Mower problems and second elderberry picking

Mower issues

Well, the spindles that I ordered for the cub cadet zero-turn mower didn't arrive until after we left the city house so I was stuck with what I had on the farm.

I managed to mow the historically "wet spots" (most of them anyway) on the property before the damaged spindle finally gave up the fight.  I needed to mow more of the farm though so I resurrected the MTD riding mower.  It just needed a battery change - I swapped battery out of Husqvarna and the MTD started right up.  While mowing with the MTD I noticed the cut was very uneven so I decided to take it back into the garage and level the deck.  I never made it!  The drive belt on the MTD gave out on the trip back up the front lawn.  So I had to tow the MTD in and do some work on the husqvarna.  The husqvarna was setup to vacuum up leaves in the fall, so I had to remove the vacuum equipment.  Then I had to fix the left rear tire.  Back a year or more ago I had attempted to put some "slime" in the tire to help protect from air leaks.  Well, while attempting to put in the slime I inadvertently broke the bead on the tire. So I had to re-seat the tire!  I used the old ether-explosion trick.  I had a terrible time because the wheel was still on the axle and the "poof" from the explosion would go around the sides of the tire since it wasn't centered on the wheel.  I did finally get it re-beaded and then found a hole in the tire!  So I plugged the hole and switched the battery back from the MTD.  Then I tried starting the Husqvarna up - it started right up!  I was shocked it started so easily since it seemed to be a problem child in the past.  I will note there that I didn't move the throttle to the choked position when starting - I kept it low!  Moving the throttle to full choke seems to create problems.

Anyway, I took the husqvarna out to mow.  I finished mowing the front lawn and the side of the orchard field (where there are no trees).  The grass was a bit wet due to t-storms and high humidity; the tires on the husqvarna really slip quite easily.   I started mowing the edge of the orchard, got to the top of the hill and backed into a turn to head back down when the damn thing overturned on me!  I was able to get it upright quickly and restart it.  I wasn't hurt too badly, in fact i didn't even bruise from it even though it didnt squish my left leg a bit.  The front of the mower got bent up a bit though.  I think it will be ok.  Just not a good weekend for mowing!  I didn't finish the orchard and that grass grows fast.  It's going to be a mess next weekend.

Picked more strawberries

Not much to say about this.  The ever-bearing berries did well this week.

Some nice berries in there!

Picked more of the Pristine Apples

I think this is the bulk of them now.  There may be about half this many left.  They should be ready next weekend.  These are nice and ripe though.  Delicious.  I hope I can get more of these trees.  If I can't I am considering grafting this variety onto some of the other apple trees.

I guess that about a peck of apples?  Maybe more.  I got about half this many last week and anticipate about a half next weekend, which means I will get about a half-bushel off of these 3 trees!

Second picking of elderberries!

After taking them off their stems we got about 4 gallons I estimate.  We processed these directly into juice since that's how we use it anyway!  No need to take up freezer space if canned into juice!

I figure that for every gallon of raw berries I get about 2.5 quarts of juice.

Since we were taking these right to juice we didn't feel it necessary to remove or clean the berries as well.  We still "float" washed them though - I don't want bug juice in there!

Total take for the weekend - 10 quarts of  elderberry juice ready to make wine or jelly out of!