Our barn spider over the a/c unit has been having a field day. Yesterday morning I noticed its web coated in carcasses that weren't there the prior day. The difference? The tiny blue gnats have hatched from the pine trees and are flying in a cloud around the farm. The spider has gotten a mass of tiny nuggets coating its web. I have to go check the other ones around the farm today to see how well they have been eating.
I spent hours tracing my stupid steps but could not find my blade that I lost at some point in the past couple of days. I didn't harvest anything on Tuesday and I walked everywhere I could remember but have not found it. I eventually gave up and ordered a pair of them in case this happens again. I finally just grabbed an older blade and went out to pick the few squash that were ready. 10.5 pounds for the day with one oops larger one.
The tomatoes needed picking and with the number of cherry sized I brought two tubs to separate them prior to going in the house. Over 10 pounds of them combined got set in the kitchen to work on ripening some more.
After I picked the boys up from school I hauled in the bag of cabbage and got to cutting it up. I added a bunch of salt to layers then mixed it up by hand. I used the end of the wooden rolling pin to mash it down in the crock to get the juices flowing.
I cut up all 4 heads of cabbage which weighed about 7.5 pounds. It only filled the crock about half way and slowly the juices started to rise around the mashed salted cabbage. I ended up adding about a cup of water to it to get the level above the cabbage.
Put a layer of plastic over the top of it then put about a gallon of water in a large produce bag atop the whole thing. It is sitting on the fireplace which is not in use and I will hopefully have some good kraut in a few weeks. Be super good probiotic for us for winter.
Scouts was at our pack leader's farm to pick pumpkins. All the scouts showed up and we worked to pick well over 100 pumpkins. He grew them for us to sell to pay for our charter this year.
I was the only one to bring my truck to start with so I backed up to the patch and we began to load it up. I stacked them into a couple of layers and by the time we had it full my truck was showing the weight.
The cows got a feast of the soft pumpkins which got lobbed over the fence along with the vines.
The load in my truck for the next couple of days. Saturday we are going to Miller's One Stop in Elk on Hwy 2 from 10am to 2pm to setup and try to sell (ask for donation as council says we can't "sell" them) as many as possible. Likely end up there Sunday as well as we have a good number to get rid of. Luckily I don't have a co-op delivery tomorrow so they won't get a lot of miles on them.
It took a bit to get outside for the evening and I saw that I have to change the battery in the clock. The spider's web had even more masses of the gnats stuck all around it.
Today I have to go wander the fence line as my mom saw a coyote this morning on the upper hill, rummage my acorn squash and sort any bad out, the freeze dryer should be done today so another batch will need to go in right away, and then the constant cleaning and organizing around the farm.
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Gab
That's a lot of pumpkins really.. and you'll get more taking "donations" as long as you tell them it's for Boy Scouts..
That's the hope. I'll have our pack colors with and the boys will have their uniforms so should stand out a bit.
That's cool about the pumpkins and the scouts! Hope they sold well!