True Blue Sam the Travelin' Man: Gardening

David aka True Blue Sam

The stoves are cold and gardening has begun! Onions and cabbages are in the ground.

David aka True Blue Sam

The potatoes were done. The wet July weather caused a few to rot, but the damage was minimal. We will be moving them down to the basement shortly.

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan canned two batches, for a total of 16.

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan will be canning our kraut Monday afternoon! Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

Back To The Old Grind! Tomatoes Tomorrow!

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan is growing some beautiful cabbages this year in the garden. She cut up twenty pounds for the crock, I added salt and punched and crunched. It is down in the basement now for six to eight weeks with our kraut rock pressing it down.

David aka True Blue Sam

We were gifted a nice little mini-tiller with a Honda engine, but it hasn't been used in many years. Rather than try forcing it to run with a clogged up carburetor, we just ordered a new carb along with new fuel lines, because the old ones are hard and shrunken. It should be up and running this week if I can get an hour or two to swap in the new parts. Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan had a great garden this year and we picked a bunch of good peppers to enjoy today before we pulled the plants. The posts and trellises are all out and the fence is opened so we can bring the tractor in for Fall tilling. There is still plenty of work to do. We have many loads of wood that we need to work up to store at the house and out in the barn, and we will be mowing leaves to bits soon.

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan completed another orbit of the Sun and got a couple of beautiful new tools to use in her garden. Rogue Hoes began as fire fighting tools, but now are being used by many others than wildland fire fighters. These babies can sure break and turn the soil!

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan has been busy canning tomatoes and beans lately. Our kraut is all done, and potatoes are all picked and stored in the basement. We hope to have some fall cabbages. The garden is a joy. The next project Susan has is habanero jelly!

David aka True Blue Sam

We were busy last week, so the kraut worked for 52 days this time, and it is delicious. Susan canned 19 pints, and we have fresh sauerkraut in the fridge.

David aka True Blue Sam

There is always a good warning with hurricanes. It came over us today, and is almost done slobbering on us. We heeded the warning and dug our taters. They did really well this year.

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan's work goes on every day.

Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan harvested eight heads of cabbage from our garden the other day and we had a sauerkraut party. It is a quick and easy process. Clean the crock and rock, cut the cabbage, add a heaping teaspoon of salt for each pound of cabbage, punch and crunch the cut cabbage to bring out the moisture, put a plate on top, with a rock to press it down, cover and place the crock in a cool place.

David aka True Blue Sam

Buy good tools and they usually will last a long time. This Red Max reciprocater still has the original carburetor. I put fresh gas in it today, pumped the primer bulb, choked, and started. It is a joy! This machine works much better than a line trimmer for big weeds. When I finished this little weed patch, I moved over to the bean rows and used the Red Max to "hoe" between the rows. I ran the blades just under the surface, cutting the weeds off in short order, and saving Susan a bunch of time using her hoe.

Back To The Old Grind!

David aka True Blue Sam

Susan picked eight heads of cabbage today, and this evening they went into the kraut crock. Our genuine Rio Grande kraut rock will hold down the juicy mix while the magic occurs.