In other news, I forgot to mention another by-product of rain - weeds. Though I can't recall the names of the two I find most often, the ones I worked on today, bermuda grass, were the most invasive. It stretches out and sets roots most anywhere it touches soil. And the roots go deep, which means digging. And digging means... worms! The chickens ate well.
The bermuda is so persistent, it broke through fiber cloth and even black plastic ground cover! Bad stuff, it seems...
Also, rainy weather is the perfect backdrop for drying herbs. Since they have been growing..... well, like weeds, they are best kept dehydrate
d in jars. After about 2 days in the dehydrator, the winter savory was ready to break up. Sage takes 2-3, and basil about a full 3 days. And a full 4 trays of basil only yields one jar! ...I never realized what went into those 6 bucks for a jar of basil. I decided to multi-task during the herb hour by nerding out to some software tutorials. Yeah. I'm still a dork.
d in jars. After about 2 days in the dehydrator, the winter savory was ready to break up. Sage takes 2-3, and basil about a full 3 days. And a full 4 trays of basil only yields one jar! ...I never realized what went into those 6 bucks for a jar of basil. I decided to multi-task during the herb hour by nerding out to some software tutorials. Yeah. I'm still a dork.I have also learned, for the time being, it is a good idea to take chicken scratch with me when I gather eggs. Maybe one day in the near future they won't fly up to peck my knees when I enter the gate. For now, I'm scratch-happy.
Today was also CSA day, where a few lucky families receive goody boxes full of fresh produce, eggs, bread, and sometimes meat. (This time, the meat was ground goat) The boxes today held eggplant, onions, sweet and hot peppers, fresh basil, tomatoes, okra, and some extra plump figs - thanks to the rain. After delivery, we enjoyed a delicious espresso from an Italian customer's fancy "authentic" machine. He then drove us to his other property to show us his Chinese Date tree, whose fruit we harvested to make preserves (on another rainy day not so far in the future, I imagine).
By the way, in the previous post, it was not the dog from which burgers came... It was these guys:
Over here, the rain only let up today. Skies are still grey.
ReplyDeleteWeeds are always a pain. Even just managing the weeds in the front yard and garden are hard as all get-out, and we don't have anything crucial growing - just a bunch of decorative plants.
(The pickled veggies are still good, by the way.)
The veggies in those pics look awesome. Going to eat a tomato once I get finished typing this.
Also, goatburgers? That's a new one on me. I'll have to try that some time.
Y'all take it easy. Keep your knees brown and your thumbs green!