This weekend has been all about managing great piles of vegetables. Most of the veggies have been from our own yard, and some are from the little farm where we volunteer on Saturday mornings.
Our one cherry tomato plant, a Super Sweet 100, has been pouring on the steam, and we've been having trouble keeping up with the ripe, sweet little fruits, so one of the jobs for today was picking a bunch of tiny green tomatoes for pickling. Just minutes ago, I pulled four pint jars of pickled cherry tomatoes out of the water-bath canner.
Yesterday, I made and preserved in jars a batch of tomatillo sauce. Four half-pint jars of the tart green sauce have been added to our cupboards as a result.
Joe started a gallon-sized batch of brined pickles that is mixed cucumbers and green tomatoes. He also started a pint of fermented hot sauce with a beautiful pile of ripe, red, cowhorn peppers.
The dehydrator has been filled, emptied, and refilled with slices of tomato and with chopped peppers (a mix of both hot and sweet).
I skinned and seeded a big bowl of ripe tomatoes, roasted them in the oven until I could smell them turning sweeter, and then let them cool. Those are in the freezer now. They mostly filled a quart freezer bag. I strained the juice out of the skins and seeds and froze the juice, too.
Out at the garden-farm, we found a couple of hilariously large zucchini, and I brought those home to seed, peel, and shred. I made a couple of loaves of zucchini bread using 2 cups of the shredded zucchini. I froze the rest, measuring out two cups to each freezer bag, so those will be ready for making more zucchini bread later in the year.
The four bags (8 cups) of shredded zucchini joined four bags from a couple of weeks ago, from other over-large zucchinis that we had uncovered out at the garden farm then.
Also today, Joe cooked crowder peas that had been harvested last summer, using the solar oven that he placed out in the front yard. The owner of the garden farm has planted what we are sure will be a superabundance of crowder peas, so we are trying to use up the last of the previous harvest.
Our younger son, who recently moved back home, has cut up some okra and is frying it to add to our supper.
We are incredibly fortunate to have this abundance of good food! The garden is some work, but the rewards are great.
Hope all the other gardeners out there are enjoying the harvest!
Showing posts with label preserving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preserving. Show all posts
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Friday, September 6, 2013
Managing the Harvest
There's a post up at one of my frequently-visited news sites, Resilience.Org, about the frustrations of a gardener who can find plenty of information about sustainable (and small/urban) farming, but not all that much to help him in sustainable gardening.
The article by Erik Curran, "Sustainable Farming Mania is Frustrating Me," was originally published at Transition Voice.
He points out that there is a lot of information available right now (for example) about the usefulness on small farms of including animals in the loop, which, as a suburban gardener, he just can't manage. As for many of the rest of us, keeping chickens and other livestock is not legal where he lives. This isn't the only sustainable-farming method/tool that doesn't apply to his little garden, but it's one he mentions.
A second, huge issue seems to be about handling the super-abundance of tomatoes (and other vegetables) that won't wait until he actually has the time to process them into a storage-able form. As someone who has spent time canning innumerable tomatoes in years past, I can sympathize. When we lived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, we brought in tomatoes by the 5-gallon-bucketful (Every day! Day after day...). Over time, I've learned to plant fewer tomato plants.
Besides learning to "just say no" to too many tomato plants, part of the answer to managing the harvest at our house has been the use of a dehydrator. Canning take a lot of time and our full attention, but we can slice tomatoes, dice peppers, and cut up other fruits and veggies while watching something on Netflix ("Star Trek" episodes, Ken Burns' "The Dust Bowl," BBC's "Rosemary & Thyme"), let it dry in the dehydrator overnight, then store the dried produce in canning jars until we need it. This time of year, the dehydrator is "on" several nights each week.
Another part of the answer has been to plant some crops that don't need a lot of special processing for storage. This strategy saves a lot of time. Winter squash, onions, potatoes, garlic, shallots, sweet potatoes, and the kinds of corn that are stored dry -- the ones that are for popping, parching, or grinding into flour -- are stored pretty much "as is." No chopping or blanching is required. Cowpeas and other beans need minimal processing; they can be shelled when dry, left for a few days in a thin layer on something like cookie sheets to make sure they are Really Dry, then stored in canning jars like the other dried veggies.
Another part of the answer at our house has been to stagger the planting of big producers like tomatoes so that we are not overwhelmed. The former mountains of ripe tomatoes have become more manageable hills that appear sporadically all the way to the first frost. Right now in my yard, we are in a bit of a lull with regard to tomatoes, but there are two plants of paste-type tomatoes (Wuhib), planted in June, that currently are loaded with green fruits that will begin ripening soon. I've pulled up most of the earliest-planted tomatoes that had slowed in production due to disease issues (the Amish tomatoes are still in the ground and producing, and a late-planted cherry tomato is just now kicking in).
Managing the planting with the end in mind is hardest for new gardeners who haven't yet experienced how much food a tomato plant or a short row of pole beans can produce. Hopefully, the demanding piles of fresh food won't deter new gardeners from trying again in following years, with slight alterations in the mix and timing of the planting.
The article by Erik Curran, "Sustainable Farming Mania is Frustrating Me," was originally published at Transition Voice.
He points out that there is a lot of information available right now (for example) about the usefulness on small farms of including animals in the loop, which, as a suburban gardener, he just can't manage. As for many of the rest of us, keeping chickens and other livestock is not legal where he lives. This isn't the only sustainable-farming method/tool that doesn't apply to his little garden, but it's one he mentions.
