Littlesister

Virginia, I have termite treatment done on my house several years ago and they come out to check under house once a year and around house and sheds as well. The type of treatment they do is drill a small hole in brick and put something inside that. So, I have never had a problem with planting anything around my house in flower beds. Nothing is near the brick in the pictures I posted above, because of the roof line. So, depending on how your house was treated and rather if they spray for termites or do it the way mine was done. If they spray something around the house, then I would be more inclined not to plant eatable foods around it. I understand now they have a newer method of treating and that is something they push into ground all around the house near the base of the house. My next-door neighbor gets that one, but I don't know anything about that one.

Forging is something I need to get back into learning. I have a couple of books on it my granddaughter from Washington State sent me. She is very much into it. Just haven't had the time over the past couple of years to learn a lot of new things. Hopefully things will calm down soon.

I have never waxed cheese before but is something that would be good to know how to do. Even cheese is getting expensive now. I do freeze some cheese but not a lot.

Been canning beef today. Finally got some of it done but a long way to go. Freezer is still full. Didn't put a dent in it yet. 17 pints of beef all sealed. Tried to send pictures over but for some reason it won't let me. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Guess I will get it figured out. Was trying to put pictures under what are you canning today. I will move them and see what happens from there.

Happy Birthday Dora:

Finally got some of the beef canned. Still a lot more in freezer but this is a start. Well, I moved the pictures to computer from phone and they are there but can't move them over. Will try later.

Checked out garden and it looks like the butter bean plants that took a nosedive when the raised bed fell apart is going to make it after all. Been watering them and they are now reestablished again. So only lost maybe 4 or 5 plants. Going to just keep them in the green grow bags. I think they will do good there. Plus, the 5 or 6 I planted in ground.

Happy Birthday Jeepers. Hope your day is a great one.

That is really a great price. Wish I had a Winco around here. I would be buying up some of that. Euphrasyne is right. The prices of that are usually double to triple that price. Though I would check the dates as they could be older dates and if so, you won't have the full 25-year life span on them. But I would still buy them. If kept in a cool dark place they can go beyond the years mark.

Getting ready to unpack my cookbooks shortly. I need my canning books out of storage. Going to get things back in the den bookcase. I think the dust has settled enough to be able to get some things put away but still can't get the bedroom fully back together. And I am still waiting on my dressers should be about 3 more weeks and if not, I will council and go to another furniture store in hopes to find something I can get now instead of over a year's wait. Going to try to start the canning tomorrow. I have the jars out and just need to get them in dishwasher. Then will be going through the freezer later this afternoon to pull the beef out to thaw in fridge overnight. Decided to hold off on the turkeys for now. Need to empty the big chest freezer first. Just checked on Thriftbooks.com. You can buy the Searchlight book on there. They have several different ones. All used but most in great shape. I have ordered from there before and the books were all in excellent condition. It tells you if the books are new, great condition, good condition, fair condition etc. Might get one to try out. Though I did cut back on my cookbooks as I gave a bunch to goodwill that I never use. Just keeping the ones I do use.

Dee, I did not get to the canning like I hoped. Just love when kids come in from out of town unannounced. Love to see them but they need to let me know they are coming ahead of time. But it is what it is. So, I had SIL put up curtain rods for me instead of doing the canning like I hoped. So going to hopefully try again tomorrow since I have no idea when the contractors will be out to finish up this house. Said they would finish up when the shower door comes in. So how long that will take is anyone's guess and I am tired of just sitting around not being able to get house back together. euphrasyne, I like the idea of siphoning the water from pots. Not getting any younger, pots get heavy and with my arthritic hands that is a safer option.

