Garden 2020

[RednekF350]

The Savich Farm book sounds interesting Spung-Man. I used to visit the ice cream bar very often as a kid and I remember reading accounts of archaeological finds on the property.

On the garden topic, I lost nearly all of my tobacco seedlings. I put them outside a few weeks ago on a warm day but had watered them first and wrapped the pans in plastic wrap. During the day, the moisture accumulated heavily inside and the plastic laid on top of the 1/8" high plants and killed nearly all. I have a few Virginia Bright that are still making a go and I bought new seed and restarted the process with Burley.

The vegetable garden is kicking with (4) varieties of peppers, San Marzano plum tomatoes and Ramapo slicing tomatoes, pickling and slicing cucumbers and my least favorite vegetable on earth, zucchini ! I started a second garden about ten years ago just for my wife so she could have her zucchini.

 

[Spung-Man]

Gotta have squash latkes (pancakes)! Levari's Farm Market still has large tobacco plants. Jimmie might even know the cultivar name. The old farmhouse (c. 1817) there is timber-framed, and once served as a charcoal station by the Abbotts. That stretch of US Route 40 was laid out in 1817, and the ancient Hance Bridge Trail crossed here.

S-M

 

[RednekF350]

Gotta have squash latkes (pancakes)! Levari's Farm Market still has large tobacco plants. Jimmie might even know the cultivar name. The old farmhouse (c. 1817) there is timber-framed, and once served as a charcoal station by the Abbotts. That stretch of US Route 40 was laid out in 1817, and the ancient Hance Bridge Trail crossed here.

S-M

You know I kick myself for not asking about tobacco at Levari's ! That was my first time there as I usually by my plants from Ron's in Hammonton. Like Levari, he grows all of his own plant stock. Levari held a flat of San Marzanos for me when Ron was sold out.

I will call Levari's today about the tobacco. I really want my own to succeed though in the worst way.
After all, us Cook College Alums should have certified green thumb's right Mark ?

Here are my two gardens after caging the tomatoes and cultivating this morning. The tomato and pepper garden is 20' x 30' and the zucchini garden is 8' x 24'. I also have a pic of my favorite garage find cultivator. It's an antique and I have two of them. The tines are replaceable but I think you would have to live to age 140 to ever wear them out !

 

[Teegate]

I have my grandfathers cultivator which looks similar to yours. When he died they allowed me to go into his garage and shed and take what I wanted. I even have his pencil sharpener. Nothing produces a sharper point than that.

 

[RednekF350]

I have my grandfathers cultivator which looks similar to yours. When he died they allowed me to go into his garage and shed and take what I wanted. I even have his pencil sharpener. Nothing produces a sharper point than that.

I have my Grandfather's sharpener too. It's an old Boston. It will make a needle point if you grind too much.
Sadly, like many things. they have gone to Chinese manufacturing.

Death of a Brand - BOSTON Pencil Sharpener Company

I was arranging store displays the other day and suddenly realized we had been selling these different versions of Boston sharpeners over the years. They are all out of stock now, what's remaining in store are now for display only....

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[RednekF350]

Tobacco is not going to beat me ! By the way Spung-Man, Levari's still had tobacco last week but I am too stubborn to admit defeat.

I am on my second try to propagate Burley tobacco after accidentally killing my first tray. I was able to get a few good transplants of Virginia Bright Leaf going from my first seedling germination and I am trying to get at least 6 good Burley plants.

The pan is my Burley seedling germination pan, which is still loaded and the little compartmentalized trays are Burley that I am trying to get large enough to get into the ground. The last photo is my Virginia Bright Leaf in the ground and doing nicely.

I figure I'll be picking tobacco around Thanksgiving at this point.

 

[bobpbx]

Maybe in my last month of life I'll ask a dear friend to go out and buy me a few packs of cigarettes to relive the moments. I smoked in my younger years Marlboros, then Vantage Menthols, and then Marlboro lights. Occasionally I'd bum a Kool, or a Newport, or maybe even a Salem. These disgusted me: Winston, Camels, Chesterfields, and Lucky Strike. Do you remember TRUE, with the stupid plastic filter?

 

[RednekF350]

I couldn't wait any longer to try to make chewing tobacco. I certainly didn't do everything right after the harvesting and air curing my Burley in October but it sure looks and smells like tobacco after three months in a Ziploc bag. Aging three years is recommended but I couldn't wait that long.
I cooked down store-bought apple juice to a syrup consistency, added two heathy tablespoons of molasses and added a little Kosher salt. The liquid smelled awesome. I broke up a pile of destemmed Burley leaves and kept folding it in. Folding to coat everything got a little muddy so I added a little more tobacco until I got a better consistency. It is still ridiculously tacky.
After a cool down, I balled up a wad and tried it. I am very happy with the outcome. It has a good, mild tobacco flavor and It has a tang from the apple and sweetness from the reduced apple juice and the molasses.
A very good day !

 

[NJChileHead]

Off topic from tobacco, but just today I started seeds for our first crops of the 2021 garden: collard greens and cabbage. I'll have them under grow-lights for about a month and then start hardening off!

Maybe in my last month of life I'll ask a dear friend to go out and buy me a few packs of cigarettes to relive the moments. I smoked in my younger years Marlboros, then Vantage Menthols, and then Marlboro lights. Occasionally I'd bum a Kool, or a Newport, or maybe even a Salem. These disgusted me: Winston, Camels, Chesterfields, and Lucky Strike. Do you remember TRUE, with the stupid plastic filter?

Oh man I feel the same way you do about the end of life. I smoked from about 1985 until 1997. Most of my friends smoked (interesting crowd) and it seems like around my way there were Marlboro loyalists, and Newport loyalists, to the point of near-tribalism.

Newport loyalists would stick their nose up at Marlboro menthols, and Newport guys would never touch a menthol-free Newport (remember them, in the red pack?). Kools were tolerated in a pinch.

I remember trying Winstons and Salems after watching Bad Boys with Sean Penn (HIGHLY underrated movie, BTW). They never grew on me but I would add them to the rotation after a while.

I don't think I ever tried a Vantage or True. I still remember trying a Virginia Slim because I was having a nicotine fit and I was with two girls I was friends with. I nearly spit that thing across the room. Like sucking in air 30 feet from someone smoking an actual cigarette.

Man those were the days.