Canned Goods

The last day in August and the massive canning effort has begun. Over 6 hours of effort by two people for 13 1/2 quarts of home grown goodness. You could not pay me enough for this food! 

3 quarts and one pint of spaghetti sauce. It takes the yellow bread bowl of tomatoes to make a batch - plus garlic, onion, herbs, zuchini from the garden. Throw in a bottle of cheap red wine and let it simmer for 6 hours or so!

Our first year of apple pie in a jar. The thought of apple crisp in the mid winter is warming already! 8 quarts of that. And 2 quarts of pickled green beans with garlic and hot pepper. 

Nammah's out of hand!

Today's harvest: 6 heads of cabbage...something is sneaking under the gate and taking bites out of them-though one was still perfect!  Wonder what they will head for next!?  More yellow squash - the zucchini died out after 2 or three - not even a blossom - odd for zucchini! Dug up the row of carrots planted in the cold frame in early spring and four beets that were being crowded.  We have enough tomatoes and peppers now to make our first batch of fresh salsa.  Even cilantro timed right this year (a first!)  Also a first...tomatillo's for Susana's mom from Mexico.  It will be fun to deliver them to her...and then to eat what she cooks with them!

The apples are a mystery.  We saw several on the road with bites out of them-from the rouge tree across the road and near the garden.  Sara investigated and decided to harvest them - lots on the ground and even some in the tree still with bites out of them.  Hmmm? SO...early apple harvest for us.  Even the apples behind the house are falling on the ground.  They are trying to tell us they are done - but we are not ready for them yet!  We will try apple pie in a jar this year. Applesauce making scheduled for early September.

August 21

We returned from 6 days in the BWCAW to a bounty!  The kitchen table filled with the harvest from the evening we returned, August 20.  I canned 3 quarts and 1 pint of green beans plus made 4 jars of blueberry jam.  The blueberries were delivered by the Keelings from BlueVista berries in Bayfiled.  Sara made an amazing egg scramble for breakfast with yellow squash and other garden fixings AND she made a similar garden mix for enchiladas for dinner along with an arugala, beet and goat cheese salad! I put some bread in the machine and we had our first BTL of the season for lunch. The eatin is good in south range!!

New gate

Put in new gate on north side near shed with old windows from a friend!

August 12 Harvest

A bumper year for the blackberries in the woods.  The previous tenders of the place transplanted some to a spot in front of the wood shed.  We also find some along the old railroad bed that runs along the back side of our property.  I LOVE these berries!!


Harvest...Green beans, 3 yellow squash, 1 zuke, blackberries, red currants, tomatoes, apple...

August 10

Today's harvest: bucket o' green beans, 3 slicing tomatoes & 3 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, plus a good bowlful of Swiss chard.

August 9, 2012

First week of August...
The last of the garlic harvested, 73 more heads, trimmed, brushed and hung out to dry before storage.

Added a second tier to two of the last 6 beds needing a second story.  The doubles are much nicer to work with - holding compost and water. In one, transplanted 22 asparagus plants from other areas that were not doing well.

Yesterday canned 4 more pints of green beans. That makes 9 so far this year. More green beans than we can eat!

Front corner is dug out with mulch from the power company - from line clean up - perfect for the paths cause they have lots of pine needles in them.


Today's harvest...
Yellow squash, zucchini, bell pepper, jalapeño peppers, blackberries, apples fallen from tree.

40 more heads of garlic to go with the 89 previous.  IF I can figure out long term storage - we might add garlic to the sustainability list.  We made it with squash in 2011-12.  Ate (and made chutney) with the last of the winter squash in June, just before the first summer squash arrived. I replanted root vegetables in the garlic bed.  We have a good 45 plus days of growing season left, and I made the mistake of planting the turnips too soon.  Says they taste better after a frost. The ones now are so strong tasting.  I roasted some to eat - not bad mixed with other things in a tortilla, but Sara will make soup out of the rest.

Also picked more green beans. The pole beans are coming and are long and straight compared with the bush beans.  They are beautiful climbing up the center fence that used to be the border (before the latest expansion).

Also getting cucumbers and the cherry and grape tomatoes are starting.

Made zucchini muffins (w/ walnuts and craisins) and a zucchini chocolate cake.  Still had 2-3 cup each bags to put in the freezer from that one squash that grew too large while we were in Portland. The yellow squash have been good to eat grilled.

Sara continues to work on the outside paths (getting weeds out and putting wood chips in).  I am putting in corner posts!  July 2012 was a great month for Nammah!

AND...she found Hazelnuts in the woods!