Smoked brisket

Bought a brisket two weeks ago and aged in the fridge. Smoked for 5 hours at 220 F and finished off in oven at 350 for two hours. Most tender brisket ive ever had.

Ham radio

Back in 1994 I took the exam for my GROL (General Radiotelephone Operator License) which qualified me to operate shipboard radios and repair them, but never need it much as my career path veered away from radios.
Recently at the suggestion of a friend who is into Amateur radio, I decided to take the amateur radio test and today received my callsign: KF5YMC. the radio bug has come back to me after 20 years!
(like i really needed another hobby!)


cheers

FCC test

Well,
 today I took my Technician amateur license exam and passed.
after I get some experience under my belt with the 2m radio, I'll start cramming to take the next levels.

2nd top bar hive

 last week i finished building my 2nd top bar hive but this time i added a side viewing window so i can monitor their progress without disturbing them.
shown here with the side cover open and looking through the window.
i also moved the 1st hive to this new spot as the original location was in my firing range and bees don't like to be shot at!
LMAO

"Cagney & Lacey"

 Okay, so it's an old title of a cop show from years ago, but it was about two female detectives who always hung out together and never shown on a date with a man (or otherwise). I've been watching these two doe for the past three seasons and never seen them with fawns so I gave them the nicknames Cagney and Lacey. it seemed fitting.
they have lost a lot of body mass this summer from the drought and lack of food.
A good thing I got the corn feeder out when i did as i don't think they would have lasted much longer.just skin and bones

Wild hogs are back

last winter we had a real problem with the hogs, but then one day they just seemed to vanish.
the game camera caught this one at the deer feeder last night.
probably a young boar

fawn & momma

 i put up the corn feeder just a few days ago and it didn't take long for this doe and her fawn to show up. the drought was bad this year as the rains came early and no decent grass to graze since then. good news is we seem to have a fair acorn mast this year so in the fall the deer will fatten up hopefully.
my feeder is simple. 4" PVC pipe with a 2" Y for the corn to dribble out of as its consumed.

Weed of the week - Bitter Sneezeweed (helenium amarum)

 Helenium amarum, Bitter sneeze weed.
very common in these parts and contrary to the name, it does not cause sneezing just being around it, but is bitter and can cause alergic reactions if eaten. because of the bitterness, few animals will eat it and if they do, it can be fatal in large amounts. Cows that eat this will have bitter, undrinkable milk and its said can cause calves to have unpalatable tasting meat.
the toxin is a sesquiterpene lactone compound.
These compounds are toxic not only to livestock, but fish, worms, and insects as well.
It's close relative, Helenium autumnale, flowers were dried and crushed into a fine powder for snuffing, that of course causes one to sneeze and was considered to rid the body of evil spirits (we call it nasal conjestion). it also reduced "catarrh of the stomach" if drank in a tea. it was also used by native americans for intestinal worms and reduce fevers.
It is in the Asteraceae family as is Asters, common sunflowers and daisies.

Found the queen

the new hive is still doing well. today I opened the hive to replenish their sugar water and take a closer look for the queen and yes, i found her finally.
I watched her for a little while and she's moving from cell to cell at a good clip (about 20 seconds per cell).

there isn't many capped brood cells yet but hopefully by next weekend she'll have a good brood going

when i moved them from the swarm box to the new hive there was just a small comb with less than 20 cells, now there are 5 bars with comb and going strong.

none of the comb has yet filled out all the way, but considering the drought and nectar sources being low, they're doing well

Coyote pups on the prowl

 After loosing my prized goose, a guinea hen, two ducks and 6 chickens all within about two weeks I knew the coyotes had started moving back in. I set up the game camera and caught these guys in action.
looks like I need to get up very early according to the timestamp if I want to clear these pups out.
there is another set of photos I've not uploaded to the blog that also show them going through around the same time of the morning over several days so a very good chance this is their normal routine.

New bees

Finally found a wild swarm moved into the small hive and today I transferred them to a large hive. Should be plenty of room now

Snakes & Rain

last weekend i killed a copperhead and a 6' ratsnake just outside the back door.

we finally got some needed rain, so far we've had over 4.5" for the month of July (only 9" total for the year so far)

cheers
John

edible and medicinal wild resources

After recent rains i found this very obnoxious weed that came up in the garden (which is all harvested now).
a thick reddish watery stem and thousands of painful spines coming from each leaf and branch. I discovered it to be what is call Spiny Amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus).
a few searches on Google and i discovered besides being a source of remedy for many ailments, it is also very high protein source and eaten/cooked like you would spinach.

long story short, this is a very useful plant so it will be harvested and spared from the "Round-up" spray.

i then, by accident ran across the uses for Smilax Glauca and discovered it is the main ingredient in old-fashioned Sarsaparilla drink along with several medical uses. So once again, another useful plant on the ranch.

I've found many other native plants on the property that are either a food source, medicinal use, or natural insecticide. if i can get my photos pulled off my phone, i'll post them later.

I also have Passion flower ("passiflori incarnata") growing wild. I've been told that a tea from the dried flowers is very soothing and relaxing. I'll have to give it a try sometime.

summer 2013

a lot going on here on the ranch.
canning the produce of the garden, dehydrating herbs and other stuff, building the "Pour-house", eliminating coyotes and poisonous snakes, making a lot of Rum and Bourbon "infusions".

The garden was producing pretty well until the temps started going into triple-digits and it seems no matter how much water i used, it all dried up and pasted on to the compost bin. along with the scorching heat, the stink bugs were really bad this year and took out most of the Roma tomatoes.
i got a butt-load of peppers before the heat and pickled, dried and frozen a lot of them.
we got about 20lbs of potatoes and 12lbs of onions this year - onions went to the dehydrator and we canned all the potatoes.
The "Pour house" will be where i move all my beer making and cooking activities to when it's finished. it's where i have the deep freeze and beer frig also. just outside the pour house is the smokers (hot and cold smokers) and also my carcass hoist for butchering anything from a small hog to a full steer. coyotes have taken out all but 4 of my chickens and my momma goose and the last of the original guinea hens. i've set snares and cameras around to get a reading on their patterns to be able to efficiently set the snares.
the chicken snakes haven't been so bad this year, but i've now eliminated 4 copperheads within a few feet of the house. just the other morning i was putting the dogs out for their morning pee and there was a 4' copperhead at the back steps. The Taurus judge with a #6 shot 410 shell took care of it.
we were starting to get over run with bunnies and squirrels, but since the coyotes started coming in i'm seeing their numbers diminish quickly.