Thanks….. Giving

I’m thankful that I made it another year
Thankful for all my family and friends that take time out of their busy schedule to visit, repair things that I can no longer repair, thankful they check on my welfare.

Thankful that I have been able to spend time with Daughter, son-n-law, 3 grandsons, granddaughter and my 9 great grand kids.

Happy Thanksgiving and hoping you have a very safe and happy holiday season.

Cabbage eating cow

Not really about cabbage eating cow.

About a year ago a retired Army man bought a 5 acre plot about 1-1/4 miles east of my place. Of course new to country life the first thing he had to have is a broke down old saddle horse. Second thing to get rich as a small rancher be bought 8 Corriente rodeo stock roping cows. Corriente is a small breed seldom exceed 800 pounds, favored in rodeo roping arenas.

April 2023: These cows were under weight and had been handled roughly. New guy soon discovered that he had enough grass pasture to feed 1 horse and maybe 1 small cow. When he had to start buying 75-100 dollar a bail hay he became a motivated seller.
Ron (son-n-law) bought one about 450 pounder with a broke horn for $350 and I bought one that weighted about 500 pounds for $400 dollars. Grin.. I got the best deal mine was pregnant and calved 33 days later.

We took Ron’s cow to be processed Nov 6th, weighed in at 608 pounds live weight, We should be getting back about 375 pounds beef around the 27th of Nov. If she’s back on schedule I’m going to smoke a large rack of ribs for Thanksgiving day.

Just a side note, my cow will be sent to the butcher shop in May 2024, see if I can get her near 800 pounds, and my Calf the following April or May 2025.

Happy Holidays

HAM… radio station

Long painful story short. A few months ago I took a ‘Huge’ lighting strike to my Amateur Radio antennas and to my radio shack electric service line.
Lighting totally destroyed my 2 meter, 70 CM and HF antennas as well as 3 – 75 foot runs of Belden 9913 coax cable. In the radio shack this strike destroyed a HF antenna tuner, FTdx1200 HF radio, Signal Link (Digital interface unit) a IC-2730A VHF/UHF duel band radio and a FT-2980 VHF radio.

If this wasn’t enough lighting entered my radio shack via the electric service line taking out the breaker box, radio power supply, security cameras, computer and monitor as well as a 40 inch TV and my internet router, WiFi transceiver and antenna dish. Home owners insurance only covered a bout 20% of the total replacement cost.
Sad smile… National Weather Service said “A typical lightning flash is about 300 million Volts and about 30,000 Amps, that’s about 9,000,000,000,000 watts’, that would power a lot, a lot of 100 watt light bulbs.

Over 3 months of time, effort and money I’m fully back on the air. OK I’m finished whining ‘for’ now.
I have 2 new Diamond X-300A (VHF/UHF) duel band antennas and a new OCF (Off Center Fed) Windom style dipole HF antenna mounted on a 43 foot hing over antenna pole with an additional 8 foot copper clad ground rod and copper ground cable, with a 3 new Belden 9913 coax cables installed.

Almost every thing in the shack is new.
Radios I selected are, FT-2980 VHF, IC-2730A duel band radios. I selected the FT-2980 because it is built like a M1 Tank and does 80 watts out of the box, a really great base or mobile radio.
I replaced the dead FTdx1200 with Yaesu’s FT-710. It has a very small foot print, less than 10 inch width/depth and only about 3 inches high it has an auto-antenna tuner built in and receives/transmits every bit as good as the FTdx1200 maybe even better.

Happy Holiday season

Ham Hock Stew – Cold weather has arrived time for a large pot

The quantities listed here are intended as a rough guide and can be varied as much as you like. I tend to go for as many vegetables as will fit in the pot. My soup/stew/chili pot is a 6 quart Lodge enameled cast iron pot with a tight fitting lid.
The ham hock I use comes from A & R Packing Co Inc. purchased at Walmart at $2.95 a pound, usually 3 hocks in a package and weighing 2 to 2-1/2 pounds. Three dollars a pound is a lot for mostly bone and skin, but the taste is worth the cost.

With all that said, adjust your vegetable choice to your taste and more importantly the size of your stew pot.

Ingredients: Note: for this recipe Course Chopped means bite size.

