After watching our chokecherries hanging on their trees every single day and having enough vertigo to not want to go leaning out of the solar powered golf cart to pick them, I’ve been pretty frustrated. (I can’t stand in one place for very long as long ago, I broke my back and a few years ago, both Will and I fell off our storage barn’s roof, both ending up with two compressed vertebrae and, I’m sure, arthritis.)
The vertigo seems to be gone now so today’s the day! Those chokecherries are so fat and bunches just weighing down the branches like grapes. So far, I’ve picked an ice cream bucket full and when I get done here, I’m going back out to pick another bucket. As I have a lot of chokecherry jelly, jam, and juice canned up already, I’m going to add sliced jalapeños to the juice while it boils to make our favorite, Bronco Cherry jelly. It is definitely cherry with just a little kick of hot peppers. So good! Thank God I have the Mehu Liisa friends got me at one of our seminars (thanks Pyro!), which is a steam juicer. I get five times more juice from them than just using a jelly bag like I used to do.
It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I’ll pick all I can today and make my jelly tomorrow. I can’t wait!
Our gardens are really kicking off. Yesterday I picked some tomatoes to seed out and chopped up what was left afterwards. Then we had them on super-nachos last night. I poured chili over the corn chips, then added nacho cheese, fresh tomato, and sour cream. Pretty darned good! I’ll go out to the Wolf Garden and pick a few more, so we have enough seeded tomatoes to put on a pizza tonight. That’s a win-win situation for sure! And I want to pick some jalapeños for that Bronco Cherry jelly too. No sense in getting wet tomorrow. Thank God for the cooler temperatures and for the rain! I hope all of you experiencing heat and drought get some relief soon.
— Jackie
That was such a great seminar!!! One of the highlights oh my life. I’m glad the juicer is still making you happy. Pyro
I finally got a tomato 🍅!
It sure tasted like a tomato too.
They are going to come on one at a time and I will just eat them.
I’ve been doing alot of thinking about next year garden and am going to try to put out cherry tomatoes which are supposed to be quicker to grow and get a harvest sooner.
We shall see.
How is Gypsy doing?
The heat finally broke but you could of fooled me yesterday. It was 90° with 70% humidity.
The soybeans down here are turning yellow 🟡.
Maybe been out 2 months. Even though it is hot/warm I just have a feeling that we are going to have an early fall.
Alaska having 33° already at night, well everybody better start getting prepared. I haven’t seen no woolly bears yet.
You know, Jackie, I hardly don’t have any walnuts either
Go figure
Love your flowers
Take care ❤️
Here in Copper Basin Alaska we went from a week or 80’s to 65 over the last two days and the forecast is 60’s for the next week. Hope we get the showers in the forecast or we will have to haul water to fill the rain barrels we have been watering the green house from. The fire weed is mostly seed pods to the to which is usually a sign fall is on the way! Lots of tomatoes and peppers set but few ripe. Did pick some beets for supper that were as big as baseballs!
Yep, fall is here. We had 45 degrees F last night. It made for good sleeping although it made me worried about frost coming before too long. Our fireweed is also pretty much done, and some birch and poplar leaves are turning yellow. Eeek! Our tomatoes are ripening kind of slow and the peppers haven’t even set many peppers yet but are flowering again. The heat got all of them.
Wow, nice beets!!
Last night it cleared out and it hit 33F for a low. I guess I’ll have do check the thermometers every time I wake up now watching for frost so I can turn on heat!
It’s been so strange, here in far north California, to seem to see fall on it’s way; way to early! Cottonwood trees are turning yellow, poison oak leaves, red. Japanese pistache to orange. All, a couple months too early!!!!! And all this in spite of weeks in the hundreds fahrenheit. Makes no sense.
I think a lot has to do with the way trees have been stressed by heat and drought. Hopefully, it’s not a sign of an early fall.
I’m so glad you dizziness has improved! That is an awful feeling. we had a cooler day today, There was a terrible wind storm that went through our county last week. It blew down several barns and out buildings about 5 miles east of me. Our local dairy farm was hardest hit losing a heifer barn, the roof off the milking barn, windows from their house, etc. Thankfully no people were hurt, but a colt at one farm was severely injured when the building collapsed on him and he had to be euthanized. Tragic. The weather is so weird. Those choke cherries look so good and I hope you find your steam juicer to get them worked up. I love those flowers! Sending prayers for a blessed week.