Joyfield those pics. look really great. You are going to have a huge turnout of veggies. And yes, that big plant is rosemary. It has gotten huge. Going to be taken some cuttings from it to dry and put in jar. This fall I will be cutting it back; I think. Need to check on the right time on how to do that. Going to give some of it away when I take cuttings from it. Just redid my carrots and bunching onions. None of them came up. So, starting them this time between wet paper towels. That usually works for me. Then I will transplant to pots. Been walking around the yard past couple of days trying to figure out plans for next year's crop. Going to plow up the one garden that has the black plastic on it again and see about getting someone to help get the raised bed boxes together with brackets and better screws than what came with them. Will more than likely do that in fall as when green beans are done, I need to empty that box and redo that one for reinforcement as well. Really hoping to add 2 more boxes for next year.

None of my plants have started producing as of yet. But some things have started to blossom now. Though I do have blueberries that haven't ripened yet and the cherry tomatoes are now starting to form. So will have cherry tomatoes before I have Romas and beefsteak tomatoes. Miki, I have 2 blueberry bushes and they are nowhere near that big yet. They were growing in pots for over 5 years, and it might have stopped them from growing. But grandson helped get them planted in ground and looks like they might just take off. Will see what happens next year.

I am working on a place to start a composting bin. Never raised worms for garden but worth a try. Will see how the composting bin goes and take it from there. Lots of reading up on this to get it going.

Tomatoes are looking more like trees. Those are great. Still haven't been able to get garage set up as well as living room and dining room as of yet. But hoping by fall I can get a winter indoor garden going. Looking into grow lights now. Not sure yet which ones would work the best. So many options.

I have tried that before. I will come up and if it is a cherry tomato, that just takes off. Sometimes I will have cherry tomato plants come up from the year before. Never figured out how they would still live through the winter. But some will make it. I will just transplant them when they come up enough that I can move them to a different location. They have so far produced but it has only happened with the cherry tomatoes so far.

Wow, I still use a lot of that stuff today. I also have a B&M bean pot and have the rotisserie grill attachments as well as one for my mini oven. I have used both with great success. If all this doesn't make me feel old, I don't know what would. I have lots of oil cloth table clothes, and a cast iron turkey, pig and cow. Lots of cast iron pots and pans. Potholder loom as well. Still wear aprons when I am canning. Have quite a few of those. Wood cutting boards are a must. Use those a lot. I use the bacon drippings also. My bacon can is full again though. Grandson loves his bacon. I might have to put some in freezer if it can be frozen. Though I don't see why not. I have a few trivets as well that I use mostly during the holidays. I also have a collection of depression era cookbooks.

Wow, I still use a lot of that stuff today. I also have a B&M bean pot and have the rotisserie grill attachments as well as one for my mini oven. I have used both with great success. If all this doesn't make me feel old, I don't know what would. I have lots of oil cloth table clothes, and a cast iron turkey, pig and cow. Lots of cast iron pots and pans. Potholder loom as well. Still wear aprons when I am canning. Have quite a few of those. Wood cutting boards are a must. Use those a lot. I use the bacon drippings also. My bacon can is full again though. Grandson loves his bacon. I might have to put some in freezer if it can be frozen. Though I don't see why not. I have a few trivets as well that I use mostly during the holidays. I also have a collection of depression era cookbooks.

Thank you Kappydale. Those are great. I have made many a can of glazed carrots over the years. Grandson will eat those. Such a picky eater he is. Not sure if you are talking about store bought canned veggies or the ones, we can ourselves. But I do use both. I like to keep a stock of store bought just in case I have a short turn out of the garden. Those are my backups but do get rotated in with what I have canned as well. Need to start soon getting my soups canned for next winter. Lots to catch up on in that field as well as spaghetti sauce, ketchup, and so much more.

