peachlings

Two years ago when, we had the glut of peaches from our then lone peach tree, many of the peaches ended up on the ground or eaten by critters. Unlike any year prior, all those peach pits sprouted into tiny trees, so for kicks I decided to let them grow assuming most of them would die a natural death. Oddly enough, most actually lived through their first winter and and all through last summer and on through this winter (what winter we have had and it aint much). Between not having time, having bad weather when we did have time, having people say they were going to move them and then not and my own laziness, I just got around to digging several of them out today and replanting.

I had big ideas of moving all 23 of them today and only got 12 moved but it was a good start. Since these peaches were all surrounding a tree and since they were not in pots, but in the actual soil, getting them out with all the roots was a bit challenging. Most came out with a nice chunk of sod with them, making the transplant fairly easy, but a couple came out bare rooted. Wonder if they will survive?

This is just another experiment around the place that only cost me some time. Will they survive the transplant? Will they grow decent peaches? Is peachling a word? Only time will tell, but if they do, we will have one heck of a peach orchard in a couple years.

Silent Sunday

reflections

turnip coffee-Blech!

Folks that have followed my ramblings for any length of time know that one of my hobbies is finding a suitable alternative to coffee. This time around, the adventure was using turnips. For hundreds of years turnips were animal fodder rather than people food but during the early 1900s in Germany, they became a staple food item. They were used as a coffee substitute, flour substitute and became a primary ingredient of many dishes including war bread.
Since we have had virtually no winter this year, turnips have grown very well and out of curiosity, boredom, and the need to know I decided to make me some turnip coffee. After slicing and dicing, drying and roasting, and grinding it all up I finally got to make me a fine cuppa turnip java.

BLECH!!!!

Maybe it is an acquired taste, that comes from necessity? Hopefully it is a necessity I will never have to acquire a taste for. Of all my experiments, it is the worst tasting and smelling. After all the hard work, it still smells and has the flavor of a turnip. Perhaps not being a huge fan of turnips to begin with plays a part but liquid turnips is simply not appealing. Maybe it will be better used as a flour replacement though I doubt it.

ETA... I should have added that turnips have many other uses beside fodder for man and beast. They have medicinal as well as other uses around a homestead. Rather than write it all up here is a link ....