Jesse Glessner

Karen Donnachaidh wrote:I am amazed at the talent I see displayed on this page! I would love to be the recipient of any of these fine wares. Lucky folks.

My humble gift is almost ready to be delivered (tomorrow) to my in-laws at the retirement home. As I posted above, applesauce, sliced pears, grape jelly, cranberry jelly and orange marmalade. The marmalade recipe made exactly 6 half-pints, so I only had a taste when I scraped the pot and licked the spoon. Delicious! But, it looks thin in the jars (moves when you invert the jar). Oh well. Now, I'll make some buttermilk biscuits (mother-in-law's recipe) and it's ready.

When I moved back to IN from CA, as a 65 year old dude who had never cooked much, I learned the canning process all over again. Had to do that as a kid and hated it but it kept us fed through the winters. Learning new with squeaking through the Y2K fiasco I needed to do some prepping. You learn as you go, not just from reading and recipes. I developed an Apple Sauce recipe from an on-line version, one that "I" liked! I have a Niece who not only owned a restaurant, but also made & sold lots of Apple Butter is a very good cook. It was great, but, yuk, apple butter, when you could make apple sauce? It's a no-brainer. I gave the Niece a pint of my apple sauce. She eMailed me for the recipe! And that was one of the best "gifts" I've ever received!   :-)    So, sometimes gifts can come from very unexpected sources!

Some hints for you: Try a Cranberry/Orange Jam from recipes on-line. Also, instead of Buttermilk Biscuits try making Biscuits from just TWO ingredients from recipes on-line. They come out GREAT with fluffy layers that taste great right out of the oven, split open, and smothered with butter! ENJOY

Gary Crocker wrote:I really like this Wood Oyl for butcher blocks, cutting boards and wooden utensils:
https://www.kramerize.com/products.htm
The other Kramer wood products are fantastic, as well! This is a small company and it feels good to support them.

Thanks for posting that Gary. I'll pass on the word in our CNC meeting coming up this week. Some of the guys are making cutting boards all the time, usually using end grain or inlays as decorative motifs.
There are many solutions and oils people use on their boards. You just have to be careful that those are not detrimental to humans. Beeswax is a good one, especially if you melt it before applying as that gets into the grain better.

Thanks, again

leila hamaya wrote:i have done a lot of sheet mulching but unlike most of the posters here i add a lot of soil on top of the sheet mulch, more similar to "Lasagna"  gardening.

Been there and done that and other ideas in gardening. I built four raised beds  3' X 15' and it took a LOT of soil to fill those. After 3 years or so I decided to try Electro-Gardening and planted copper wires through the beds running from approximately 8.5 ft antennas. SO, this year, to not get the wires wrapped around my tiller, I decided to use a 3" auger like those used for planting bulbs. I dig down 5" to 6", drop some good top soil down the hole and plant my seeds in that.

It may be a lazy man's way of gardening, but those who plant bulbs have no problem growing their flowers out. And it is really easy on the back and knees when planting!

Ra Kenworth wrote:I have forest so I collect fallen dead branches, pine cones, etc., any brush that has been cleared, plus hydrangea branches come fall, Jerusalem artichoke stems which can reach over 15' high,  

I built a 2' X 6' raised bed for a friend and will build one more for her sister. To fill, I just had a couple of straw bales that I put on the bottom, assuming that they would eventually disintegrate into compost. That took up a good 8" to 9" - then I layered clay soil with manure/compost. Last was the approximate 9" layer of good top soil for the plants. I started with a kit of corrugated metal at 11" and added 2" X 12" under that. With the extra length added with the four corner posts that made the working height just right to be able to stand and work any plants growing.

This worked great for the old lady as she didn't need to bend over or get on her knees to tend her garden. She loved it.

elle sagenev wrote:My absolute favorite knife is a cheap fish filet knife I bought at Walmart. I use it every single time I butcher anything. I recently got some Jero knives and they've been cutting things really well.

I also purchased a cheap knife but don't remember where, just that I couldn't afford a hefty price. It is a 'Railton39R2351 Stainless, Japan. I've had this at least 30 years now and have never sharpened it or had it sharpened. Living alone it doesn't get a lot of use cutting meat, but when that job comes around it still does a great job cutting up the larger chunk into stew meats. I do have other knives but I've used this one for so long that it still usually is the first one I pickup to do many other jobs cutting up cloth, rope, cardboard boxes, opening packages and mail. I bent the tip about 1/2" back and just took it to the shop and hammered it back straight. I don't know what I'd do with out it!!
Long live my knife!!

John F Dean wrote:I suspect this is persimmon

A great little "somewhat free app" for gardeners is 'Plant Net'. The catch to the free part is that the App sucks up all the info from a leaf, flower, etc. churns it through their data base and sends back what their data stack tells them what it is (usually). Your help in identifying or replying to the App helps them build their database.

Having this on your phone is great. When walking the garden or fence row and seeing some odd plant you just whip out your phone, bring up the Plant Net app, take a photo of a flower or leaf and uploading that will start the process in the App to send you back the results of their data search. It is a great little tool!!   :-)

Blake Lenoir wrote:Hello there! Wanna find out how we use mulberry for tea, medicine, etc just as the Indians, Chinese and others in this present day. Found our it helps improve eyesight, lungs and things like that. I have a mulberry tree in my backyard and community farm and I eat mostly the berries. Please let know any ways you all use mulberry on a daily basis. Take care.

Seventy plus years ago we would harvest the Mulberry tree and my mother would make a Mulberry pie from them. The stems are the problems on these so it would probably be better to cook the berries and then filter out all the stems and make a Jam or Pie from the filtered meat of the berries.\

I currently have one large Mulberry tree in my backyard. It was there when I bought the property. It makes some good bird feed!!!     When I mow I do try and get a few pulled and eat them right there, but, a warning. There is a LOT of junk being spewed out from Chem Trails, so WASH THOSE BERRIES BEFORE ANY PROCESSES to clean off as much of that as possible. That holds true for ANY GARDEN PRODUCE that you might want to eat, especially those nice ripe tomatoes!

I. Weaver wrote:Hi, LOVE your trellis idea. I think I'll use it with my peas. However, I can't use wooden steaks as cows don't give wooden steaks. I will use use wooden stakes that I'm sure will work handsomely. Sorry, couldn't resist the play on words with your misspelling.

All of you who love trellises should think about using the large animal panels, 4 ft X 16 ft with 4 "T" , spaced 4 ft apart, with the posts to hold them up. You need a trailer or a friend with one to haul the panels but these guys last for a very long time.

The one problem I have with mine is that I did not mount the panels high enough off the ground for my mower to conveniently get under the panel to mow grass/weeds. SO, those should be about 8" plus to allow for mowing. You could even go wider than 4 ft, but not much as you either lose headroom or you panels need to be mounted even higher up on the posts.

Green beans (Kentucky Wonder variety, although I think there is a new variety that is stringless) are great at growing and harvesting under these trellises. To clean off the old vines just use a pair of gloves and grab tight around the verticals of the panels and pull down. No need to "clean up the mess" as those vine parts become a part of the earth in no time.