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Author Topic: Fall harvest thread
Michelle
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posted 19 September 2008 06:04 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Since I contributed to the thread drift at the end of the previous thread...


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
M. Spector
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posted 19 September 2008 06:13 PM      Profile for M. Spector   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Mmm. That was delicious.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. Here's a close-up view of Lyle's Golden Syrup:

Notice the picture of the honey bees who have made a hive in the carcass of a dead lion, and the slogan "out of the strong came forth sweetness"?

It's a line from the Bible™ (Judges 14:14). This page gives you an explanation.

Weird, eh?


From: One millihelen: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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posted 19 September 2008 06:19 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Makes me think people knew their bible a little better back in 1883. Funny, when I think of "Lyle's Golden Syrup" I always picture the MGM lion on the front of the can.


My father's comfort food, Michelle, included fried bananas, and (not in concert) peanut butter and spanish onion sandwiches.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 19 September 2008 06:31 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Fried plantains are a popular Latin American treat. A Venezuelan friend introduced me to that, and oh my gosh, it was SO good.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
M. Spector
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posted 19 September 2008 06:35 PM      Profile for M. Spector   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yes, I had those in Cuba for the first and last time about 40 years ago. Good stuff!
From: One millihelen: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 19 September 2008 06:50 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The local store used to carry real Quebec maple syrup; now they just carry Aunt Jemina syrup, which I don't care for at all. I love real maple syrup and real maple sugar candies.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
M. Spector
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posted 19 September 2008 07:00 PM      Profile for M. Spector   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Maple syrup costs about the same as whisky these days, at least around these parts.

I think I'll stick to pouring Wiser's Deluxe on my pancakes...


From: One millihelen: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 19 September 2008 07:06 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Question: should raw honey be stored in the refrigerator, or can it just be stored in the cupboard? Does it go bad without refrigeration?

I kept it in the fridge when I bought it last week, but when I go to eat it, it's not very easy to spread since it gets kind of stiff.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 19 September 2008 07:06 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
M. Spector:

[ 19 September 2008: Message edited by: Boom Boom ]


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
scott
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posted 19 September 2008 07:19 PM      Profile for scott   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Michelle:
Question: should raw honey be stored in the refrigerator, or can it just be stored in the cupboard? Does it go bad without refrigeration?

It doesn't need to be refrigerated. Just keep it in the cupboard.


From: Kootenays BC | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 19 September 2008 10:51 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I paid an arm and a leg for a can of maple syrup in the market downtown Ottawa this summer. Quebec syrup so it was good enough for moi. They really know how to do pancake breakfasts in Trois Rivieres. Only they don't resemble pancakes i knew as a boy in Ontario du Nord.

Ayup, I remember Lyle's on porridge in the morning. And butter tarts. MMmm, the best.

I go to me grand's in Maltby Yorkshire when I was a kid, and sure enough, there's a can of iron tit on the table and Cadbury's cakes for 4 o'clock tea. Oh aye

[ 19 September 2008: Message edited by: Fidel ]


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Boom Boom
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posted 20 September 2008 08:12 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The tomatoes - all 50+ of them! - from my garden are gradually turning red, and they taste sooooo much better than store brought! I'm eating tomato sandwiches every day.
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Brian White
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posted 21 September 2008 08:07 AM      Profile for Brian White   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I gotta make more beer for the slugs, I have plums in the fridge ready for processing, figs ripening so slowly that I do not think they will make it. Can I take them off and let them ripen indoors?
The black grapes are being attacked by starlings and possibly racoons even though they are not yet fully ripe.
Beans are nearly done too. I am going to try for rhubarb again. (To harvest it) I will be a guinea pig for oxalic acid.
O yeah, runner beans. Great when they are green and seeds are small. BUT be careful when the seeds are fully ripe, they have to be cooked.
The ripe runner seeds contain an alkaloid that can make you sick.
I had a bad gardening year cos I was so lazy. But I have lots of jam and canned beans and hopefully I can keep the slugs down over the winter. Victoria is suitable for winter gardening.
Brian

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al-Qa'bong
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posted 21 September 2008 08:27 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I was out at the allotment yesterday and came home with five boxes of tomatoes. We had a frost warning the night before, so I thought I'd better not take any chances.

