Update on Bushman's Acre

It's cold outside this morning.  Not cold as in, it may snow cold but cold enough that being outside in nothing but underwear was a bad move...so I put my sandals on too.  Thermometer says 44 degrees. For my out of country friends that is 8 degrees Celsius.

The windows are open in the living room and every so often I hear a car drive by but it is few and far between.  It is after all 6:30 on a Sunday morning.
I slept in, sort of.  I awoke at 5 am and my head was so full of congestion that my eyeballs were protruding out past their sockets.  My lungs felt like the first time I ever smoked weed cigarettes. Even my teeth hurt.  I could feel and hear my heartbeat in my teeth.  Damn this sinus infection/cold/flu/killer thing.

I let the dogs out for a spell and as I stood there shivering I knew I was going back to bed.  This never happens.  I am the king of mornings.  I love 'em.

I hit the kitchen, slammed a bottle of water, two Sudafed and a handful of Ibuprofen.
Back into bed I crawled.  I snuggled deep under the covers, wiggling into the puppy pile as the dogs fidgeted and found their respective spots.

Then I began to sweat.  Off with the covers, the dogs grunting their dissatisfaction.  I lay there head pounding, snot running, sweating and I began to laugh.  Quietly of course.  Why?  All night long I couldn't get warm.  I was buried in the blankets and my teeth were chattering.  I'm dead serious I was so cold that my teeth were chattering.  Now I'm sweating.  Ugh!
So I got up and here I am, in shorts with the windows open, sitting on a cold leather couch but drinking hot coffee.

There is a crow outside the window and he is cawing pretty loud.  It reminds me of deer camp.  There a lot of crows in the big woods.  Right now everything reminds me of deer camp. I'm pretty excited to go and we still have about 54 days or so.

The weather is turning  a bit.  Cool nights and mild days.  My favorite time of year.  Time to start preparing for hunting season and winter.  The garden is all but done.   A few bell peppers are still lurking here and there and there are 4 nice pumpkins just waiting for October.

I spent Friday cutting down a bunch of dead trees on the back property line.  I piled the wood up and I will burn it in the stove this winter.  The brush pile I burned.

 It's been raining a lot lately and the cooler weather has got the grass growing like crazy.  I almost have to mow it twice a week.  The lawn looks great though.

Once mid October gets here I will start hauling the winter wood supply closer to the house.  I'll stack it on the patio so it will be right outside the back door.  I'll have to fill the entire patio with wood in order for it to last the winter.  Last year I didn't put enough there and had to drive my truck up to the woodpile once a week and then stack it in the house.  That was OK until the snow got so deep that I couldn't get the truck to the woodpile any longer.  Won't make that mistake again.

The honey is in from the beehives in the backyard.  I have about 4 lbs of it on the counter.  It is delicious.  So much better than the store bought and the coolest thing is that the honey was made right here on my property and the surrounding area.
My friend Jesse, the bee keeper, has 3 hives total and he ended up with about 160 lbs of honey.

He sells it for $7 per lb or $13 for 2 lbs.  I will be having it for breakfast this morning.  Toast with peanut butter drizzled in honey.  Hopefully I can taste it!

I tried my hand at spicy pickled eggs last weekend.  I'll let them set for a few weeks and then try them.  Can't wait.  If they're good  I will make some more for deer camp.

That's about all that is happening around here.  September 15th is the opener for small game season and I think I am going to try and hit the woods and bag a few squirrels.  Squirrel stew is delicious.  Plus it gives me a chance to get out in nature.

I will be headed up north for the opener of archery deer season in a few weeks. (Oct. 1st) and hopefully I can take a deer so we can have fresh venison in deer camp in November.  Plus I will turn it into snack sticks and summer sausage for camp as well.

Stay tuned for all the deer camp updates and pics of everything as I get it ready.

Here is an old picture I found of our chimney up at deer camp.  We came back the next year and got the other half.  It is a big hollow beech tree and we stuff it full of sticks and light it on fire.

I'm off to blow my nose,
-Bushman

A Special Deer Camp Edition

If you've followed this blog for at least a year you know how much deer camp means to me.
It is my favorite time of year and my favorite event of the year.
Now that it is September the countdown has officially begun.
63 days to go before departure.

In honor of starting the timeline I made this collage.

Hope you enjoy it!

Be sure to click full screen in the lower left corner once it pops up!

Bushmans' Deer Camp

A battle won? Or a war lost?

Well it's official.
Tomato Town is shut down.
I received notice yesterday from the official council of The Tomato Growers Association of The Midwest Growing Society of Wannabe Garden Hacks that my tomatoes have been put on the DL list for the remainder of the year due to an awful case of tomato athletes foot.

A clip from the Michigan Gardening Tribunal sums it up well.

"After months of waging constant war against the uncommonly cool and wet summer, ravaging and pillaging insects, voracious racoons, trespassing chickens and a host of infectious fungus disorders that the 'TTGATMGSWGH' has officially given Mr. Bushman the cease and desist order for his Solanaceae, Lycopersicon esculentum.  In order to maintain a valiant and respectable sect of tomato gardeners it was with a heavy heart that this order was given."
 
The president of the TTGATMGSWGH commented," It was clear that Bushman's Tomato Town was on a downward spiral and there was no chance for a rebound.  We had to keep the society intact and when a member displays this kind of dispirited attempts at raising our beloved fruit we must intervene."

So it is with a heavy heart and sharp pruners that I have laid my poor girls to rest.  I removed every tomato that had any shade of red in it and cut down the remaining vegetation, which wasn't much.  I'm done fighting and I'm tired of looking at such awful plants.  This year was an excellent example of how a cool wet summer can exacerbate any instance of weakness and decimate an entire herd of tomatoes.
Oh well!
All in all despite the less than ideal conditions I still managed to get a decent amount of tomatoes.  Nowhere near the record setting year of preserving 53 quarts but enough to play around with.  I did eat many fresh slicers and will do so again tonight along with ribs on the barbie.
Yesterday's harvest is shown below.
The last of the Hawaiian Pineapple tomatoes.  Some of them were over 2 lbs.

2 lbs 5.7 oz.

Total harvest including a handful of peppers and the last 2 cabbages

I will be making a few jars of spaghetti sauce and salsa this morning.

I made some hot sauce with last weeks harvest.

I also did 7 quarts of crushed tomatoes (no pic)

Then there was this bushel

A few other things

Dilly Beans

Before the death arrived

During the death = no leaves

At least the sunflowers are smiling

There you have it.  My tomatoes in one blog.  I'm thankful for what I did get and I was able to share with a lot of people.  That's all that really matters in the end.  

I will spend the winter preparing my defenses and next spring will emerge the victor.

Time to crank up the canner,

-Bushman

"You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile."

-Brian Tracy