picked my first mess of dixielee and purple hull peas this morning. had
to fight the fire ants to get them. picked yet some more string beans
too. (sorry y'all, these are the blue lake variety!) the crook-neck
squash and garden peas have bout played out. cukes are about under the
weather too. butter beans looking good, but not ready for picking
yet. should be ready in about a week. cut quite a few collards last
week, so none of those ready to cut again. no bell peppers either, nice
looking plants, but they put out about 6 peppers, no more since. plenty
of nice green tomatoes for frying, none have made it to the ripe stage yet.

had a run in with a 4 foot 8 inch (yes, i measured!) cottonmouth this
morning too, looked like it had just had breakfast. it's now hanging in
the oak tree across the road........

In article ,
rachael simpson wrote:

picked my first mess of dixielee and purple hull peas this morning. had
to fight the fire ants to get them. picked yet some more string beans
too. (sorry y'all, these are the blue lake variety!) the crook-neck
squash and garden peas have bout played out. cukes are about under the
weather too. butter beans looking good, but not ready for picking
yet. should be ready in about a week. cut quite a few collards last
week, so none of those ready to cut again. no bell peppers either, nice
looking plants, but they put out about 6 peppers, no more since. plenty
of nice green tomatoes for frying, none have made it to the ripe stage yet.

had a run in with a 4 foot 8 inch (yes, i measured!) cottonmouth this
morning too, looked like it had just had breakfast. it's now hanging in
the oak tree across the road........

A cottonmouth. Hmm. *shudder*

I'd rather put up with a short gardening season than
deal with snakes.

My Blue Lake beans are just coming up, in the greenhouse.
(Yes, my season is *that* short.) But the 'mater plants
are loaded with fruit and the yellow crookneck has both
fruit and blooms on it.

I overwintered a Sweet Hungarian Pepper in the kitchen
last year. It grew fruit until very late in the winter,
looked crappy for awhile, then started cranking out
peppers again in about March, when we got daylight
again. It's almost 3' tall and looking pretty good.

The daylilies & sweet peas are all in bloom. I'm happy : )

Jan in Alaska

Jan Flora wrote:
In article ,
rachael simpson wrote:


A cottonmouth. Hmm. *shudder*

yeah, me too! i know there are some on here who will probably rant on
me about killing it.......but to each their own.......i'd rather *get*
it, than it *get* me or the kids.........

I'd rather put up with a short gardening season than
deal with snakes.

My Blue Lake beans are just coming up, in the greenhouse.
(Yes, my season is *that* short.) But the 'mater plants
are loaded with fruit and the yellow crookneck has both
fruit and blooms on it.

I overwintered a Sweet Hungarian Pepper in the kitchen
last year. It grew fruit until very late in the winter,
looked crappy for awhile, then started cranking out
peppers again in about March, when we got daylight
again. It's almost 3' tall and looking pretty good.

hadn't tried the hungarian variety. how's it taste and compare to others?

The daylilies & sweet peas are all in bloom. I'm happy : )

got a few daylilies too, mainly hydrangea, moonflowers, and roses. loved
the flowers on the sweet peas, but those have played out here.

Jan in Alaska

rae

In article ,
rachael simpson wrote:

Jan Flora wrote:
In article ,
rachael simpson wrote:


A cottonmouth. Hmm. *shudder*

yeah, me too! i know there are some on here who will probably rant on
me about killing it.......but to each their own.......i'd rather *get*
it, than it *get* me or the kids.........

I killed every rattlesnake that wandered into my yard,
when I lived down yonder. They're delicious.

I also kill porcupines that wander into camp more than
once. Been through it with the dog too many times.
Porkies are good if you parboil the fat off, then
BBQ them. (Porcupines are survival food. You aren't
supposed to kill them unless you're in a survival situation,
because a starving person can kill one with a stick.
But I got *so* tired of pulling quills that I declared
my yard to be a "zero tolerance" zone.

A side note: if you ever kill a porkie or find a dead
one on the road, throw an old towel or something on it,
so the quills will stick to the towel. Then give the
quills to your Indian girlfriends. They make earrings
and stuff with the quills. (I wear beaded quill earrings
for "go to meeting" jewelry.)

I'd rather put up with a short gardening season than
deal with snakes.

My Blue Lake beans are just coming up, in the greenhouse.
(Yes, my season is *that* short.) But the 'mater plants
are loaded with fruit and the yellow crookneck has both
fruit and blooms on it.

I overwintered a Sweet Hungarian Pepper in the kitchen
last year. It grew fruit until very late in the winter,
looked crappy for awhile, then started cranking out
peppers again in about March, when we got daylight
again. It's almost 3' tall and looking pretty good.

hadn't tried the hungarian variety. how's it taste and compare to others?

They're delicious. Give them a try, if you get a chance.
Mild, sweet with a little tang. Very good.

The daylilies & sweet peas are all in bloom. I'm happy : )

got a few daylilies too, mainly hydrangea, moonflowers, and roses. loved
the flowers on the sweet peas, but those have played out here.

A couple of neighbors just gave me some rugosa roses. They'll
make it here, if I can keep my chickens from digging them up.
Had to make little chicken-wire doilies to put around the
feet of every bush I've planted this summer. The hens are
nosy. They like to scratch where I've been digging.

