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Has anyone grown dwarf fruit: favorite gardening plants?

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@DharmaGirl When I lived in the country there was quite a stretch between the dirt road and the loft-house. Tires would at times during wet weather sink in and remain spinning. As well walking in heels for work- forget about it. Lol
So my husband and I used several truck loads/ tons of gravel to build a permanent path. Rain was not a foreigner to that geographic, so the gravel sunk in. We had to get lime and add it in as well as another few loads of gravel. That was about 20 years ago. Now there is more environmental lime dust awareness (caution even) but the gravel will still eventually shift down without a mix and there are newer materials.

To add another material (replacing the old lime way) might be prudent to strengthen the driveway foundation. I looked up some examples for your area (?) I could be wrong. Anyway here it is:
Hope it helps avoid what we went through with environmental friendly choices.🤗

Insofar as you and your Son’s diligence at gardening, so excited for you! You have both put your hearts in this land. I admire the fact that you still building a paradise. Blessings to both of you. Sounds beautiful as well as soul satisfying. I really feel your joy! 🤗

Insofar your Turkeys, it is most definitely harder to use them as a food source, once you name them and domesticate. Many of my farmer friends had/have to keep a distance emotionally inorder to use poultry as dinner, or make their move while they were younger (to avoid attachment) or at least resell them fattened during the holidays to almost break-even if they couldn’t bear to do the deed. Livestock can be expensive as pets. Are you considering getting a female or trading if they are males (just guessing by their names).

Thanks so much for sharing: I enjoyed your hard working day.
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I have replanted some younger bean bushes (from seed growth) and tugged out some 4 year old sage bushes that were in their last woodsy-stemmed year to make room. I was sad to see them reach their cycle but a fungal dug in it’s heels after the heat wave. I was trying a French compressed growing style to conserve water 😢 but they objected.
My large cilantro bolted tasting like soap lol, so that went promptly in compost too as the seeds I don’t use much in cooking. The spinach plants that I haven’t unearthed are still producing some tender leaves. My lettuce plants still offer up a salad a day. My strawberries slowly offer one or two every other day…they are everberries and will do better after the summer for a few months.
The opossum likes to mossy into the tomato area and scramble out with Schulz‘s barking… so those two large plants are still trying (being used as a footstool). The tomatoes are still producing among the bent and partially broken stems lol. My raised bed companion flowers Marigolds, basil, plus tarragon are thriving. My various mint in three separate containers are of course doing well <hard to kill. Lol I transplanted a healthy little plant of lamb’s ear from the three foot wide mother plant to see how it would do in another small wooden barrel as Schulz keeps uprooting the Stairway to Heaven Plant in the barrel. In that manner as I am watering less, if the large one dies further back, a new one will grow requiring less water. I am trying to cycle my Jerusalem Sage Bush as well (about five feet across and three plus high) into a smaller plant as well. Cutting down a rose vine. Tossing out another plant. It is hard to make such critical choices but it is demanding times in this locale.
 
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Wanted to legitimize my title and offer today I picked a quart or so of Cherry Plums from my inherited fruit tree. I did pick them slightly early to avoid competition from the insects as well as wild life, so they are a tad tart. Planning on making plum sauce for rice, chicken, veggie dishes this week.
 
Planning on making plum sauce
Yum!! When I was able to grow plums, my chickens ate 3/4ths and I got the rest. They were amazingly good!

It's going to be 105 degrees today, and up to 115 sometime this week. It will remain in the high 90s to 100s for about 10 days. This is not normal for our area. I'm worried about the chickens. There is some shade, but I don't think they can tolerate such high temps. I'm hoping to get a couple of kiddy pools and keep a couple inches of water in them so they can cool off. The turkeys were standing in the watering tubs yesterday. The turkeys also like to stand under the sprinkler, but not so much the chickens. I have a 2 broodies in the coop and I don't know if they can stand it. I'll put in a fan today.
 
Many of my farmer friends had/have to keep a distance emotionally inorder to use poultry as dinner, or make their move while they were younger (to avoid attachment) or at least resell them fattened during the holidays to almost break-even if they couldn’t bear to do the deed. Livestock can be expensive as pets.
Cha. We were only allowed to name one, each, at my grandparents farm. ((But if they had a bestie, then the bestie was also off-limits. So&So’s bestie, WhositsPal, etc. kind of became a name in and of itself.))

This is a big part of why I prefer ranching. 😁 Horses and dogs have names, cows dont! ((Almond joy’s got nuts! Mounds don’t. <<< Now stuck in my head.)) Sheep are just gross, though. Shudder. Oily, wormy, dingleberries with legs, sheep. Don’t get me wrong, I love lamb & wool, but the living creature is revolting. Even pigs are cleaner. Snicker >>> My gran and I had a lifelong argument about that. She was firmly of the opinion that all children -in her vicinity- should be force fed daily doses of Charlottes Web, to grow too attached to pigs-in-general to ever allow anyone to come home with piglets. She despised pig farming.🤣
 
@Friday I can so relate! My family ranches although they do have poultry for eggs as well as for holidays. During one of the stimulus checks, I purchased a part of a cow (at cost) to stretch out my future nonexistent budget lol. Occasionally Diary cows can be named by the children as it is safer emotionally. But you are right: generally no naming.

