2020 Victory Gardens

[Eric Krewson]

My neighbor has a vacation house on Dolphin Island that got hit by the latest storm, I am watching his place while he is gone gown there for repairs.

He had a time keeping the deer out of his garden this year, his usual deer fence fell flat, his huge pea patch drew deer in and the 5' fence no longer kept them out. He followed my lead and put up an electric fence, after the deer went through the training stage they have grown to respect the fence and stay out of his garden. I patrol it every few days on my 4 wheeler to make sure the deer haven't breeched it.

I have been picking his okra to keep it from going to waste, he has 2 60' rows, I picked a couple of gallons yesterday. I have to find someone who wants it, I have more than enough in my freezer now to last until next season.

[HH~]

Cut Okra and tomatos cajun style!

Nothin better.

HH~

[WhistlingBadger]

My neighbor has a vacation house on Dolphin Island that got hit by the latest storm, I am watching his place while he is gone gown there for repairs.

He had a time keeping the deer out of his garden this year, his usual deer fence fell flat, his huge pea patch drew deer in and the 5' fence no longer kept them out. He followed my lead and put up an electric fence, after the deer went through the training stage they have grown to respect the fence and stay out of his garden. I patrol it every few days on my 4 wheeler to make sure the deer haven't breeched it.

I have been picking his okra to keep it from going to waste, he has 2 60' rows, I picked a couple of gallons yesterday. I have to find someone who wants it, I have more than enough in my freezer now to last until next season.

My father in law has had similar experiences with deer.  He build 8 foot fences with barbed wire on tip.  It seems  to be holding.  I think the moats, mine fields, and machine gun nests are going in next spring.

Well, boys, Badger Manor is officially under contract.  We have a nice little place in town all lined up.  On the one hand, no more 30 yard archery range in the yard, no more trail runs out my front door, and no more grain fields in the garden.  On the other hand, a garage where I can set up a bow building shop, a music room, a hot tub, Badgerling's best friend a block away, and no more huge list of spring, summer, and fall chores, which means more time in the mountains.  Best of all, we should be completely debt-free by next summer, which means...well, lots of things.  All of them good.  Very good.  Wish me luck on a new chapter of life!

[Eric Krewson]

I was in a neighborhood one time where all the houses had a privacy fence. This spike ambled down the street, walked up to a standard height privacy fence about 6' tall, stood flat footed next to the fence and sprang over it effortlessly without breaking a sweat or getting a running start.

[Hawkdancer]

WB, congratulations!  The by word now is "It's in a box in the garage"!  Getting the debt load down is a good feeling!   We have a guest room(with waterbed),  the music room, the art room, the gun closet, fireplace in the living room, and everything else is in the shop.  When it gets a bit better organized, the archery range will be about 18 yards!  Come spring, I will look for a huge surplus straw bale to set up an outdoor range.  The shop will have bow building, woodworking/carving, as well as a reloading table and a portable casting area near the overhead doors!  Also we inherited a pool table and fooss ball table, so entertainment is no problem!  Remember, no pics, it didn't happen!  I got to get imgur reopened on my iPad and phone so I can post some from here!  Good luck with your move!
Hawkdancer

[HH~]

Today was cider day found a tree at hospital and picked a bushel or so. Made a quick gallon. Woylda been nice to find a few sour apples to mix in with theses sweet ones.

Tasty and fresh.

Shawn

[bjrogg]

Planted these sugar beets back on April 4th. While self isolating in my tractor.

We have been busy harvesting them the past couple weeks. The fall colors are really good this Year. They have lasted a long time. I think maybe the early hard white frost had maybe had something to do with it. It also pushed the sugar beets to really sweeten up. We are harvesting a very high quality crop of beets. Very good sugar content. I hope we can get good storage weather to keep them over the winter and early spring. Our temperature has been ideal for piling our beets. We want cool, but not freezing temperatures for harvesting and piling our beets. We started our factories back in the middle of August. We will run them 24-7 until all our beets are processed. Probably the end of March or beginning of April 2021. By then we will be planting them again.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

The beets on the left still have their leaves. The ones in the middle have been “topped”. You can see the top of the roots sticking just above the ground. To the right they have been “lifted “and you can see the dug rows where the beets were.
This field is running about 37 tons per acre. That’s almost a semi load every four rows across the field. That requires a lot of trucking. I really appreciate the drivers who have worked for us for many years. We couldn’t do it without them.
Bjrogg

[Pat B]

Boy, no rest for the weary. How are you processing the beets? Is it for sugar production?

[WhistlingBadger]

Yeah, Pat, they're for sugar.  They grew those like crazy up in the Bighorn Basin where I grew up.  Had to get them processed right quick, though, before it got cold.  No piling until spring up there.

Must feel good to get the harvest in, BJ.  Congratulations.

[Russ]

it snowed 

then thawed 

all during sleep and at school... i lost the peppers i didnt pick and everythings dead now.... but we got all the tomatoes!!! 


Congrats BJ! sounds like a good harvest!!!

[Hawkdancer]

Great to hear you got a good crop, BJ! Time to go hunting!  I have just the tarragon to cut, assuming the wind and snow didn't knock all the leaves off!  Then I mulch the container and broil some chicken!
Hawkdancer

[bjrogg]

Boy, no rest for the weary. How are you processing the beets? Is it for sugar production?

Yes Pat. Our factories are well over 100 years old. We would like to build a new one, but in this day and age it is not possible because of cost. Always seems strange to me that the old timers could build this stuff over a hundred years ago with very limited technology and equipment, but we can’t now with all our advanced technology. Sometimes Can’t isn’t really the right word.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Yeah, Pat, they're for sugar.  They grew those like crazy up in the Bighorn Basin where I grew up.  Had to get them processed right quick, though, before it got cold.  No piling until spring up there.

Must feel good to get the harvest in, BJ.  Congratulations.

WB my dad planted our first crop of sugar beets the day before I was born. Almost 60 years ago.
This is our 59th crop of beets. A lot of things have changed since then. A lot of things have stayed the same. It’s still a lot of work. Harvest is always a race between weather that is to warm to pile and to cold to harvest.

Cold weather for storing isn’t so bad. If it stays cold. Freezing and thawing is the worst. Min-Dak store some in huge buildings. They get cold enough that they pump in cold air and completely freeze their piles. Once they are frozen they have to keep them that way. If they thaw they turn to mush.

We get a lot of freezing and thawing here. The outside or”Rims” of our piles are a real challenge. We are always experimenting with different ideas for storage. Most are very expensive. Few work as good as advertised.

We “fly” the piles weekly with inferred cameras and record hot spots. We try to remove them first. We use to have a plane do this but now we use a drone.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Sorry to hear about your peppers Deerhunter. Our garden is done and ready for tillage.
Bjrogg