We got a few sprinkles of rain last night. I was able to shake a few drops out of the rain gauge by shaking it very hard. lol (but not really lol--I'm sad about it)

It was nice this morning. Crisp and cool. It was hard to go to work.

Garden things....

Yesterday, I decided to start a new ferment of cucumbers that I've been collecting over the past few days. Grabbed my fermenting crock and there was a ferment already in it! I had totally forgotten and don't even remember when I put them in. They had a moldy film on top. I skimmed it off, removed the weights and the cucumbers seem fine. Actually, their taste was the best I've had. By letting them go longer, they taste 'dill pickly' rather than salty.

Watering. Lots and lots of watering. And harvesting okra. And taking bags of (raw) okra to people. Someone thought I was so kind as to prepare okra (slice and pre-bread) for people before delivering. No way. I can't even find time to do that for myself really. I mean, I could be doing it now. But, it's such a process. Not hard, but half the time I forget it's on cookie sheets in the freezer and then (when I'm super tired at night) I find it and have to deal with it when it's inconvenient.

I would like a kitchen day to deal with some of it. As well as chop more onions for the freezer, make some sweet gherkins, and pickle some onions too.

It's getting harder and harder to find time to do that, as work begins full time again on Thursday.

Tuesday and Wednesday must be a house deep clean. It didn't get done in May/June.

We are about to start remodeling the bathroom that is attached to our bedroom. The shower stuff is ordered now.

Tom got his truck fixed and riding lawn mower too. So, once his hernia is repaired and he has the go ahead from his doctor, we will start that.

It's not that the bathroom is simply ugly....it's in really bad shape and needs repairs.

Tonight, Rick is coming out. We will get the black beans ready to can, but will not can them tonight. They are dried and we need to take them out of their shells/hulls/whatever you call them.

Tonight is the night that Momma Hen goes back to the main coop. It's always a hard night for her and the babies. Tomorrow night, I'm bringing 5 more chicks home to put with my 3. My neighbor buys day old chicks, grows them up a bit, and then sells them. Mine are 6 weeks old. Hers are between 8 and 10 weeks old. So, hopefully it all goes well. I'm probably ridiculous for adding 8 more to the flock. But, we lost a few earlier in the year and the flock is aging and it's highly possible I'll lose a few more over the next few months. We don't need so many eggs, but a few people like to buy our eggs because they are good and reasonably priced. The egg money goes back into buying feed.

Anyway, if everything goes as planned, we'll have fresh egg layers next spring. Possibly before if some of those 10 week olds start laying early.

It was hot last week that even the okra, West Indian gherkins, Kajari melons, and Persian cukes are droopy.

That's what's going on around here.

How's everyone doing? Jen? Lynn? Others who haven't posted in awhile?

I did not get any damaging wind, and not much rain, but we show chances of 17% to 57% of rain for the next 5 days. Our temp is 93 now, which is much better than what we have been having, the humidity is high enough to make the 93 degrees feel much hotter.

I have a 275 gallon tote in the back of my truck syphoning water from a shallow well on the east side of my property. I am hoping to be able to get 500 gallon of water a day if need for the garden. If this Rube Goldberg set-up works I may put a fall garden over near where I have my pickup parked.

I gave away a lot of produce today, but the top of the freezer is still covered with tomatoes and eggplant. I need a good way to fix eggplant. I have 3 plants in the north garden, and we just wont eat the fruit.

Been reading but not posting much. Dealing with too much drama, seems like it's coming from all sides right now. Between that and work, it's been mentally draining. By the time I read everyone's posts, I don't have much to say so I don't comment.

Only thing garden-adjacent is we got rid of the crape myrtle growing next to our house. It was in the way of one of our cameras, so it had to go. It's now whacked down to about 2ft tall. We'll have to try digging it out later this fall when it gets cooler.

Tomatoes are limping along, cucumbers are barely producing. But the basil is going gangbusters. I actually whacked one plant down and loaded up the dehydrator. Then took a bunch over to the neighbor in trade for a couple cucumbers. We're both wanting to make pickles so we're comparing notes.

HJ, what's your fermented cucumber recipe? I'm looking for a good one. I tried making saltwater brine pickles but they turned out too mushy. I know with fermented onions, they stay a bit crunchy. Is that true with pickles too?

Jen, I am sorry for the stress you have, I am a person that does not deal with stress well, I feel that I have had too much in my life. I have had to cut myself off from some people that I love, I miss them a lot, but my heart seem to be doing better.

I did haul a tote of water for the north garden. I need to get some of my irrigation tubes out and set them up on the rows I want to save, and the areas where I want to plant some fall crops.

