Homesteading

fowledup,

So far just using some fresh herbs, chives, parsley and basil....still a bit longer for anything veggie wise.

Regards + HH

Bill
 

I've been neglecting my own Homesteading thread. After falling and breaking the rib, my body dropped out from under me again. I was "standing" at the toilet when I fell, and I popped my head on the bowl and of course got a face full of pee. Been working with the VA to find out why suddenly I'm falling. I think we have it narrowed down to the blood pressure meds.

I had lost my motivation on homesteading, have been considering selling the farm after Mom passes - she's 90 now and still going. I started thinking of moving to the NC coast with lot's of beaches.

Last year with veggies, not very good at all. I haven't planted anything this year. But! And it's a big but. My blackberries are thriving, lost 9 of my raspberry plants but have 3 remaining doing very well. My store bought grapes are still alive, not thriving, but still alive. Blueberries are still alive. The gogi berries are still alive, and two of the 3 wineberry plants are still alive. And 9 of the 12 strawberry plants are still going, a couple of them doing very well.

Gardening, I've been "educated".... I had the wrong location, just the wrong location.

What I'm thinking now is to just focus on fruit bushes. I'm figuring on placing a bunch more blackberry plants. And other berries as well.

Maybe I'll grow up to be the berry guy. Maybe next year I'll think about veggies again. Coming into Spring I had zero motivation. Along with my health, I've regained a lot of my vigor and hope.
 

deepseeker,

Take care of yourself first and foremost....at least the berries are perennial and require less work than veggies.

Good luck on the health side of things and try to get back in shape.

Regards + HH

Bill
 

Hang in there Deep. I'm sure your appreciation for homesteaders of the past is as much as mine.
Still , it must be a special experience to scratch in the same dirt as your ancestors ,even if briefly.
That and wood cutting the same woodlot for the same reason.

Fowled ,my four pepper plants are still alive. I've held off on buying denim overalls to celebrate ...for now.
The Plantain is doing real well.
Should the sky fall I'll have to race to the superstore and buy a lot more rice. I'll want a lot of bath tissue for barter anyway , so a worthwhile trip if ahead of the other desperate rats.
 

Deep- I know the feeling well! When your not feeling right or hurting nothing seems worhwhile. I spent the last almost 6 years pretty apathetic to anything, and let everything go. Things are finely getting dialed in and I have renewed interest, it feels good to look forward to each day. Don't make any decisions on selling your place until you get the health issues taken care of. For many the novelty of living in their ideal vacation like setting turns to regret about a month after they've settled in and realize the dream was better than reality. Don't do what can't be undone. Maybe you can rent out your place for six months to make a trial feasible?

Bill- I have the same herbs planted in mine, how are you preserving them?

RC- I don't have any plantain but love it. What type of climate does it require and is it hard to grow? How do you preserve plantain? I'm in the mtns just above the snow line about zone 8.
 

Plantain in my yard is volunteer stock.
As long as small leaves are chosen they are quite tolerable ,kinda young green bean flavored.
I let some go to seed ,stripped them and tossed bagged seed in the freezer to stratify/ overwinter.
Hand broadcasted this spring.
We see sub zero Fahrenheit a couple to few days a winter on a wild average. Frost this year held off in June but has hit the second week of June before.
Oct. around the third week maybe ,frost again.

Tough acidic sandy soil here in the oak woods. Disturbed sites from winter plowing of snow are being tried and it's growing , but due to being left to it's own devices more often than not, partial shade under less acidic soiled areas near maples seems the happier habitat.
Anywhere out of full day sun ,say half day, it does good. Anywhere else just gets too dry. Plants grow conservatively and leaves roll up when dry.
Probably a survival trait similar to corn.
Plantain leaves selected for choice size and condition, rinsed clean if need be ,then can be dried. Or blanched then frozen.
Volunteers get established in niches...corners sort of and run off sites during rains, and get real big faster than the more slow tender "plot". Those bigguns are my seed stock.

White mans foot it has been called , a tough and potentially invasive weed more than a delicate plant. I can grow weeds alright it seems. Or more realistically ,they can grow themselves.
I have broadleaf type.
http://www.ediblewildfood.com/broadleaf-plantain.aspx
 

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I just returned from the local Farmer's Market with two nice strawberry plants I need to put in the ground.

There's a rather large copperhead down at the garden, spotted him day before yesterday. He escaped to under one of my brush piles and it was too windy to burn the pile. I need to kill that thing before he kills me. I was struck by one when I was 11 or 12, but he snagged in my brand new jeans. I doubt I'm lucky enough to get away with that again.

