In With The NEW! The Farm Report 11-12-2021

 In With The NEW!
The Farm Report
11-12-2021

'Out with the old,' is usually how the expression starts. I'm sick and tired of the 'old' so I'm starting with the NEW! Here is part of my new potato crop for 2021. All washed and ready to store away for winter. That handle Annie is wanting you to see is my new potato rake. It has tines about 2-inches apart, and it's bent so I can pick up spuds without ever having to bend down. Everybody should have one. I learned about them from Ruth Stout's 'No Work' gardening books.

In some circles, they recommend against washing potatoes before storing away. I'm not in that circle. I like clean when I store stuff. It seems to keep better for me, and I don't have to fight grime when I want a spud.

I'd pay actual cash money for more of these storage bins. We've used 'em for years. They are on wheels so they're easy to move, and they stack. I love them. I have a cold room in the shop where I store spuds. I put an old sleeping bag over them to keep out the light and keep in the cold. They will store until I plant the remains next March or April.

The bird house gourds are all picked up and curing. We got about 75 if you're counting.

Remember last summer when I just plopped down some throw-away lily roots? Well, they grew in spite of the terrible summer. Now, I'm going to clean up the roots and store them inside until spring.

Ever protective, Annie wants to be sure nobody gets to her big bucket of new day lily roots. After I get them washed up and trimmed, I'll set them in flats of moist peat and put them away where it is cool and dark.

I'm all chuffed! I got the whole tarp garden cleaned off! Here is the sage hanging outside to begin it's preliminary drying. Thanksgiving turkey dressing, here we come!

Sage is more-or-less a perennial for me. This ratty looking mess is the roots of the sage. This patch is now 3 years old, so we'll see if it makes it through the winter for a 2022 crop.

More good news! I made these strawberry markers about 4 years ago. They are nothing but lathe boards with a glued-on label name. I print out the names in 'reverse' mirror image on my toner printer, then stick the paper, print side down, into yellow glue on the lathe. After complete drying, you just wash off the paper, and the toner remains behind stuck in the glue. Four years and still going is fine with me!

Cheap thrills - or winter therapy? We have been bulb forcers for decades. There's nothing like a big pot of happy daffodils to warm your heart in the middle of winter. Ya gotta start 'em now, though. There's still time if you want to do some for yourself. It isn't hard.

Step A - go buy some bulbs. Cheap is fine because they won't make it past the forced pot stage. One bloom and they're out. All you do is put some potting soil in a pot. Crowd in the bulbs shoulder to shoulder and cover them - just. I put the whole shebang into a black garbage bag to keep the moisture in and the light out. Set it in a cool/cold corner somewhere like the garage floor (but where it doesn't quite freeze). I put some of mine in my shop fridge. There's not much else in there this time of year anyway.

Along in late January or early February when you've got cabin fever, take out a pot and watch it bloom for you. You'll be glad you did.

As advertised, here is part of my 'how to make plastic pots look like old bronze pots' tutorial.

First, give 'em a good screwing! (OK, I'm still a 7th grader, and proud of it...Sorry.) I put these four screws into the  base to anchor the concrete we're about to pour into the bottoms. They will keep it from falling out later.

I want to screw the top on too. Those screws will have to go down through the inside of the top into the base. I don't want to have to try driving these screws into concrete, so I just stuffed some paper toweling into the base to make a cavity for the screws.

Like so. It don't have to be pretty to work.

Next, buy a bag of ready to go concrete mix. Juice it up and pour it into the pot bottom. Level it off as best you can, and go away for a few days. It will set up and be hard as a rock when you come back.

Presto! Now we have bottoms that weigh about 25 pounds and only the screw heads remain as evidence. A little paint, and you'll never notice them. These pots will NOT blow away in the wind.

"Tim! There's something down in there!" Annie is always on the lookout for something that needs her herding management skills.

I'm always tickled to have her on the job. In this case, who needs a compost turner when you've got a Texas Heeler on the job.

Under the classification that says it is always better to be lucky than smart.... This is the potato row I dug to get my Ranger load of spuds. I was disappointed in the yield. However, see where Annie is standing? Well, I forgot I had planted TWO rows of spuds. Annie is standing on the mother lode! When I plowed the rest of the garden, luckily!, I hit the row perfectly and popped out another fifty or seventy-five pounds of taters.

One wonderful thing about gardens: Next year is always going to be better.

All is forgiven by the edict of the plow! Weeds are gone, grass is gone, messiness is gone. Promises of next year firmly installed. 
 

I have a little 'landscape rake' that fits on the back end of Henry Ford. It is just the ticket for cleaning up the garden and making it ready for next spring's joy.

We planted a couple bags of oats and some buckwheat seeds on the newly prepped ground, then 'scratched' them in with the landscape rake. Goodnight sweet garden, goodnight.

And then I planted my garlic to start the 2022 garden season. It is a never ending circle of fun!

"Is this where you want the Ranger, Tim, or should I pull it up a little?" Annie would be driving the Ranger if she had thumbs and a driver's license. She never NEVER misses a Ranger ride. This time, we're out in the orchard setting in 4 new super-duper apple trees.

Not being a stranger to these parts, I'm no optimist either. I put the little trees into the ground, then put cages around them. Then I put cover cloth around that to keep out the deer, mice and rabbits. And wind. The tires help keep out the deer; they smell of sulfer, and that reminds deer of their dead friends' decaying bodies. The grass and stubble helps keep out the rabbits. The posts keep off those little year old bucks with pongee antlers who want to rub out my trees! Venison sausage anybody!?

This year's apple plantings include 4 trees that are a cross between some University of Minnesota winners and some old standby heirlooms. The catalog said they were spectacular - so I had to buy 'em, of course. Time will tell.

What I see every morning. That's Annie's ears, and O.J.'s backside.

Annie is 2.5 now. She's beginning to enjoy a mid-morning nap while I read. She likes her favorite pillow, too. We're both happy about that.

And, I'm learning how to make my own hot dog an hamburger buns. Why not? What else is an old guy to do? (HINT: I'm also learning how to make my own cheese and sausage, too.) Keep following along and I'll share the good parts with you. Annie gets the losers....

Cheers from Oakdale Farm. All is well.