The panel and the weeds

I figure everyone is getting tired of reading about my canning. This week it is peaches, pears, more apples and jams and jellies. And that is all I am going to say about that. 

We have fences around all of the places where the gardens grow because I would rather have the chickens loose and fence the gardens than keep the chickens cooped where they can’t eat the grasshoppers. Well, one of those garden “pens” became a lamb pen last spring and to get the shed back out we had to take the end panel clear off. I just leaned it at an angle up against the side fence and figured I would get it back on after we were done planting. 

When the grasshoppers got so bad I left it off longer so the chickens could get in there to eat the grasshoppers. But then the chickens started eating zucchinis and cucumbers. It was time to get the panel back on the end. I grabbed said panel and started to pull it over. It wouldn’t move. I mean it wouldn’t even lay down on the ground. The kochia weed had grown up through the wire fastened to the panel and was holding it firmly in place. There was no way I could move it at all. Rick and I tried together to move it. Still it wouldn’t move. 

I found a couple of shorter panels to make a gate on the end and saved the garden so the panel kind of got left just hanging out there supported by its friendly weeds. We didn’t need it and so decided it could just stay. Until it was time to put an electric fence around the patch to deter the raccoons from the corn and melons. Now that panel is obnoxiously in the way. 

So Rick hooked it up to one of the garden tractors. It did move it some, but not much. Then something happened to the tractor and it blew sparks out the exhaust and died. We are suspecting something quite serious on that one. Now that tractor will have to be towed or hauled to the shop to be worked on and the dang panel is still there. 

The next step to drag out the panel will probably be the big pickup. I am quite sure the S10 won’t touch it, but the Silverado with its 4-wheel drive will probably make short work of it. The roots of those darn weeds are strong. It reminds me why I would like to strangle the person that had the bright idea that Kochia weed would be a good alternative to alfalfa. Yep, our lovely Ag department supported the importation of Kochia seed as a substitute for alfalfa. Now it is a horribly invasive weed that is tremendously adaptive. It quickly becomes resistant to glyphosate (Round-Up). It will succumb to flame, though, I use that a lot around the house where I am not afraid to set something on fire. 

But I digress, at this point the panel is far enough out of the way that I can get the electric fence up and protect the corn and melons. You can be sure I have learned my lesson on letting weeds grow through a panel. 

Mint Pears

Peel pears and prepare light syrup for canning (2 cups sugar to 4 cups water. I actually do a 1 to 4 ratio. 1 cup sugar to 4 cups water) add oil of mint and green food coloring to syrup until taste and color is desired (make it darker than you want the pears to be, they will lighten it). Cook pears in syrup 10 minutes before packing into pint jars, cover with syrup to ½ inch headspace and process pints 25 minutes in boiling water bath. Good served with turkey, pork or lamb.