spring flowers and good food

[chuck123wapati]

Holy cow that was a tight fit and a big chunk of iron to boot. That is one cool tractor my friend!!! i notice the alternator instead of the original generator lol. i remember my dad teaching me to rebuild generators as a kid and starters lol.

[bladegrinder]

1 hour ago, Handstitched said:

You bet. I've loaded a pic and highlighted  the water pump, you may have to zoom in  bit . Theres no way to get a spanner  between the radiator an the fan , I tried. The other pic shows the rad off the tractor, the bulk of the weight is the top tank . Everything is cast iron,  top tank, bottom tank and sides , all except the core.

Do you believe in karma? I do . 

I was recently asked to do  a quote for some trampoline pads,   my price $$$$$$$ ++ , online price $$ . He's a  regular customer,  his wife keeps me busy with horse rugs. I could not in all good conscience  charge him my price when its a fraction of the price online. He got back to me and said: "Thank you for your honest advice" .   My conscience is clear, and my reputation remains in tact , otherwise it would have bit me on the a**se at some point in  the future if I went ahead.

Your conscience is clear and you can now hopefully sleep soundly   As for the person that lied to you.....what goes around...

HS

Man, that’s one honking radiator right there.I can see why it would take two people to work with that thing.

[Handstitched]

Now, back onto my favourite subject....food . My shopping habits have changed.  I've been buying Pork cutlets( and other meats)  in large packs  to save a few $$ , separate and freeze ,  and turning them into nice Pork schnitzels . Bang em' out a bit , and crumbed . Damn tasty with jacket potatoes , with Romano cheese and fresh herbs on top , sometimes with sour cream....except I forgot to get some today   Nacho's on the menu tomorrow . 

My ol man at 92, OMG, he eats more than I do,   LOL  Not complaining  

HS

[chuck123wapati]

6 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Now, back onto my favourite subject....food . My shopping habits have changed.  I've been buying Pork cutlets( and other meats)  in large packs  to save a few $$ , separate and freeze ,  and turning them into nice Pork schnitzels . Bang em' out a bit , and crumbed . Damn tasty with jacket potatoes , with Romano cheese and fresh herbs on top , sometimes with sour cream....except I forgot to get some today   Nacho's on the menu tomorrow . 

My ol man at 92, OMG, he eats more than I do,   LOL  Not complaining  

HS

yuuuum!! that makes me hungry, fried zuchinni sticks tonight and Elk steaks with maybe a few fried green tomatoes all out of the garden or off the land.

Here's my prize carrot for the year lol it would make a meal by itself.

[Handstitched]

7 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

Here's my prize carrot for the year lol it would make a meal by itself.

Man, what  beauty !!! And Elk steaks sound delish too . And  I still can't find bacon steaks here, I keep looking though . 

HS

[chuck123wapati]

On 9/18/2023 at 8:32 PM, Handstitched said:

Man, what  beauty !!! And Elk steaks sound delish too . And  I still can't find bacon steaks here, I keep looking though . 

HS

lol i was a roustabout also only it doesn't mean the same, here it is a job in the oil field usually building or cleaning up oil rig locations digging trenches and basic hard labor. Once at the age of 18 my first job as a roustabout. me and two other guys were sent out to a location to make some repairs it was thanksgiving weekend and a storm blew in closing the roads, we made it to the nearest town the first night and were able to find shelter at a friends parents house but the second night our vehicle battery died and we were stuck over night in sub zero temps about 40 miles past nowhere. We made it by keeping each other awake and finally had to wrap our feet together in an extra pair of coveralls to keep them from freezing. The next day there must have 6 inches of ice inside the cab from our breath lol. 

[Handstitched]

8 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

lol i was a roustabout also only it doesn't mean the same,

True   here, in shearing sheds,  a ' rousy' picks up  the 'bellies and tops'  , they get thrown into separate wool sacks , and  they also pick  up the whole  fleece straight after the shearer has finished, theres a knack to it , starting with the 'last leg' so it can be thrown onto the ( round rotating) skirting table  the top side up, but I never got it right, while at the same time the wool classer works out the grade/ quality  of fleece for commercial purposes.. Its then up to the rousy to clean the board ( floor)   very quickly, before the shearer starts shearing the next sheep .  All the pieces, off cuts etc.  get separated into other wool sacks .  The rousy also puts the whole skirted fleece into the hydraulic  baler .  This all happens real quick . The day starts at 7.30am  sharp and finishes 5.30pm . Every shearer and rousy earns every cent. Its hot, messy  and smelly work  , sometimes dangerous , and not for the faint hearted. So glad I took up leather work   

Man, your job was just as dangerous, you're lucky you didn't get hypothermia in those extreme temps.  I guess in hindsight, a hip flask...or two would have been handy.    Hope you got danger money for that ?

