Ducks 4 in '24

[ducks4you]

Beef pick up Didn't happen yesterday. I Thought the locker was open all day. I checked their website, closed at Noon!
I called before noon to reschedule for Monday, tomorrow, instead.
I think there is enough room now for the new meat.
Here is my porch freezer as of yesterday. I Don't need to process the cherries and grapes, 2023, this weekend. that work can get spread out over the rest of the winter.
From the porch I threw away a very nice but 2yo pork rib slab, 18 inches long. Just.no.room. and old.
I cleaned out ALL leftovers and washed up their containers in my kitchen freezer to make room for stuff from the porch. In the big freezer and from the porch freezer I found a 12 lb turkey and 1 porterhouse steak, and 1 tbone steak. I also moved the pork shoulder destined this week for bbq.
The office chair box did work out nicely to separate the old hamburger from the new, beef fat at the bottom of the box. I had to take a box cutter to the corners bc it didn't quite fit inside, made the lid stick up an inch. I counted 50 two pound packages of Frostbite (2023 beef) + a 1/2 pound package of hamburger. I think that we might have eaten through most of the hamburger if the new beef was butchered in April, but I think the beef lady knew that I would be able to pay for it.
She has one client, friend of FIL, who has asked to for a payment plan.
I would strike that person from my list, but everybody runs their businesses differently.
It's just that I KNOW about caring for livestock 365/year, and some people have no concept.
Certainly, I like knowing that our meat has been affordable for the last few years.
I have left the rest of the steaks and specialty meat in the downstairs freezer for DD's to deal with. There is a little bit more room in that box, but we will need the entire 7 cu ft freezer for the new steaks and specialty meat.
I have not eaten through the liver, so there will be some meals in Eva's future...

 

[ducks4you]

I have a mess in my kitchen that I am ignoring.
Cats are the Worst!! I keep looking at the dirt on my kitchen table! I had to bring in several pots from the porch a few weeks back bc the bottom dropped out from our mild winter and was headed towards below zero wind chills.
One cat dug out my family aloe, and tried to kill the yellow mum! I refuse to take photos bc That makes it Real! I would rather take care of my other cleanup jobs right now and pretend that there is NO mess.
la, la, la, la (ducks has fingers in ears)
I am moving all mums to the basement today, one down already in a safer spot.
I am considering transplanting to some hanging baskets that I saved. I could line in plastic and hang upstairs on the very sturdy (but fugly) curtain rods. It's chilly, but the cats won't dig them out.
DH thinks it's humorous.

 

[ducks4you]

I guess I must really like roses, since I hijacked @AMKuska's new thread:

A.M. Kuska's 2024 Garden

I usually start my garden in 2024, but this year got to a very slow start. Rocco passed away in October, so I did not feel like starting my garden then. By the time December rolled around, I realized I hadn't ordered my seeds! Between my new seeds arriving and some very generous presents from my...

www.theeasygarden.com

Heirloom or Old Garden Roses | Piedmont Master Gardeners

piedmontmastergardeners.org

 

[ducks4you]

https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/the-texas-rose-rustlers

 

[ducks4you]

THIS was new to ME:

Own-Root Roses

What are Own-Root Roses? Own-root roses are roses grown from cuttings taken from stock plants. Unlike grafted roses, the roots of own-root roses are the same variety as their flowering tops. Heirloom Roses does no budding or grafting at our nursery. Unlike the majority of rose growers in the US...

heirloomroses.com

 

[ducks4you]

Just picked these up from the post office, from Kohl's.
One of my winter boots is separated, and one might have a hole, sortof forgot. The others are waterproof, fit well, but it takes 10 minutes to put them on.
THESE were on clearance, And I had Kohl's Cash and another coupon, And free shipping, so the price was right!
I wear 8 1/2 wide, but they didn't have that, so I bought 1/2 a size up. I have done this before. This should see me through the rest of the winter.

Columbia Ice Maiden II Women's Waterproof Snow Boots​ Color: Cordovan, Size: 9, Qty: 1​ SKU # 95238280​

 

[Branching Out]

Ducks is going through a stream of consciousness.
I was over on @SPedigrees House Plants thread, and started researching.

House Plants

This is the time of year when those of us in the far north without a greenhouse turn to house plants. This rubber tree plant is the oldest living thing I possess. I bought it in Boston in 1969, and it lived with us in our city apartments, before moving with us in 1972 to Vermont. At some...

www.theeasygarden.com

Repeating the photo of the Amaryllis GLUED to a piece of wood, labelled, "no watering necessary", it has grown leaves and has 4 lovely flowers right now and several other leaves.
It looks V I A B L E,
Then, I read THIS, from a rational gardener:

An Honest Ranter's Thoughts About Saving Your Amaryllis - GardenRant

Should you save your holiday amaryllis? Marianne talks about making that decision for yourself, and what is REALLY involved if you do.

gardenrant.com

DD wants me to keep it alive. I am willing to try, but I am not sure about taking my reciprocating saw to try to release it from it's wooden prison.
Thoughts?!?

That is a well-done article on amaryllis Ducks! If your bulb is 'glued' to a piece of wood it may be difficult to remove it without damaging the basal plate-- and if that gets damaged I don't think there is much hope for the bulb to survive. If the alternate approach is to toss it out you really have nothing to lose.

 

[flowerbug]

That is a well-done article on amaryllis Ducks! If your bulb is 'glued' to a piece of wood it may be difficult to remove it without damaging the basal plate-- and if that gets damaged I don't think there is much hope for the bulb to survive. If the alternate approach is to toss it out you really have nothing to lose.

a basal plate can survive a fair amount of damage, as long as it isnt completely destroyed or rotten it may regrow eventually into a new plant. cut out the rotten and damaged parts and let it air dry to get some callous on it like you would do for cutting up potatoes or other root crops. then replant them.

one of the common ways (before hormones, growing mediums and cloning came along) of multiplying bulb crops for the flower business of a new variety was to divide basal plates with some of the bulb attached and then replant them.

 

[Branching Out]

a basal plate can survive a fair amount of damage, as long as it isnt completely destroyed or rotten it may regrow eventually into a new plant. cut out the rotten and damaged parts and let it air dry to get some callous on it like you would do for cutting up potatoes or other root crops. then replant them.

one of the common ways (before hormones, growing mediums and cloning came along) of multiplying bulb crops for the flower business of a new variety was to divide basal plates with some of the bulb attached and then replant them.

Yes--such a unique method of propagation. I believe that is known as 'chipping'. This video shows how it's done:

I tried chipping once and the small sections of bulbs started to grow, but they did not make it in the end. Even if they had survived it likely would have taken years to get them large enough to produce a flowering stem.

 

[flowerbug]

Yes--such a unique method of propagation. I believe that is known as 'chipping'. This video shows how it's done:

I tried chipping once and the small sections of bulbs started to grow, but they did not make it in the end. Even if they had survived it likely would have taken years to get them large enough to produce a flowering stem.

right, you can't escape the time involved in getting to a big enough bulb size to flower, but to go from one plant to a few hundred can be done in a few years time.