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Stovepipe

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  1. Stovepipe
    I can take or leave the snow but I'm more concerned about the temps. If we dip down much below 30 I'm gonna have to winterize the camper. I really don't want to do that. Glad I didn't try to get cute with the garden this year and plant a bunch of stuff early. Thankfully only cool season stuff in the ground at the moment. Current SREF mean of 27 degrees for TYS... ugh.
  2. Stovepipe
    Nice storm rolled by just a tad south of me. .
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    I moved my 4 buckets of tree collards into the garage during the Dec cold snap, only watered em once since then. Amazingly enough they look happy right now, despite me being too busy/lazy to move them back outside! That is one tough variety of plant. I'm gonna turn em loose into some chicken dirt come March and see what they do. Might have to organize a Tennessee Valley Forum Collard Cookoff next fall, whose with me?
  4. Stovepipe
    What do y'all have going for the cool season? I started a few things in August that are looking pretty good right now although I'm fighting the green worms as usual. Got a few collards, broccoli, cabbage, onions, and garlic. Also for the first time, I'm trying to some perennial tree collards. They're in large buckets for now so that I can move them inside if it gets much below 20 degrees, but I'm hoping to see these get really tall and propagate with cuttings later. Still getting a few tomatoes and peppers. Herbs are still rocking although basil is just about done. It's been a pretty good gardening year, I can't complain.
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    My first inclination was to go to Hooper Bald on the Skyway. I'm afraid the whole area will be a parking lot though so I'm keeping the kids at home to watch it from west Knoxville. That is a nightmare I'd like to avoid. Ideally, if I could rationalize the time off work and could take the family backpacking, Bob Stratton Bald would be awesome. Get to the Wolf Laurel trail head 2 days before and settle in. Oh well, it'll be interesting to find out just how bad the traffic gets while I swill cold beers in the backyard.
  8. Stovepipe
    Here's a big ol' mater from a week ago: Ended up with the best garlic crop I've ever had, here's a couple of pics from the first of June: True story time. I took about a third of the garlic seen in that photo, shelled it, put it in a food processor and then into the dehydrator. As you can imagine, the smell was STRONG. It was a good smell, but it stunk up the entire house. This was in my garage workshop and it got into the air conditioning system and propagated throughout. I turned some heads at Weigles that day because I REEKED of friggin garlic. I let it go overnight at 125 degrees. The next day the smell in the house wasn't quite as strong. My wife texted around 3pm that she thought she smelled a hint of natural gas in the house, thought perhaps one of the kids had fiddled with a knob on the cook top. I told her it had to be the garlic and not to worry. I come home after work, open the garage door and my nose burned from what smelled exactly like natural gas (with the odor that is added to it to ensure you smell it in case of a leak). On the one hand I thought this is just too much of a coincidence, surely I didn't get a gas leak the day after stinking up the house with garlic. On the other hand, I wanted to play it safe and figured I'd call KUB. I get KUB on the phone, told them about the garlic and the current gas smell. They said I did the right thing by calling and that they'd send someone out to check. Dude rolls up 20 minutes later with a methane meter. He takes one step into my garage and the meter was PEGGED!! He's said "yep, you definitely have a leak. That smell is unmistakable". I said "well, s**t are we about to explode?" He said well no, the meter showed 2,000 ppm and it would take 40,000 ppm to 'splode. Still, he searched the entire house and said it was baffling that he couldn't find the source. The meter was getting high readings all over the house. He said it was stronger than he'd seen in houses where there was a known leak. Before he shut all the gas off, he wanted to do an experiment. He put the meter next to one of those big ass garlic heads, and it registered a little higher. I grabbed the bag of chopped up, weapons grade dehydrated garlic and said "stick it in here and see what you get." He did and the meter absolutely blew up! 2,500 or more ppm. He did another test of the outside meter to see if any gas was being consumed, it wasn't, and we confirmed it was the friggin garlic setting off that methane meter! He said he's been inspecting gas leaks for 20 years and never saw garlic do that lol. So now if you decide to dry garlic, you know what to expect. Weapons. Grade.
