Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Loooooong day at the mill... I am not used to that... 9-5 and I maybe sat down for 10 minutes total after 2 pm... my foot was getting sooo tired... and the one on the "good ankle", not the replaced one no less...
There was a ton of people there... sold tons of stuff out of the mill.... we had an "aux" table outside to make it easier on the traffic in the mill due to the way the register is set up etc... and it was non-stop until after 2....I ache all over.... didn't get to go see much of anything else... so didn't spend any money..
Darned type changed...
45 this morning went to 63 but quite breezy... Calling for a freeze Sunday night so all plants will have to come in tomorrow.... Haven't found connectors to put the 1/2 greenhouse back together yet.... might try some gorilla tape on some of them....

 

[farmerjan]

Sunday, was 47 and is very breezy (windy)... will hit maybe low 60's... forecast is frost/freeze warning still tonight and Monday night.

We got .6 inch rain total on Fri....... I finally remembered to look and dump it. Ground still is dry considering all norms here.
I did what @Mike CHS did and went through the garden and picked what was left of the peppers... and would you believe there are a bunch of flowers on a couple of the plants all of a sudden...??? Crazy.
Tomatoes are 99% dead, but did find a hand full of yellow pears to bring in and 2 green tomatoes that I picked that might ripen... or chicken fare if not.

Would someone tell me what the "big deal" is about sourdough baguettes ??? They had them at the mill for sale and for the life of me I cannot see what the big draw is to bread that is chewy to the point of being hard to pull apart, very coarse grained inside and more air than substance? Honestly, we sold a ton of it and I would not buy it for myself.... they gave me and a couple others a few at the end of the day, they only had maybe a dozen left after all, sold about 200 that were like 15-20 inches long and about as big around as a normal sized zucchini...
Maybe I do not have the "refined palate" needed...

Going out to see if there is any salvaging the 1/2 greenhouse since I cannot find any type of connectors to fit these thin metal rods. I am looking at a greenhouse with the more rigid polycarbonate panels due to our wind here. The replacement cover on the one where the chickens are, will last a couple years and that will be it again I am afraid. So, semi-rigid polycarbonate will be the plan going forward. I am actually looking at some panels that I can close in part of the front porch with... need to do some measuring.

Clothes sorted and a load in the washing machine but will not hang until probably tomorrow when the wind is supposed to slack off a bit. They will wind up in the next county at this rate. Sure wish I had a windmill for electricity... thought about it alot when I first moved here, then got side tracked... might look into it again more seriously since we get wind here alot... better than the solar panels since the wind blows here when the sun isn't out too...

Ache this morning, but better than last night. This being in the "prime" sure stinks...

 

[Mini Horses]

Your colder & windy is coming here tonight. Not frost temps tho! Winds steady 12-15 now. On tractor earlier and lost hat a couple times.

The sourdough baguettes are often used for "dipping" ... Olive oils a lot, or heavy sauce dishes they soften up some when used for sandwiches with something like chicken or tuna salads.

 

[SageHill]

I know the sourdough you're talking about. Never try to put anything on it because you'll be wearing it. That said,
I've been making sourdough since 2020 (I did take about a year off and just started back again) and tried to get those holey loaves -- never did get it. The bread is crusty, but not so crusty to impale your gums, and the inside is dense but not the kind you have to chew and chew and chew . I messed up on the first loaf starting back and didn't have enough flour - it was our favorite ever - so from now on it'll be less flour for a softer inside (aka crumb).
So many people have gotten caught up in making sourdough they are almost rabid about how to do this and that. The way I look at it is the old gold miners are the ones that really made it and I'm certain when it came to making their bread they weren't finicky - just throw it together and eat.

 

[Baymule]

Hey Jan, I just cooked some of your potatoes! I chose Blue and Gold. They are real pretty potatoes.
Blue skins.

Gold inside.

The texture was dry like a baking potato. I mashed them, added a little cream, butter, salt and pepper. They were good! And some of your cinnamon pickles for dessert!

 

[farmerjan]

These baguettes are not anything I would want to eat as a sandwich. And I guess since I don't do much with bread for dipping or anything, I guess they are just not my type of bread. I am not interested in chewing and chewing... or for it to be as crusty to impale your gums like @SageHill said.

It is 7 pm and the chickens are in and it is pitch black out there already. Pulled a package meal out of the freezer I had, it is in the "toaster oven"... I didn't feel like taking a chicken out since it would not be thawed, and was too lazy to go out in the outbuilding and dig around for a steak... So, working on some of the stuff in the inside freezer...

Got all the plants into a couple of flat totes , and brought in the house. Low 30's tonight.. and maybe tomorrow night... but day temps are supposed to go up into the 70's again. Mid to upper 70's by Thursday... It is crazy....

Peppers are in the garden basket on the front porch, I will get to them tomorrow... It won't hurt them to get cold and it won't get below freezing there...not until it gets down in the 20's outside.

I noticed that i have reblooming irises that have a bunch of flower buds on them... sure hope they don't get frozen... they are close to opening up.

Measured the porch and it is 7 ft from the concrete up to the bottom of the header... the panels are 72" or 6 ft.... maybe make a frame top and bottom out of 1x8's???? to attach them to and then be able to use them as a buffer for the wind, maybe even enclose the porch for the winter time so it helps to keep the worst of the cold out when I come in... the sun would heat it nicely during the day time too... it gets a fair amount of daytime sun once the leaves are off the trees... at least 2/3 of the day.... didn't think to measure to see how many of them I would need... they are 24" wide... just don't want it all closed in with alot of wood and stuff to make it dark...so thinking.....will have to measure the width of the openings between the posts and see what that is...

I sure wish that 1/2 greenhouse hadn't gotten all messed up... would have been perfect to put the plants in for awhile... saw one the other day advertised in a clearance for $75... looks the same with the same measurements... might just go on and get it..... and see about anchoring it a little better so the wind doesn't get it... although it did fine until we had those horrible winds in the 40+ mph and gusts higher... I noticed it also tore some of the cover too and I have to take it down to try to fix it... I don't know... maybe get the other one and then could use connector parts for the ones that are broken and not have to remake the whole thing and have some extra parts????

Well, going in to get supper out of the convection "toaster oven" .... might put together a pan of brownies to use the stove a bit too... like I need them on my "quest to lose weight".... Think I am going to get out something to thaw for cooking tomorrow aft/eve....

 

[Baymule]

What about wrapping your porch in a heavy plastic? It wouldn’t be clear, but opaque, enough to let light in. Use the 1-by’s to hold it down. I’ve lived in old houses where I stretched plastic on the inside of windows to hold in the heat.

 

[farmerjan]

Yay on the potatoes... and thank @Ridgetop for the recipe for the cuke "cinnamon" sweet pickles....

 

[Ridgetop]

Going out to see if there is any salvaging the 1/2 greenhouse since I cannot find any type of connectors to fit these thin metal rods.

Can you run the thin rods through 1/2" pvc pipes?

 

[Mini Horses]

The cinnamon pickles were good...thanks to Ridge for recipe and Jan for sample! Yeah, I'll make some next yr. Tasty. I'm still working thru potatoes I tend to eat them more in cooler weather when I cook more. Summer=potato salad.