One of this year’s experiments was to bend a 16 foot cattle panel over as a half circle and plant gourds on it. Part of the reason was to span the pile of fenceposts destined to be grape fencing.
It turned out well, next year it may be worthwhile to make it double-wide and trying cucumbers to get them off the ground and maybe help prevent wilt.
Here’s a view of the fruit from the inside – I love the filtered minty green color inside the tunnel.
Month: August 2005
August 25, 2005 – Shiny Bus
Today is the first day of school for Claire (8th)and Emma (5th).
It’s always an exciting day for them to start the year. Emma was one of those sad kids without proper shoes. Her shoes disassembled during the school day – so there she is, first day of school (when your shoes should be new) without shoes that work. We had purchased new ones for Claire the night before.
A brand new shiny school bus brought them to school.
Martin said he wanted to go to school with the girls, but Mom told him he’d have to learn his ABCs before he could go, so he then rattled them off for Mom.
August 24, 2005 – Over the Stove
Today was a very cool August day – a nice change – it didn’t get to 70 until mid-afternoon. So we took advantage of the cool weather and went nuts canning.
Today’s totals = 9 jars of raspberry jam, 5 jars of whole raspberries, 7 jars of tomatoes, 12 jars of applesauce (five of raspberry-apple and the rest cinnamon-apple). The tomatoes and applesauce are two of the most time-consuming things we can, and since it is the last day before school starts, I took advantage of the extra hands.
We vowed to do more of our own food this year before selling it and we’re doing very well with that. The freezers are filling up with veggies and fruits and we’re getting a little canned to save room in the freezers.
August 23, 2005 – Subliminal Obese America?
Take a look at this ad from Vonage and tell me you don’t see a woman with abnormally large shoulders or an abnormally small head!
This is not an original thought from me – I’ve stolen it from a web site called “This is Broken” a web site primarily for technical writers who expound on confusing instructions, bad designs and so forth. Here’s the best comment posted concerning this ad:
“Look, let’s not get all up in arms about this, okay? I think Vonage should be applauded for going out on a limb like this. Clearly they are trying to elbow out the competition, but in doing so they’ve shouldered a lot of advertising expenses. It’s no wonder, then, that they’ve resorted to such strong-arm tactics in their ads.
Posted by: Michael McWatters at Aug 21, 2005 4:55:15 PM”
August 22, 2005 – Non-Gas Powered Brush Cutters
Are goats part of the solution to the rising oil prices? I promised ya’all before and after pictures of an area pre- and post-goat. Due to a technical malfunction (I erased the “before” pictures – you’ve all got to remember I’m still operating with a Dell and Nikon camera, not the Televac 62000).
There is an area under some big trees that is prone to overgrowth by mulberry and other brush. It has been a pain to keep it clean via mowing or cutting with pruners or a heavy-duty weed whip with metal blades, so I turned the goats loose surrounded by our electric netting fence powered with a solar fence charger. It worked great as you can see by the following picture.
You’ll have to imagine a brushy area under the trees, with lots of 3-6 foot mulberry shrubs.