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!

Things are growing, July 4th weekend

Things are growing

Despite the weird weather this year, things are growing.  

Beans are up!

These are pinto beans.  Not sure that I have a long enough season here for them.  We will see.

Corn is up and growing fast!

Cabbages and broccoli are slow start  though

Looks like a big elderberry crop this year!

These babies are loaded!  I am thinking maybe over 200 lbs of berries this harvest!  UGH!!

Choke berries and choke cherries are getting attacked!

As if they don't have enough "normal" problems of rooting and disease, now they are getting snipped off by something.  Probably rabbits.  I have begun doing a walk around the farm morning and evening to hunt the buggers responsible.

They seem to be good at sprouting out again - but how many times can they do this before they die?

Ginkgo trees are fighting to survive.

They don't get snipped off as often, but they seems to have some rooting issues.  Some are sprouting out.  Some are in such a wet location that I don't know if they will make it.

This one is basically in the swamp.  Still surviving somehow.

Rainbows!

I was out picking stuff up at the various tractor supply company locations this weekend.  Lots of rain and rainbows popping up!  Was very nice!   I got my two 6V batteries for the backhoe and a tire/wheel changing tool.

I also finally remembered to look for the roofer information on the signs along 30!  KLA roofing.  I will have to get a quote for some metal roof on my house.

Backhoe

AS I mentioned above, I got my backhoe batteries!  The beast started up fairly easily, I was impressed.  I moved it out of the garage without too much damage (I broke a piece of siding off around door frame - easily repaired).

These batteries weight almost 45 pounds each!  They fit in a tricky spot where you really can't put your hands!

Here are a couple videos that I posted to youtube.

Blog catch-up!

Grape picking and wine making

Mom saved some grapes for me from her vines.  I stopped at her place and picked about 55-60lbs of concord grapes on the way up to my farm.  There were hornets ALL OVER those grapes!  It amazes me that I id not get stung.  They got in my hair, crawled over my arms an hands, but no stings!  Whew

They were in pretty rough shape, but that's fine for wine making!

All squished up and in the mesh bag for fermenting.

In the fermenter, ready to go!

Sealed up with the air-water lock

The recipe for the concord wine is included in the Elderberry Wine recipe link below (it's at the bottom of the sheet).

After a week of fermenting in the primary fermenter, I took out the grapes and let them drip/drain.  I moved the liquid from the primary fermenter into the secondary fermenter (racked the wine).  Always alot of dregs on the first fermentation!  In this picture the concord grapes are on the left, the elderberries are on the right.

The grape wine is in the narrow necked carboy.

Elderberry Wine

I looked in my wine recipe book and online and finally came up with my own variation of an elderberry wine recipe: Elderberry Wine recipes 

For the elderberry wine I boiled the berries with about half of the water that the recipe calls for.  Berries can have differing amounts of liquid so its good practice to only use part of the water until you know how much juice you really have!

My elderberries were frozen, so bringing them to a boil took quite a while!  After they reached boiling I let them simmer for about 15-20 mins.  Then I let them sit overnight to cool.  The wine making proceeded after they were cool enough.

Elderberry wine (I did two batches) in primary fermenters.

I had a "bubble over" event overnight - this is AFTER I cleaned the floor!  I decided that putting the fermenters into these grey tubs was a good idea...

Here you can see why I moved them into tubs!

As for the concord wine, I strained the berries out and move the wine into the secondary fermenters.

The wide mouth carboys have the elderberry wine

Finishing up the tomato harvest

We have been freeze-drying a lot of tomatoes this season, but we had too many come ready at once to save this batch - so I made 5 quarts of chili base!  Previously I had been making tomato gravy to use up the excess but this time was just too much!  I figure that we got between 80-100 lbs of tomatoes this harvest.  I only put in a dozen plants (I think), but many of the tomatoes I harvested came from the volunteer tomato plants in the other gardens!

Thats a LOT of chili!  There was actually more.  I ate a good portion too (BAD BAD heartburn that night!)

Technically, we are still getting some tomatoes, but I have just been leaving them on the vine.  We have FAR more than enough preserved!

Harvesting the Butternut Squash

I harvested most of the butternut squash.  I got a total of about 3.5 bushels.  We freeze-dried some (after baking).  I think that baking them first might make them too soft!  Next time I think we will just cube and par-boil before freeze-drying.

I have more pictures - but they pretty much all look the same!  Those are the last of the zucchini for the year too.

Wood Chipper repair

The feed brake weldment broke due to a crappy repair job last year.  The last repair was so bad it actually made things far more difficult to fix this time.   The arm broke off the pipe and left a big hole in the pipe.  I had use the GMAW (stick welder) last time and I guess I had the current too high or something because it ate up a good section of the pipe!   That is why there is such a big hole in the pipe.

There is about a 3/4" hole to fill once the arm is welded back on!

The hole is hidden in this picture.  Its under the red magnet on the right.

This time I decided to use the TIG welder to do the fix.  Well, the first weekend I tried it I ran out of argon about 5 mins into the weld!  I stopped in Frederick, MD and got the next bigger size argon tank. Then I tried again.

Ran out of argon!

NO argon makes the electrode unhappy!

I had to grind down the little weld I had done because of oxidation

Weld finished, ground and cleaned and then painted

I just happened to have the right shade of red paint handy!

You have to look closely to even see where the repair was made!  Excellent!

I re-attached the brake to the chipper and everything seems good.  I will have to try the chipper out soon.