Harvest Time Knives!!

[jerryd6818]

Ahh, gottcha. The very northern edge of Southern Illinois.

[bighomer]

Yep.

[treefarmer]

Today I picked 5 gallon bucket almost full with sweet banana peppers along with a dozen Bell peppers. Going to give them away, Miss Joy says we have enough jars of pickled peppers to last a season or two. Only have one bush of Giant Jalapeños and will get them in a few days. They are soooo good, stuffed with sausage and creamed cheese and wrapped with bacon!
Here's the banana peppers along with a great little carbon Opinel, a gift from r.redden, that accounted for their harvest.
Treefarmer

[btrwtr]

The tomatoes are starting to peak. Here is some of what I picked today. It's always nice when there is enough to share with neighbors. The only zucchini we got this year is from a volunteer plant that's as big as my truck. It's up front in the old garden and the deer haven't messed with it. The zucchini are just starting to come on good.

Knife is a recent EDC. I don't usually go for the new tech type knives but the ceramic blade in this G10 handled Stone River knife is sharp as a razor and hasn't rusted a bit. Hope I can figure out how to sharpen this thing when the time comes.

[313 Mike]

Great looking batch of peppers Phillip, you really had a heck of a crop this year, mighty impressive. Your stuffed jumbo jalapeno recipe sounds real tasty, wish I was close enough to come over and try one. ..or two

Wayne those tomatoes of yours got my mouth watering...my plants are all done and I am tomato-less for the first time in a while...kinda sucks...guess that's why we have to enjoy them while we can. That ceramic knife is a looker...never tried one of them, I heard the edge is fragile, but plenty sturdy for food work I'd imagine.

Thanks for sharing gents!

[TripleF]

Man, I'm glad there's a fatmers produce shop right down the road.....you guys have made me stop there quite frequently this year!!

[treefarmer]

Did a little different harvest activity today. I did use my Case 6275 with the reprofiled main blade help in shucking the corn today . Shelled out the small patch of red corn seed that we planted back in the spring. It didn't do very well due to about 1/2 of it being washed away or sanded by the big rains. The deer got two rows before I picked it.

This is a project we started in 2012. An elderly Mennonite farmer rented a field from us to plant field corn. During the harvest he would occasionally come across a solid red ear. He said at the community corn shucking/shelling, back in the day, if you found a red ear you got to kiss your sweetheart. He picked several rows by hand and then had a man come in with a corn picker and gather the rest. I picked up all the ears that were knocked down on the ends of the rows to feed the deer.

I found several red ears and had enough red seed to plant the next season (2012). I shared some seed with a friend and he too separated the red corn from other corn and we call ourselves developing a solid red corn . I don't recall the approximate percentages the 1st season or so, but at one time it came out at 50% red and this season it was 76% based on an actual ear count because the harvest was so small.

We have had the red corn made into corn meal and grits in the past. I may have enough this year for a small amount of meal after I select seed for next season. I'll store it in the freezer till next spring.

Here's a few of pictures of today and an old one showing Mr. Smoker, the farmer with some of his hand picked ears. His corn was yellow, white, some yellow and white mixed with blue kernels and the occasional red ear.
Treefarmer

That's a David Bradley corn sheller

Miss Joy claimed these for Fall/Thanksgiving decorations

Mr. Raymond Smoker - Gone but not forgotten!

[FRJ]

Really nice pictures, Phillip and Wayne.

Phillip, I don't know anything about the corn growing. Could you save some of the blue kernels and actually grow blue corn?

[jerryd6818]

My cousin brought this Cushaw Squash up to me this past weekend. He got it in Carmi, IL at Browns. I've tried growing them up here but haven't had much luck with it. The neck is not as thick as I like 'em but it has good length. I like a long thick neck because you don't have to fight for the meat in the neck like you do in the bowl. Already looking forward to candied squash on Thanksgiving.

[treefarmer]

Joe,
I would venture that you could develop a blue corn by doing as you suggested, it would probably take several years and have the ability to keep it separate from other corn as cross pollination from regular white or yellow would not help the development of a blue ear. There are some specialty seed companies that sell some colored seed corn. I was looking at some of the sites after you asked about blue corn. There is available seed for blue corn, a beautiful dark blue, according to the picture! There was also pictures of the traditional Indian corn with the multicolored kernels along with some bright orange seed, some solid black seed and one that was actually black and white on the same kernel, like a Holstein cow . Some of the technical writing says that the red color is a recessive gene and has to be manipulated, maybe like what we are doing in a non-scientific way? The red is unique, at least in our area, we call it Smoker Corn in honor of Mr. Raymond Smoker.
Treefarmer

[FRJ]

Thanks for that, Phillip.

