The persimmons are starting to ripen found a couple to eat. They are so delicious, and sooooooo rich-a little goes a long way. I am still learning how to tell the ripe ones. I don't put them up yet, because even 1 unripe persimmon can ruin the whole batch.
I just enjoy them as a seasonal fruit to go with my morning meal. The critters get the rest. My pepper plants are full of green peppers, but I am just leaving them for now, and harvesting them as I need one. Once they turn red, though I pick them and bring them in and dry some of them for winter use.
As long as the weather holds, I'll leave them in the garden. When the first frost is predicted, I'll dig up some and put them in pots to grow this winter indoors. I think my peanuts are ready to harvest. I got a late start on those.
Hope you are all doing well. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the list.
Good Afternoon. For those who plant by the moon’s phases, today and tomorrow are good for root bearing crops. I need to plant some more onions, and Daikon Minowase Radishes.
My grow light that is just like Marcella’s is supposed to arrive at Walmart today, so that should keep me entertained this weekend as I think of things to plant under it.
Maybe I will grow yellow squash and change its name to squish in honor of our gutless wonders in DC. On second thought there is more honor and godly purpose in a humble yellow squash compared to the destructive 2 legged insects crawling all over DC.
In other news my little North Texas garden is making a little rebound after surviving the late summer scorch of heat. Rain is on the way so some good news in this post at least.
38 minutes to go, then I can hit the sheets. Last of the people corn is in the pressure canner. We had it all cleaned & cut off the cobs; the packing water was hot, and the canner was bubbling, when I went downstairs to get the jars. Uh-oh! WE WERE OUT. Turned everything off, and put the corn in the fridge.
Hard freeze tonight, so picked all that couldn’t withstand it this morning, before leaving for the day. Since we had to retrieve a repaired water tank in Rapid City, we also got more jars; and since my corn cutter broke, got a new one of those, too.
When we got home, we spent just over 2 hours shelling the speckled butterbeans from this morning; they filled an extra large sized plastic sack. I had no idea 25 or 30 bushes could produce so many! That is in addition to the fully matured ones I was picking nearly every day for the last 2 weeks.
By the end of next week, we’ll probably have everything out, except maybe the potatoes & Brussels sprouts.
While in Rapid, I also bought a couple of hundred pounds of chicken & rabbit feed; I went to town Wednesday, and got the nasty surprise that our feed store had gone out of business. Next closest is an extra 15 miles each way. Due to local politics, and old family resentments, the city zoning inspector (an A-H by any measure) had been giving them grief at every turn, ever since they opened.
As soon as the corn is finished, it gets turned off, and can sit inside the canner until morning; and I can ge to bed.
Got turnip, lettuce seeds into the ground. I also have several types of onions and some garlic planted. Broccoli and cauliflower seedlings and some banana peppers as well.
I planted a few cucumber seeds and hope they make it before the first freeze. I did the same a few years ago and we had fresh cukes up until Christmas.
Nice late season tomato crop, gonna make sauce and salsa tomorrow.
Got a couple zukes from my late-season planting.
Got my first-ever crop of yams from a sprouty yam I cut in half and planted in late June.
It’s been dry so the fall garden is slow in coming along, but having some bok choy tonight with the yams and zukes.
Three nice pumpkins from the volunteers from last year’s jack-o-lanterns.
And a decent crop of butternuts.
Throwing the runt ears of corn that have dried up to the chickens.
I love (ripe) persimmons! Two stories:
As a little girl, I traipsed about behind my dad when he would walk around his home place farm (100+ acres). One day, we came across a persimmon tree. He was telling me about how much ‘possums loved persimmons and handed me (a green) one and told me to try it. There’s not a whole lot that can compare to the “pucker power” of a non-ripe persimmon! To this day, I haven’t quite forgiven him for doing that to me!
As an adult, I took up hiking and do a lot in the mountains. On a beautiful fall day, after quite a cold night, some friends and I hiked down the mountain on an old road that runs beside a ‘river’ to a reservoir that serves a small city (that is some distance away) and pretty much in ‘wild’ condition around the edges of the water. There were all sorts of fall wildflowers, poke berries, seeds .... deer & turkey tracks, etc. We came across a persimmon tree and the fruit was so ripe it was falling off on the ground. We ate what was intact and it was just delicious. I still have good memories of that great hike and those luscious persimmons. :-)
Anyway, I came across a book lately and the reviews on it are just the best .... I'm getting it for two guys I know: one who is trying to eke out a profit on his family farm and another who worked on an organic farm this summer and quickly figured out how much work it is .... but still would like to do something in farming. Here's a link, check it out:
Gaining Ground: A Story of Farmers' Markets, Local Food, and Saving the Family Farm
Our Brandywine and Cherokee Purple tomatoes have been wonderful. We will probably be harvesting more until about mid to late October.