I have about the same number of tomato plants in the back yard that I'll have to pick before Wednesday - the next possible frost date.

The corn would be ready in two frost-free weeks.

We picked a bowl of September Ruby apples from the tree we planted last year. They're OK, I suppose, although they taste something like Red Delicious, and I'm a MacIntosh guy.

There's no way I'm going to see any aubergines on the plants this year. The flowers still look great, though. Maybe the bees don't like them.


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Boom Boom
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posted 22 September 2008 02:10 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
This year our first day of fall (today...) equals our first day of frost. Going down to -2C here overnight, so I've been pulling all the lettuce out of the garden, and the last of the tomatoes. Gave away 20+ heads of baby leaf and Meslun lettuce, along with lots of tomatoes, carrots, and rutabaga, to friends and neighbours - many of them have done things for me and refuse payment for their services, so giving away some veggies is okay with me.
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ElizaQ
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posted 22 September 2008 02:50 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hopefully the frost here will hold off for a few weeks!
Keeping my fingers crossed because the large bulk of my tomatoes are just starting to ripen.
I think though I'm going to have pounds and pounds of green tomatos this year.
Already setting up ripening tables in my basement for them. It's a big pain in the butt.

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Boom Boom
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posted 22 September 2008 03:19 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I have a table set up for tomatoes in my living room facing the sun. Fortunately they're not all ripening at once. I can't decide whether I will try tomatoes again next year or not - our growing season is only from mid-July to mid-September, and September is slow because of the cold.

Root veggies, on the other hand, do great here. I have been enjoying the best carrots of my life this year - from my garden!

Lettuce does really well here, as does cabbage. My neighbours grow ridiculously large heads of cabbage, then salt the leaves and sell them for extra income. I haven't tried cabbage yet because they take far more space than I want to give them.

I'm not sure what I will do with the (small) greenhouse next year. Maybe spinach and cucumbers.


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al-Qa'bong
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posted 24 September 2008 07:04 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I covered tomatoes for the second straight night tonight.

I picked all the courgettes that were ready, some ripe tomatoes (for some reason I think they're less hardy than green ones), cucumbers and basil. We had pesto last night and I froze the rest of the basil.

I also picked my cayenne peppers. Some are now on the stove, simmering with garlic in vinegar. I'm trying to make this tabasco sauce:

http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/hotsauce/homeade_tobasco.html

The smell is rather powerful; my throat gets constricted when I approach the stove.


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Tommy_Paine
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posted 25 September 2008 04:27 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
A while back I saw a feature on the Tabasco company, and they allowed the film crew to document the process, if not all the ingredients. It was interesting.

This reminded me that I always wanted to find a recipe for home made "HP" sauce. I just googled it, and it doesn't look too difficult. Most of the recipes don't include all the stuff in the Wikipedia description, but they do have proportions I can use as a start.

[ 25 September 2008: Message edited by: Tommy_Paine ]


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Boom Boom
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posted 25 September 2008 05:33 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I used to like HP sauce, now, not so much. Has the formula changed, I wonder?
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Tommy_Paine
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posted 26 September 2008 06:34 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Our tastes change over time. For years and years, I used to crave acidic foods. Anything with vinegar, for example. Now, not so much.

For about a decade or more, I couldn't even think of eating an egg-- unless it was a pickled egg. Eating an egg would make me nauseous to the point of vomiting.

For the past couple of years I was unable to digest peanut butter, after eating it with no problem all my life. Recently, a few test sandwiches were processed okay, so it seems I can go on enjoying it.

I have a half baked hypothesis that when our body needs certain nutrients-- or has too many of them-- we crave certain foods, or become inexplicably adverse to others.

I think that is more in evidence when we are younger, but I think it continues through our lives.


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Blairza
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posted 26 September 2008 02:20 PM      Profile for Blairza     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
After a week of unseasonable cold here in Northern California the temperature has shot back up to the 90'sF and the harvest has slowed down. Although most of the chardonnay seems to be crushed, the Cabernet and Zinfandel vines are heavy with black-purple fruit. Pumpkin and strawberry patches are doing a heavy business, and our fruit stands are full of local organic apples, pears and figs. There are gold crown sparrows and purple finches feeding on the blackberry as they pass through on their travels south. This time of year Sonoma fills with tourists for the various fall festivals, and our local stages fill with a great variety of musicians just as our undeveloped highways fill with all variety of vehicles hauling fruit from vineyards to wineries.