HS 

 

[chuck123wapati]

8 hours ago, Handstitched said:

True   here, in shearing sheds,  a ' rousy' picks up  the 'bellies and tops'  , they get thrown into separate wool sacks , and  they also pick  up the whole  fleece straight after the shearer has finished, theres a knack to it , starting with the 'last leg' so it can be thrown onto the ( round rotating) skirting table  the top side up, but I never got it right, while at the same time the wool classer works out the grade/ quality  of fleece for commercial purposes.. Its then up to the rousy to clean the board ( floor)   very quickly, before the shearer starts shearing the next sheep .  All the pieces, off cuts etc.  get separated into other wool sacks .  The rousy also puts the whole skirted fleece into the hydraulic  baler .  This all happens real quick . The day starts at 7.30am  sharp and finishes 5.30pm . Every shearer and rousy earns every cent. Its hot, messy  and smelly work  , sometimes dangerous , and not for the faint hearted. So glad I took up leather work   

Man, your job was just as dangerous, you're lucky you didn't get hypothermia in those extreme temps.  I guess in hindsight, a hip flask...or two would have been handy.    Hope you got danger money for that ?

HS 

 

the county i live in at one time was the largest wool producer in the US, we have  old shearing pens all along the railroad tracks. In school every year we would take a field trip out to watch the shearing process. Most of the herders and shearers back then were of Basque ancestry.  I still have my great uncles sheep wagon, which i really need to paint before it turns to dust. It was built after ww1 when he returned from the war. 

A funny story when my wife and i first met I took her for a drive out in the country. We came upon  a flock of sheep being docked and i was telling her how the Basques would cut the bag then pull out the testicles with their teeth. She was giving me the blues for bullshitting her then as we got closer to the process and as we went by i  said just watch that guy over there and sure enough he did right in front of her lol, cut the bag pulled em out and spat them in a bucket. She about died right there and started gaging and i of course laughed my butt off, she never forgot that one.  Btw sheep nuts are some fine eating!!!

[Handstitched]

44 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

the Basques would cut the bag then pull out the testicles with their teeth.

Thats a very real thing, its  also true of the shepherds in the early  UK .  When they died, they had a piece of fleece placed on their coffin to show God that they were shepherds.

Going down memory lane here.

 When I was in first year high school, year 8, we went on a school camp, in Albany, WA . One of the ' excursions' was at the Albany  abattoir where sheep were processed( not there any more)  . What in Gods name were our teachers  thinking   ??? ( Most school  excursions are at places of interest etc .)   While all the other kids were almost passing out , I was just fascinated how the whole process was done and not bothered by the  sight .  The sheep go in at the beginning, have their 'deeds' done,  and come out in meat packs .  The most interesting part was how the brains were extracted, its was like a giant nut cracker with a levered  blade, split the skull open, and the brain comes out undamaged.  ( hope your Wife doesn't read this , lol ) . But no part of the sheep was wasted, everything was used.   Needless to say we had lamb on the BBQ that night .   Never tried sheep nuts, but I am a big fan of ' black pudding' ( aka blood pudding or blood sausage) . 

Its one of those excursions, or pieces of reality that kids need to see these days  . I've also been in abattoirs where cattle are processed. A bit of irony that I now work with leather. 

Those shearing pens need to be preserved, as well as the wagon, they are a connection to our past. Theres a few old shearing sheds scattered about the wheatbelt, that are around the 80- 100 year old mark, some are being used still . 

HS

 

[chuck123wapati]

4 hours ago, Handstitched said:

 ( hope your Wife doesn't read this , lol ) .

 

 

HS

 

I even had to teach her how to put a worm on a hook but she has adapted after 40 years of following me around the woods and living a country lifestyle, she hunts and fishes and we butcher all our game our selves including the cute little bunnies we raise to eat. I don't think anything would phase her now.

[Handstitched]

18 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

I even had to teach her how to put a worm on a hook but she has adapted after 40 years of following me around the woods and living a country lifestyle, she hunts and fishes and we butcher all our game our selves including the cute little bunnies we raise to eat. I don't think anything would phase her now.

You're actually talking about my ideal lifestyle .  I'd love to go walkabout  through the bush, and live off the land .  I think I have mentioned  in the past my ' yearn' to go bush . One day  

HS

[chuck123wapati]

3 hours ago, Handstitched said:

You're actually talking about my ideal lifestyle .  I'd love to go walkabout  through the bush, and live off the land .  I think I have mentioned  in the past my ' yearn' to go bush . One day  

HS

I truly hope you get the chance, i would love to see the Australian outback i think its a lot like the red desert here except its not 6000+ feet in altitude. We did well this year put some fish in the freezer and a ton of wild greens, most folks call them weeds. we have six or seven edible  plants in our garden that most folks pull out and throw away. We use them all. 

[bladegrinder]

Bought an electric smoker the other day on sale, I have two wood burners but I thought I'd see what these electric ones are all about.

This was my first smoke in it, #5 of venison snack sticks. they came out great!