1 tsp olive oil or oil of your choice
1 large or 2 smallish ham hocks about 2 pounds
2-3 medium sized potatoes course chopped
2 to 6 cloves garlic whole and peeled
2 large carrots course chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
2 ribs celery fine chopped
1 large or 2 small onions course chopped
1 cup kale Optional or 1 cup turnip or collard greens course chopped
3/4 to 1 cup of frozen peas
3/4 to 1 cup frozen corn
3/4 to 1 cup Frozen beans
3/4 to 1 cup course chopped okra Optional
2 sprigs thyme or 1/2 tsp dry thyme
2 sprigs rosemary or 1/2 tsp dry rosemary
2-3 bay leaves remove before serving
Salt and pepper to taste, use caution adding salt, hocks tend to be a bit salty.

Optional alternate vegetables:
Fennel, turnip, sweet potato, butternut or acorn squash, pumpkin, a few brussels sprouts, broccoli.
Vegetable choices are endless.

Cooking:
Heat a large pot over medium heat, add the oil and heat through. Add the onions, finely chopped carrots and celery, sautéing until tender, about 5 minutes.
Place your ham hock and garlic in the pot and cover with water. Bring this to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 2 hours until the meat easily parts from the bone.
Remove the hock from the water and allow it to cool enough to separate all of the meat from the bone. Shred the meat into small pieces and return these to the pot.
Next peel and chop the potatoes, carrots and onion in to bite-sized pieces, add these to the pot and bring back to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. I use as many vegetables as will fit in the pan and remain covered by the liquid.
Use whatever ratio of the different vegetables you prefer.
Add any herbs to spices of your choice to the pot. I usually add some black pepper with some dried rosemary and thyme.
Then simmer this for about 30 minutes until the potatoes and carrot are cooked. After about 15 minutes of this add a large handful of chopped kale/turnip or collard greens to the pan and mix this into the other vegetables.
Finally when the other vegetables are cooked through add frozen and fast cooking vegetables, bring it back to the boil and allow it to simmer for a few minutes until vegetables are tender.

I can, hot pack hot sterilized quart jars with left over stew. Store refrigerated for quick easy meals in the cold days to come. Use within 2 weeks unless canned in a pressure canner.

Happy Gardening

Fall Radish Crop

The Radish seed planted 3rd week of September are maturing and I’m harvesting a few most every day.
All parts of radishes are eatable, green tops are often over looked by many in north America.

Radish greens are the edible tops of the radish plant, and are commonly eaten as a vegetable in Korea and China.

A member of the Brassicaceae family of cruciferous vegetables, radish greens are nutritious and enjoyed as mature leaves, microgreens, or radish sprouts.

Per cup (128 grams) cooked, radish greens contain about:

Calories: 70.4
Carbohydrates: 8.3 grams
Protein: 4.5 grams
Fat: 3.5 grams
Fiber: 2.3 grams
Potassium: 16% daily value
Magnesium: 28% daily value
Iron: 7% daily value
Vitamin C: 77% daily value
Vitamin K: 171% daily value

Radish greens are low in calories but are a good source of protein, iron, and potassium. They are also rich in magnesium, vitamin C, and vitamin K.

Radish greens have a pleasant taste similar to mustard greens, but they can range in flavor from slightly bitter to earthy and spicy.

Mature radish greens are prepared in a similar manner to other leafy vegetables, and radish microgreens are used as garnishes or to enhance salads.

Here are some ways to eat radish greens raw or cooked:

Add to salads, soups, or stews.
Top sandwiches or toasts like avocado toast.
Prepare in a cooked or fresh dish with radish roots.
Blend into sauces like pesto or marinara.
Add to casseroles.
Steam or sauté and eat as a side dish.

Beets and Turnip harvest will start in a week or so. I’m a big fan of pickled beets spiced with clove. I think I will have enough beets for 12 – 15 pints pickled beets. I pull beets small no larger than about 1 1/4 inch in diameter and turnips no larger than about 1 3/4 or maybe 2 inches in diameter. Large beets/turnips with tops go to the chickens.

Grin I add beet greens to my turnip green at 1 part beet to 2 or even 3 parts turnip greens.

Happy Fall Gardening

Green and Red Fence

Yesterday it was a pleasant 80% with little wind. Fall is here so I made a trip to a small creek about 15 miles west of here. I have been watching a clump of red trumpet vines waiting for it to cool so I can dig and transplant some of them on my north fence.

