Ducks Ragtag 2019 gardening

[ducks4you]

Nuf said.

 

[seedcorn]

Nice....

 

[ducks4you]

I will get you the after picture (I have the before picture) of the drain from the gutter on the SE side of the barn. If you look at the above photo, right in BACK of the roll bar, you can see how the north side gutter drains. It goes diRECTLY into an old metal pipe that drains right into the cistern below the front of the barn. I understand it is about 25 ft deep. On the SE side this had fallen apart. YESterday, my friend, who has taken this week off of work--too many vacation hours, I understand-- went to Menard's with me to get the right stuff to fix my gutters. We duplicated the elbows, etc., like you see in the photo, on the OTHER side of the barn, bought/used gutter screws to secure them, and repaired and secured the gutters on the house, too. SOOOO happy!!!

 

[ducks4you]

Here is what this gutter has looked like for over a year.

THIS is what it looks like today, complete with gutter screws to hold it in place:

The original design has gutters emptying rain/snow water into a pipe that goes directly into a cistern located in front of and below the dirt in front of the barn. We have measured this to be 25ft deep and I hope to FINALLY build a structure on top of this next year. My friend, who has an associates degree in mechanical repair, helped me to shop for and fix my gutter problems. We fixed all of the gutters that were disconnected from their drains on the house, but we bought the wrong metal supports for the 2 barn gutters. We will revisit this next weekend and get those fixed. I was gonna say "before the snow flies", but the snow already flew on Halloween! I guess I mean to say, "before the ground freezes." Still, a little bit ahead of the game, so I'm pleased.

 

[ducks4you]

THESE are all of those naughty green tomatoes that THOUGHT we had a few more weeks of heat.

Those buckets are, unfortunately 1/2 sized, but I can find uses for them. I have done this before, brought in green tomatoes before a hard freeze. The trick is to go through them every couple of days. You separate the ones that decide to rot from the ones that want to turn red.
Guess what?--the RED ones are going to become ketchup!!! I PROMISED DH to make some this year. He keeps thinking of the scene in "Meet Me In St. Louis" where everybody is stealing tastes of the ketchup.

 

[flowerbug]

i've never seen that movie ducks. we used to make chili sauce that i really liked but have never been able to duplicate the recipe since then. Mom now hates cloves so she won't really make it the same way as before anyways.

 

[ducks4you]

I keep losing my camera!! I left it the old truck, which is STILL in My garage!!!
So... after mulching my gladiolas in the bed North of the garage, east side, I took some gladiola bulbs that might make it upstairs. If you recall, I brought a big, ceramic pot upstairs this time last year. It had 3 lovely tuberous begonias, which gradually...died...I thought.
The other day I was about to plant the bulbs. The pot was only 1/2 full, so I thought I would place the bulbs, bring some soil upstairs to fill, and plant the 5 spiky annuals I brought in this week, in the pot, and let Any gladiolas try to grow. This is my home office and I like plants in it during the winter.
I gulped when I grabbed what I Thought was a handful of dead begonia to see a stalk with roots and 3 little leaves. This pot hasn't gotten ONE DROP of water since January, 2019!!!!
I repotted it immediately and I have it in my kitchen next to the sink to see if I can nurse it along. Pictures this weekend.

 

[ducks4you]

I will post at home, and then edit these at the office today, 11-14-19
First, here is how the tomatoes are ripening. Maybe a quart and a pint to can tomorrow.

I combined the vanilla I had bought locally with the vanilla I had bought in Mexico several years ago--which leaked, hence the yellow masking tape--and should have enough for the winter and baking. I am BUYING beans and letting DD's do an infusion next year, bc they have done it before, just not with vanilla beans.

 

[ducks4you]

November snowstorm, Buster Brown Stall:
I had done my chores Monday morning, cleaned the stalls and gone into town. I forgot to close the door outside of this stall and came home to the following~

 

[ducks4you]

The chickens fared better. No snow in the coop. Admittedly, I didn't check on them until Monday afternoon, BUT, their heated dog water bowl is still working and the had a full bowl of feed.

I had put up wood on the north and west side about a week ago. WHO KNEW I would need it this soon?!?!?