Getting Off The Grid - Hurry Up And Wait

September 25, 2017

Here I am in the last week of September, for some reason this is my least favorite month, maybe because its dry, off and on cold and then back hot. By no means has this been a Fall Like day.

The confederate roses are blooming, they always make the last big boom before cold sets in, I have a few blooms around the huge bush, I had to cut one down due to it growing over the house and into the flood lights, however, the lower limbs are still a beautiful show. Plus I get to root the limbs I cut off, to share or to make a summer fence row.

 The Learning :

While I am in the middle of waiting I am taking this opportunity to increase my knowledge. This month the books I ordered is on trees and wild mushrooms. The book about trees came in within days of ordering but the mushroom I got this past weekend. I must say its small but packed with what I wanted to know. I am still wary of picking mushrooms but maybe in time I will have the confidence to pick and eat the wild mushrooms without thinking I am poisoning myself.

The Veggie Garden:

The first bed of turnip greens, kale and collards are all up and I noticed something eating on my greens, I lightly sprinkled Sevins dust over that area after eating a few raw greens myself, not bitter at all. I am thinking about picking me a small mess of the greens soon!

As for the second bed that was planted last week, they are up, little babies everywhere. I made it to the Co-op and bought a couple scoops of curly mustard greens and another scoop of kale, since that is my favorite and it home cans well.

The okra is still giving me about a quart a week and I slice and freeze it as I gather it.

The bell peppers do not look that great but I have small ones all over.

Those pitiful tomato plants! I have no idea what to do to them. 

The cucumbers are gone, I mowed those down last week, I collected five and missed one but the mower found it and smashed it flat, so I left it for whatever wild animal may hop into my garden.

I am getting a few more jalapenos and sweet banana peppers.

So right now its a "hurry up and wait" time on the greens.

The Progress :

We got out back and cut down a few more bushes that had turned into trees and were taking over the entire back yard. I have a huge stack to load up and move, that will be the biggest job to get done.

The greenhouse is still not done but Tony found the small pipes we needed to make spikes, I hope they are still good. I have not looked at those yet. 

Although I do not have anything in the garden I can home can I did do a sweep at the grocery store, I got a nice price on ground beef at $1.99 a pound so I bought that an home canned seven pints it for later, I was also asked to make pickled sausages, so I did four pint jars of those, if they turn out delicious I will make more and have those in stock.

Another good deal is the man that gave us pears before also gave the tree filled with pears to us again this year, I intend to restock the  pear preserves as soon as I can get there and load them up.

I also made friends with this lady at a yard sale that told me she has a ton of canning jars, I will stop back by and see if she had time to look them up and give me a price for them. Getting canning jars under store prices would be awesome.

The Defeat : 

I do not know what it is but Tony said its snakes. I will walk the dogs and in one area I smell this harsh smell ( for 2 years now), its like the smell of pork cooking that came from an uncut hog, evil smelling. I have smelled it now in four areas of the property, and the one time I backed away was when I was cutting back the confederate rose, I was almost finished with the tall limbs when I smelled it, I slowly backed away out into the lawn. This is up against the house so this is very scary.

I really need to learn how to repel snakes from my small area, I do not have a rodent problem but I do know rats live in the wild and in bushes and the fields. 

Off the grid and in the woods is very different than calling the landlord and saying " hey come fix this" its real and wild out here, still heading off the grid!

How is life in your neck of the woods?

By Andria Perry

Photos By Andria Perry