Posted on 12/02/2011 5:11:38 AM PST by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. I can’t believe it is already December, Brrrrrrrrr! It is 27 this morning in East Central Mississippi and is forecast to be in the mid 60s this afternoon. There are no plans to do any outside work for this gardener today. What needs to be done can wait until Saturday and Sunday when it is supposed to be in the high 60s and into the 70s. Just waiting for Spring now.
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They were able to devise a system that will be on the roof of our large equipment shed, and they will be on the back side ... not even visible from the house or the street. They will be visible from the interstate though.
I can't imagine why someone would sabotage a neighbor's system. That is ridiculous and I would have pursued legal avenues before I took down the windmills. That is a shame.
Whew! I thought you were mad at me for some reason. Keep in mind that I don’t have much to celebrate at this time of year, so I just take whatever little bit of notoriety I can muster! ;^)
I’ve not looked through my Johnny’s Seeds Catalog, but from Park Seed I’ve ordered 4 ten-seed packets of Baby Cucino Cucumbers.
They’re expensive. But, the little cukes are so productive, and so tasty, I think they pay for themselves. Except for Suyo Long, arm-long oriental cukes, these are all the cucumbers I intend to plant for the Spring.
Do need to look through Johnny’s catalog to see if they offer something for our hot, drought-stricken central Texas gardens.
There may have been more to the situation (disabled windmill) than a disgruntled neighbor. I think both of these people are a little bit nuts. But, my point is the farm being subject to the easy interruption of service.
Your idea of having the solar panels on the shed roofs is a great idea. My question has always been, what does a solar panel do to your roof? Wear and tear? I’ve never had that question answered. I’d think that there would (or could) be some damage with snow and high winds (like we are subject to). My husband isn’t interested, and nobody wants to answer my question seriously.
Around here, I’m starting to see commercial applications on the ground — a raised panel set at an angle. Takes up a lot of space and doesn’t look too pretty.
I would love to add a new garage to our property. I’d love to consider a panel on the roof of the garage to heat the interior for a workshop. It’s probably a dream that will never come true. But, you always have to have a dream, or you just stop living. Right?
Re windmills.
My husband (the engineer) has never been very much in favor of them, despite having made them at one of the companies where he worked about 30 years ago. They need a lot of maintenance. The large ones need to have all the tools hauled up a circular flight of stairs inside the column. The home sized ones could be serviced with a cherry picker, if the mill isn’t too tall. When you drive by the commercial Wind Farms and look closely (like in Southern CA) half the windmills are still because they are not working for one reason, or another.
Oh no! I love noodles, rice, potatoes, etc. Ugh! Come to think of it, looking back on my notes, the weeks where I didn’t have many starches were my most successful weeks. Time to limit them even more I guess. Gotta lose a LOT before my son’s wedding next May!
We are finally getting a nice soaking rain here. It should be raining most of the weekend.
Rain forecast for San Antonio has shifted and moved since I started watching at 2 o'clock this morning. All the good stuff is to the west of us, from Corpus Christi almost to Dallas.
Only now are we getting teasing, drizzle, misting, fringe stuff.
Correction.
Wael, for most of the day, the rain was to the east from Corpus to Dallas.
Now it is to the west of San Antonio. Nothing but tease.
Nothing worthwhile forecast for the city.
Switch to whole grain noodles and pasta, brown rice, and sweet potatoes, and limit your portions. If you can swear off entirely, all the better, but we’re ONLY human! LOL!
We are about 35 NW of Austin and have almost an inch in the gage. It is still drizzling now.
The seed catalogs are arriving steadily, I’m trying to decide what to order for a market garden. There’s a little shop that buys from local growers, but it’s such a tiny shop that I don’t want to overwhelm them with too much of one thing, or be trying to sell them the same thing as a dozen other growers. I’m open to suggestions about that.
In other news, I unburied my sewing machine and started making more everyday clothes with it. Most of my sewing experience is with costumes or doll clothes, but I was getting sick of the stuff I like to wear being so expensive, so hard to find, and so badly made! Last Sunday I made a pair of comfy stretch pants and Monday it was a cotton brassiere. I’m going to need more fabric. I have piles of it but it’s all costume-y stuff like satin and velvet. Fun, but not for everyday wear. I’ve been looking online and discovered that it’s actually pretty hard to find a place that sells 100% cotton knits by the bolt. If I wasn’t allergic to polyester I could get stretch fabric by the ton.
I’m feeling more and more driven to get my house built. I think I’m going to want a place to hide.
There are several residential systems in our area installed on the ground and they don't look particularly nice, which is why I didn't want mine on the ground. Luckily we have the huge equipment shed. They will have to run the wires underground and under the pond to the breaker boxes in the house. Plus, I didn't want anything else to mow around.
With the tax breaks that are currently being offered for alternative energy systems, we simply couldn't go wrong. If you are only looking to heat a workshop, there are probably small panels available at a home improvement type store.
I’m glad to know that there are some conservatives who will be able to take advandtage of the solar tax breaks. I hope you post pictures, etc., as you go along.
Sounds good to ME! LOL!
Here in south central Nebraska- today I cut my parsley and tarragon to bring in to dry- I don’t know of any year I have had anything still growing the first part of December. We are supposed to have a whopper of a storm coming through tonight and tomorrow, so I decided now was the time.
The parsley had new growth and a lot of leaves from the linden tree in and amongst the plants- I noticed the tarragon had managed to do some blooming,
I did some last minute clean up today- had a bag of fertilizer that needed put in the garden shed. Brought in my spike ( don’t recall the name, but the fellow one puts in a planter arrangement to give some height-—It is still very happy but I trimmed it a bit when I picked it up. It had grown roots through the hole in the bottom of the container.
I have had it through two winters now- I will put it in a larger planter next spring and let it do its thing.
Very cool, magslinger. My girls get a huge kick when they see the deer sleep on a bed of straw (in the very back of the yard). The straw is what is left of the Halloween scarecrows... seems that at least three of them consider them “Serta mattresses”. LOL!
How do you prep your chicken to can it and what do you best use it for? How is the consistency? I caught the canning bug this year and now that veg season is done, I’m turning to the pressure canner. So far I’ve only done taco meat (a little mushier than fresh but my taco eaters liked it just fine) and would like to do more. Thanks for any tips.
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