Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Falling Tomatoes





I officially cannot keep up with all the tomatoes. They are ripening and falling to the ground now faster than I can collect them and do something with them. I have even invited many people out to pick their fill and still not making much of a dent.

The pumpkins are coming in that way as well.

In between bouts of picking tomatoes I watched that new swarm I moved up here last night get hot inside and move a large chunk of the bees outside to keep the box cool. It looks like it might be a pretty impressively large swarm for this time of year. I don't think it came from any of mu hives I missed a swarm cell on either. I plan on opening it up tomorrow morning and taking a good look inside before I make any final decisions on what to hive them in or how much work to put into them.

At this point there is no way they will build up much before Winter but if there are enough of them they might be able to give it a good try.

My totally Small-Hold chili was a complete success, except the Black beans were just a little on the hard side and didn't get as tender as the pole beans. All ingredients were 100% grown here on the place and at least I have a good recipe for cooking up the pole beans now even after they have been stored for three years.

Now if I know I collapse is imminent all I have to do is plant about 1200 pole bean plants and we are set :)

Still as I covered a few days ago they are the easiest and most forgiving vegetable to grow around here. They dry on the vine and can be stored in the pods for shucking all Winter long. I predict we will be growing a huge number of these as things continue to slide downward.

This mold allergy is still kicking my butt most days. We have not been blessed with much rain the last two weeks but the high humidity days are making my eyes red and puffy and putting me to sleep, not to mention giving me a foggy brain most of the time. I know it isn't a pollen allergy so it has to be some kind of mold spore in the air. Happens every August for a few weeks. I just get lethargic and lose motivation for a few weeks off and on especially when we hit the high humidity but dry ground period of late Summer.

By the end of the month I will be back into super work mode.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


9 comments:

  1. PP,

    It's great news to hear you have all kinds of tomatoes. I wish I lived closer I would take a few off your hands (to help).

    I can only imagine the people in your are happy to see you at the farmers market with your tomatoes, pumpkins, and honey.

    Do you have something to take to help you get through this time of year with allergens? I have to take something otherwise I'm miserable.

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    1. Sandy - The ones who come and pick em are happy that's for sure.

      I don't take anything because honestly for me any kind of cure is worse than the disease. Taking my honey regularly controls most all of my allergies except this intermittent one I get every August. The wetter the August is the worse it is too but by September it will be gone.

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  2. Replies
    1. SF - This was actually a bad year for tomatoes at least to start with but it finally bounced back enough. I just hate it when they go to waste.

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  3. buddy - stop that bragging!!! i'm with Sandy, wish i lived closer cuz i could take a bunch of that produce off of your hands!!! congrats on the chili - i love that beans are such good plants to grow here, too. i do the same as you, leave them on the vine to dry and then gather the whole pods. you can shuck them pretty easily while watching a movie. as for the mold allergy - sorry to hear about that. i hope you have something for it!

    your friend,
    kymber

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    Replies
    1. kymber - Yep beans are the wonder veggy for those of us North of the rice line and even South of it they are still half of the perfect protein combination.

      As I said this little random August allergy isn't so bad. Now when I lived in South Dakota. Well let's say I had to move my allergies were so bad.

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  4. We'd take some of those 'maters, too. Oh well.

    I hope you find something that will fight the mold allergy without side effects worse than the allergies.

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    Replies
    1. RP - I will just stick it out. It usually is only bad ont he really humid days or right after rains and August around here is not known for a lot of rain as you prolly remember.

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  5. You know we should set up some kind of network. You could supply honey and tomato's. kymber and jamie, canadian trout, me wild rice & apples, ??

    ReplyDelete

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