It's hard sometimes living in Paradise.


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Boom Boom
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posted 26 September 2008 02:33 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Blairza:
It's hard sometimes living in Paradise.

Ha!

I'd be deeply envious, except I can't stand the heat.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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posted 26 September 2008 03:18 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
There are only five degrees of separation between us, Blairza. Of latitude.

We have wine here in SW Ontario, too. Not sure if they are harvesting now. Ontario wines used to be a running joke, like California wines years ago, but there are some nice ones now. At least for this uneducated pallet.

And of course, our climate favours ice wine, which is a late harvest. You'd think that ice wine would be cheaper here, because it is local.

But, think again.


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Boom Boom
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posted 26 September 2008 03:22 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Ah, Ontario plonk. Used to buy it by the gallon - it made a nice mouthwash.
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Lard Tunderin' Jeezus
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posted 26 September 2008 04:17 PM      Profile for Lard Tunderin' Jeezus   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Ontario whites are fabulous, if becoming a bit pricey nowadays.

Reds, not so much, although there's a few exceptions such as the older vine Pinot Noirs, if you're an afficionado.

Anyway, the wines are all well and good, but what I miss are the grocery stores full of Niagara fruit at this time of year that I remember from my youth...


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lagatta
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posted 26 September 2008 05:42 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Boom Boom, you are decades out of date. There are excellent Ontario wines now - yes, especially the whites (reds will take a bit more global warming), some quite pricey, some decent accessible ones. I always pick up a bottle or two when I'm in Ottawa.

And not all parts of Northern California are particularly hot. Some mountainous areas, or hilly ones by the sea, are always springlike. If they weren't in the US, and if they hadn't paved over most of paradise with car-centred development, it would be a wonderful place to be.


From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 26 September 2008 06:45 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Well, I did say "I used to...".
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
scott
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posted 26 September 2008 07:25 PM      Profile for scott   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I harvested grapes last week - the first time they were both bigger than blueberries and NOT eaten by deer. Currently harvesting apples. Garlic planting in a few weeks. Still have tomatoes ripening in the greenhouse. We are having a relatively sunny and mild fall. Wild mushrooms are bumper this year.
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al-Qa'bong
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posted 26 September 2008 09:41 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I have about ten clusters of grapes on my Valiant vine. I pick a few every couple of days, and am always surprised that they taste just like Welch's grape juice, even if the grapes are barely bigger than Saskatoons.

The kiwis are not much bigger, and haven't ripened very much at all. They aren't any bigger than they were two months ago.

I've had to cover the garden for the third night in a row. It got down to -2 last night.


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Tommy_Paine
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posted 27 September 2008 04:51 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by lagatta:
Boom Boom, you are decades out of date. There are excellent Ontario wines now - yes, especially the whites (reds will take a bit more global warming), some quite pricey, some decent accessible ones. I always pick up a bottle or two when I'm in Ottawa.

We're partial to a Pele Island Gamay Noir, (zwiegelt) that has a flying squirel on the label. I think the current vintage on the market is 2006, and it's good. There was a bad year, I'm guessing 2004, where we bought a bottle with the usual anticipation and thought "what the hell is this?". And here, I thought all this talk about "such and such was a good year" was just wine snob talk. But yes, good and bad years can be detected by an uneducated, working class pallet.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 27 September 2008 04:57 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Tommy_Paine:
But yes, good and bad years can be detected by an uneducated, working class pallet.

I prefer to use my working class palate.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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posted 27 September 2008 05:02 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by al-Qa'bong:
I have about ten clusters of grapes on my Valiant vine. I pick a few every couple of days, and am always surprised that they taste just like Welch's grape juice, even if the grapes are barely bigger than Saskatoons.

The kiwis are not much bigger, and haven't ripened very much at all. They aren't any bigger than they were two months ago.

I've had to cover the garden for the third night in a row. It got down to -2 last night.