A second, huge issue seems to be about handling the super-abundance of tomatoes (and other vegetables) that won't wait until he actually has the time to process them into a storage-able form. As someone who has spent time canning innumerable tomatoes in years past, I can sympathize. When we lived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, we brought in tomatoes by the 5-gallon-bucketful (Every day! Day after day...). Over time, I've learned to plant fewer tomato plants.
Besides learning to "just say no" to too many tomato plants, part of the answer to managing the harvest at our house has been the use of a dehydrator. Canning take a lot of time and our full attention, but we can slice tomatoes, dice peppers, and cut up other fruits and veggies while watching something on Netflix ("Star Trek" episodes, Ken Burns' "The Dust Bowl," BBC's "Rosemary & Thyme"), let it dry in the dehydrator overnight, then store the dried produce in canning jars until we need it. This time of year, the dehydrator is "on" several nights each week.
Another part of the answer has been to plant some crops that don't need a lot of special processing for storage. This strategy saves a lot of time. Winter squash, onions, potatoes, garlic, shallots, sweet potatoes, and the kinds of corn that are stored dry -- the ones that are for popping, parching, or grinding into flour -- are stored pretty much "as is." No chopping or blanching is required. Cowpeas and other beans need minimal processing; they can be shelled when dry, left for a few days in a thin layer on something like cookie sheets to make sure they are Really Dry, then stored in canning jars like the other dried veggies.
Another part of the answer at our house has been to stagger the planting of big producers like tomatoes so that we are not overwhelmed. The former mountains of ripe tomatoes have become more manageable hills that appear sporadically all the way to the first frost. Right now in my yard, we are in a bit of a lull with regard to tomatoes, but there are two plants of paste-type tomatoes (Wuhib), planted in June, that currently are loaded with green fruits that will begin ripening soon. I've pulled up most of the earliest-planted tomatoes that had slowed in production due to disease issues (the Amish tomatoes are still in the ground and producing, and a late-planted cherry tomato is just now kicking in).
Managing the planting with the end in mind is hardest for new gardeners who haven't yet experienced how much food a tomato plant or a short row of pole beans can produce. Hopefully, the demanding piles of fresh food won't deter new gardeners from trying again in following years, with slight alterations in the mix and timing of the planting.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Dehydrating the Harvest
We (mostly my husband, actually) have been keeping the dehydrator busy in the last few weeks. The jars below are packed with the dried fruits of our harvest:
Most years we do more canning and freezing of veggies, but we have been working with a hilariously inadequate kitchen. The two-burner stove seems to do well with high heat and low heat, but we haven't found "medium heat" on either of the burners so far.
I have managed to burn more than one meal, and I've undercooked some things, so we are going to give canning a pass until we get completely moved back into the house, where the stove operates on natural gas and we have cookware that's more familiar. Our cast iron cookware - for example - is a lot more nonstick than the two pans and one skillet that came with this kitchen, and I'm not actually certain that a big water-bath or pressure canner would fit on this stove.
It's a very good thing that we were able to bring the dehydrator with us when we shifted into the extended-stay hotel! The poor Excalibur could use a break and a good cleaning, but it still has a lot of work ahead of it in the next few days.
Last year, a lot of our tomato-based sauces started out as dehydrated tomatoes and peppers. It looks as though this year's sauces will have the same beginning.
Most years we do more canning and freezing of veggies, but we have been working with a hilariously inadequate kitchen. The two-burner stove seems to do well with high heat and low heat, but we haven't found "medium heat" on either of the burners so far.
I have managed to burn more than one meal, and I've undercooked some things, so we are going to give canning a pass until we get completely moved back into the house, where the stove operates on natural gas and we have cookware that's more familiar. Our cast iron cookware - for example - is a lot more nonstick than the two pans and one skillet that came with this kitchen, and I'm not actually certain that a big water-bath or pressure canner would fit on this stove.
It's a very good thing that we were able to bring the dehydrator with us when we shifted into the extended-stay hotel! The poor Excalibur could use a break and a good cleaning, but it still has a lot of work ahead of it in the next few days.
Last year, a lot of our tomato-based sauces started out as dehydrated tomatoes and peppers. It looks as though this year's sauces will have the same beginning.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Busy Times
The green beans are from a friend's giant garden/small farm, but the canning was all Joe's doing. He's not teaching this summer, so he's had time to work on preserving most of the produce. I canned the "black & blue" berry jam that's mostly hidden (you can just see the tops of five small jars . . .), and I canned those peppers, which in this photo are still whole but later made four full quarts of pickled pepper rings.
Tomorrow is a volunteering/gardening day, but I hope to have the energy afterward to work on getting more produce into the cupboards. Joe has filled the dehydrator with tomato slices, but I think we have enough tomatoes left here to fill some jars, which means we have some more canning ahead.
I also bought quite a lot of Georgia peaches over the weekend. They were like little tart rocks when I got them, but they are ready for eating now. I'm thinking that a batch of peach preserves would be a nice thing, and if there are enough to put a bag or two of slices in the freezer for future smoothies, that would also be good.
We had rain yesterday, which means I don't have to get up extra-early tomorrow to water. What a gift that is! Hope all the other gardens out there are doing well.
Tomorrow is a volunteering/gardening day, but I hope to have the energy afterward to work on getting more produce into the cupboards. Joe has filled the dehydrator with tomato slices, but I think we have enough tomatoes left here to fill some jars, which means we have some more canning ahead.
I also bought quite a lot of Georgia peaches over the weekend. They were like little tart rocks when I got them, but they are ready for eating now. I'm thinking that a batch of peach preserves would be a nice thing, and if there are enough to put a bag or two of slices in the freezer for future smoothies, that would also be good.
We had rain yesterday, which means I don't have to get up extra-early tomorrow to water. What a gift that is! Hope all the other gardens out there are doing well.
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