  9. Stovepipe
    How's everyone's gardens doing this year? I can't complain, overall my stuff has been thriving. Tomatoes ripened 2 or 3 weeks earlier than last year. It'll be time to start canning this coming weekend. We've been dehydrating like crazy and already have a nice stockpile of various dried things for soups this winter. There have been a few relatively minor problems. Something has been eating my green peppers and okra. I had to use some of Carver's Dipple Dust on the okra and that seemed to help, I think they'll pull through. Squirrels did a number on my corn. And of course with all this rain weeds are going crazy. But I'm pleased with how the 2017 warm season is panning out so far.
  10. Stovepipe
    Freeze dryers are amazing, but way too pricey (10k or more) for me for the current scale of my hobby operation. That being said, it wouldn't take much more production to rationalize the investment if one was really committed to reducing grocery bills. The thing could potentially pay for itself fairly quickly. If I could find a good used one, or get some family members to go in together on one I'd consider it down the road. Apparently there is a fair amount of ongoing maintenance on those things too so that is something else to consider. For now I'm content with my cheap dehydrator. Anyone built a smokehouse? After seeing some relatively simple, inexpensive, and neat examples on YouTube I'm thinking it might be a nice project to consider before long. My issue is that I'd like to build one that could both cold smoke as well as hot smoke meats.
  11. Stovepipe
    This will be the first time I've started seeds in the green house and haven't thought about a heated mat. That's probably a good idea, I'll have to look into it. As a backup I plan to put some under my usual indoor grow lights as well. Getting pumped about the warm season garden! This year we're gonna go all out, adding some new beds and new varieties of things. In addition to canning and freezing I'm going to get serious with some dehydrating. I've seen youtube videos of people dehydrating and rehydrating all sorts of things I never thought about and apparently the flavor and texture comes back decently well even years later. The chickens worked out very very well so this spring we hope to expand our coop a bit to add more roosting room and expand the pen so that we can add a few more hens. We're at 6 now, hoping for 10 or 12. I think I'm also going to try getting into rabbits. Been studying rabbit hutch designs. I don't think it'll be too difficult or expensive to get setup for breeding meat rabbits. What are you planning for the upcoming season Carvers?
  12. Stovepipe
    I'm gonna get mater seeds started in the green house this weekend. The weather is perfect!
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    We may have hit 19 at one point, but so far the plants are still hanging tough! I have a small 4 shelf green house on my deck. I think I may try to keep some stuff like spinach going all winter in that. Maybe the daytime solar heat will keep the soil just warm enough to survive the brief arctic blast nights.
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    Any bets on when the cold kills off the fall/winter crops? Besides cover crops, all I have are relatively small patches of lettuce, kale, cabbage, and some free broccoli I got from Lowes. Also garlic and onions of course for the long haul. It would be nice to see that stuff grow out a bit, but winter will hit when it hits. If it gets hit too hard I guess the chickens will have a big one day frozen feast on it. Cover crop this year is a combination of rye, crimson clover, and (for the first time) bell beans. The latter is like a fava bean that grows in the winter. All of that should result in some nice fertilizer in the beds come spring.
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    Thank you for supporting your local farmers markets! Water bill is going to be higher here but the garden is looking good. Nice man, that's a beautiful harvest!
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    I would imagine the onions will handle the chilly October weather just fine. If I lived where you live I'd keep onions in the ground year round. You could put some in the ground in the fall for a mid/early summer harvest and plant some early spring for an early/mid fall harvest. I mean it's possible you get so cold in the winter that they don't survive but it's worth a try since onion sets are cheap. See if you can find a local ag extension paper on growing onions in your area and see what it says.
  17. Stovepipe
    You should do it, they are fascinating to watch, can turn a compost pile wickedly fast, their poop is awesome for the garden, plus eggs! These 6 chickens have been giving us between 4 and 6 eggs per day. It is my understanding that this summer they will be at peak laying age and production will slowly decline over the years moving forward. A buddy of mine has a flock of 4 year old hens and is still getting regular eggs though so we should be set for awhile.