And, later today I may get in the water again with Steve. I don't care if I find anything, just getting out is a different world from life up this holler. Oh, and I actually asked a lady out to dinner this morning at the market. To be continued maybe (but not here!).

My health is getting better. That broken rib really set me back to feeble for a while. That big purple knot on my head from the second fall is long gone. The VA really has been good to me.
 

IMG_0091.JPG

I'm not able to wade , but water is definitely calling.
Fish from shore and soak a crawdad trap.
A friend was throwing away some hardware cloth and I made a trap with it.
Crude ,but it works.
Stay safe out there in the water...A softer fall maybe , but you still need to get up!
 

Neat trap for the crawdads...good luck.

I understand they can smell the bait from 100 yards away.

Regards + HH

Bill
 

Fresh salt pork is the best bait I've found. Never did use traps as we weren't near any waterways, but I used to tie bacon to a string and push it down their holes. When they'd try to take it down, I'd slowly work them to the surface. ...Wow! Thanks for the memory, guys! :notworthy: Isn't often enough I think about such fond times in my youth.
 

releventchair said:
Plantain in my yard is volunteer stock.
As long as small leaves are chosen they are quite tolerable ,kinda young green bean flavored.
I let some go to seed ,stripped them and tossed bagged seed in the freezer to stratify/ overwinter.
Hand broadcasted this spring.
We see sub zero Fahrenheit a couple to few days a winter on a wild average. Frost this year held off in June but has hit the second week of June before.
Oct. around the third week maybe ,frost again.

Tough acidic sandy soil here in the oak woods. Disturbed sites from winter plowing of snow are being tried and it's growing , but due to being left to it's own devices more often than not, partial shade under less acidic soiled areas near maples seems the happier habitat.
Anywhere out of full day sun ,say half day, it does good. Anywhere else just gets too dry. Plants grow conservatively and leaves roll up when dry.
Probably a survival trait similar to corn.
Plantain leaves selected for choice size and condition, rinsed clean if need be ,then can be dried. Or blanched then frozen.
Volunteers get established in niches...corners sort of and run off sites during rains, and get real big faster than the more slow tender "plot". Those bigguns are my seed stock.

White mans foot it has been called , a tough and potentially invasive weed more than a delicate plant. I can grow weeds alright it seems. Or more realistically ,they can grow themselves.
I have broadleaf type.
Broadleaf Plantain: Pictures, Flowers, Leaves and Identification
Click to expand...

Sounds like about the same climate, I have a few but for the most part am just a tad bit above the oaks, so I think I'll give em a go.

Oh man you just set me to a mission after seeing that trap. Haven't done any crawfishin in a year or two, I think it's past time for a boil and some etouffe! Got a lot of coon azz's in the family, we loves our crawfish!
 

fowledup,

No crawfish where I am but understand they are good eating and believe they are supposed to be purged by salting to flush them out before boiling is that so?

Regards + HH

Bill
 

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bill from lachine said:
fowledup,

No crawfish where I am but understand they are good eating and believe they are supposed to be purged by salting to flush them out before boiling is that so?

Regards + HH

Bill
Click to expand...

Yes sir they do, although some folks don't. If your in crystal clear water with a rocky bottom you may get away without doing it. But mudbugs from rice paddy's or slough's really should be purged. And no we don't eat the heads, that's for tourists, fools and braggerts-lol!
 

I had abandoned my own thread. Last year was a serious disappointment, so many things happened which made me think of options like selling this farm and moving to the ocean.

In truth it really was all my fault - just tried to do too much at once and I failed. Various reasons, we always find an excuse to fail.

I'm still here. My Relevant friend basically slapped me awake. Truth is, I'm trying again this year. I've no veggies growing in the garden this year. The berry plants which survived from last year - I've added to. This year through the Fall I plan to expand the berries. I've purchased 3 compost tumblers, thus a bit of effort into soil sciences. I've also been studying plant "propagation" as in rooting cuttings. My plan is to expand all the fruits.

I've not even planned veggies, but maybe next year I'll put them out up above the house in a garden separate from what will become the berries.

And I'm certainly going to push limits in producing compost. I'll find out once and for all whether you can produce compost in 4 weeks or less using compost tumblers. With 3 tumblers going now and looking for more tumblers on Craigslist. Like the last tumbler I bought was $30 on Craigslist, but $139.99 on Amazon. That's $110 I saved right there. May be making a 5 hour one way drive soon to pick up 4 more in a metro area Clist for cheap. If that's not over compensating for last year, I don't know what is.

It's just that a person should never give up a dream of many years so easily.
 

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