The main vegetable garden is elsewhere but Mary did have a lot in the flower area this year do to some rebuilding of areas and the addition of a ton of manure to fill the new raised beds that I put in last year.
Posted on 09/18/2015 1:12:45 PM PDT by greeneyes
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However, fall is in the air. I was trying to figure out what made it feel like fall. I am thinking it's the sunlight. A different angle or something in the afternoon. Anyway something that my instincts/brain just picks up on as being the end of summer/beginning of fall just around the corner.
The salsa I made was still a bit strong for Hubby, but I told him to make it a dip by mixing it with sour cream or cream cheese. He's on the 3rd jar. I'll have to get some tomatoes from the farmers market, or the maybe use some canned to make more - ours didn't turn out this year-barely enough to eat.
The grocery has had good specials on chickens and tomatoes the last two weeks. So I canned about 24 quarts(2 cases) of chickens. Used the bones to make broth. Still have one last batch of broth to can in the pressure cooker.
Bought a couple of cases of tomatoes last week, and will buy a couple of more this week, since we didn't get enough to can this year. Ditto with the cukes and zukes - gonna have to get those from the Farmers Market-will have to go earlier. Wednesday they only had a few cukes and white zukes left. Got some for eating, but not enough to put up even a small batch for the winter.
Prayers up for all especially Johnny and Arrowhead. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the list.
Should I put mulch down over that area, like I would do in the spring? Or is that a waste of time this late in the season?
Thanks for any advice!
Spinach is on it's way up. My seeds for my winter artichoke experiment are up and I've planted a few tomatoes to see how they'll compete with the plants that summered over. And a LOAD of blooms on the eggplants that summered over. They are actually kind of remarkable.
Hope is it will cool off at least a wee bit as I am really ready to chip the cedar and hackberry I cut down over the summer. Cuttin' it is easy, getting rid of it...not so easy.
OK, you have got my attention! I have only heard of canning vegetables at home. I would love to learn more about canning meat.
I don’t know where you live, but here in Massachusetts, mulch is always a good idea.
Mulch, mulch, mulch. You can’t overdo it. IMHO
Good for you!
We have green tomatoes. Ah, well, there’s still some time left.
Well I can’t even come close to that. We got a good crop of potatoes out of our two experimental potato buckets so I put out one more bucket of reds to see if I can get a crop before it gets too cold. They are up through the soil already. Planted some Spinach seeds and am going to go with plants from the garden center for everything else. collards, cabbage and broccoli. My collards made it through some 16 degree nights last winter. We ate them all winter.
Hey in Mo. kinda warm up there. Got a chance of rain maybe. As for cukes they grow so nice here for me until June comes and the Tx heat kills them off without producing fruits no matter the watering.
Doggone frustrating—thats 2 years in a row now. Oh well the swiss chard is robust at least. Green smoothies dontchyaknow.
My dear wife keeps letting the chickens out so they can be ‘free range’ and they are tearing up my beds. It’s driving me crazy. Finally decided to buy some electric fence.
The main vegetable garden is elsewhere but Mary did have a lot in the flower area this year do to some rebuilding of areas and the addition of a ton of manure to fill the new raised beds that I put in last year.
Mulch is never a waste of time. It’s beneficial for many reasons, so I would do it.
Hubby is loving his chipper and so am I. He’s finally clearing out a tangle of underbrush/clearing an ugly patch just so he can chip some more stuff.
Then, he’ll make another new garden patch. More organic veggies without the supermarket prices. LOL
Sure a lot easier than hauling it to the landfill.
Looking out the dungeon window I see that it has begun to rain here in Central Missouri.
We really do need a couple or three inches of rain, but was hoping for a dry weekend so I could finish up the pond cleanout. A buddy of mine owns a track loader and has volunteered to close the dam for fuel and beer, which means I’ll be able to close it up before winter if the weather cooperates.
Not much happening in the garden aside from picking green beans and tomatoes. I probably should spend some quality time out there with the weed whacker this weekend. It’s beginning to look a bit shaggy.
It’s really easy. I’d advise you to buy the Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving. Covers canning, freezing, dehydration of fruits, veggies, and meats. There are also websites, but I know the Ball Book won’t steer me wrong. JMHO.
You can use the raw pack method or partial cooking method and with or without bones. With or without salt. Times vary depending on which method, and boneless takes longer than bone in.
For beef or pork roast, I just cube the meat and put it in pint jars, add boiling liquid or water. If it will be used as a soup base or casserole that uses the liquid, I will add salt. If I won’t be using the liquid, I add less broth and no salt.
That’s because potassium will be leached into the liquid @ 50% with out salt. With salt more will go into the liquid (as much as 100% theoretically).
One half a chicken or two leg quarters per quart-depending on the size of the chicken. If the chicken is already cut up, I pack the white meat separate from the dark.
If I buy whole chickens, I roast 3 of them (all my oven will hold)until the are about half done-maybe a bit more. This makes the cutting and partial deboning easier. I pack the breasts together and the leg quarters together and fill in with the back’s meat, butt meat, and wings to fill up the quart jars.(wings can be put aside to make some buffalo wings or something.
The wing tips and carcass along with the tiny bits of meat and skin all go into the stock pot with veggies and a little balsamic vinegar or lemon juice(helps to bring the calcium/minerals out of the bones) to make broth which is canned the next day or so.
Processing times vary, but it’s at 10 lbs. of pressure here for up to 1 hr. 30 min. again depending on the above mentioned variables.
This will be very tender meat, and is far superior to what you buy in the store, and loads cheaper. All I ever add is canning salt, because spices can make for off taste/and or icky looking liquid as can table salt.
It’s the perfect “meat helper”. Can be eaten straight out of the jar. Heated to eat covered with gravy, or used in a casserole. Less than 30 min. from prep to oven to table.
Keep us posted on your artichoke experiment.
I got gorgeous ‘chokes one year by putting the seeds in a damp paper towel in a ziploc until they sprouted really good. Then put that in the fridge for a couple weeks. Then planted in peat pots and then outside. I started the seeds in paper towels in late January here in the deep south.
That’s beautiful. I really like including the edibles with the flowers there.
When you are expecting frost, there are three choices: fried green tomatoes(not my first choice).
Cut off the branches, clear all the bottom leaves and stick them in a pot of dirt to bring indoors and continue to ripen on the vine( some will even root and grow some more).
Pick the green tomatoes and wash them drain and dry. Wrap in newspaper or paper towels and let them ripen.
You probably know all this already, but someone else may not, hence I take the opportunity to mention it again.
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