I also have that cookbook. Love it. Though off top of my head I don't know what year it is. All books are packed up right now. I also have the Joy of cooking cookbook. That was DH's favorite one. I have one that was passed down from my grandmother. The Boston cookbook. Lots of use out of that one. Been trying to go through a few things today trying to figure out what I can get put away without it being in the way of the construction work. Working on how the fireplace is going to be done and NO it will not be how he wants it done. He has a way of changing things and I have to watch him closely. I don't want things changed up without being asked. Going to try to get some of my books on shelves in den. I figure I could try to get that much done. And maybe my collection of old salts nautical stuff on there as well. Might have to dust a hundred times from the workers being in and out but at least they will be where they should be and out of dining room. Can't even see the table in there. Going to try to get the spices unpacked as well and start going through those and getting them back into the cabinet. Got blinds up in bedroom and one curtain rod so far. I did put the curtains up on patio door but will have to take those down before construction people get here. Whenever that will be again. But at least being on a corner lot no one can see in house at night. Just working out some plans on arranging furniture after everything is done and how I am going to turn living room into a sewing room/office/and craft room. Don't need a formal living room that will never get used. So now is the time to make that a useful, productive room that I can use. At least as soon as I can get the front bedroom set up for grandson. Right now, it is his bedroom. I am thinking if I don't hear from the construction people by next Wed. I am going to be on the phone. I don't need this drug out all summer. It has been going on since the beginning of Jan. and now here it is June.

Miki those pictures look great. Pioneer Woman, Love those flowers. I keep going back to look at the pictures when I get on here. I took pictures of my poor garden for this year. It is not like I want to get it set up yet because of construction, then grandson moving here, etc. Though grandson was a big help getting things set up as much as we could. Next year comes the big garden. Where you will see the black plastic is the original garden but a bit smaller because of the shed being placed there. Will be opening up a new section hopefully early fall or early in March. Well rats, I transferred pictures from phone to computer and now I can't find them. So will post pictures when I get it figured out.

I am getting ready to pull out my canning supplies and start canning from freezer again. Need to get that done. I just can't wait for the house to be finished any longer. It has been over 4 months now. This job started just after New Year's and here we are beginning of June and still not done. That Chicken and broth looks good. I am going to start pulling out the beef soon to thaw and start getting it canned. Hoping tomorrow I will be able to get it started.

I have heard there are some glass top stoves that you can doing canning on but most you cannot. If you ever get a new stove, if you can't get gas or propane ones then I would check to see which options you have for a glass top stove you can cook on. I have a gas stove though we used to have an electric stove that had those coils to cook on. I hated them. So, when we remodeled the kitchen, DH ran the gas lines for a gas stove for me. I can use to pressure cookers on it at a time. Wychwood, I have a single burner hot plate but have never tried to can on it. I would love to know if you could do that. Would give me another option for canning. Wonder if it would work for water bath canning in small batches.

Pioneer woman and Miki those pictures look great. Garden and flowers look really good. Paulene. Planting a garden is always a challenge. We had colder nights for much longer than usual. So, I have a late crop coming in this year. But it is coming in. I always check for when the last freeze is in then for the nighttime cold to end. I usually start putting plants out when night temps get up to 60 and stays there or gets warmer. I do harden my plants that I started indoors. Though this year that was a challenge as with construction I could not start anything inside or in garage because of their tools and equipment. Still can't get into garage to get things done. But hopefully by end of month they will be done and out of here. I will have to paint the hallway as they messed that up. It is not in contract for them to do so I will just repaint that myself. That in itself will be challenging as my hands are not as steady as they used to be to do the trim. But I am going to try. I did manage to save most of the butterbean plants from the collapse of the raised bed box. One of the construction workers said to get corner brackets and use those and screw it all back together. So am going to try that. I did lose one tomato plant though. It would just never grow like all the others, so I pulled it as the leaves were curling up. Could have been diseased when I bought it. So, I pulled it. All the others are doing great. This fall I will be better able to get garden like I want for next spring in a much better setting. Will be getting fence also to keep the rabbits out. Neighbor said they have a new crop of baby rabbits in bushes in their back yard. I now have 3 young rabbits in my yard. So more will be around. Need that fence for sure.