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[Bentley]

I decided to put 8 foot long and 4 foot high sides on the bunker silo for the wood.  Give me a better idea of how many cords I am at.  That is a 17 foot wide bunker, so I am figuring about 2 1/2 chords.  Do you all agree?  Only 5 1/2 to go!

 

[Bentley]

These were supposed to be Crimson Sweet variety, round, seedless.  I swear at times I have no idea how this stuff comes up.  I guess there were seed from previous years in the compost pile, that is all I can think.  But these seed were planted.  Picked to early, but still a fair amount of sweetness.  Kristin is very pleased cuz they have enormous rind, so she is gonna make Pickled Watermelon rinds.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I read some article online that farmers want a 2 finger space between the light green and the dark green and those color should be fairly prominent in difference for determining when a watermelon is ripe.  My wife says that there should also be some yellow on the watermelon.  Well, the last one I bought at Weis was as described (I didn't know about the yellow aspect until she told me when I got home).  It was the sweetest watermelon we have had so far this year.  I ate half of it in about 2-3 days and the rest will probably go as quickly.

[Bentley]

I knew this was not ripe, but wanted to see if it was seeded.  I found a youtube video spring of 2023 that showed me how to know a watermelon is ripe on the vine.  Next to the vine that goes into the watermelon there is a curly little thing, almost like a pigs tail.  When it is brown and dry the watermelon is ready.  It did not fail me once last year.  I will try and take pictures as they mature to show later.  Does no good  for picking one in the store, but sure works if you grow them!

[Bar-B-Lew]

That's a real interesting method for a grower.  I hope it works out for you.  I love a sweet watermelon and could eat that every week of the year.

Watermelon, pineapple, and strawberries are my favorite fruits.  I could eat oranges and apples after that.  Outside of that, I could really care less for any other fruits.

[Bentley]

So this is the shape a Crimson Sweet variety should look, big and round.  This second photo is what I meant by the "pig tail".

[Bentley]

And then you have more seeded elongated typical 4th of July Picnic type watermelon.  And its pig tail.  It is about a week away I think.

[Kristin Meredith]

Processing the watermelon rind into pickle slices but it is a long slog. And and even longer slog to get to the final pickle stage!

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So taking a break to process the Roma and San Marzano tomatoes which Bentley is growing in the garden. I boil them down and strain them and reduce them further into a nice thick tomato sauce. This sauce is the best thing you've ever eaten! However as you can see from the picture of the sauce in the jar it takes a lot of tomatoes to make a quart of sauce!

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[Bentley]

All these next pictures are just so I have a record of the garden for the future.  And Wood!  About 3 of the need 8 chords done!

[SmokinHandyman]

Very nice garden setup

[yorkdude]

Very nice garden setup

Indeed, when do you get any time to update?
Holy smokes.

[BigDave83]

Nice set up with the gardens.

Do you go out and cut trees or have logs brought in?

Is it your main heat source?

I wanted to put a wood burner in, but didn't have the space for one, so went with a pellet stove in the living section and the garage section is oil heat.

[Bentley]

Full Lumberjack Mode!  I have access to about 12 acers of Woods.  From Stevensburg Rd on the left to the Airport Outer Marker on the right and from Mountain Run to Corky's Lane.  No, I just love Fire!  Dead smack center is about what has been cleared in the last nine years, so I believe the Forrest will out live me!

Do you go out and cut trees or have logs brought in?

Is it your main heat source?

[Kristin Meredith]

We did also clear a lot to the left side where you can now see a road through the grass.  There were trees all the way up to and covering that road.

[BigDave83]

The garden, mowing, lumberjacking, you never run out of things to do, from the looks of it