Discovering my freedom in Minnesota

Hi Bill,your in the jungle now ,nice picks,i been wanting too make time too plant beeries over here, you may be closeing in on those mooses teritory.That one looks big enough too plow your gardon.

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The berries actually came from my yard in the cities. I let them grow wild and take over the yard.

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Good ENOUGH They need another argoes in the fall.

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Nice looking Black raspberries Bill. I’ve been picking mine too. It amazes me how many quarts can be picked off such a small patch. Do you wear long sleeves? I didn’t and my arms are pretty scratched up. We freeze them single layer on a cookie sheet, then bag them in a zip lock so we can use any amount when needed.

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No, didn’t wear long sleeves. We also freeze them on a cookie sheet but freeze them in one cup portions in a vacuum sealed bag. I’m hoping they last longer that way.

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“No, didn’t wear long sleeves.”

Bill,

So, did you come away looking like you’d been in a cat fight? Our blackberries quit making a month ago, but I’m still finding thorns in the backs of my gloves.

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I found some shipping containers.

Another piece of the puzzle needed for the big move Sept 1.

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Hi Bill,
The rain sucks in heavier soil, but this is a banner year for my blueberries in my light soil.

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Wow!

Now THOSE are blueberries! I guess I’ve never really had a real blueberry, since all that grows down here are “rabbit eyes”

Enjoy your anti-oxidants.

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Are those blueberries or grapes!? How’s the flavor on them?

Those are huge Pepe. I’m sure there are blueberries up north, just haven’t had much time to look.

BrianHWA,
These are all named varieties and they have excellent flavor. I have the varieties written down somewhere. I’ll post them when I find them.
Pepe
I have Northland, Northblue, Jersey and Patriot. The berries shown in the post are Patriot. The Patriots are now 4’ tall with a 4’ spread. The plants are all from Burpee’s Seeds. I have a total of 6 plants and it serves 2 of us well, some fresh and some frozen for those taste of summer, winter days. They are at least 25 yrs old. We also have some raspberries, strawberries, Arctic Beauty kiwi, and grapes.

Female Arctic Beauty kiwi. Fruits are small, about 1 1/2" long and almost an inch thick, but there are thousands of them and they are sweet and have a great big kiwi flavor. You will need bird netting to save these from small birds once they start ripening. I’ll post later how I wrap ours in floating row cover.

Male Arctic Beauty kiwi plant (yes,you need them for pollination, they both flower like crazy) is characterized by pink variegation on the leaves. Kiwi vines grow prolifically, give them room.

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I just reread some of your first garden posts and canning pickles. For a little zing, my late friend, Ralph, used to put a piece of horseradish leaf in some of his dill pickles

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Speaking of sighting a deer, I thought I’d share some pics of my dad with his deer that had 2 complete sets of horns. Zoom in on the first pic to see horns. Yeh, he kept that mounted head until he passed, proof of his big hunting tale. And he loved telling that tale, lol. Is that a cool car or what!

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Now, that’s my kind of car. Dad got his drivers license at the grocery store. That’s how it worked many years ago.

Jeff

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Very cool car…and buck.
I wasn’t aware of the Horseradish leaf being edible, thanks for letting me know. I will now have to try that. I planted Horseradish last year and will be able to harvest some this fall.

Received some help from my son and friend this weekend.
I moved a 20’ shipping container up there. We also got the knee walls and roof rafters up on the cabin.
There is a 6’5" clearance on the upper level in the middle. There is a loft on both sides, one side for a sleeping area and the other side will be for a small water supply and storage of dry goods. Where you don’t see rafters, I will put a dormer for additional light during the day.

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First class accommodations. Are you going to wire it for 110AC as well as low voltage DC LED lighting?

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that’s a good question. I have a whole bunch of LED 110 volt lights that I can run off my power inverter. do you think a 12 volt system is still necessary?

Probably not if you have 110 LED’s.

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By all means, what you already have puts you that much farther ahead. If you had an old RV ready to go to the scrap yard, you could bone out all the 12VDC wiring and fixtures. If not, I’d definitely go with the LEDs.

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