Double Dog Farm Harvest 2011

[DoubleDogFarm]

but I was hoeing and accidentally knocked off a branch .

sheesh, If isn't one animal, it's another.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Here are a few Frost peaches that I harvested this evening. It was a little dark at 8:15 so I shot in high sensitivity / low light without a flash. The picture is a little washed.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/PeachesAugust312011003.jpg[/img]

I will probably slice and vacuum seal this bunch.
Any favorite peach recipes.

Nom Nom
Eric

[lakngulf]

Any favorite peach recipes. Nom Nom
Eric

Well, peaches are a June/July thing down here and we have some good ones in Chilton County, Ala. My favorite recipes go something like this:

(1) Pull ripe peach from tree, hold in hand at stem and bottom, eat

(2) Cut up ripe peach (skin on, skin off, does not matter) in thin slices, place slices on top of blue bell ice cream, eat

[DoubleDogFarm]

So I picked a couple more peaches today Sept. 6th 2011. I believe this is a 16 quart bowl, so a 5 gallon bucket of ice-cream will be needed.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/PeachesSept62011001.jpg[/img]

Eric

[lakngulf]

So I picked a couple more peaches today Sept. 6th 2011. I believe this is a 16 quart bowl, so a 5 gallon bucket of ice-cream will be needed.
Eric

Works for me !!

[j3707]

Man oh man, I can't wait until my peach trees start producing! Never had a peach fresh from the tree. Hope I get a few next year anyway. I have a 4 in 1 that has Frost. Is it just the picture, or do they always have a bit of green tint?

[DoubleDogFarm]

j3703,

Welcome to the forum. Where in SW Washington are you? I was born In Longview and moved to Auburn in 1969.

I tried 3 in 1 and even grafted some of my own 2 in 1. I have to say, I don't like them. One variety always seems to try to out grow the others. One is usually more accessible to diseases and affects the others.

The green tint on my Frost Peach is my fault. I should be more selective while picking. If they are too ripe, they bruise very easy.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/Peaches.jpg[/img]

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Onion Time!
A 3ft x 8ft space can grow a lot of onion. 6" on-center. Copra onion, a very good long storage onion. Looks like I will have about 3 1/2 buckets full. These will be laid out to dry, then stored in mesh bags.

Sept 9th 2011
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/CopraOnionsSept9th2011004.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/CopraOnionsSept9th2011006.jpg[/img]

Eric

[gixxerific]

Nice Eric.

I am probably going to try some Copra next year.

[soil]

very nice, I wish I could plant onions. they are gopher food #1 here. planted about 500 a couple years ago. I ended up with 3 and a patch nicely tilled by the gopher.

[applestar]

Gopher with onion breath!

[DoubleDogFarm]

very nice, I wish I could plant onions. they are gopher food #1 here. planted about 500 a couple years ago. I ended up with 3 and a patch nicely tilled by the gopher.

soil, I'm wonder if you mixed coffee grounds into the bed, that would deter them.

How about one of these. https://www.safehomeproducts.com/shp2/product/gold-vibrasonic-molechaser-mole-and-gopher-repeller/gopher-and-mole-repellents-vibration/296/296.aspx?source=GoogleBase&gclid=CKn9qOG7k6sCFR5EgwodSiBmtg

Does anyone know if they work or not?

Eric

[soil]

the ground is far too rocky for those things to work. the only thing that truly works is pure natural polyculture. I may loose one or two of one plant, but there is never pure devastation. like I experience in the conventional garden.

I top dress with coffee grounds all the time, no effect.

they do loosen up my real hard clay soil though, I plant in the pockets of soil they pop up to cover the holes they make as its real loose and well drained.

[garden5]

DDF, great onion harvest!!

Wow, all that from only a 3x8 space? I'm impressed. I guess, looking at your onions I should really space mine farther apart next year. Also, growing them in sandy soil probably didn't help much either.

Do you use any fertilizer on your onions?

[DoubleDogFarm]

they do loosen up my real hard clay soil though, I plant in the pockets of soil they pop up to cover the holes they make as its real loose and well drained.

Gophers are good for something.

DDF, great onion harvest!!
Wow, all that from only a 3x8 space? I'm impressed. I guess, looking at your onions I should really space mine farther apart next year. Also, growing them in sandy soil probably didn't help much either.
Do you use any fertilizer on your onions?

This side of the garden had horse manure tilled in in fall 2009. During this summer 2011 I sprayed the whole garden with one bottle of hydrolyzed fish fertilizer. This bottle made one garbage can full. I mixed and sprayed using a submersible pump, 50ft hose with a ball valve on the end. Two other times I watered with algae water from the duck pond.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

More pictures
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/CopraOnionsSept9th2011007.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/CopraOnionsSept9th2011009.jpg[/img]

Eric

[j3707]

j3703,

Welcome to the forum. Where in SW Washington are you? I was born In Longview and moved to Auburn in 1969.

I tried 3 in 1 and even grafted some of my own 2 in 1. I have to say, I don't like them. One variety always seems to try to out grow the others. One is usually more accessible to diseases and affects the others.

The green tint on my Frost Peach is my fault. I should be more selective while picking. If they are too ripe, they bruise very easy.

Eric

Thanks Eric, glad to be here. I'm in Longview...was born just across the river.

One of the grafts on that tree is a Hardired nectarine and I've already noticed it's more susceptible to peach leaf curl than the other varieties.

Do you preserve any peaches? Canning?

This harvest thread is a great idea!

[DoubleDogFarm]

susceptible

This year I'm trying the vacuum sealer and freezing. I also did this earlier with strawberries.

