Smartie's Bar & Grill #68

If you took some water, vodka or alcohol and added some type of essential oil that would work, no? If you wanted something that wasn't a spray you probably could soak something in that solution.
I was reading up on ridding the cabin we built of that closed cabin smell. There was a suggestion that I am going to try. A bag of charcoal left open or in a tray to absorb the smell. I figured Im going to get a few of those aluminum turkey roasting pans and load them up with the charcoal. Same for the cellar here. I just didn't get that far. lol

 

My God your place is beautiful! Seriously beautiful!
You put a whole lot into that garden and the rewards show. Do you put a lot of stuff up for the winter? Is that this season?

The growing season here is relatively short. I planted in two different places this year. The family house with the organic garden and the house we live in now. At the family house I planted corn, tomato, peppers, potato, cucumbers, broccoli rabe, cilantro, basil, garlic, onions, lettuce and swiss chard. That garden is basically just starting out. The growing season here basically heats up in June to move the plants and is over by October.
The soil at the house we are living in is horrendous. Ive tried for several years to amend the soil and it has improved but Im spoiled with the soil at my house. lol. So this year I decided that was it. I planted some tomato in the dead zone patch of soil and dug the holes double deep and double wide and put compost from my compost bin at home in the holes. They are doing great but time will tell. I also planted popping corn here and side dressed it with screened compost. Its about 8" tall at this point. I filled pots with compost and screened it all. Then I put the straight out older screened compost in big pots and planted tomato and peppers in those pots and put them on the deck. This deck heats up so hot you cant walk barefooted on it without running like hell to get off it. I have no concept of deck life. I grew up with a patio. Why anyone would build a stage and call it a deck, Ill never understand. But lemons to lemonade. Its a garden deck now. I have tomato, peppers, swiss chard, lettuce, basil, cilantro, zucchini and scallions growing in pots. Those tomato plants are probably 2' tall now with 2 sets of flowers and the peppers already have peppers on them with tons of flowers. We have a grapefruit tree that I started from seed about 30+ years ago and a lemon tree that I started the same time. The lemon tree was failing so I made a decision that was it. These two trees never gave fruit. Flowered some but no fruit. We have to bring them in in the fall and its a battle of why am I keeping them and where are we putting them in the house this year. The lemon was sentenced to death. We put it out. It snowed on it and went through some freezing weather in a big pot. It lived. lol Came back beautiful. So, we are going to transplant it for the fall to bring in. I also have some fig trees on the deck. Its not an Italian garden with out fig trees.
When we were kids my great uncle took care of the garden. He would let us help and explain how to tend a garden and respect nature for how amazing it is. He would put a salt shaker under the patio for us if we picked tomatoes to eat if we got hungry playing. Take whatever you want aside from anything he marked to save or he hand pollinated. He taught me how to save seed proper. He passed and the garden was handed down to me to tend. I have for years since.

 

My battle with the raccoons.

Im in the yard and see the corn stalks shaking. I see a raccoon. Game on.
I grab the hose near by and start spraying the hell out of the area. One raccoon comes out, climbs on the patio roof and about 5 younger ones follow. Slow moving like they were thinking, so what you got a hose. You cant shoot us without the swat team swarming the neighborhood. The squirrels (rats with fluffy tails) probably filled them in on that. Anyway, now Im spraying the mom to move and she starts running. I start running with the hose in hand and totally forgot the hose at some point would stop me from running. It did. It stopped me dead in my tracks and the hose got half torn off from the house. Ahahahaha. The raccoon mom starts walking down the driveway with the younger ones following and there was one raccoon who laid on my patio roof watching them leave with one paw hanging over the edge of the patio looking all comfortable. The most adorable thing to see. That one leaves and I didn't plant corn there for a season. Since then no problems. Course all this happens right after our coonhound passed away. Like the damn raccoon mom knew the dog was gone.

 

I would never deny the benefits of more production at less financial cost. Especially if we are speaking about feeding people who may otherwise not be able to consume the product. Just be honest in an assessment of the products potential harm. Im grateful there is the option to purchase GMO grown products and to not purchase them or grow your own.