 

[bladegrinder]

While the venison sticks were smoking I went and pulled some pine tree stumps, these were blow overs from hurricane Michael. I'm still cleaning up from that. some were in kind of wet areas that I need to wait till it's really dry to pull them and get them out. I got my tractor stuck twice, never again!

 

[Handstitched]

They look tasty  I have tried using a  Weber BBQ kettle to smoke a piece of beef using the slow ' snake' technique with the BBQ coals. It didn't go well. I could have soled my shoes with the meat. Perhaps the piece of meat was too small.  I'm a big fan of beef jerky, goes well with beer . 

HS

[chuck123wapati]

On 10/1/2023 at 8:04 PM, bladegrinder said:

Bought an electric smoker the other day on sale, I have two wood burners but I thought I'd see what these electric ones are all about.

This was my first smoke in it, #5 of venison snack sticks. they came out great!

 

dang those look awesome, my smoker is an old freezer maybe this year i will make some summer sausages again.

[bladegrinder]

All vacuum packed and ready for hunting season...or the couch!

 

[Handstitched]

Can you send some to Oz?? lol  They won't last long in my house. Its about time someone invented ' 'smellevision' . 

Getting your tractor bogged is never a good thing , from experience   

HS

[Handstitched]

@chuck123wapati heres a bit of a story, but I'll keep it short . I have two ' lumps' of meat, rump roasts I have in the freezer , around a kilo, kilo and a half  each. 

I bought a huge chunk of beef   quite some months ago from a ' discount' supermarket. I cut it up into  smaller pieces and froze them . I later realised it wasn't that good, ,  as it must have come from an old  boiler of a cow, as  one piece that I cooked up , I could have turned into brake pads . So, now I have these other pieces left over . I hate wasting food , its been leftovers this week. . So , I'm thinking ,I'll roast the other pieces  like they are brisket or chuck, or mutton ,  nice and slow ??  ..as in 4-6 hrs ??  

HS

[bladegrinder]

Put it in a crock pot with potatoes carrots onions and a pack of stew mix. Let it cook for 8-10 hours. If that doesn’t fix it nothing will.

[chuck123wapati]

3 hours ago, Handstitched said:

@chuck123wapati heres a bit of a story, but I'll keep it short . I have two ' lumps' of meat, rump roasts I have in the freezer , around a kilo, kilo and a half  each. 

I bought a huge chunk of beef   quite some months ago from a ' discount' supermarket. I cut it up into  smaller pieces and froze them . I later realised it wasn't that good, ,  as it must have come from an old  boiler of a cow, as  one piece that I cooked up , I could have turned into brake pads . So, now I have these other pieces left over . I hate wasting food , its been leftovers this week. . So , I'm thinking ,I'll roast the other pieces  like they are brisket or chuck, or mutton ,  nice and slow ??  ..as in 4-6 hrs ??  

HS

oh yea low and slow lol. Or you could corn it and make some awesome pastrami.

[Handstitched]

19 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

oh yea low and slow lol.

Low & slow it is  I'll put it in the oven before lunch  about 10 ish in the  morning , with a few  herbs and some seasoning ...and set & forget. Leftovers can be turned into sandwiches , strir frys etc.  My Mother always told me to remove ' the silver skin '  on a roast , otherwise its like a piece of beef in a straight jacket. 

Do you have beetroot in your burgers over there?  Its an ' Aussie thing ' here    A burger isn't complete without beetroot. We ( me and Dad )  just had burgers for tea, with cheese and beetroot of course  

HS

[chuck123wapati]

17 minutes ago, Handstitched said:

Low & slow it is  I'll put it in the oven before lunch  about 10 ish in the  morning , with a few  herbs and some seasoning ...and set & forget. Leftovers can be turned into sandwiches , strir frys etc.  My Mother always told me to remove ' the silver skin '  on a roast , otherwise its like a piece of beef in a straight jacket. 

Do you have beetroot in your burgers over there?  Its an ' Aussie thing ' here    A burger isn't complete without beetroot. We ( me and Dad )  just had burgers for tea, with cheese and beetroot of course  

HS

lol i had to look up beetroot, here they are just called beets. Coincidentally we just pulled all our beets yesterday and the wife will start canning them today. I love beets any way a guy can make em but I've never tried them in burgers that I know of. The wife does add other veggies once in a while and the oldest daughter makes the buns fresh. 

[fredk]

Char-grilled / barbied burger, slice of pickled beet under, a slice of strong cheddar cheese on top, a little salt directly on burger, lightly toasted bap/bun with sesame seeds on top

yum

[chuck123wapati]

8 hours ago, fredk said:

Char-grilled / barbied burger, slice of pickled beet under, a slice of strong cheddar cheese on top, a little salt directly on burger, lightly toasted bap/bun with sesame seeds on top

yum

Sounds delish indeed!!

The wife has the first batch of pickled beets is in the canner at this moment. 14 quarts in all. oh yea i like my pickled beets. Borsht is not bad by any means either.