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    My late winter/early spring project was to get up and running with backyard chickens and it has been a success! We now have a flock of 3 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Buff Orpingtons, all around a year old and laying eggs like crazy. I put composted wood chips in their 16x8 foot run along with a huge pile of homemade compost and they are in heaven. It'll be nice to rake all of that out this fall and put it on the garden. I'll get some pictures posted soon. With all time spent building the coop and run, I've taken a very laid back approach to the garden this year. I've spaced out my plants much more and have far fewer than previous years. This will be easier to maintain which will be nice for a change. As of now I have about 20 tomatoes, 10 peppers, 30 potatoes, 4 cucumbers, some onions and herbs, and lots of garlic. I hope to put in a few swales to catch water and may put a few more plants on those berms. Last year we canned more than we could eat or give away so I think this smaller garden will be just about right. Oh yeah, I have a bunch of greens planted for the chickens as well and some crimson clover for nitrogen building in beds I'm not growing food in at the moment. I may eventually build a hoop house over the largest bed that I can let the chickens scratch up, poop in, and prepare for planting in fall. This would allow me to cover the house in plastic to get a jump start on planting in the spring. Lots of plans and not enough time to do everything! It's sounds like y'all have been busy too. Try to post some pics when you can! Ahhh I remembered one more thing we have going on; a mealworm farm! Since the chickens go nuts over mealworms I decided to order 1000 of them and start raising beetles/eggs/larvae. It's extremely cheap and easy to do and that 1000 could reach 40,000 by fall. These will be a great protein rich treat for the chickens year round plus the kids enjoy messing with them haha.
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    We should coordinate a forum meetup for this.
  20. Stovepipe
    Since I was snowed in with my inch of snow this weekend, decided to do a little canning. We pressure canned 16 pints of chicken stock from 6 months worth of frozen bones, along with celery, onions, garlic, and a few cobs of frozen corn from the summer garden. Also worked up 14 pints of pasta sauce based on a gallon of canned tomato juice from the garden as well. Turned out pretty yummy. Hopefully this stash, along with the existing jars of tomatoes, will get us though the winter and spring.
  21. Stovepipe
    Nothing super impressive but I figured I'd post a few pics of the winter garden. Finally got most of the weeds out of this bed so the collards can hopefully take off, some mustard greens hanging on the side there: Here's the main mustard and turnip green patch. We've already gotten several cuttings from these but they'll die off if that arctic outbreak comes so it's getting about time for a neighborhood green cookoff. Protip: Starbucks has free spent coffee grounds for the taking (I don't frequent the place but the wife studies there from time to time and gets them for me). The grounds are wonderful for garden beds, the worms love them. It remains to be seen whether this setup will caffeinate my garlic lol. If I get wired on pasta sauce next summer I'll let you know. One nice benefit of this is the constant aroma of coffee around this bed. More garlic, these are smaller. I recently packed the raised rows with neighbors' grass/leaf debris and smothered the whole thing in composted wood chips. Hoping they are fertilized enough now for a nice early summer crop (and yes my kids were using that kiddie pool in the background a few days ago... in December!: This relatively large bed is looking pretty rough due to the lettuce being played out for the year. There is still some kale I'm using as well as some collards in the back. I believe I'm going to weedeat most of this down and smother it in woodchips until tomato time. Cover crop bed with winter rye and crimson clover. I'll weedeat this down and cover in woodchips before the crop goes to seed. Should be a nice nitrogen boost to the soil for tomatoes. Another cover crop bed with the same stuff to be used for peppers and cukes: This "L" shaped bed will be for maters, basil, and onions. It has mushroom compost covered in leaves from the yard. I may grab some free horse or rabbit poop from craigslist to give this a nitrogen boost. Finally here's a shot of a small mustard green box with some plants I got from my uncle for Christmas; blueberry, blackberries, and raspberries. This has been the best year for winter gardening I've seen since I started my first one 4 years ago. Even if most of it dies off over the next few weeks it has been a heck of a run!
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    Got a wild hair and decided to drive up to Frozen Head state park yesterday for an impromptu tent camping trip. Once my firewood ran out it got COLD! It was a nice little getaway though, glad I went. Beautiful area, I need to go back in the spring when I can take in a day or two of hiking.