No I haven’t lost my mind. Trumpet vines are not invasive here in the hot dry corner of Southwest Oklahoma. Without supplemental water they will be dead in a year or two.

I got 3 vines dug and transplanted, with luck they will bloom in 1 to 3 years giving a nice green vine covered fence with a lot of red blooms from mid to late summer when most other flowering plants are finished.

Wow… 80% Friday, woke-up to 45% this morn.. Grin went to bed with the windows open, this morning I was looking for my insulated underwear.

Happy Fall Gardening

Daffodils are in the ground

I ordered 150 bulbs from Holland Bulb Farm that they describe as Mixed Daffodils for Naturalizing. They are a bit small but at $0.30 a bulb I can wait a year or so for them to reach full mature size.

I planted clumps of 3 to 5 bulbs scattered around the base of several trees. I don’t know much about Daffodils but Texas A&M said that clumps can live 30 to 50 years. Grin…. with proper care.
So I’m hopping this is a onetime investment.

Temps are still in the mid 90’s (29%C). My weather guy is forecasting a cool down into the high 80’s after today.
Yeah.. we have a good chance of 1 to 2 inches (25-50mm) of much needed rain in the next 24 hours.

Happy Fall Gardening

Does Autumn ‘Really’ start today?

Being of Irish descent I found this to be of interest.

Traditionally, the Celtic calendar, which is still celebrated today through festivals like Lúnasa (Harvest season), marked the start of autumn on 1 August.

Meteorologically, autumn in Ireland, as in most of the northern hemisphere, officially begins on 1 September and ends on 30 November.

Astronomical autumn, scientifically defined by the equinox when day and night are nearly equal in length, falls on 23 September and will last until the Winter Solstice on Friday 22 December.

No matter what date you choose, Happy Fall Gardening.

New Kitchen Knife/Clever

I got this Clever/Knife a few weeks ago from Walmart, $19.16 delivered to my front door.

* What it’s not: It’s not a $350 dollar chief knife, it’s not a $295 dollar Japanese vegetable knife.

* What it is: It’s a good all purpose kitchen knife. Dismembers chicken, slices beef and pork, very thin slices if needed.
Blade shape helps keep vegetable slices from sticking to the blade.
Came out of the box as sharp or sharper than most new knives I have seen lately. Blade design seems to make resharpening when needed an easy process.

I am the dish washer around here so I can’t say how well it will hold up to dish washing machines. If you have never used a cleaver at your cutting board I will say this cleaver has become one of my favorites. I use it much more than my Santoku or Nakiri style knifes. It sees more use than all the other knives cluttering my knife drawer.

Warning: I will not except the blame if you get one and don’t like it.

Happy Fall Gardening

Autumn is upon us

A few days and Fall Equinox arrives on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 02:50 A.M. EDT in the Northern Hemisphere. After a more or less normal hot dry summer I’m looking forward to cooler day’s and our Fall rains.

For us Fall weather arrived on the 9th of September with temperatures cooling 30-35F from the past weeks 100F+ degree days. The cooled air brought in a nice much needed 1 1/2 inches of rain.

Taking a chance I dry planted my Fall crop of Radishes, Cabbage and Turnips. Cabbage and Turnips can both stand a lot of cold temperatures so I’m hopeful for a nice late Fall, early Winter crop. My dry planting worked out well, we got a nice soaking rain only 5 days after planting.
Cooler weather has reduced the Grasshopper horde as well as all of those other garden loving insects to a manageable level.

If you are unfamiliar with the term Dry Planting it’s the process where you wait until the soil is very dry. If the soil has any moisture the seed will germinate then die from lack of water. Grin, Dry Plant and then hope for a slow soaking rain to germinate your seed and get your crop off to a good start developing a good root system before soil starts to dry again.

Cooling weather has sent many Dove and Hummingbirds south for the winter. The last of my welfare birds usually migrate south by the end of September or first week of October. I’ve been stocking up on hen scratch and black sunflower seed when I find it at reduced prices to supplement feed the Dove, Cardinals, Quail and Mocking birds that over winter in this area.

Monarch butterfly migration is under way. I’m seeing more and more every day. Got to enjoy them while I can, they will soon be gone until next springs migration north.

Happy Autumn Gardening