Thank you
Eric

[garden5]

Eric, I'm sure that my lack of nutrients also had to do with my very small sized onions this year (and your nice ones ).

I've another onion-related question for you. I see that you are preparing them for storage. How long do you dry them for?

I've got mine in a single layer on 10/20 flats, but I'm not sure how long the let them "air out" for. 2 weeks maybe?

[DoubleDogFarm]

garden5,

I will probably let them dry for a week or more. I need to get them out of the full sun. This is a fun video, take a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J9AfUjgpTE&feature=related
His temperatures are higher than ours, but the growing technique and harvest storage are good.

Eric

[jal_ut]

I've got mine in a single layer on 10/20 flats, but I'm not sure how long the let them "air out" for. 2 weeks maybe?

Good question. I think it has a lot to do with your relative humidity. The ability of onions to keep in storage also is dependent to some extent on your relative humidity. Here with our relative humidity around 20% much of the time, a week of drying the onions is enough. They will also keep all winter hung in an onion bag down the basement.

If the tops seem very dry and papery and the roots are brittle, you are dry enough.

[jal_ut]

Growing onions:
I plant in April. By mid August they have their size and some of the tops are falling down. I go ahead and knock all the tops down so the tops will begin to dry up. I don't pull the onions until the tops are looking pretty wilted and drying up quite well. If pulled with good green growing tops, the onion will want to give its leaves water and dehydrate the bulb. This will limit the storage time.

I like to knock the tops down mid august and get them drying up, because sometimes September becomes rainy and I can't get them dry.

By the first week of September the tops look dry enough to pull the onions. If the weather is good and more good weather expected, I just pull them and let them lie in the garden to dry. If rain is eminent, I will put them in the tractor shed and spread them out one layer thick. They will spend 2 weeks in the shed, maybe more. When it is time to pick them up, I will clip the top and brush the roots (which are dry and brittle by now) off. I store them in a mesh onion bag.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Thanks James, all good information.

Eric

[garden5]

Eric, thanks for the tips. Great video!

Jal, thanks for the great info as well.

[DeborahL]

James, this is definitely off topic, but in that low humidity, how is it that all the ladies in your family have such beautiful skin?

[jal_ut]

Hmmmm, I don't know Deb, but I am sure they will all say, "Thank You".

[DoubleDogFarm]

Talk about beautiful skin, take a look at this Etna beans.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/Etnabeanstomatoes003.jpg[/img]
I'll be attempting to make chili with beans with this produce.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/Etnabeanstomatoes006.jpg[/img]
From the garden, Etna bean - Music garlic - Copra onion - Cuor Di Bue and Speckled Roman tomatoes.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/DDF%20-%20Helpful%20Gardener%20Misc/CrockPot003.jpg[/img]

Eric

[soil]

some beautiful beans, how were they yield wise?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Don't know the yield, most are still on the plants. Looks ok. I did overcrowd and under fertilize. I will be holding over most of the seed and replanting. It's looking like rain so I will most likely pull the plants tomorrow and hang them in the shed / greenhouse.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20Vegetable%20Garden%20plants/Etnabeans001.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20Vegetable%20Garden%20plants/Etnabeans003.jpg[/img]

Eric

[garden5]

Yet another great harvest, Eric .

Do you shell all of your beans, or do you cook some in the pods like green beans?

[TheWaterbug]

[gophers] do loosen up my real hard clay soil though, I plant in the pockets of soil they pop up to cover the holes they make as its real loose and well drained.

Heh. [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=219439#219439]Here's one of those little pockets[/url].

[soil]

yea they do that to my vines too sometimes, hopefully its not near the main stem and out on the vine tips.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I'm sure glade we don't have gophers and squirrels. Little bleeps!

Asian pear - Shinseiki. I remember when Asian pears were sold individually wrapped and more then a $1.00 each. My basket would be a pot of gold!

Shinseiki are sweet, juicy and have a touch of butterscotch. I just read that down south they ripen in July.

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/AsianPears-Shinseiki003.jpg[/img]

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Yet another great harvest, Eric .

Do you shell all of your beans, or do you cook some in the pods like green beans?

Garden5,

Most years I grow Scarlet Emperor runner beans. These I eat when small, young and tender. At the end of the summer I let the rest go. They can be eaten as fresh shelled beans or dried - stored. Always keep some as seed for the next planting.

It's been a few years sense growing any traditional green- snap beans.

Eric

[j3707]

Nice Asian pear harvest! They're my wife's favorite fruit. I have a 4-in-1 of those too Just planted it this Spring, so no Asian pears for us 'til maybe year after next.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Etna Beans,

Harvested Sept. 23 2011

Need to finish cleaning and dry.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/Etnabeans008.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/Etnabeans007.jpg[/img]

I will weigh them tomorrow and again after they have dried.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Adding the few beans I harvested earlier to the total, I'll call it 8 pounds.
Next step is to properly cure them.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20produce/Etnabeans010.jpg[/img]

Eric

[garden5]

Eric, do you shell them by hand, or do you use one of these:https://www.peasheller.com/ ?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Garden5,

Yes by hand. The"Little Sheller" looks like a good device. I'm not ready to shell out $440.00.

Now if I'm doing the math correctly, 1/2 pound becomes 8 pounds, then 8 pounds becomes 128 pounds. Then I might want the Little Sheller.

Eric

[soil]

nice bean harvest, I just helped a friend thresh and winnow 100 lbs of beans.

we layed everything on a big tarp, danced on them beans with some music to release them, then just winnowed them with the wind by throwing the stuff in the air, chaff goes to one end, beans go straight down.