Thom Bri

We ate the very last squash from last fall today. Still very good. They get sweeter as time passes. Of course I saved some seeds!
So far have not done any work on the garden. Depending on weather I hope to get out tomorrow and dig up or cover with straw some grass growing into the edges.
Still about a month from any planting. Aiming at May first. I have planted earlier, but don't see much advantage. One year due to weather I didn't plant until June, and saw no deficit.

Here.

r ransom wrote:I have to admit, I use my Japanese rice cutter from Daiso way more than I do my big scythe.  It's useful for so many things.  I should get another one as it's starting to dull after 14 years.  

Can you post a pic? I think I know the tool but not sure.

Riona Abhainn wrote:Hey Tom, do you find that feeding the squirrels purposefully keeps them out of your newly planted seeds?  Like if you distract them over here they won't dig up and eat what's over _there?

No idea. I don't worry about the squirrels much. I think because there is so much stuff growing that they don't target my seeds especially? Also, I tend to way over-plant seeds so maybe they do eat a lot but enough are left over?

But last year I had to replant maybe 1/3 of the corn hills because something ate the sprouts or maybe the seeds did not grow. Deer and groundhogs and maybe birds are worse there than squirrels. I have read about old-times farmers soaking a bucket of grain in water then dumping it out near the field to distract critters from the new seed.

I do think putting out sunflowers is helpful against deer. They seem to strongly prefer sunflowers to corn so if both are growing the sunflowers get eaten down to the roots but the corn isn't bothered much.

Cy Cobb wrote:I for one, look forward to this thread every year. So much good experience shared. Successes & failures are all learning opportunities. Many people try a 3 Sisters garden once & fail at some aspect of it, but the continuous evolution of yours is nice to follow.

Today is April 1st. I had promised myself I wouldn't do any gardening until today. Moved some straw bales around and put out the rain gauge today and that was all. Too chilly this morning and strong winds. Hoping tomorrow is warm enough to do some clean-up.

Cy did you want some corn seeds this year?

I may not get any results from my Nigerian corn this year. Friend reports that she gave the seeds to her sister who has a farm. Sister gave corn to her workers, who pretended to plant it but actually stole the seeds and took them home! So it is possible my corn is growing in some hidden garden in Nigeria, or maybe he just ate it.

Scott Perkins wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:
Also I must add it is vitally important that only about a third of the blender jar be filled up so that the grains will swirl and fly around.  If you fill the blender jar too full the grains will not uniformly mix as the grains on top will not be sucked to the bottom of the jar when blending.   You have to monitor closely when grinding so that you do not over-grind if you like moderately coarse cornbread instead of the "corn-cake" like corn muffins.

100% agree.
I use a kitchen blender for my corn meal and oat flour. Corn from whole seeds and oat flour from purchased oat meal.
In my machine more than about 1 cup is too much and doesn't blend well. Also, using the blender at a slower speed seems to work better than a fast speed.
Very easy to make a month's worth of flour and store it in the freezer.

I don't worry about it. It's a long-term project and eventually it all gets processed by nature.

I make liquid soap from bar soap. 32 ounce container of liquid soap. When empty, shave a bar of soap and put pieces into the bottle with warm water and let it melt. Makes perfect liquid soap and lasts much, much longer than the bar of soap would have.
One bar of soap is too much for one 32 ounce bottle, so as it thickens I have to add more water to keep it liquid enough for the pump to work. I think liquid soap is just a tricky way to get people to pay way too much for soap.

Easy tip for daily commuting. Leave home 5 minutes early.
If you don't feel rushed and stressed for time, you drive more carefully. Saves a bunch over time. Trying to 'make up time' is what costs gas.

Woo-hoo! Down to the last few steps formatting my manuscript, getting ready to upload to Amazon.com. This will be my second novel. Took a ridiculously long time to get to this step. It sat half-written for nearly 20 years and I only got serious about it last fall.