I forgot, I do have tons of grapes in my back yard. Wild grapes. They aren't sour, but tend to be sweet. But, they are small, and all seed and skin. I have them for privacy, aesthetics and for the birds who enjoy them well into the winter. We have the phone and cable lines running in the back yards here, and the wild grape has climbed the polls and are now running down the wires. It creates a wall of green as a backdrop.

One does have to watch how they grow though, to keep them off bushes and trees you like. I have to use a ladder twice a season to make sure my lilac bushes don't get smothered by them.

They are also embracing an accidental Chinese (more likely Siberian) Elm that grows behind my garage. I hope the grape vine kills it. What a pain in the ass it is to get rid of one of those trees when they sprout in a place you don't want them!

Hmm. Maybe Chinese Elm would be another good candidate for coppicing? Not sure how it burns.

Anywho. I am astounded, al-Qa'bong to hear you are growing Kiwi. I thought Kiwi demanded very specific growing conditions, like morning fog and stuff.

Are you doing anything special? Or am I completely wrong thinking that they couldn't grow outside a greenhouse here?

I'd love to have a tree or two of those.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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posted 27 September 2008 05:03 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Boom Boom:

I prefer to use my working class palate.


Making fun of my spelling shows you are a man who would have no problem with the ethics of shooting fish in a barrel.


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Boom Boom
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posted 27 September 2008 05:58 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Oh, I almost never make spelling flames, but this one I could not resist, because I have "Pallet" in my birth name.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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posted 27 September 2008 06:09 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
You may remember or know I make truck wheels. Well, when we move them around the plant, we put them, and the component rims, on steel pallets. The good ones, anyway. We do put the odd reject on other pallets, eventually, but they are not allways handy.

One day, a co-worker put a wheel on the floor instead of the pallet. "What's wrong?" I asked, "that one taste bad?" He gave me a lost look "taste bad....?" he said, looking for some kind of reason behind my remark.

"Well," I deadpanned "you obviously found it unpalletable."


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Boom Boom
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posted 27 September 2008 06:59 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
good one!
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lagatta
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posted 27 September 2008 07:35 AM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yeah, I was imagining big carboys or barrels of vino being moved about the winery on pallets.

All good or bad year means is the weather - you don't even have to drink wine to understand that if the weather is shitty, all fruit will not be as nice.

But that farmers' understanding of course got tarted up by wine snobs. Pity, that, as wine is simply fermented fruit juice (and if not misused, something that can make us happy indeed, with good food and good friends).


From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 27 September 2008 07:46 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by scott:
I harvested grapes last week - the first time they were both bigger than blueberries and NOT eaten by deer. Currently harvesting apples. Garlic planting in a few weeks. Still have tomatoes ripening in the greenhouse. We are having a relatively sunny and mild fall. Wild mushrooms are bumper this year.

Okay, new rule: people from BC are not allowed in gardening or weather threads from now on. They make the rest of us jealous.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 27 September 2008 08:31 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Anywho. I am astounded, al-Qa'bong to hear you are growing Kiwi. I thought Kiwi demanded very specific growing conditions, like morning fog and stuff.

Are you doing anything special? Or am I completely wrong thinking that they couldn't grow outside a greenhouse here?


I don't do much that's special, other than see that the plants are covered by lots of snow during the winter.

The spot they're in isn't ideal; they get shaded by my house , even though they face south (they're planted along a little fence that divides part of my back yard).

I have a Cascade hops plated in the midst of the kiwis. You can actually hear that sucker growing in June.


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Boom Boom
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posted 27 September 2008 09:03 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by al-Qa'bong:
I don't do much that's special, other than see that the plants are covered by lots of snow during the winter.

I'm curious - what growing zone are you in? Here, I'm in 3A. Yours must be 6 or higher, I presume.


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Tommy_Paine
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posted 27 September 2008 10:35 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Thanks, al-Qa'bong. I'll give them a try.
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Digiteyes
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posted 27 September 2008 04:31 PM      Profile for Digiteyes   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Not one ripe tomato.
Zero. zilch. nada.
I planted 4 San Marzano paste tomato plants in my front garden (among my roses). They're an organic heirloom variety, a bit slow to ripen, and really slow this year.
But I have seen them turn orange... and then *poof* they're gone.
Could be critters. But I would expect a few broken leaves and stems if it were critters.
I have some green tomatoes that have obviously been chewed by squirrels or raccoons: it's obvious that they've tasted them, and not liked the taste too much.