Wow, what a storm!! We had a pretty nasty one just miss us a couple of days ago. Sixty mph winds, torrential rain and hail. I’m glad you escaped your storm too. That’s so sad about the dairy farm!
Yep, Will went down and found my Mehu Liisa in a few minutes. I guess he knew where he put it. Today, the chokecherries are in it and it’s on the stove right now.
Thank you again for your prayers!
A friend went to the hospital extremely sick with dizziness, that I thought was only caused by inner ear off balance. He’s in his late eighties. Nope. They said his dizziness was caused by a stroke. His brain arteries are clogged.
Oh gee, now something else to worry about. My dizziness is gone so I’m hoping it wasn’t anything more serious than imbalanced crystals in the inner ear.
Gorgeous lilies! mine are done for the year , So nice to see yours Jackie Chokecherry/jalapeño mmm sounds yummy Birds are truly a great gardener my sunflowers are all sown by birds:) Glad to hear vertigo got up an went. hope Will remembers where he put the juicer! Enjoy that rain!
Yep, he found it with not much looking. Now it’s on the stove making juice. I cut the jalapenos in half and laid them on top of the chokecherries instead of boiling them in the juice. That idea came to me about 3 in the morning. We’ll see how it turns out.
So glad to hear that the dizzies are gone, hope they stay gone! Your chokecherries look great. For some reason, disease or drift, over the last 2 years all ours have or are dying. So lotta fenceline & windbreak cleanup to do. Today I had a nice surprise, a friend from church called & asked if I wanted some white peaches! So there is a crisp in the oven and more peaches to work on tomorrow. Friends & God are good!
Yes they are!! Mmm your crisp sounds so good. I’ve mostly lived where peaches couldn’t grow so I’ve never had white peaches. But I hear they’re very good!! I’m so sorry about your dying chokecherries. Is there anywhere you can drive to pick them from the roadside? We’ve got lots around here like that.
It was delicious. The white peaches here are small but so nice to have some from a friend. In the store they are $4 a pound! ‘Ditch fruit’ here is either bulldozed out or sprayed with herbicide. So sadly that’s a no-go.
Yep, Mom used to talk about the itis bros too. I still have to laugh.
Mittens sure keeps rabbits away from everything. She’s caught several full grown Snowshoe Rabbits and dragged them home as they were bigger than she is. No rabbits around here. Also, Hondo gets nuts when he sees a “Hopp-hop Bunny Bun” as we call them after he learned the word rabbit. They sure do like those garden plants.
When we had a dog and the tortie cat went outside, our rabbit population greatly decreased. No dog now and indoor cats and we have count them on less than one hand number of rabbits. Neighbor’s cat hunts chipmunks but he’s getting older and it was so dang hot this summer he was/is rarely here.
I suspect hawks and we do have eagles are getting the young. Hopefully there is a better population on our land across the street. Which is not close to the garden lol.
Glad the dizziness is better. I was digging potatoes and got caught in a much needed downpour of rain. It wasn’t supposed to rain until 7pm -can’t rely on the weather forecasters. I had a grand daughter helping.We enjoyed our first watermelon of this season. As I dig potatoes I find I must take several breaks and I begin to wonder why I planted so many. They’ll be consumed. It is finally cooler now. Fall is approaching.
Boy, that’s sure true. We were supposed to get rain today and, instead, it poured yesterday. So much for picking more chokecherries yesterday afternoon. Oh well, they’ll be there for a few more days while I process the ones I already picked. Will thinks we have a ripe watermelon out there. I’ll take a look in a few minutes. I’m happy for your potato crop. I think ours is a complete failure as the plants are only about a foot tall, unheard of this time of the year. Drought and weeds did them in. Who knows though? Maybe we’ll unearth a few yet. Yep, it feels like fall rains are starting. I’m already seeing yellow poplar leaves and goldenrod. Yikes!
I have seen a few trees with brown leaves as well. Not due to fall temps, but due to drought and heat. About 107 or so today, and that is to go on ALL week long. No real relief predicted until first of September…….. YES, 99 is a bit of relief. There **IS** a difference between 99 and 100!! LOL I still miss the chokecherries of SW Colorado…………
I keep hoping our yellow leaves on the birch and poplar trees are from stress due to drought, instead of an early fall. Wow, 107 is HOT! I’ll take our cold winters instead. You can always put more clothes on, but only take off so many. Lol
Here in far north California, yes there is a big difference between 99 and 100. I don’t understand, but it’s true.
