> We have a doe with 5-6 little ones under our deck. They've developed a
>> taste for everything, including marigolds.
>
> And you're developing a taste for venison?

Already have that. Make our own veniburger(hamburger), summer, and
country style sausage. Plus the tenderloins on the grill....... Even
with the kids gone we eat 3 a year. These are northern whitetails, not
the skinny little Florida dogs we see. So maybe 90-110 pounds trimmed
between the 3.

George is right, bunnies. Good eating too, but in town, so no proper
dispatching. Wouldn't care for a trapped one, they are scared, and
meat has lactic acid buildup.

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> In article >,
> pheasant16 > wrote:
>
>> We're hoping for a good chokecherry crop as wasn't any last year, and
>> the jelly supply is down to about 3 half pints.
>>
>> I finally made a point about preserving so wasn't totally off topic.
>
> Hallelujah.
>
> I think chokecherries are about as low on pectin as a berry can get. Do
> you put any almond extract in yours? What's your recipe? How do you
> juice them? AIR, they are mostly pit.
>
> I made chokecherry jelly a couple times maybe 20 years ago but my source
> dried up on me and I'm to frickin' lazy to look for and pick them
> myself.
>

If I want almond taste, we will grind the pits and let them gas off a
day or so. This is how we make syrup. Never cooked. Just add sugar
until it won't dissolve any more, add a little tartaric acid, and freeze.

For jelly, we throw berries in hot water, let it return to boil for a
couple minutes, then cool and express through cheesecloth. Add some
sugar and Sure-Jel and away we go.

Have tried adding almond..........not even close to what the syrup
tastes like, so we stick the the 2 above methods.

"Melba's Jammin'" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> pheasant16 > wrote:
>
>> We have a doe with 5-6 little ones under our deck. They've developed a
>> taste for everything, including marigolds.
>
> And you're developing a taste for venison?

If not send 'am along here...

"George Shirley" > wrote in message
.com...
> On 7/4/2011 9:19 AM, Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>> In >,
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> We have a doe with 5-6 little ones under our deck. They've developed a
>>> taste for everything, including marigolds.
>>
>> And you're developing a taste for venison?
> Rabbits Barb, probably cotton tails, good eats either way.

Ok, that'll do me

"pheasant16" > wrote in message
...
> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>> In article >,
>> pheasant16 > wrote:
>>
>>> We have a doe with 5-6 little ones under our deck. They've developed a
>>> taste for everything, including marigolds.
>>
>> And you're developing a taste for venison?
>
> Already have that. Make our own veniburger(hamburger), summer, and
> country style sausage. Plus the tenderloins on the grill....... Even with
> the kids gone we eat 3 a year. These are northern whitetails, not the
> skinny little Florida dogs we see. So maybe 90-110 pounds trimmed between
> the 3.
>
> George is right, bunnies. Good eating too, but in town, so no proper
> dispatching. Wouldn't care for a trapped one, they are scared, and meat
> has lactic acid buildup.

No problem here, dh shoots them for us.

On 7/4/2011 1:48 PM, pheasant16 wrote:
> Melba's Jammin' wrote:
>> In article >,
>> pheasant16 > wrote:
>>
>>> We have a doe with 5-6 little ones under our deck. They've developed
>>> a taste for everything, including marigolds.
>>
>> And you're developing a taste for venison?
>
> Already have that. Make our own veniburger(hamburger), summer, and
> country style sausage. Plus the tenderloins on the grill....... Even
> with the kids gone we eat 3 a year. These are northern whitetails, not
> the skinny little Florida dogs we see. So maybe 90-110 pounds trimmed
> between the 3.
>
> George is right, bunnies. Good eating too, but in town, so no proper
> dispatching. Wouldn't care for a trapped one, they are scared, and meat
> has lactic acid buildup.

Think air rifle, I've got one that shoots a .22 pellet at about 1100
feet per second. Knocks squirrels and bun rabbits off their feet
immediately. Just makes a sort of clanging sound when the spring hits
otherwise silent.

When I was a kid in SE Texas back in the late forties, early fifties, I
market hunted cotton tails, squirrels, raccoons, and possums. Old man in
town had a barbecue stand and would buy any kind of wild game. Did good
with selling him gar fish too. Got a nickel a lb for everything I
brought in, cleaned of course. He would even take armadillo, never shot
one, just ran them down and hit them in the head with a machete. Now I'm
getting so old and worn out I can't even run down a mouse.