I have been pleased so far, It looks like my well will give me the water that I need, but I have no idea if the well will keep producing like it is now.

Jen, I'm at work and have the recipe for the pickles on my home laptop.

Basically, put your cucumbers in the crock or jar, add fresh dill, bay leaves, some chopped garlic, peppercorns and 2 tsp of black tea (dried). The tea is supposed to help with the crispness, I believe. People use grape leaves or oak leaves for that reason too.

The brine is 2 TBSP of pickling salt per 4 cups of water. I normally double that.

I'll come back with a link to the recipe tonight.

Larry, so glad your well is gonna work for you.

Tablet is making me crazy today. This maybe a bit elaborate , but it got 5 star reviews. https://www.recipetineats.com/eggplant-parmigiana/

My mother in law made it ths way, only she bought Italian bread crumbs. https://asimplepalate.com/blog/classic-eggplant-parmesan/#wprm-recipe-container-12891

Or, Greek. I happen to love the cinnamon in the meat sauce, but leave it out if you don't. https://www.themediterraneandish.com/moussaka-recipe-eggplant-casserole/#wprm-recipe-container-10534

Thanks for the links, Amy, this gives us something to try.

We got another nice rain this morning, very little run-off, but nice. I pulled a few weeds in the garden and the soil was damp down to about 5 or 6 inches. I doubt that the rain helped the ponds and creeks much, bit if will give a boost to the pastures and gardens.

Hi friends! Wow--it rained all night again, as it has 4 out of the last five nights. And then it quits by them time I get up. Perfect. This morning the temperature is divine--79. I hope you all are well. We're gimping along.

The only vegetable gardening I've done is tomatoes and peppers. I got tomatoes in about June 1. And boy are they going gangbusters now all of a sudden. Best tomato plants I've ever grown. The only ones I grew were Egg Yolk, Arkansas Travelers, and Balkonzauber (determinate). The Egg Yolks and Arkansas Travelers are just now beginning to produce well; bet they'll be monsters this fall. The Balkonzauber is interesting. Gobs of tomatoes, remind me of Heidi. Also a lot of basil here, Jen. And what's funny is that I don't really use basil--I just love the look of it and the blooms.

I'm solarizing the rest of the veggie beds in order to grow flowers and other forbs. I'll get them planted this fall for winter stratification. It's nice to "see" you all.

Nancy, it is good to hear from you. This has been a good tomato year for me also. I planted several different kinds this year, but they got mixed up in the neighbors greenhouse, so I don't know what all of them are. A lot of the new ones were some that you gave me. One tomato from you is one that I will have to buy seeds for next year, it is Beef Maestro, lots of large tomatoes on a large strong plant. Another tomato I will have to try again is Mrs. Maxwell, it is a lot like Brandywine, but maybe a little more productive. Madge had also ordered some Orange hybrid, which she, and my daughter like very well. I also planted a lot of Roma, too many in fact, because we have them going to waste.

We got more rain this morning. We finally got enough rain to get some run-off. We have chances for rain off and on for the next week, so maybe we can get enough to put more water in the ponds and creeks.

Hey Nancy! Good to see you post. Congrats on the tomatoes and all the rain! (Larry, congrats on your rain too!)

It keeps missing us. We're in bad shape.

However, our early summer garden was amazing! It thrived on all the rain we got in June and early July.

We got 1 1/2” rain last night. Perfect timing, we got the hay cut, baled, , and hauled in over the weekend. This morning was like a Fall morning. Nancy I love basil too - I have regular large Italian basil and dozens of spicy globe basil that comes up all over the garden. I occasionally use some on pizza or Italian stuff but mostly just like the way it smells in the garden and draws so many good insects.

Larry I found a package of Mrs Maxwell seeds in my freezer stash. I’m sure it was some my mother ordered years ago - I might try it next year. I am not familiar with it. Mom had a full bushel basket of seeds that were scattered over the house when she passed away. We just put them into a basket as we found them, then everyone took what they wanted and I brought rest home and stuck in freezer.

I had been trying to root some tomato suckers for fall plants without much luck. Today we went to TLC and got 3 Sweet 100 plants. Had nice surprise when checked out because I had enough August bucks that they were free. I still have a couple of Golden Jubilee plants in garden that are looking good and blooming, pulled rest out because of virus and spider mites. Lost most of the okra to grasshoppers - we have an abundance of those and blister bugs. I’m appreciating the cooler temps while they last

farmgardenerok, thanks for the idea! I'll go look for a couple of cherry tomato plants for fall.

I'm glad you got some rain. I'm sorry about the bugs. I wish I could share some of our okra with you.

