What's Up Wednesday

My first Cherokee Purple tomatoes are ripe!

 Cucumbers! Now I have two plants producing- twice the harvests :)

 

First batch of coriander seed is dried and ready 

to be harvested and put on the spice rack

New fall seedlings are germinating nicely- 

swiss chard, onions, broccoli, pak choi, and more

 Yum :)

What's Up in your Garden this Week?

Canning 101: Blueberry Jam

The canning workshop today went really well! We covered a lot, and ran long, which I felt bad about. Overall though, interested folks got to learn how to can, and participate in the process, which I think is really important!

We also talked over techniques on freezing and drying fruits and vegetables, and everyone left with some handouts that I think will be helpful reference in the future.

As I suggested to the class participants, if you're going to can more than once, I suggest you purchase a canning recipe/instruction manual, like the Ball Blue Book of Canning. It's kind of like having a bible or religious book to reference, vs. copying some pages or passages out of said book. The passages are helpful, but if you want context and more guidance, having the actual book is really essential. Not a bad religious metaphore for a Jew(ish) agnostic, huh?  

I chose to can the Berry Jam recipe from the Ball Blue Book of Canning. It's easy, simply, and straight-forward; a good jam for beginning canners.

If you're looking for a easy recipe to start your canning adventures with, here it is:

Berry Jam

Supplies needed:

a water bather canner (or a really large pot)

a rack to go inside the canning pot

canning jars- Ball and Kerr are two frequently-used brands

a set of jar lids & bands

canning tongs to grab the hot jars
a potato masher                                                                                 

9 cups crushed berries
6  cups sugar

Directions:

Combine berries and sugar in a large saucepot. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar disolves. Cook rapidly to gelling point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Place the lid and the band on the top of the jar, and screw on. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

                           

                                             Then Ta-da!! Jam.

Tuesday Takehome + a Recipe

I haven't picked up my CSA share this week yet, but I DID shop at the Farmers' Market, of course.

I came home with:
2 quarts cherries
1 quarts blueberries
1 pint sungold cherry tomatoes
8 oz mozzarella cheese

Nom nom nom nom! I need to get out there and do some serious fruit picking for my canning plans. In the mean time, this amazing stuff will definitely do.










I've also been harvesting a good deal out of the garden lately. Here's a photo of yesterday's harvest- 3 leeks, and handful of Provider green beans, 7 Yukon Gold potatoes, 2 giant kale leaves, some sprigs of thyme, rosemary, and oregano, and a pinch of the first dried cilantro seeds of the summer (called corriander)!!

I'm patting myself on the back- I've been doing a good job of picking what I need for dinner each night, rather than harvesting a whole bunch just because I'm excited to see it all laid out. It's helped me get more time out of each crop I've grow.
I'm starting to have post-harvest holes in the garden- I'll need to fill those in with fall veggies! I've already planted some acorn squash as well as several cucumber plants and a watermelon, but it'll be time to seed carrots and spinach and fall greens before we know it.






I'm too inspired by fresh fruits and veggies to share a recipe today. My recipe for today is simply this-

• Go find some locally grown veggies and fruits
• Cut them up and prepare as minimally as possible
• Eat :)

Here's a photo of my plans for dinner on the right.

What have you been harvesting out of your garden lately or enjoying most from your local Farmers' Market?

What's Up Wednesday

So many goodies are coming out of the garden these days. Lots of carrots, kale, awesome purple onions, potatoes, and great herbs- thyme, rosemary and oregano have been flavoring all our dishes recently.

Look at that harvest!

 I've started to cure the garlic as I harvest it- by hanging it up on the kitchen wall! 

Pretty fun, huh?

First cucumber- Yeah!!!!

 I just love these cucumber flowers 

 Every day I get about 30 ripe black raspberries- delish!

Woohoo!

What's up in your garden this week?

Friday Favorites

Today I'm thankful for a lot in the garden: some plants are just starting to come into their prime, and some are on their way out. I've been a lot more relaxed about harvesting and using all the goodies from my garden this year and it's really helped me to appreciate each type of veggie/fruit as it comes into season!

Here are some of my Friday Favorites:

Harvested the last of the garlic scapes this morning- I think I'll chop and freeze them.

Look at these amazing Mountain Rose potatoes- they're so pink!!

Pulled my first garlic of the season to see how they are progressing- woah!

First big harvest from the garden- carrots, onions, scapes, kale, and some basil!

Happy Friday, friends! What are your favorites this Friday?

