My gear:
22 Weber Kettle
Napoleon PRO Charcoal Kettle Grill
Broil King Keg
Traeger Pro 34
Napoleon Prestige Pro 500
Pit Barrel Cooker
Blackstone Range Combo Griddle
Now that I'm officially, albeit involuntarily retired, I needed some hobbies. In addition to taking up the guitar, I've started vegetable gardening. I bought a couple of 8' x 4' x 30" raised beds from Raised Garden Beds Canada and am setting them up for Square Foot Gardening. So far I've got one ready to go and the second one just needs the soil mix added. Some pictures and my 2023 garden plan. Garden Plan - Paul's Veggies (almanac.com)
Congrats on your retirement, but sorry to hear it was involuntary.
You'll be amazed at how much free time you don't have on your hands in the coming months. You'll wonder how you ever got so much done at home while you were still working a zillion hours a week. Every retired person that I know says that. Somehow life fills up the days no matter what stage of working or retirement we're in. I hope you enjoy your newfound lack of stress. I wish you well.
Thanks Katherine fzxdoc The involuntary retirement wasn't all bad as I was planning on retiring sometime this year and this way I received a very nice severance package. :-)
Equipment:
'88 Vintage Fire Magic gasser with over 4000 cooks to its credit
Large Big Green Egg
18 Inch Weber Kettle (Rescued from neighbor's trash)
Rotisserie for 18 inch kettle
Dyna Glo propane smoker
Pit Barrel Cooker
Smokey Joe with mini WSM mod
Garcima paella burner
Anova Sous Vide
Slaiya Sous Vide (gift)
LEM grinder, sausage stuffer and meat slicer (all gifts)
Nice haul. For storage, you can slice and dehydrate tomatoes then grind them into powder. Later you can quickly and easily reconstitute them to make tomato paste or tomato sauce for recipes. It saves on storage space and you really cannot tell the difference in spaghetti or pizza sauce.
Kamado Joe Big Joe III
Pit Barrel Cooker
Camp Chef Flat Top 900
Weber Performer 22
PowerFlamer Propane 160
Meater +
Thermoworks Smoke
Thermoworks Thermapen
Temp Spike
Lang 48 inch Deluxe Patio Model (burns hickory splits)
PK 360 (burns premium lump charcoal with wood chunks)
28 inch Blackstone Griddle (propane)
Rubs I love:
Yardbird by Plow Boys
Killer Hogs by Malcom Reed
AP Rub by Malcom Reed
Meat Church (any)
Three Little Pigs Memphis Style for ribs
Would love to try Meathead's commercial rub
Sauces I love:
Gates'
Joe's
Pa & Ma's
Killer Hogs Vinegar Sauce
Disposable Equipment I use:
Disposable cutting boards
Tumbleweed chimney starters
Aluminum foil
Aluminum pans (half and full)
Latex gloves
Diamond Kosher Salt
Vice-President of BBQ Security, Roy
He's a pure-bred North American Brown Dog
He loves rawhide chewies
My wife calls me "Teddy" and I call her "Princess" and that's where "mrteddyprincess" comes from.
I've started seeing grow your own mushroom kits in the stores, and I did a little investigating and bought this kit from Amazon. I need to do more reading, but I think it's feasible to grow mushrooms year 'round in a container in my garage. There are outdoor options as well. I'd be interested in hearing from you if you're into growing mushrooms. I don't know whether this will work out long-term or not, but so far they seem like fun guys.
22” Blue Weber Kettle with SnS insert
Kamado Joe Jr with Kick Ash Basket
Char-Broil Smartchef Tru Infrared Gasser
Anovo Hot Tub Time Machine with Custom Hot Tub
DavidNorcross do buckwheat roots do a decent job of aerating the soil? I compacted part of my garden with heavy equipment that I had to use after a rain. I decided not to plant anything there because the drainage was screwed up but I need to crowd weeds out and loosen it up.
jhapka It will help. However, it does not have as deep of a root as say a Tillage Radish. Buckwheat and Iron Clay Pea is a warmer season cover crop which is what I would recommend. I would then recommend following that up with the Tillage Radish and some Rye in the fall. I try my best to not use chemical fertilizers and focus on cover crop's and compost. Not to see I do not use organic fertilizers but that is not my goal either. I hope this helps.
I of course love smoked meats of all kinds, but also like quick cooks like chicken portions, pork tenderloins, steak and fish. Really into cooking of all kinds.
My outdoor kitchen has a Lone Star Grillz Adjustable and it is wonderful. There also is a Pit Boss 5 Burner Ultimate Griddle and a Pit Boss Copperhead pellet grill.
There is an outdoor fire pit that has grilling capability and limited Santa Maria-style grill raising and lowering.
I've never posted on this thread. That's mostly because I got none of the talent from my grandparents who had a greenhouse and flower shop while I was growing up. Most landscape elements around our property are handled under the "get tough or die" philosophy of benign neglect. In fact, I never got around to fertilizing the blueberries last year and we paid the price this year with almost no production.
I've finally decided to put in an herb garden that will also double as a decorative element.
I started with an old, leaky horse water trough. I drilled several good-sized holes in the bottom for drainage.
Then I added a bunch of scrap concrete, being careful to put concave ones over the holes so that water can drain efficiently.
Here it is, positioned in front of the barn.
My guy John who helps me out is finishing a vacation, but when he's back, I'll have him take his tractor to some spots where I've been throwing mulch and debris for over ten years. That should be some really good soil to scoop up and put into the trough.
Then I just have to decide what to plant. I decided to go ahead and post this part way through the job to put some pressure on me to make sure it gets finished in time to take advantage of the rainy season so that I mostly won't even have to water.
Mirliton or chayote squash. Got to say that these heavy duty 10 an 15 gallon cloth pots are great! They seem to hold water better than clay or plastic.
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