Has anyone saved okra for seed? I'm going to do that this year. I know they have to dry on the plant. About how many seeds are in each pod?

I really like basil too. Pesto and basil tea. Since doing Whole 30 we've been using a lot more fresh herbs in cooking. We always have used them, but even more so now.

Speaking of....we finished Whole 30 yesterday. Tom lost 20 lbs in 30 days. He's down to 195. But, honestly, it's more about health for us. Not weight loss. I weighed 114.8 this morning and was weighing 119/120ish at the start. I'm sure I'll gain it back and that's fine with me. I'm just happy that my feet are not as inflamed. I look like I weigh more than that because I'm short, but....at this point, I don't care so much about weight. Just health. We're getting old...lol. Time to take care of some things.

I sure enjoyed my toasted Ezekiel bread this morning. The toaster had the smell that heaters have when you turn them on for the first time in the fall. I guess because it hadn't been used for 31 days.

Tonight, we're adding in some cheese and a bit of honey. I'm making a caprese salad and honey balsamic chicken.

We'll take it easy adding stuff back in, tho. Tom mentioned that he mostly wants to keep eating the Whole 30 style and start working on diet coke--drinking less of it.

Back to the garden....I feel like the summer garden is winding down. Even the Persian cukes and Kajari are starting to look a little tired. It could be that we've not had rain for a month (other than a tenth an inch). It could be bugs. The cantaloupe is finished. I'm pretty sure a SVB was in at least one of my remaining Seminoles.

I have left a Persian cuke on the vine to save seed from. Has anyone saved cuke seeds?

I know all of that info is available online....just wanted to know if any of you have done it. Also, I brought in a couple of red and wrinkly jalapenos. Need to save their seed as well.

I'm sitting here rambling and putting off housecleaning. Got half done yesterday. Now, need to finish the rest. It will feel so good to get it done even though I want to do other things.

Try sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and torn fresh Basil on top. Mmmmmm.

Jennifer, I save okra seed every year, but I have no idea how many seeds are in a pod. I often save some of the first pods that are low on the plant, because it is harder to pick the low pods. I just cut off the pods and place them in a Walmart bag and hang them on the back porch. Some time before the next spring I shell out the seed and place in a medicine bottle, sometimes I then place them in the freezer, but most often I just drop them in with my other seed stash. My okra is not doing well, we have a big insect issue, it looks like the grasshoppers eat a hole in the shoulder of the pod, then the ants move in. I am not sure if I have ever had this bad of a grasshopper problem. When I mow the lawn it looks like a cloud of grasshoppers in front of the mower. I also think that my okra has a root knot nematode problem. I need to plant okra in a different area next year.

We planted too much this year and we have not been able to care for all of our plants. I told neighbor that we just had to cut back next year. Neighbor is having health issues also, so I think we see fewer plants next year. I also bought a one row cultivator to go on one of my tractors. If I can use a tractor I can do more work, this old man's body is almost worn out.

I should have been out working today, but I mowed the wildlife garden, our lawn and both sides of the hwy, and I am too tired, plus we had to drop out car off in Ft. Smith to get a new windshield. We are still waiting on the call to go pick it up. I did not feel like sitting in a waiting room for hours tor them to finish it. There seems to be a business slow-down, but not in that auto glass shop, there must have been a hail storm somewhere. We had the car in the shop yesterday also, I may have to trade for a horse and buggy, but Madge would want one with air conditioning, and those are hard to find.

We were supposed to get rain today, so far we have had only a few drops.

I've been having grasshopper problems too over east. They stripped my corn stalks early in the season and ate the silks off of some of the ears so they couldn't fill out. They've also chewed up some of my Caynenne pepper plants. They haven't bothered the okra much ...yet. Okra's doing good right now but the hoppers might get around to it later. I can just walk across the garden and a wave of grasshoppers ripples across in front of me.

Did get some good rain though over east , over 4 inches the last few days.

Rick

a link about fall planting, for those thinking about it.

https://eliawoods.com/fall-planting/

For fall , I'm aiming at turnips , rutabaga , collards ,kale , mustard , spinach , fall onions, green peas, maybe even some carrots ,parnips and beets since I got the seed.

I've tried seeding out brassicas like broccoli , cabbage , kale.

some of it hasn't come up. Will have to probably buy some plants for the fall if available.

Anything else cool season while I got the itch?

Keep in mind that plants grow about 2 weeks slower in the fall with the declining daylight and sun angle.

I do watch the shadows. That's my " Church". ( and that's with a capitol C ).

Yep , on to fall planting.

