The morning news... and the end of an era

[Bird76Mojo]

So far, our governor Jaba the Hut's plan seems to be:

-Raise minimum wage to appease ignorant voters. Which will make thousands of businesses close up shop. The price of goods will rise higher every year.. The cost of living will go up and the wage increase won't have any helpful effects at all.
-Attack more small businesses by passing ridiculous new laws for FFL holders. FFL's are closing all over the state at an unprecedented rate.
-Legalize weed to appease more ignorant voters. Even though employers can still fire them for smoking weed.
-Double the gasoline tax.
-Raise electric vehicle fees a few hundred percent.
-Nearly double vehicle registration fees.


Other than California, I've never seen a larger population of ignorant voters. My mother is included in that group. She voted for JB because "Rauner hasn't gotten anything done" - even though I've shown her exactly why Rauner couldn't accomplish anything. MADIGAN.

 

[sgtsandman]

You know you've done messed up when liberals are leaving in droves. Sorry to hear about your close association with an apparent psychopath and you needing to sell off your hard work but with Cook county, it's some thing that has been a long time coming. Let alone the State. PA is working hard to follow the same path and I plan on getting as soon as I'm eligible for retirement. The fine State of Tennessee is looking real good at the moment to me. Far enough south to take the edge of winter temps but not bake in the festering, humid heat of the deep south in the summer.

 

[Ranger850]

Aren't pasties those things that female dancers can get swinging in delicious circles?

Pasties are the things that cover the part of the fun bags to make them “appropriate” for the general public.

Same thang

 

[Uncle Gump]

Pasties... In my humble opinion... they're both delicious. I'll take a bucket full of each please.

While my meeting didn't end with a purchase agreement... I did see his approval to expand and his pre approved lending. We offered complete transparency for the next 30 days and a handshake that I wouldn't consider another buyer in that time frame. He needs to ensure he can assume our lease on the space and when he finds out we aren't cooking the books to inflate sales numbers... My gut tells me this deal is gonna happen.

While leaving corporate america... cashing out my 401k and buying a complete turd of a pizza shop nearly 6 years ago was a HUGE risk... 5 1/2 years of turd polishing and pretty lean times in the beginning has probably got me to semi retirement eight years ahead of if I would have stayed. It's gonna get me HOME to the Mitten on a suitable piece of ground and let me build my take on a simple modern day homestead. We have been discussing our plan for when this day came since the first hour drive home on closing day 12/31/2013. Yes.... we bought it New Years Eve morning and opened it up at 4pm. Nothing in life could have prepared me for the level of chaos that followed that day. The wife already has figured in a budget to fund her next high risk business venture for us. LOL... I'm ok with it as long as I get my workshop... a solid used tractor... and a low mileage Ski Doo. The UTV is on her list so I didn't have to build a business case as to why I need one.

While Michigan might be worse then I remember... I can be located in the middle of 10's of thousands of acres of state and federal land... thousands of miles of off road trails.... hundreds of miles of trout streams... a multitude of inland lakes... and it is all there for the price of an ORV and state park stickers. I just can't think of any place I would rather be.

 

[OldMan2]

Sounds like heaven on earth.

 

[Curious Hound]

Sounds like heaven on earth.

I agree with him. ^^^^ This sounds fun.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

More power to you buddy! Jealous!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Not in the miles of public land and offroad trails but I am so glad I blew out of Omaha and landed my little 10 acre slice of heaven. You will love it.

If you have questions or anything on country living let me know.

 

[Uncle Gump]

While I haven't picked the land just yet... I probably will have some questions on soil amendments. Lots of sandy soil up there... and doesn't work so well for gardening... and most likely a couple small food plots to draw the local critters onto the property. Then there is the tractor and implement thing... I will have some questions.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

While I haven't picked the land just yet... I probably will have some questions on soil amendments. Lots of sandy soil up there... and doesn't work so well for gardening... and most likely a couple small food plots to draw the local critters onto the property. Then there is the tractor and implement thing... I will have some questions.

I have a small commercial plant operation as my side hustle.

The biggest thing you're going g to fight up there is a miserably short growing season and terrible light.

Maybe take up mycology?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

While I haven't picked the land just yet... I probably will have some questions on soil amendments. Lots of sandy soil up there... and doesn't work so well for gardening... and most likely a couple small food plots to draw the local critters onto the property. Then there is the tractor and implement thing... I will have some questions.

I think strawberries prefer sandier soil? Just like everything you roll with the punches and grow what grows in your area. Pineapples are probably out (when my wife moved to my acreage from the city she wanted to grow her own pineapples and oranges)

Being of Swedish decent I would like to grow my own lingonberries... but it gets too hot here in the summers.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Yeah... there are lots of wild blueberries and several types of mushrooms that are free for the taking... providing you can locate them. I plan to gather what I can on those. I'm hoping to hunt fish gather and grow a decent portion of what we will consume... can... dry... preserve... smoke... cure and the old root cellar. I may have to truck in some decent soil for those goals. I will just have to see what I end up with. I don't plan eliminating the grocery store or generating all my own power to be off grid... but some of the things I enjoy doing anyway... will help me to just live for a living... opposed to working to buy the things.

And Junkie... I'm gonna have a look at mycology.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Nature will provide you with unlimited supplies of the finest composting material available. Normal leaves. You will have to add other materials to it, but you'll have a good base to start a large composting operation. That should be all you need to amend your soils, for the most part.

The short growing season and extreme northern climate will be your biggest issue, but even that can be dealt with. There are varieties of almost all vegetables that have been bred to handle those northern climates and shorter growing season.

