Menke Projects

Years ago, we bought a registered performance-tested Black Angus Bull through the Luling Foundation.  https://www.lulingfoundation.org/events/8th-annual-angus-sale That Bull lived for a long time, but eventually we had to take him to the Lockhart Auction.  We kept two of his male offspring, and then narrowed that down to one, which I believe is our current Bull.  He is a really big bull...probably way to big for the cows. Since switching to the Angus bull, we have not had to go out in the middle of the night and pull calves out of the pregnant cows.  (That's why people buy Black Angus cattle.)  Of course, buyers don't get too excited about "little black calves", and we are a "Cow-Calf" operation. Sunday afternoon, we noticed a young cow with two feet sticking out of her rear. I guessing the calf's head got turned backwards, and the calf is stuck.  Monday morning, we couldn't find the cow.  Eventually after Lunch, Donna found her laying in a woo...

ONIONS!  Our raised bed garden stuffed with compost mixed with biochar fines + charcoal pieces that will pass through a 1/4" screen really grows lots of big onions.  After visiting a high-end garden center in West Austin last Winter to purchase onion sets, Donna and I discovered that we had both purchased sets (after all, there were 5 varieties to choose from) and we really overdid ourselves.  We planted 342 onion sets.  By the end of May, we had at least 340 large onions, some weighing as much as a pound. To preserve our harvest, we usually slice and chop the onions and place them in freezer bags, so later, a bag and be opened and a small quantity removed.  This year, we did that, and we also ran a 12 shelf dehydrator several times with a full load.  It smells good, and it sucks electricity...to the tune of 600 watts per hour for as much as 36 hours. Then I remember our time in Germany (1976 - 1980), where Zwiebelkuchen (German Onion & Bacon Pie) was...