More planting. Spring is here

Just posting some pics from this past weekend.   I stopped at the farm on my way back from PSU so I got a good bit of work in.  I immediately tilled my gardens and even plowed neighbors garden because I was expecting rain Thursday.   I even planted my onions and potatoes by headlights Wednesday night to be sure they were in before rain.   It didn't rain until later on Thursday though,  so I was also able to plant some peas, kale, and onion seed in the big patch.  Even put down blackplastic before the rain.

I had gout flair up and some tummy issues one day so I stayed close to house and set up the electric fences and closed up the front garden.   I was afraid that deer might get in and eat off strawberries!  I extended the blueberry electric fence to surround the new plantings.   I also extended the orchard fence around the new apples and elderberries.   On the same day I  put wood chips around the persimmons.

Another day I got up and decided to finally move the firewood out of the basement.   It took a lot more effort than I thought;  those basement stairs are steep! Also, I think the pieces of wood leaned to the larger side than the ones I had previously moved from shop.  On that same day I also decided to burn the trash and leftover scrap wood from the woodshed build.   After moving the wood I used a push broom and shovel to get up the dirt in the basement.  

On another day I went over to mom's to pick up the apple wood and fence posts, as well as some blackberry plants and forsythia plants.  I managed to get 21 blackberries and 21 forsythia!   I could use a few more of each to fill out my planting spots.  I moved the spruce trees from the front to the hill across from the sheep.   They looked rough.   The deer really worked them over last fall.   If they don't grow,  no big deal.  I have kinda lost my interest in them.  The forsythia will be much better there!

Odds and Ends

Canning apples

We did some more canning of the York apples yesterday.  Katherine and I peeled and sliced up a little more than 13 quarts worth of apples and canned them in a light syrup.   We have another 1/3rd of a bushel left, I think.  Probably enough for another 6 quarts.  They were going bad, an we lost about 24+ apples to rot and damage.  The apples that are left are in somewhat better shape so maybe they will produce more.  I decided to can in syrup as opposed to apple pie filling because 1)  I don't trust the apple pie filling recipe (although non-one has reported any issues and the ones I did make seem to be fine), and 2) this lets us use the apples for other purposes rather than just pies.

Winter Wheat status

I removed the row covers from the winter wheat.  All that I can say is that I must not have planted enough - it is pretty sparse.  I am thinking maybe on planting some more and just letting it come up in the early spring.  I don't want to plant it in the spring because the weather usually won't cooperate (snow on the ground or garden soil too wet, etc).

Here's some pictures:

Deer Damage to Trees

The deer have been wreaking havoc on the unprotected trees!  They damn near totally destroyed the "wild" elderberry bush over by the big patch.  They evidently use them to clear their antlers.  Here are some pictures of my poor spruce trees:

Kale Survives!

Wow!  This kale survived the 18F temperatures last week!  I was going to harvest it last week to give some to Chris Murray, but I ran out of time (we were rushing home to avoid getting caught in a snow storm that never showed up!).  I hope it tastes ok!

Wine Updates

I got a filter and a bunch of wine finings (clarifying agents) to try to get the pear wine cleaned up a bit.  I got 4 of these 2-stage SuperKleer K.C. (SKKC) "kits" - 1 pouch of Kieselsol and 1 pouch of Chitosan - enough for 6 gallons on wine per kit.  I followed the directions on the kit:  1 pouch Kiesesol mix in gently, then wait 1 hour and mix the Chitosan with 1 oz warm water then combine into the wine.  The kit directions indicate that it should work within 48 hours, so I won't see anything until I come back later this week.  It's Thanksgiving week, so I will be back Wednesday (I hope)!   I also got a 1lb package of Sparkolloid powder.  If these two fail to clear the wine I will try the filter (actually, I will probably filter it regardless!)

Super-kleer K.C.  Sorry the picture just won't rotate for me!

Sparkolloid.  Same issue with picture!  Weird

I won't use this until later - I nee to give the finings time to work.   Arg!  I really want to try it now!

The two bottles of pear wine in which I doubled the pectic enzyme

The bottle of pear wine with half the pectic enzyme added after fermentation (it has SKKC in it now, as well - but its not been 24 hours yet)

The remaining concord.  I am thinking of fining this and the filtering - just to compared with previous batch that I didn't fine or filter.