New Potatoes- Harvesting early potatoes from the garden

This is my third year growing potatoes in the garden- they're one of my favorite things to grow. Potatoes are relatively low-maintenance, the plants are surprisingly    pretty, and potatoes are easy to harvest- I'd recommend them for your planting list next year if you haven't grown them before!

I had a few plants that have had yellowing leaves, despite frequent watering. All their neighbor plants look green and healthy, but these two sad individuals were languishing. When this is the case, or when you get a hankering for potatoes, you can harvest some potatoes early- these are called "new potatoes".

It's a pretty good bet that when the plants are flowering, you've got some small new potatoes available to harvest.
I decided to pull out the two yellowing plants, and got 13 very small-smallish potatoes (left). I believe these are little Yukon Golds from last seasons' garden. I'll be using them up quick in some awesome, ultra-local homefries with garden-grown onions and kale tomorrow- can't wait!

I planted a whole lot of potatoes this year- 60 plants!! Each one of these will yield 5-8 potatoes, and that makes for a whole lotta spuds. I don't usually harvest too many new potatoes, because I like to wait until they get bigger, but with a potential harvest of 300-450 potatoes, I think I can afford to pull a few early!

I think my next early harvest will be some of the Mountain Rose potatoes- those are the dark potatoes with pink flesh. The plants are already really beautiful; the flowers are a pinkish-purple, rather than the traditional white flowers that most potato plants have.

I'll post some pictures on my blog facebook page when I harvest the Mountain Rose potatoes, in case you're curious.

In the mean time, off to enjoy this beautiful weather!

Autumn is here!

Anyone else feel surprised by the weather shift this year? I thought I would be ready for it, but I was left shaking my head and wearing birkenstocks- another summer gone by.

This summer has been very busy work-wise, although very enjoyable! I haven't got to do all of the canning I'd like to though- when I get a few free hours, going out and picking raspberries is no longer sounding as relaxing as it once did.

My garden did fairly well this year- I had a good harvest of potatoes, and the small experimental things I planted very fairly productive- a jalepeno plant, a green pepper, and an eggplant. Growing bush beans for the first time went well, and I have a fall crop that should hopefully carry through. Carrots did surprisingly well this year, and again, I should have a lot to pick in another couple of days and then a fall/winter crop too. It was a weird year for tomatoes overall. Onions too- all the onions I started indoors did NOT do well. I'm thinking I'll go with onion sets this year, and not start onions from seed.

I have gotten to freeze some of the goodies from my garden: bell peppers, jalepenos, corn (can't take credit for growing that!), raspberries, green beans. I'd like to put up some more corn and some more bell peppers- I see a lot of vegetable stir-frys in our future!

I would still like to can sliced peaches, freeze some more raspberries, pick apples and can some applesauce. Maybe next year will be the year for a pressure canner?

I'm trying to enjoy the weather while its still warm(ish). 13 mile bike ride yesterday, Band Alumni event this weekend, Country Living Fair, hopefully some biking and outside maintenance next week. Soon it will be time to put away the sandals for the year.

Fine, we can eat the &$^#* harvest!

This title is inspired by my usual response to my partner when he asks if we can finally eat some of the canned goods that I preserved back in June, now that it is April. He is very cute & supportive. (pictured below)

repping EMU, 24/7.

Since I have gotten into canning, one of his small pet peeves is that we can't immediately nom up all of the delicious things I just canned. While I do allow small samples to take place :) part of the whole appeal of canning for me is the idea of saving the harvest for those cold winter months when the only fruit available is the bananas that took quite a long trip to join our breakfast table. We actually did a fairly good job this year of eating home-canned fruit rather than buying trucked-in produce: I only bought frozen fruit several times because I didn't freeze enough and I just needed some color in my diet! I think the only majorly far-away produce we bought this year were bananas (two-three bunches) and several pineapples (one of Sam's favorites).

It's hard to have to deprive your family of delicious fruit, especially when you want to just go nuts and drive to Kroger and buy 4 pints of raspberries in the dead of winter! But I tried very hard to stick to my guns. So now here we are in April, and Mike is so nice and supportive, and usually asks, when I make dinner, "can we eat some of the harvest?" :) Sweet, huh? So why am I intent on portioning out the goods I canned specifically for eating-purposes like a crazy preserving-nazi? I want that apple sauce to last until we have apples again! I want those peach slices to let us hold out until peach season! It's a valid feeling. It is!!

Maybe there's a balance between "preserving the harvest" and "holding the harvest hostage so no one can eat it except when I deem it to be so". I'm trying to find it, folks. Trying! Tonight I packed up a cloth bag for my love with all his faves: canned peaches, applesauce, baked apples... nom away, dear.