  23. Stovepipe
    Congrats on the new property, keep us updated on how you get setup in the new space! If you need tips on how to get that soil in shape we'll be glad to help. I've only done cool season gardening for about 4 years but this has been a very interesting winter for it so far. As of right now, lettuce is starting to play out finally. Not from hard freezing of course but just from yielding over and over again since early fall, the plants are worn out. We've gotten a ridiculous amount of cuttings from those plants. Mustard and turnip greens and kale are still going strong and collards are are not far from being ready to eat (they were choked out by the weeds, now that weeds are removed I'm hoping they really take off). Garlic, which would usually be in sort of hibernation at this point looks like what you'd expect to see in April. The 45 day cabbage came and went and the cover crop of crimson clover and winter rye is rocking. It's just amazing to see everything so vibrant and growing. Weeds like creeping charlie (or henbit, not sure which it is honestly) have been a frustrating issue with the relative warmth and abundant rain. It's particularly a pain because if you don't rip them out early the roots go deep and interfere with everything. I've finally gotten around to ripping most of that stuff out. One odd thing is a general lack of pests. I've not seen a single white fly this season. Just a few aphid type things that the lady bugs seem to be keeping in check. Haven't even had to use Carver's Dipel Dust. Knowing the warmth won't last, I'm trying to get a final covering on all of my beds. I was fortunate to get my neighbors' bagged late fall yard clippings (leaves and grass) so that has been a nice addition. Also my wood chip pile that's been sitting there since spring is very nicely composted so I'm putting that on top. There is a ton of free manure (rabbit and horse mostly) on craigslist that I'm going to take advantage of too this winter. I'm trying to get the soil in top shape for spring planting. Another project that I'm super excited about is my chicken coop. I have all the lumber ready to go, just need some rain free days to work on it. Once that's built I'll need to get the run setup then hopefully get the baby girls in March (aiming for six birds). Super pumped about having some country eggs and chicken poop for the garden! I've been toying with the idea of putting solar panels near the coop for indoor lighting, water dish warming during winter, and door automation. But first thing first I've got to get this coop built. I'll post pics of the progress once that is under way. It's also almost time to start tomato seedlings. My folks got me a small green house for Christmas that I'm going to put on the deck. Depending on arctic outbreaks I may try to start some seedlings out there; certainly it will be nice for hardening off plants later on when frost would otherwise be a threat. I may look into putting some kind of heat source in it. The bulk of my heirloom seedlings will be grown under grow lights again though. We're very much missing those fresh maters. The jars we have canned are nice but of course there is no beating fresh.
  24. Stovepipe
    As of yesterday, September 13th, I have everything planted for fall/winter except for the garlic which will go in next weekend. Here's my line up: Collards Lettuce (butter crunch, red, and romaine) Spinach Cabbage (45 day variety) Kale Mustard Greens Turnip Greens Rye (Winter Magic) and Crimson Clover for cover crops I'm struggling to get spinach seeds to germinate. After reading up on it, apparently they can be finicky about temps and may not sprout if it's too hot. I planted like 3 weeks ago so I'm sure that is the problem, it's nearly a month earlier than I usually plant. I may have to replant now that things have cooled off a bit. This go around I'm trying something a little bit different with cover crops based on a buddy of mine's suggestion. Rather than just plant crimson clover to fix nitrogen over the winter then pull it up in the spring, I mixed the clover with rye (not rye grass) which should grow as high as six feet. I did this in the two main beds that I plan on having tomatoes and peppers in next summer. The idea is come spring I'll cut it all with hedge trimmers at about 1 foot, before post hole digging to plant the maters and peppers, and leave the cut clover and rye on there as a mulch. This should add root structure to the soil, nutrients from the biomass, and discourage weeds. It should also re-seed itself for the fall. We'll see how well this actually works, although my friend has had good luck with it in the past. For the other beds I'm adding shredded wheat straw, eventually shredded leaves (for minerals), and some finely chipped wood chips. All of that should decompose nicely over winter and help to keep weeds out. I lucked into getting a hand me down wood chipper from a family member and that thing has been awesome. Rather than just throwing my old warm season plants into the compost bin I've been shredding them up and that is resulting in much faster and better compost. I'll get some pictures posted soon. What is everyone else doing for fall/winter this time? Oh and Carvers, how often do you apply your Dipple Dust to your cabbage? This will be my first season using it. I'm already seeing white flies around and put an initial light coating of dust on the new plants. Just not sure how often to refresh it, thanks.
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