[treefarmer]

This should be close to the last lap with the peppers this season. Among our sweet bananna peppers, our Bell peppers, we had one bush of Giant Jalapenos and they have been great! I let them mature this time till several turned completely red, don't know if that maturity enhances the taste or not. Fixin' to find out .
In honor of garddogg56 and tribe for killing ol' Bullwinkle over on the Outdoorsman Thread, I harvested my peppers with my modified Case Moose and then I butchered them with another Moose, a stainless steel 6275 . The Jalapenos are now wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cream cheese and venison sausage, the dozen Bells are bakin' with a stuffin' of rice, onions, mushrooms, sour cream and venison sausage. If frost don't get 'em we might have some more of them big ol' Jalapenos at Thanksgiving.
Treefarmer

[313 Mike]

Good stuff Phillip! Sad to see the harvest come to a close. Finally pulled the remaider of my plants today, the ghost pepper plants were real champs, producing heavily right up to the end. Got a whole n gallon zip lock packed full of greenies along with some reds
And a few chocolate Habs for good measure. That should keep me in the heat through the winter...

[TripleF]

Man, I love this thread....
Great job fellas!!

I did have a harvest yesterday....................of fatwood!!! \

[treefarmer]

Mike,
Can't remember where I read just recently about some dude who had eaten way too many ghost peppers. The doctors determined the peppers were responsible for a hole in his guzzle or something . 21 days in the hospital after surgery, are you sure you need to be eatin' them things ?
"All things in moderation" was probably wasn't in his vocabulary!
Treefarmer

[313 Mike]

Mike,
Can't remember where I read just recently about some dude who had eaten way too many ghost peppers. The doctors determined the peppers were responsible for a hole in his guzzle or something . 21 days in the hospital after surgery, are you sure you need to be eatin' them things ?
"All things in moderation" was probably wasn't in his vocabulary!
Treefarmer

Yeah I read that too...the hole in his esophagus was from his throwing up so violently and repeatedly, not directly from the peppers. He is what we would have referred to in the Corps as a "non hacker"....damn lightweights shouldn't be messin' around in big boy land

[313 Mike]

Well gents, it's that time of year again...still way too early to plant any tomatoes, peppers, etc...but the soil is workable, so I took advantage of the sunny day today, fertilized and turned over the soil in my raised bed, and planted three rows of Swiss Chard, and three rows of spinach. ( yellow rose jack stuck in the box corner there assisted with opening the fertilizer bags and seed packages)..
anybody else doing any planting yet? If so, post a pic here so we can watch the progression as the season evolves!

[Paladin]

My 'maters are up and blooming!

[philco]

My 'maters are up and blooming!

Pics or it never happened.


Good golly we've got snow in the forecast for this weekend. Maters wouldn't stand a chance.

[jerryd6818]

Good golly we've got snow in the forecast for this weekend. Maters wouldn't stand a chance.

Good gosh, they're forecasting a high of 68º for Saturday, 75º for Sunday and 70º for Monday in my neck of the woods. Things are kind of upside down.

[Paladin]

My 'maters are up and blooming!

Pics or it never happened.


Good golly we've got snow in the forecast for this weekend. Maters wouldn't stand a chance.

OK, here are some photos of my 'mater plants showing a couple of blooms and a bud or two.

Ray

[313 Mike]

Nice looking bloomers Paladin! Looks like the beginnings of something...tasty.
19 days after planting and my spinach and chard is coming up nicely. Need some more rain and sunshine...

[Colonel26]

We're in the middle of what we call blackberry winter here. It can really be hard on maters and such. So no planting yet.

Mike we've had plenty of rain. Be glad to share some with you! Your set up looks good!

[Paladin]

My mater plants are twice as big now as when I made the photos. They are still bloomin but I don't have a single piece of fruit. Not enuf sunlight in my back yard, I guess.

Ray

[313 Mike]

Sofia and I harvested some spinach this afternoon, nice and tender, very tasty. The Swiss chard next to it is coming along slowly, haven't seen much sun here lately.
The cages and paper mulch is in place for the tomato plants, hope to get them in later today...