Its amazing to me that people will use weed killers with fertilizers and let their kids or pets go play in that lawn. I wouldn't walk in that lawn much less have kids playing in it. If anyone needs an explanation why your dog died from throat cancer or anything like that play go fetch and bring it back after your lawn was sprayed. I see those yellow warning flags on lawns and cringe. Raise the mower deck and water or let it go dormant till fall. Your kids and pets will thank you.

 

The thing I cant get past at this house is our tap water. Its a problem for me. I can smell the chlorine in it at times. I wont drink it. Ive tried several times but there is a huge difference with taste between the water at my house, the bottled water we buy and this tap water.
The reservoirs the water is held in is beautiful. I mean pristine and goes on for miles. But by the time that water gets to the house its overly chlorinated to the point I can smell it.
Ive read about the scam some bottle water is. Smartie a long time ago said it was a scam in many ways. That was actually what made me research it. Its true bottled water may not live up to the expectations of people but it doesn't smell like Im drinking pool water. lol

 

I love to garden too. Ive loved it since I was a kid. It takes me to a whole different place. Like being in the woods. A whole different place that's wicked comfortable for my soul. Its me. How many times my mom would look out the porch window when I was in the garden and say, why did you plant that there. You should have put it over there and how I was doing what I loved to do. To be honest, I still cant look up at those windows where my mom would look out without tears missing her, telling me I was doing it wrong. lol

I can tell you love it. You have to have a love for it to have it look as nice and productive as yours does. I know what goes into it and seeing yours its very impressive.

Ive never really grew vegetables in pots. It was always the garden. But this soil is almost like subsoil. Its on its way to being amended but its a process Im impatient for. I actually was thinking to make some raised beds and shovel soil from my place on the truck and fill the raised beds. Then I figured fill the pots this year and dump the soil out in one raised bed we make this fall and see how it works out. But all in all I have say Im surprised the plants are doing so well so far in those pots and the added bonus of the deck not being so decklike is great.


You have figs, you have an Italian garden where I come from. lol

Figs up here need winter protection or are grown it large pots to be put in for winter protection. We had a fig tree in the yard for years that we would fall bury. But man oh man what a job that was. People will wrap them in tarps packed with leaves or make small wooden structures to keep the snow and ice off them. Ive propagated figs to give away to friends. Ive air layered them. When you took the cuttings in the winter, what did you do to the cuttings?

Ive never seen an olive tree. Now I want one. Ahahahaha. Ive heard the olive trees blooming in Italy are a beautiful site to see. Groves of silver leaves and flowers. I have no clue. Ive never been to Italy but will someday. I promised myself that. Id like to see where my grandparents came from. I also heard of fig trees growing huge in Italy. Big as Maples here. That is amazing to me.

 

We built a pond years ago. Dug out a section close to the patio and lined it with sand and a rubber liner. Then stacked rocks around it and made a small rock waterfall. We bought some feeder fish from the pet store to save them. They grew huge. In the winter we would keep a small air pump going so at least a small patch of water didn't freeze. The pond filter was inside the pond.
We went for a walk one day and noticed a drying up area of a park that had small cat fish. Brought some home for the pond. Mistake. The catfish grew and at one point ate the feeder fish. One day Im feeling around in the pond to grab the filter so I can clean it. One of those catfish grabbed my pinky finger like some swamp monster and I freaked out not knowing what grabbed me. I lifted my hand out of the water and a catfish was stuck on it. The End! We went to the place we bought the pond liner and I checked out the outside filters. Came home and built one. If Im going catfishing, its not gonna be with my pinkies. That thing hit my hand hard! The neighbor near us put a bull frog in the pond. One day Im near the pond to see the bull frog with the head of a bird sticking out of its mouth. Bird was still moving its head. Amazing sight for sure. Finally one day my neighbor, who was this old time Italian guy said to me, what the hell are you doing with this pond? You eat those fish? No. Then you are wasting this space. After a while I saw it his way and we filled it in. The coonhound, our other dog and my moms cat, are buried there now and its a flower garden area.