Starting your plants early-on, indoors, will be key to produce good yields in short growing season locations.

Minnesota Midget cantaloupe are excellent little plants, and I grow them here in central Illinois because of their short vines. They fill up smaller portions of your garden that you may have left over after planting. Very short vines (around 4ft) and they produce a good amount of smaller cantaloupe but you do have to plant more of them to get a good yield. (i consider anything less than 200 cantaloupe a year a bad yield)

Keep in mind, you can grow many vegetables through late fall and in to winter as well. Onions, cauliflower, broccoli, etc..

https://northernhomestead.com/annual-vegetable-varieties-for-a-short-growing-season/


ANNUAL VEGETABLE VARIETIES FOR A SHORT GROWING SEASON

Annual vegetable varieties for a short growing season have to be quick maturing. Growing a productive garden takes time. Seeds need to be planted, germinate, established, the plants have to mature and produce fruit. In most parts of the world, there is plenty of time for this. The garden is planted in spring, grows all summer long, and is harvested in the fall.

In short growing season areas you don’t have a spring, maybe not even a fall, so all you got is summer. Only 100 or less frost free days are challenging. It requires a very organized gardener and plant varieties that grow and produce quickly.

According to Environment Canada officially we have 107 frost free days. Here is a link for Canada and USA frost free dates to find out what your area has.

Today I want to share some of these annual vegetable varieties that are suited for short growing seasons. We have grown most of them successfully in our garden.

This list is not exhaustive, there are many more plant varieties that are suited for a short growing season. We have tried quite a few and if we were to list them all here it would make a very long list. Also, if some plants did not do well, they did not make it into this list. I will add and remove varieties as we experiment more with them. I want this list to be up-to-date, with plant varieties that are worth growing.


BEANS

• Purple Peacock (60-70 days for snaps) Beautiful and delicious Pole Bean.
• Yellow Bean Roma Gold (55 Days) Reliable early bush bean.
• Dragon Tongue Bean (60 Days) New to try bush bean.
• Pole Beans Scarlet Runner (65 Days) Beautiful as a flower and edible at any stage.
• Black Turtle dry Beans (85 Days) A dry bean that matures in our short season.
• Tiger’s Eye Bean (95 Days) Very yummy dry bean that does mature in our short season.

BEETS

• Cylindra (50-70 Days) Our favorite.
• Bull’s Blood (58 Days) Pretty edible leaves.
• Beet Chioggia (58 Days) A new favorite.

BROCCOLI

• Calabrese (60 Days) A classic.
• Rapini Sorento (35 Days) Early, can be grown indoors in the winter.

CABBAGE

• Early Jersey Wakefield (63 Days) Early, start early too.
• Early Copenhagen Market (65 days) a classic.
• Red Jewel (80-90 Days) Great middle sized red cabbage.

CAULIFLOWER

• Early Snowball (50 Days) Early classic.

CARROTS

• Scarlet Nantes (65 Days) A must-have favorite.
• Red Core Chantenay (65 Days) Huge, great for preserving.

CUCUMBER

• Straight 8 (60 Days) A classic.
• Patio Snacker (50-60 Days) Great for small space, a favorite.
• Lemon cucumber (65 Days) So yummy pickled.
• Cucumber Holland Greenhouse (64 Days) For indoor growing.

GROUND CHERRY

• Aunt Molly’s (70 days) Great producer and keeper.

EGGPLANT

• Eggplant Fairy Tale (49 Days) Productive.

KALE

• Blue Curled (65 Days) Great for kale chips.
• Lacinato (65 Days) Huge plant.
• Winter Red (50 Days) A favorite, we grow it indoors all winter.

KOHLRABI

• Purple Vienna (55 Days) Beautiful
• Kongo (50 Days) Easy to grow and tasty

LETTUCE

• Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce (45 days) A classic.
• Red Sails (66 Days) Great looking and grows well.
• Tropicana (55 Days) A favorite.
• Butterhead Lettuce Esmeralda (53 Days) Grows well indoors.
• Italian Romaine (65 Days) Great for indoor hydroponics growing

ONION

• Spanish Candy (85 Days) Great yellow onion, stores well.
• Greek Salad (105 Days) Good red onion.

PEAS

• Peas Homesteader (65 Days) A classic.
• Tom Thumb (50 Days) Very early.

PEPPERS

• Early Jalapeno (70 days) Productive.
• Doe Hill (60-65) Very tasty and beautiful yellow tomato pepper.
• King of the North (70 Days) A pepper that actually matures in short season.
• Supper Chili (65 Days) Hot, productive.
• Orange Bell (85 Days) Tasty.

RADISH

• Radishes French Breakfast (25 Days) A classic.
• Daikon (55 Days)

SPINACH

• Bloomsdale (50 Days) A classic and favorite.
• Vancouver (50 Days) Good.

SWISS CHARD

• Bright Lights (40 Days) Beautiful.

SQUASH

• Spaghetti Tivoli (74 Days) A small plant, very productive, early, tasty.
• Burgess Buttercup (85 Days) Great all around.
• Courgette Cocozelle (45 Days) Looks like zucchini, very productive and delicious.

ZUCCHINI

• Zucchini Dark Star (50 Days) A great keeper.
• Costata Romanesco (52 Days) Very tasty, a favorite

https://northernhomestead.com/heirloom-tomato-varieties-we-grow-in-a-northern-garden/




GB

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Rhubarb

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Rhubarb

If you can get it started it is awesome stuff.

I had a patch but the guy that tore down a shed right before I bought my place ran it over with the skid loader too much and killed it. Have tried to plant plants and have yet to get it to take.