I suspect it's two-legged critters.

So much for front-yard veggie growing in Toronto. I think I'm going to harvest green (if I can do that -- they should be a fair size before harvested).

Time to dig out some of those recipes I linked to for Boom Boom...


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lagatta
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posted 27 September 2008 04:32 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
It probably gets at least as cold where Al Q is as where you are in the wintertime - isn't that the basis of the zones? But his summers would be a lot warmer, and sometimes hot. Strongly continental climate.
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 27 September 2008 04:49 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
We have very cool summers here, I wish they were just a tad warmer, say 28C. I think our warmest day this year was 22C, but my memory ain't what it used to be.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 27 September 2008 06:29 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Tommy_Paine:
Thanks, al-Qa'bong. I'll give them a try.

The variety we find here is a "hardy" kiwi, so make sure that's what you're getting.

I think we're in one of the "3" zones here, Boomer, although we can grow perennials that are supposed to be hardy in a "4" zone. But Zone "6"? In Saskatchewan? Ha haha haa hahaa!


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Blairza
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posted 28 September 2008 09:07 AM      Profile for Blairza     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hey Tommy and Boom Boom, I thought the Working class Pallet line was a pun. I've been in the hospitality industry in the wine country for about a decade and I've become quite a wine snob, and the biggest wine snobs I know are all working mooks like me who sell the stuff. The good year bad year is the truth however some vintages are awefull upon release and then age gracefully like the '98 Sonoma and Napa Cabs that were so despised in 2000 but sharply re-valued in 2003. Pinot alas does not age like bordeux. I've tasted some fine Ice wine, does anybody in Canada make fine brandy?
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Boom Boom
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posted 28 September 2008 10:38 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by al-Qa'bong:
But Zone "6"? In Saskatchewan? Ha haha haa hahaa!

Well, I didn't know where you were. I thought southern Sask was quite warm - isn't that wheat growing country?


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 28 September 2008 11:16 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yeah, but we grow wheat only in the summer.
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Boom Boom
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posted 28 September 2008 11:21 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
That summer heat you enjoy is an advantage over us - we have very cool summers here, very short growing season except for root veggies.

My neighbours complimented me on the huge carrots I gave them from my garden - twice as big as the stuff in the store, and much better tasting - they have a touch of sweetness to them.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
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posted 03 October 2008 12:31 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Hey Tommy and Boom Boom, I thought the Working class Pallet line was a pun.

I am a nasty punster-- but also, if not a poor speller, one who is more often than not more eager to write than proof read. Occam's razor could have cut either way on that one, so don't feel bad.

Although birds aren't normally associated with the fall harvest, this is a kind of back yard thread.

And, I just had a Great Blue Heron in my back yard. Not bad for living in the middle of a city of about 400,000 people.

I think my neighbours pool lured it in. Maybe it's migratory, or maybe it's local and raiding the back yard fish ponds. Either way, quiet a sight from the kitchen window.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Lard Tunderin' Jeezus
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posted 03 October 2008 01:08 PM      Profile for Lard Tunderin' Jeezus   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Blairza:
I've tasted some fine Ice wine, does anybody in Canada make fine brandy?
There's only one I've heard good things about: Kittling Ridge. Most Canadian brandies are cheapies made by the big liquor distillers; Kittling Ridge is an adventurous winery.

Kittling Ridge also does ice wine, and a brandy/ice wine blend. I've tried that - it was nice, but not clearly indicative of the quality of either one separately.


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Boom Boom
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posted 03 October 2008 03:23 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm not a drinker - gave it up (mostly) about twenty years ago - but occasionally I'll have a wee bit of brandy and ice, for my health. Brandy is the only liquor I can drink straight now, on those rare occasions when my heart needs it. Wish I had some now - all I have is a big bottle of Gordon's that I use to make a hot toddy for those cold nights once in a very blue moon. I bought that bottle in 2002, to celebrate my move to Kegaska - and it's still 2/3 full!
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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posted 03 October 2008 05:13 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Invite a couple of us there, and we'll clear up that problem in no time!
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Boom Boom
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posted 03 October 2008 06:41 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
lagatta:

Seriously, anyone from this forum is always welcome here. Not a lot of room, it's a small place. But the views are great - can see the Gulf from my LR window.