The hens eat so many bugs and so many weeds that it makes
more sense to fence them *out* of where I don't want them.
My yard is about an acre. The biddies have free run of the
place, except the veggie garden, which is moose-fenced.


Jan in Alaska

rae

Jan

Jan Flora expounded:

A side note: if you ever kill a porkie or find a dead
one on the road, throw an old towel or something on it,
so the quills will stick to the towel. Then give the
quills to your Indian girlfriends. They make earrings
and stuff with the quills. (I wear beaded quill earrings
for "go to meeting" jewelry.)

Wow, never knew that. There's plenty of them on the side of the road
up in Maine, I wish I knew someone who could use them

Oh boy, just did a search on qullwork. Here's a good link for info:

http://www.native-languages.org/quillwork.htm

Here's a step by step:

http://www.nativetech.org/quill/index.php

There's so much left in the world for me to learn!
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

Jan Flora wrote:
In article ,

I killed every rattlesnake that wandered into my yard,
when I lived down yonder. They're delicious.

i'd rather not eat them........snakes give me the shivers. before we
moved down here, my mom and i worked at a burger king back at the old
home place. i ran the drive-thru...anyway, there was this guy that
would come thru the drive-thru at least once a week *with his pet boa*.
Ugh, i couldn't stand it. reach out to take his money, and the snake
would be wrapping it's way down his arm towards me........it would be
all around his neck too.........ugh....gives me the hibbie-jibbies just
thinking about it.

I also kill porcupines that wander into camp more than
once. Been through it with the dog too many times.
Porkies are good if you parboil the fat off, then
BBQ them. (Porcupines are survival food. You aren't
supposed to kill them unless you're in a survival situation,
because a starving person can kill one with a stick.
But I got *so* tired of pulling quills that I declared
my yard to be a "zero tolerance" zone.

A side note: if you ever kill a porkie or find a dead
one on the road, throw an old towel or something on it,
so the quills will stick to the towel. Then give the
quills to your Indian girlfriends. They make earrings
and stuff with the quills. (I wear beaded quill earrings
for "go to meeting" jewelry.)

never seen a porkie in this neck of the woods, but i'll keep this in
mind if i ever do.........got a few friends i could send the quills too.

hadn't tried the hungarian variety. how's it taste and compare to others?

They're delicious. Give them a try, if you get a chance.
Mild, sweet with a little tang. Very good.

will keep in mind for next year. maxed out for this season. got a
"wish list" started for next years garden.


A couple of neighbors just gave me some rugosa roses. They'll
make it here, if I can keep my chickens from digging them up.
Had to make little chicken-wire doilies to put around the
feet of every bush I've planted this summer. The hens are
nosy. They like to scratch where I've been digging.

the only problem i have with my flower beds since the goats have been
gone is a mole and the dog. the dog has been digging in the beds (at
least it's between the flowers!) to keep cool. makes him a little bed,
similar to how the snow dogs dig to keep warm. he's been digging after
the mole too.

The hens eat so many bugs and so many weeds that it makes
more sense to fence them *out* of where I don't want them.
My yard is about an acre. The biddies have free run of the
place, except the veggie garden, which is moose-fenced.

Jan

ha, chickens wouldn't last around here. Timex (the dog) or Romeo (the
territorial horse) would be sure to get them. we have around an acre of
yard and garden, then there's an acre & half for horse pasture (we only
keep Romeo at the house, the other 9 are in another pasture nearby) and
about an acre where the old goat pen was. It is currently over run with
pig-weed. i hate that stuff. gets to growing and takes over everything.

how did you make out with your bear? it still lurking around?

will be canning string beans and potatoes today, gonna blanche the peas
for freezing also.

rae

please excuse typing, as usual, typing while holding the baby. will be
so glad when these two teeth come in.........until she bites me of course!

In article ,
Ann wrote:

Jan Flora expounded:

A side note: if you ever kill a porkie or find a dead
one on the road, throw an old towel or something on it,
so the quills will stick to the towel. Then give the
quills to your Indian girlfriends. They make earrings
and stuff with the quills. (I wear beaded quill earrings
for "go to meeting" jewelry.)

Wow, never knew that. There's plenty of them on the side of the road
up in Maine, I wish I knew someone who could use them

Oh boy, just did a search on qullwork. Here's a good link for info:

http://www.native-languages.org/quillwork.htm

Here's a step by step:

http://www.nativetech.org/quill/index.php

There's so much left in the world for me to learn!

Gee, those are great websites, Ann!

I save quills for a couple of Lakota Sioux girlfriends,
and buy bead & quill earrings from them.

I wonder if you could sell quills on ebay...

Porcupines eat trees (okay, the bark), so we try
to keep them pushed out of here. I've got fruit trees.

My SO's saddle horse got some quills in his nose once.
You could tell that it was a "curiosity sniff" that got
the quills stuck in his muzzle. Ruger stood there very
quietly and let us pull the quills. We were amazed,
because the horse is normally pretty froggy.

Gotta go. We're planting another 1/2 acre of peonies
today.

Jan