Blackberries
After filling the feeders, I started picking. There weren't as many ripe berries as the weekend before, some were bitter (don't understand that), and some were so ripe and soft they fell apart as I tried to pull them off the vine. I rinse them (some have tiny ants on them) and spread them on a dish towel to dry. I froze over a quart of these by spreading them on a cookie sheet and leaving them in the freezer until hard -- so they don't stick together -- and then bag them.
Saturday I picked only the black ones, and just before leaving Sunday I went back around and picked anything mostly black. There are a surprising number that ripen over night. I had a quart and half of fresh berries to bring home. And then on the way back I decided to take the short cut and couldn't resist stopping along the road to pick wild berries. They were a bit smaller, but very good. The thorns weren't as much a nuisance as some little gnats that kept buzzing around my eyes and ears. We still had fresh berries in the fridge from the weekend before, so I definitely see another blackberry peach crisp in the making.
Garden
There
were lots of cherry tomatoes, lots of green beans, and several onions without any green on top. I left many of the green beans that had gotten too big and we'll use these for next year's seeds. I left the smaller green beans and the almost read tomatoes Saturday, and went back around Sunday to get anything close to being edible -- since they will get too big or go bad before the next weekend. There was an orange bell pepper that was beginning to turn, but I left it and hope it is still good and fully transformed by next weekend. Oh, and I got two hot peppers -- gotta make some fresh salsa!The last thing I did Saturday was tackle weeding the garden. It was really in bad shape. I only got about half of it cleaned up before I came in at about 8pm. I got the rest of it Sunday morning. The ground had just the right moisture to make the job tolerable. (Of course the Bermuda and mint is impossible to get up.)
Peaches
There were signs of critters sampling the peaches -- partially eaten peaches on the ground and small teeth marks on fruit on the tree.
Many of the peaches were also splitting, I presume due to the extremely hot and dry weather followed by some good rains. I ate a few, and though not really ripe they were edible. After working in the garden I decided to go ahead and pick about a third of the tree, assuming they may all be gone by the next weekend. They are small, so the 185 I got only amounted to a third to a half a bushel. We'll see if they ripen. Sunday morning there were more peaches on the ground, so the squirrels or raccoons had been back. I'm thinking live trapping them and hauling them off might be the best option.Buck Brush/Thistle
I took my backpack sprayer down the hill in the truck to see what the Clear Pasture would do to the buck brush that is head high within the pen near the confluence of the creeks. (There is no way to get the brush hog in there.) In the process I also found two varieties of giant thistle there next to the fence to the Clark's -- I should have remembered it in this location from last year. I dug and bagged it.
High Wheel
Sears
had this high wheel string trimmer on sale. I had one before that came with the lawn equipment we bought in 2003, but it had died and wasn't in good enough shape to save. I'm hoping this will save my back and be an improvement over slinging the brush whacker around. I took it down to the pond and initiated it on the south bank. It works good and can tackle some big stuff, but it is still a workout pushing it around -- especially if it isn't level. (Unfortunately, most of this place is not level.) When I was done I did have the spindle pretty choked up with long strands of grass, fortunately clearing it wasn't too bad. (The string head slides up and down to allow cutting at different heights, and made clearing the clog a bit easier.)Leaking Dam
I discovered a few weeks back that the dam is leaking under the culverts again. I don't know if it was going when the beaver were plugging the culverts or not -- the water was too high to tell. Now that it is dry and the flow is down, all the water is passing through the dam versus through the culverts. This is very frustrating news, and leaves me wondering what to do next. I can tell there has been lots of settling where I dug up and filled in around the north culvert. Do I do it all over for both culverts, and why didn't the bentonite plug it?
Pecan Trees
On the way back from the pond, I decided to flag what pecan trees I could find that I planted along the fence just above Plume creek. I found maybe a dozen, less than half of what I planted there. Most are still tiny and having quite a struggle to survive. I'm thinking I should mulch around them.
Blackberry Pancakes
Sunday morning I made myself pancakes from my multi-grain mix I made up and keep in the fridge. Naturally, I added blackberries to these and had them with lots of butter and maple syrup. Yummy!
Dog Hair
I had brought some old socks out and I stuffed them with Tender's hair and hung them in the fruit trees. I also hung some old CDs. These are supposed to help keep the critters out/off. I noticed some nibbling on the new maple we planted in the fall, so I included it in the decoration.
Apples
My two bearing trees are loaded, though they are struggling. The apples are still too green even for me, though I keep trying them (which also helps lighten the load). The Japanese beetles are doing some damage to the Gold Rush -- I'm pretty sure it is not rust. I went ahead and sprayed them again for the fungus.
Mow and Weedeat
I mowed only the upper level, around the house and over by the swing. I then fired up the John Deer weedeater to clean up around the house, and ran a whole tank through the Brush Whacker. I took it down the road across the spring, down around the spring, and ran out of gas before I got the area in front of the barn. Gives me something to do next weekend (smile).
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