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Tommy_Paine
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posted 04 October 2008 06:20 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hast seen the White Whale?
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Boom Boom
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posted 04 October 2008 06:26 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
A white Beluga whale was here two summers ago, haven't seen it since. Lots of Minke whales and small sharks.
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Tommy_Paine
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posted 04 October 2008 06:59 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I have this urge to watch the John Huston/Ray Bradbury film version of Moby Dick now.

Oh ye dam-ned whale!


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Boom Boom
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posted 04 October 2008 07:12 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I watched The Simpson's take on Moby Dick tonight - hilarious! (Marge decides to become a writer, and plagiarizes MD).
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Boom Boom
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posted 06 October 2008 03:44 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I was out planting bulbs (Border Lilies) today that should blossom next June or later - depending on when the ground thaws after this winter. Next, whenever they arrive from the shop, will be more bulbs - All Summer Blooming Coneflowers, and a Reblooming Daylily Collection. If they all grow, in addition to my existing Marigolds, Daisies, Sunflowers, and other flowering plants, I should have some nice gardens next summer. I quit growing tulips because they don't do well here outside in the wind.
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Boom Boom
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posted 07 October 2008 03:39 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I sat in the clinic almost half a day waiting to see the doctor, and then he only took fifteen minutes with me. That's how it goes here on the coast - you wait, and if you don't, you'll have to wait until another doctor comes in two or three weeks.

The rest of the day I got a dirty job done - I peeled, cut, rinsed, parboiled, put into 25 freezer bags, carrots from my garden. I gave away an equal amount, so that's about 50 pounds altogether, and I've been snacking on them as well while doing the work. Nothing like carrots straight from the garden.


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ElizaQ
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posted 07 October 2008 04:34 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I had a weird thing happen today. Woke up, grabbed my coffee and looked out the window. "Gah!" Frost all over the lawn and meadow and me not having all my tomatoes picked yet. Durn it, that wasn't what the weather said. So I threw on some clothes and ran outside. Frost was everywhere, except for the actual garden. It literally came up to about 3 feet from the edge and just stopped. It was bizzare, like the whole area was shielded and everything was fine.
So I came back in and rechecked the weather. It's actually warming up this week again so I'm just going to leave the green ones a week longer.

I didn't have time to do anything today because we had to take a 7 hour trip to pick up next years gardening labor force. So now I'm sitting here listening to 20 peeping, day old chicks that are in a box in my dining room. Spent the last few hours making sure they figured out where the water is and jumping up at every over loud peep to make sure they're okay. What a total trip. I've never had chickens before and I'm a total nervous nelly. LOL.

I've learned one thing today. That when chicks fall asleep they just drop where they are, splay out and look totally dead. We were sitting here and it got really quiet so I went over to check. The whole bunch were just spread out everywhere and I freaked out a little. For a few seconds I thought I had somehow killed them all. LOL

[ 07 October 2008: Message edited by: ElizaQ ]


From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Bubbles
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posted 07 October 2008 06:46 PM      Profile for Bubbles        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
didn't have time to do anything today because we had to take a 7 hour trip to pick up next years gardening labor force.

How do you use chickens as a garden labour force?
In my experience, chickens will totally demolish small garden plants. They love the young green leaves.

Keep track of the temperature you keep your small chicks at. If they are splayed out, it could be an indication that they are too warm. Also avoid putting them on a smooth surface, such as news papers, especialy if you have meat birds, they get easily leg damage from that.


From: somewhere | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 07 October 2008 08:49 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Bubbles:

How do you use chickens as a garden labour force?
In my experience, chickens will totally demolish small garden plants. They love the young green leaves.



As 'Chicken Tractors' You use them in preparing beds and in the spring before planting on existing beds. They weed, fertilize, airate and eat bugs that many have over wintered. There's several different techniques either with portable fencing or like this: Gallery

I've got about half and acre of field that I want to get into cultivation so will be pasturing them in sections in a portable pens and they'll be on clean up and prep duty on the current beds before they are planted. It's basically a hybrid between free range and coop living.

quote:

Keep track of the temperature you keep your small chicks at. If they are splayed out, it could be an indication that they are too warm. Also avoid putting them on a smooth surface, such as news papers, especialy if you have meat birds, they get easily leg damage from that.



