Filed under: August 2012
Duke in the stocks getting his feet trimmed
August 26, 2012
Duke is in the stocks, in this picture taken the other day, while he was getting his feet trimmed. It seemed to go with today’s post about making tomato soup. We are knee-deep in tomatoes from the garden and its a good place to be 😮 Yep, we are stocking up for winter.
Our drought effected the tomatoes with blossom end rot. That is when the plant doesn’t get enough water to get calcium to the fruit. Blossom end rot is found in many things, pumpkins are another. Our pumpkins show no sign of it, but to the delight of our pigs, there are some tomatoes that have it.
Blossom end rot is when an otherwise perfect tomato has a black or even rotted spot on the bottom…right where the flower blossom used to be. The rest of the tomato is fine to eat, but looks awful. I am sure my mom and grandma used the good parts, but we feed the whole thing to the pigs…my city born wife is a bit squeamish about such things 😮
We don’t usually see much of this problem, but this year we have to deal with it. It seems to be only on a few tomatoes on each plant. I am sure it is the ones that were forming in the peak of the drought. My watering efforts kept the plants alive, but they did not thrive.
We have plenty of plants growing and producing fruit, so the few we feed to the pigs are of no consequence. The pigs eat them like candy. I am sure it is a change from their feed ration and much like dessert to them. They also get a few zucchini squash that are prolific in our garden. All of those treats make the pigs squeal with delight, when they see us coming with a bucket.
Our pantry is starting to look good. The empty jars are filling up thanks to our efforts. My wife has the hard job, but I do assist as I can. I try to always be there to lift the “awkward, but not heavy stuff”. In any case, stocking up, is a job done best with help!
We had nice rains at the beginning of the month, after an extended droughty period. The grass and pastures all greened back up like magic. Now, however, everything is starting to dry and curl up again. We are way behind on our rainfall totals. I am fearing that one day, we will get all that we have missed in the form of autumn rains or winter snow.
It is time to start working ground for fall planted crops. I want to push it a little so the rain doesn’t catch me unprepared. The corn harvest looms as well, but so far we are all caught up with our work ……. that is until I start looking at my list! Oh well, we will keep stocking up for now as we harvest the garden. The rest of the work will fall into place… and I plan to have a lot of fun getting it done!
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