Hi Jackie!
I realize that this has nothing to do with choke cherries a conundrum. My peppers are coming on strong however my tomatoes are lagging a bit behind. Can I dice and freeze my peppers so when my tomatoes are ready, I can use the peppers for salsa? Or would they be too mushy from being frozen? Any idea would be helpful. I am looking to roast some of the peppers as well but don’t want to miss the salsa making window. Thanks!
Sorry my typing abilities on my phone are awful…I have a conundrum in that my peppers …
If your peppers are getting to the point of being over-mature, where they may start to shrivel or rot, I’d pick and freeze them. Yes, they do get a little soft when thawed. But that’s better than NO peppers. This time of the year, tomatoes usually ripen very quickly. You can help them out by clipping any small leafy branches that shade the tomatoes. When they get more sun, they tend to ripen quicker.
It isn’t you on the phone; it’s the phone! Boy have I ever had some weird messages from folks!!
Those weird messages occur when they talk their message to the phone, and the phone types it.
Sounds like some yummy berries. Had not heard the name before or forgot it. I live in high altitude of AZ. My son does large gardens and raises animals. Thy sell their stuff at Farmers Markets and other places. I am 76 with some health issues so do not can much anymore. But my son and his wife would love that Bronco Cherry Jelly. It is 93 here today so we are having taco bowls as I call them. Already cooked beans, meat, cheese, salsa. For me it is what I make called NoMato Sauce with some cumin in it. Eat a few tortillas chips with it. If my daughter gets to move to AZ like her family wants. She would help me can. You all have a good day.
Your taco bowls sound so good! Boy, it’s been hot this summer, hasn’t it? We are finally cooling off and it is starting to feel like fall.
My Bronco Cherry jelly is so good as a glaze on baked chicken, ham or meatloaf, plus as a dip for just about anything. It would be great if your daughter would move to Arizona near you!!
Hello Nina, Our son lives in Kingman. Lands sakes, the flash flooding there right now from monsoon season. I lived in Ft. Huachuca, and graduated high school in Flagstaff. I used to love the state, but after experiencing the temps in Kingman, Scottsdale, and Havasu for too many weeks this year, I don’t see a need to return. Page was not bad. Gorgeous country.
Your lilies are beautiful!! I have never seen so many chokecherries! Wow
I am trying canning this year again after a 2 year break to care for my husband. Learning to can in smaller amounts since its just me now. Instead of 50 pints I go for 25!!!
The biggest hurdle so far is finding all my supplies again. I have the lids but can I find my stainless steel funnel?? When things get put away this year I will organize everything. I have a hunch I will be canning for a long time yet after stopping at the grocery store!!!
Gee, isn’t that the truth??? And it’s going to get worse as diesel prices go up and up. All the trucks and trains that bring produce and processed food to stores need diesel to go. It’s hitting we farmers pretty hard as we finish up haying and do some fall plowing…with diesel tractors.
I understand finding your canning supplies and tools. Will took my Meju Liisa steam juicer down in the basement and I can’t find it!! I guess he’s going to have to look for me. I was going to can my jelly today, but it looks like tomorrow.
One of the “itis brothers” as my mother used to say. Arthur and Burr but you can toss in Tendon if you wish. She had plenty of southern sayings if your nose itched (lies), your ears burned (someone was talking about you), and/or you had a chill (someone walked over your grave). As well as “your legs are younger than mine” or “you have two broken legs?”.
Tomatoes of both varieties are ripening at a nice pace. Been re-homing cukes as someone who shall remain nameless should read labels!
We’re supposed to get rain tomorrow also and I cannot wait until the dew point/humidity gets back to a reasonable percentage. We’ve spent almost a month at or in the “oppressive” dew point range.
Do Buffy and Mittens keep the rabbits away from sprouting/young sunflowers plants? I think I am going to keep a corner of the fenced in perennial garden for planting sunflowers next year.
Last time I planted green beans we had a drought – rabbit buffet. But since the drought was bad, I did replant a couple of times, hoping the drought would end (it did not). Once I go at least PT if not retire, I will have time to do a better job of fencing off young, tender plants.