Lesson Learned ~ Tidbits

We've been gardening for maybe 5 years.  I really can't remember without looking in our homesteading journal.  Anyway, we used to plant the smaller roma type tomato in our garden.

Hubby was in charge of purchasing the tomato plants this year, and he brought home a larger heirloom paste tomato.  Actually a few varieties to try.  This was a ripe one, but the sunlight was reflecting on it in the photo.  You can see it was about 4 inches wide.  It's not a beefsteak variety, but a paste.  I have no idea what the correct name was, and will be better at that next year, but these babies are huge and heavy.


We are spending the labor day weekend re-tying the tomato plants.  Several were so heavy the wooden stakes we used, and have been using for years, broke.  

We've learned a better way to plant these from our mistake of using the wooden stakes.  We'll invest in metal t-posts, plant in rows, with them closer in the rows, and run the string in and out to hold them up.  The produce stand down the road from us is now doing that as well.  And he runs plastic under them, or black fabric to keep the weeds out.  We used straw and it worked as well, but the metal t-posts and better strategy of planting is all in the plans for next season.

Hubby and I took off on a motorcycle ride yesterday.  We actually had a nice quiet picnic at a park by a river that we both used to go to years ago.  We noticed many other bikers were there too, with the same idea.  It was so relaxing, and we recharged to tackle work with gusto today.

An update on our nuisance neighbor.  It's been very quiet since he was "shut down" but I noticed something last night.  As we rode home, I noticed vehicles at the park location.  It's been posted that he was shut down "for good" but we really do not know if that is true.  So, while Hubby and I played cards on the porch, we noticed vehicles going in there, and some passing the house and pointing out the window (indicating new customers who had not been there before).  Sure enough, they were revving engines behind the house.  We are pretty sure, in time, he'll be in jail or prison anyway, so we just stayed on alert.  We never know when a drunk driver or one high on something, will drive up on our property.

There is a lot of hear-say going on about him too.  There has not been any sale of any of his mother's land, there is hear-say he was charged for rape on his park location, there is word out that everyone that bought tickets is to continue to file reports, and as of today we understand that no one has received refunds.  There is hear-say that a heroin overdose death may be linked to the park as well.  I think it's a matter of time.   There is hear-say he is on disability, which cracks me up.  He's never worked a job, so what is he disabled from doing?  He rides a dirt bike for pete's sake.  I guess we'll never know the true, entire story of what's going on, but we're pretty sure he's still going away for a while....just a matter of time.