Thanks for the tips. I do have a themometer in the box and am keeping it at the recommended temperature but will keep an eye on it more and adjust if necessary.

From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 08 October 2008 05:03 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
I've got about half and acre of field...

Field? Back on the farm, my kitchen garden was about half-an-acre.

I was out in the allotment digging up my last carrots and chopping up corn stalks this afternoon. I had to wear a bunny hug and a hydro parka.

Exactly one week ago I was out there wearing nothing but shorts, and even that felt too hot.


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 08 October 2008 05:19 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by al-Qa'bong:

Field? Back on the farm, my kitchen garden was about half-an-acre.


Yeah I just call it our field. Our property is about 2 acres, which beyond a small patch of lawn in the front is totally overgrown. The previous owners just kind of left it. This year I managed to get decent size garden going but have plans to expand it next year. We also want to get a orchard planted in the old pasture.
I'm working with permaculture and micro-farming principles. We're aiming to be a self-sufficient as possible with what we have to work with.


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al-Qa'bong
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posted 08 October 2008 05:28 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Sounds like paradise.
From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Bubbles
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posted 08 October 2008 06:35 PM      Profile for Bubbles        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Bought last April/May some twenty laying hens (day olds) to replace the laying hens that we have had for three years now. Yesterday we had our first eggs from them. Now the question is what to do with the old laying hens. Would be nice if I could give them away as 'chicken tractors'.

I know that our chicken pen is very fertile because of all these 'chicken tractors' working it over for the last some twenty odd years. Although I suspect that all that scratching and digging that the chickens do, has a negative effect on the humus content of the soil. If it was not for us dumping each fall about ten inches of leave litter all over the chicken pen, it probably would be a sandy waste land by now. Mind you the chicken pen is a great place to dig up fat worms when going fishing.

This year I used some goats and sheep to clear the weeds and long grass from a 80ft. by 120ft. piece of old pasture next to the chicken pen. Then divide it in four strips with chicken wire.
One strip I will now seed with some winterwheat and rototill it under. The chickens can then harvest and consume it by next june/july. The second stripp I will seed next spring with peas, barley and oats. The bees can collect the nectar from the peas a few weeks later and the seeds the chickens can harvest and consume in August. The third strip I am planning to seed down with some Buckwheat, again for the bees and the chickens (around september). The fourth stripp I am planning to seed with sweet corn and sunflowers. This time not just for the bees and the birds but also for our own use. Provided I can keep the racoons away from the corn.


From: somewhere | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
George Victor
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posted 09 October 2008 05:07 AM      Profile for George Victor        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Not sure if this is gardening news, but I find thelocavore.ca manages a nice balance of political concern with its horticultural highlights.

[ 09 October 2008: Message edited by: George Victor ]


From: Cambridge, ON | Registered: Oct 2007  |  IP: Logged
jrose
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posted 09 October 2008 08:43 AM      Profile for jrose     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I went on the most fabulous bus tour in Hamilton last week. It completely gave me a new meaning to the phrase “Field Trip.”

It was a tour of different sorts of fields in the Hamilton area, starting at an organic farm, then the Dundurn Castle vegetable garden, which was recreated after gathering information about the original 2-acre plot that fed the family who lived there, and later to a place called West Avenue Growers, which was the small backyard of a few twenty-somethings who turned began to grow all sorts of crops, feeding their neighborhood.

It culminated at a community centre where we ate local foods, prepared by Hamilton’s chapter of Food not Bombs.

It was an absolutely fabulous event run by OPIRG McMaster.


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Boom Boom
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posted 09 October 2008 03:04 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by jrose:
It was an absolutely fabulous event run by OPIRG McMaster.

Fantastic!


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Brian White
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posted 10 October 2008 08:14 PM      Profile for Brian White   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I think ontario icewine is concidered really good and icewine is the best of the best.
quote:
Originally posted by Boom Boom:
Ah, Ontario plonk. Used to buy it by the gallon - it made a nice mouthwash.