Rick

Thanks for the link, Rick, I am almost afraid to plant anything because of all the insects.

I sort of work the shadows also. My north garden has an oak tree nearby that shades too much of it. In the winter I don't do well in the north garden because of the long shadow, but in the summer I can plant plants that need a little protection on the south side of the north garden.

I have a bad infestation of Johnson grass in the gardens from using hay mulch that had a lot of seeds in it. I may never get rid of the Johnson grass, I had rather fight Bermuda grass.

Larry , I fight Johnson grass , Morning glories , Crab grass , :pig weed , Buffalo bull needle,...

And now poison Ivry into my garden fence.

Rick

Rick, I don't like using Glyphosate, but I use it every year, I have too much fence row to clean to be without it. I also don't know how I will get rid if the pig weed. You can let pig weed go, and be years getting rid of it.

That’s great, Kim. I know you needed it.

we need it too.

Here we go again….

Jennifer, that is terrible. We had some soil cracking also, but not near as bad as yours. I have very few cracks now after the few rains we had. Before the rains I ran a disc or tiller over the soil to fluff it up some. It worked great because we got some very slow rains first and the water soaked in deep.

The weather has been pretty nice the past few days, but I have not felt well, plus we have been running the car back and forth for repairs.

I am going to bed early, hoping I will feel pulling weeds in the morning, then spraying some fence lines. This getting old is not as much fun as I had planned on it being.

HJ, okra pods have dozens of seed in them. Wait until they start splitting open, then harvest and shell. The last time I grew them, about 20 pods nearly filled a sandwich sized ziploc bag. As for cucumber seed, I ferment them like I do tomato seed. Squeeze the seed into a cup, fill with water and let them sit a few days. Then dump the water and gently rub them against the strainer to remove the rest of the gel stuff. Spread out on a plastic plate (old butter lids work well) to dry, then pick out the viable ones.

Shelling out the okra seeds is a special activity for me. I have a great grand son that loves to shell the okra. I pick the pods before they split and put them in a Walmart bag and hang them on a bakers rack we have on the back porch. When great grand son comes to visit, we sit on the back porch and he catches me up on Sponge Bob, and all the other characters that he keeps up with.

I take a lot of medication, and store a lot of my seeds in 4 OZ med bottles. I carry a lot of supplies and tools in my RTV. The seeds and smaller tools are stored in a tool satchel. The back will hold potting soil, fertilizer, plants and larger tools.

Thanks, Jen and Larry.

Jen, saving cuke seeds seems the same as the Karjari melon I'm saving.

I'm pooped. Work has been difficult. We have a child with an autism diagnosis, who I am familiar with in another non-school capacity and there's never been a problem. However, the school setting is too much for this child. I literally got punched in the face today. I'm going to stop talking about this now....because there's just so much about this situation and job.

Rick and I watered last night. I watered tonight.

The last round of 100+ temperatures put stress on my plants obviously. So, now my Persian cukes have aphids. They look a bit sickly. There's already ladybugs on them, tho. I'm not going to start more cucumber seed for the fall. I have 4 half-gallon jars of fermented cukes that should last a few months. Just stored the last one tonight. Or maybe I'll have a few more to ferment. The plants are not dead yet and they have small fruit on them....and the big one I'm wanting to save seed from.

If I had time, I would pull a lot of my plants. I'm that tired. I saw a big fat hornworm on a struggling German Johnson plant. I just left it. Who cares at this point? I'm sure there's another hornworm on another plant. I can see the damage, but didn't see the caterpillar.

I do want to save our strawberries and perennials and peppers. I water the soil because I don't want it to dry out too much. Even if I don't care if the plants die at this point.

It's my "down" time of year. I see a lot of posts and hear a lot of people talking about winter blahs--how they get depressed. I find it so odd that I don't get down in the winter. I get sad in this type of dry, hot weather. I hate it so much. I hate dry, cracked ground and cooking plants, panting chickens and struggling outdoor animals. It's all just so gross.

Don't get me wrong. I am SO grateful for the garden this year. It was a good run. Lots of produce. My pantry is full and I'm sure Rick's is too. It's been super productive. I got spoiled and want more of what June and early July gave us.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to freeze a bit more okra (I've run out of room for it in the refrigerator and it's sitting in buckets in my kitchen) and onions in the morning.

I'm going to lunch with my Mom and shopping in the afternoon. Her BD is today. I believe she's 77. I love to shop right before fall. I love fall. I love fall candles. Fall decor. Fall clothing. Fall smells. Fall soaps.

How's everyone's gardens doing? I know a lot of you got plentiful rain, but are still super hot? Are your plants surviving?