Amberglen Farm: Oddly Odd Gourds

I picked gourds today! They are such fun. They seemed ripe, and I wanted to get that corner cleared out. I looked up how to dry them, and I need to rinse them in a light bleach solution, then put them on slats (not touching, good air flow) in a warm dark dry location. I'll use Rick's clever milk-crate storage and put them in the old waterheater closet. I'll have lots of fun using these for decorations.

Meanwhile, I've been keeping myself busy. I made grape jelly from the red grapes. I had a 5 gallon bucket almost full of grapes! Yikes. Anyway, I made a triple recipe and used about half of the juice. I had to stop there because: A. It was my first time and I wasn't sure I'd do it right, and B. You simply can't expand the recipe endlessly. Many recipes warn that if you do, it won't gel. It also won't gel if you don't put in enough sugar, but I still cut the low-sugar recipe amount in half. I froze the rest of the juice and I'm thinking... grape-jalapeno!

I also keep drying tomatoes.

The oldest broccolis are brocking nicely.

The whole brassica sector is looking great.

We put the chickens on 4a one last time, and we'll plant that soon.

The only rows still planted in summer crops in sectors 2 and 3 are 2A and 8B in summer squash. They are still producing but they could come out anytime.

We found one more big beer hiding in the fridge, so we tasted it. The juniper taste was mild, but noticeable, especially in the nose. Catherine wasn't here to be my beer model, so Barbie had to stand in.

Thursday I caught up with Jane. She'd just gotten the keys to her new rental. It closed on 9-13 and the addy is 1309. She can really fix it up with some sweat equity.

Afterward we went to the farm and I sent her home with a bowl of goodies. Doesn't that look lovely and healthful.

Yesterday, Rick took the day off, and we pretty much just chilled, but in the afternoon, I got to work on pruning the fruit trees. It always looks drastic, but it makes them so much better.