From: Victoria Bc | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
Brian White
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posted 10 October 2008 08:19 PM      Profile for Brian White   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I got 2 buckets of black grapes seedless from one plant. I made grape jam and raisins.
The raisins are very flavourful. Just dried them in a food drier.
also have black seedy grapes Perhaps for wine? they are very small.
My green grapes are useless this year. split open more than half of them.
What to do with unripe figs. I have about 20
any ideas?
Brian

From: Victoria Bc | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 10 October 2008 08:56 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Oh I don't know...emigrate to Morocco!
From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
scott
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posted 19 October 2008 02:22 PM      Profile for scott   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 

Wool is actually part of the spring harvest but I only just shipped so here they are - three bags full (actually they are half bags and only about 2/3rds full but I ship on the bus so I have to respect package size limits ).

[ 19 October 2008: Message edited by: scott ]


From: Kootenays BC | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 19 October 2008 04:58 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I hae attempted to save both rosemary plants out of the herb bed and they are now in a pot in my office. I think I need a full-spectrum lamp to keep them healthy over the winter, though.

I also brought in a "passion flower" plant that was in one of my big containers. Somehow managed not to get touched by the frost and is a vine about 8 feet long. I think I'll see if I can get it to grow up/down the wall in a sunny stairwell.

Last of the chard is in the garage, we'd best eat it up this week.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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posted 19 October 2008 06:09 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'd think chard could be frozen, no?

Sadly, I never seem to be able to keep a rosemary all winter long. Usually lasts most of the winter, then perishes sometime in early March. I kept a laurel/bay plant for years, but it died too. They aren't easy in a house. A friend succeeds, but she has the plant lights.


From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 20 October 2008 07:02 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Same here, it's like the herbs give up all hope around the end of February that the sun's ever coming back. I'm going to try a light this time and see if it helps.

Either way, I get fresh rosemary at least partway into the winter months -- the stuff in the produce dept. of the grocery store is always dead as a doornail.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
ElizaQ
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posted 20 October 2008 07:26 PM      Profile for ElizaQ     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Same here. I've tried to over winter my rosemary inside for the last three years. Last year I did have a plant light and it still didn't work.
This year I got a cold hardy cultivar that's supposed to survive down to zone 5. I've going to cover it with some burlap for extra protection so I guess I'll see in the spring if it works.

From: Eastern Lakes | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 20 October 2008 08:25 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
We're Zone 3, so far as I know. Rosemary just won't make it out here. Although I do have a lavendar that's survived a couple of winters, so who knows...
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 20 October 2008 08:51 PM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
We have three lavender plants that have survived our Zone 3 winters. I keep them buried under four feet of snow, which might help.

My weekends are now spent canning tomato sauce, although I got away to Regina to see the Riders yesterday. We had to cut out right after the last field goal because I had to be on the air in Saskatoon in three hours, so we were outside Taylor Field, listening to the final minute's cheering as we walked towards Albert Street and our car.

I couldn't believe how noisy it was! It was kinda scary; all you hear inside the stadium are the few people right next to you. The racket must be something else at field level.

When you wrote about the noise in your neighbourhood, Timebandit, I didn't think it could be too terribly bad, but now I see...er, hear your point.


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
Timebandit
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posted 20 October 2008 09:25 PM      Profile for Timebandit     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Well, we're on the other side of the tracks and a few blocks down, but yeah, the games are pretty audible from our place.

I have a friend who lives about a block away from Taylor Field, I'm pretty sure her windows rattle!

I put a cardboard box full of leaves over my lavender, which did the trick last year - but Lu ate the box in a fit of boredom. I'll have to go find another one and spritz it with bitter apple.


From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Brian White
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posted 24 October 2008 09:32 PM      Profile for Brian White   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Still eating my half ripe figs and some late green beans! Hello from the warm canadian med.

Planted out (way too late) sprouting brocolli and chard on thursday.
Have any of you tried scorzornera?
Black ugly root with a devine taste?
I dig it in the winter because it is more or less bug free (and unavailable in the stores). (unlike carrots)
Anyone else grow unusual vegetables?


From: Victoria Bc | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged

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