Sheep, lamas (popular here for wool as well) plus goats are owned by many of their friends. My Son uses his dogs (he now has five) to assist with herding the sheep from one part of the city’s limit (pasture) to the other side of the town (broken pasture). The town is rather small in comparison to major cities (respectfully populated), so they made an special Earth Day event out of it. Lol Good for tourist, commerce ect. However, Sheep before shearing donot look like a pristine 4H Club Event or State Fair. However they are definitely delicious. My Granddad did raise a pig, rabbits, ect. Personally, I think pigs are smarter and cooler than sheep : to each his own 😂

Thanks for the share…I laughed a lot!
 
Boy it's hot!!! I came into the air conditioning and it was about 15 minutes before I started sweating. This is the first time I've said thank god for winds! I ordered the pools from amazon, but in the meantime I'm using planting trays. The turkeys are lying down next to the trays of water, lol, so they can drink without any effort. I can't transplant the 15 - 20 plants I have outside until the high heat is over. Even my dog doesn't want to go out, lol.

I don't like lamb or wool, so I'm good not having sheep. I wouldn't mind a llama though. In my fantasy farm not my real one.
 
Where I bought my Service Dog was on multiple acreage (more like miles), kept up farm houses- all red with white shutters and beautiful fences, grassy long pastures, individual tiny houses with lots for the Mama Dogs as well as big barns. lol. As we drove down a long lane dirt road dotted with ancient trees and foliage to get there -on the side was another well kept huge pen with barns full of lamas. These were more spacious than most zoos I have seen across the US. They were all beautiful. But I know from experience (going to the Bronx Zoo with my Son) that they do like to spit…at you…because they can.😂 Maybe on your fantasy farm @DharmaGirl … you should have old Western spittoons for your trained Woolley friends.
We have a lot of craft people here that spin natural fibers for us knitting and crocheting Folk. It is lovely to watch.
 
Ugh, it's 113 degrees on my back porch. One of my favorite hens was well on her way to heat stroke. She is a large English Orpington. She was gasping for air, not just panting. I picked her up and brought her inside and put her in my dog's large water bowl. She sat in the water bowl for 15 minutes until her breathing was regular again. Poor darlin. She is now in a really big dog crate in my cottage. I'll put her out tonight when it gets down to 90 degrees.

My berry bushes almost died. I brought them in too, and I'm hoping they aren't all the way dead. If they are just mostly dead, I can revive them. I got a bunch of bareroot trees, weeping willows, pawpaw, and dwarf cherry bushes that I'm going to leave soaking until this horrible heat wave is over. My blueberry bushes are ok. All my veggies are ok too, I'm watering twice a day. Thank Goddess I have a well. If not, they would have all gone to the chickens.

We had beets from the garden and I ate the one green bean that grew. Most of my string beans are doing really well. I have about 8 three color beans growing and several green beans. I got my peat moss so I might start my berries from seed as soon as I get them from the fridge. I still have a lot of colorful sorghum in planters inside to be put outside the fence in the chicken yard. I really, really hope it cools off soon!
 
@DharmaGirl … So many beautiful visuals along with the realistic force of Nature. I changed my expression several times over your news. I don't envy anyone going through this heat wave. For now, the 90+ or 100degree system is skirting the outside of my immediate location. And for the first time, I am seriously applauding my shady area. With our river beds ect dry, there have been a few fires around the surrounding mountain range and everyone here is on alert.

I am so pleased to hear of your tactics to care for everything. Insofar as the chickens and veggies (depending on your budget) they now make solar dampening shade cloths that block the UV or are UV resistant. Many agricultural smaller locales have placed them on poles (as they can be strung up by the brass insert holes) or can be taken back down like camping. This and watering trough like elongated containers underneath allow the animals to splash about to cool down a bit. However, chicken do like to poop in the water lol.

Personally, I am too tapped out to afford such shading apparatus like my neighbors at this time. Due to the drought (demand) and weakened supply chain (from Covid) my prescription dog medication has jumped in pricing. Fleas will be abundant this year due to the ecology. Sometimes we make choices and my bed partner will not scratch 😜

I harvested another bunch of lettuce for salad today and my slow poke tomato plants exploded with cherry size jewels. My bush beans are sprouting slowly due to shade and my Cherry Plum Sauce is delicious with fried rice. I do use an instant pot pressure cooker for most everything, steaming, stewing, cooking and making future frozen packets of ready serving of veggies.

I envy your well water Dharma. I use to have an artesian well on the East Coast and loved the taste. However, after one of the hurricanes, we had it tested due to contamination in several farms. The Co-op extensions, health department and some agricultural universities will test it for free. Just mentioning that ditty as it never hurts to be sure.
Thanks for the update, luv jawing’ with you.🤗
 
@Friday …several times I wanted to thank you for contributing and smoothing out my rough edges as I galavant across the board. It means a lot. So to legitimize this sappy note… So how is your garden? 😉🙌
 
@Friday …several times I wanted to thank you for contributing and smoothing out my rough edges as I galavant across the board. It means a lot. So to legitimize this sappy note… So how is your garden? 😉🙌
😉

***

I’m hoping to be moving within the year to someplace more 😁 MINE 😁

(it was supposed to be this year, but Covid)

So right now, all I’ve personally got are sprouts (daikon, mostly), and fridge herbs & greens (butter lettuce, watercress, green onions, cilantro/coriander, basil, etc.). I just don’t have much space to be operating out of (a backpack, a shelf on the fridge, & a windowsill no one has noticed I’ve appropriated for my sprouts). Fortunately all those things take are a few handy dandy mason jars.
 
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