Gone Crunchy: October 2013

I can can!

2:29 PM | Labels: Canning

Last year was my initial foray into canning, using a water bath canner to make applesauce, salsa and pickled jalapenos. This year I busted out my mom's old pressure canner and decided to give pressure canning a whirl.

I made the mistake of pressure canning one of the most difficult things first - CORN. I was terrified the thing would blow up, but luckily it did not. Unfortunately, several other things went wrong. It took WAY longer than I thought, for one. I filled the canner up with so much water that it took forever to boil, and then was too full to properly vent steam for the required 10 minutes. We packed the corn too tightly and it expanded too much during canning and lost liquid. Then I also made the mistake of boiling the lids beforehand, which may have ruined the sealing compound. Needless to say, I ended up opening up all the jars and pouring the contents into freezer bags. Now I know why even experienced canners say "oh, I always just freeze corn. It's easier."

I didn't let a bad first experience throw me off, however. I next attempted a less difficult item - green beans. This went more smoothly. I didn't pack so tightly so there was enough liquid in the jars to keep the beans undercover.

Finally, I canned chicken broth. Now this was the easiest of all! Why oh why didn't I start with chicken broth??? You just pour it in and process. No worries. I'm excited to do some more of this. It's much more convenient to open a can of chicken broth for a recipe then to defrost a frozen chunk from the freezer.

I also broke out the good ole water bath canner and canned some pickles and applesauce. It is definitely easier and less time-consuming! And I love having homemade applesauce available all winter. I made two batches - the first was blended to a puree and the second is "chunky-style."

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September Garden Update 2013

2:16 PM | Labels: Flowers, Garden

Here's the update for September. The garden is winding down. I've removed the kale and cucumbers and tried to plant spinach and lettuces in it's place. I added a lot of compost to the soil first, but not much has germinated. I was hoping to have some greens to keep into the fall under the cold frame, but it's not looking good. Maybe my seeds are bad? I may try one more time with some new seeds. I really liked having fresh lettuce last fall/winter!

The pumpkin vine slowly succumbed to the powdery mildew.

I harvested one pumpkin on Sept. 27th. I roasted it and pureed the flesh. It yielded only about 15 oz - approximately the same as a can of pumpkin from the store. That's a lot of effort for one can of pumpkin! If I'm only going to get 2 pumpkins, maybe I should go back to the big jack-o-lantern variety. :(

One last pumpkin is waiting harvest. You can see the vine is basically dead now.

I finally began to harvest some ripe tomatoes at the end of September. The BIG ones are the volunteers from the compost. I've no idea what variety they are, but one of them weighed over a pound! The little round ones are the Stupice. The Amish Paste tomatoes were the big winner. They produced very large Roma-type tomatoes. I will only plant this variety next year. I have made a sauce here and there, but I haven't been able to harvest enough tomatoes at one time to warrant canning them. Instead, I am trying to freeze them. I found a suggestion on the internet of blanching/peeling the tomatoes and freezing them whole. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, I just use them in recipes as they come. :)

Jalapenos aplenty! These go straight into a freezer baggy in the freezer for later use.

The sugar snap peas are a disappointment. The ones on the left have grown a bit, but haven't produced many peas. I've just eaten them straight off the plant and they are delicious! But I was hoping to have more. Obviously, I need to plant quite a few more to have enough for a meal. I'll have to wait for spring to do that!

Look how little these ones on the right are. Maybe not enough sunlight?

Apple tree update: still alive. More leaves, but not much vertical growth. Hopefully they'll shoot up in the spring.

I gave up on the pumpkin's powdery mildew, but I battled it with the zucchini. I cut off many affected leaves and sprayed the rest with the spray recipe from my last post. I think it worked.

See all the new growth? I may get a few more zucchinis before the frost (fingers crossed...)

Bush beans are done. I let them go so I could harvest the seeds.

I'm concerned that the seeds I harvested from the dried beans are white and the seeds from the original package are brown. I guess we'll wait and see if they germinate in the spring? It's a new thing for me, saving seed.

The seranno peppers are still growing. They are supposed to turn red before I harvest them, so we'll see if they make it.

See the thyme growing? I am thinking of digging it up and bringing it inside for the winter. But the interesting thing are all those little sprouts surrounding it. My dill plant has been dropping it's seeds and they are ALL sprouting! I need to go cut the heads off to dry them for myself before they all are lost.

The big blueberry definitely looks like it's dying. I am pretty frustrated with the whole blueberry thing. I may give up next year and pull them out to make room for more tomatoes.

Crispy critter:

This black swallowtail is enjoying my dill plant:

The basil plants are still growing like mad. I have cut these back several times and they just get bigger! It's so wonderful to have something that I can grow successfully. :) We've got tons of pesto and basil in the freezer to enjoy all winter.

The raspberries have been a delight! I've been able to harvest a small handful every other day. I didn't expect antyhing the first year, but they are delicious! I will order another 3 plants for next year.