End of the Potato Harvest and Weedmageddon

First, Weedmageddon...

I should have taken a before picture, but it was a race against time to dig the potatoes before the heat caught us. We started at seven a.m., and I pulled the last taters around nine.  Whew!

Weeds were chest high and more.  James and the weed whacker went to work!

We have some interesting volunteers growing in our mulch pile.  They look like unripe cherry tomatoes, but the leaves are something else.  There are also a few plants that look like tomatillos or... something.  Any guesses or suggestions?  (No, we didn't taste any.)

Onions in the basket on the right, garlic, remaining all blue potatoes, and tree onions in the basket on the right.  Three overflowing boxes of potatoes that will be weighed later today.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Water!

Some time ago (weeks), James and our good friend Steven (who helped with the koi pond) installed our Flo-Jak hand well pump.  Getting electricity run onto the land is just too expensive at this point.  A generator didn't seem practical either, as we would need to haul it back and forth.  AND a pump powered by a solar panel seemed to invite vandalism.

Hand pump it is, and isn't it lovely?

I wish I had more pictures of the install, but it was 100+ F, and this pregnant lady doesn't do well in the heat (read, gagging and vomiting), so I stayed home.

James still needs to pump extensively to get the mud out from the original well digging, but we'll get there.

We now not only have water, but have a way to pump it.

Well done, men!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Leftover Lemons

It's going to take many more lemons than I thought to make strawberry lemonade concentrate.  In the meantime, before I buy the 30+ lemons I still need, I wanted to show you what I did with the lemon left after juicing...

You should always wash your lemons first... and removing the peel might be easier before rather than after juicing, but I didn't think of this before, and it wasn't too bad.

Remove the peel from your lemon.  Only the yellow, not the white, please, as it is bitter.

If you are a sensible person, you might boil your peel in 1/2 c. water and 1/2 c. vodka to remove impurities or wax, but since the directions don't say to discard the boiling liquid, I would assume your impurities are still in the final product, so I didn't boil.

For every one lemon's peel, add 1/2 c. vodka.  Shake up bottle and store in a dark place.

Lemon extract!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.