Tag: canning

Olio- 8/6/2019

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

I arrived home yesterday morning, having left son’s house at 6:15 a.m. when he and grandson left to catch the vanpool for son to go to work and grandson to begin another basketball camp hosted by the University coach. We had the vet due at the farm about an hour and a half later. The big guy can no longer load and unload and he needed a couple of vaccines and a snap test. Since she was going to be here, we had her look at the German Shepherd who has a lump on her snout and also needed the snap test done. Both dogs are heartworm free and the cytology on the snout lump showed no infection so we are on watch mode there. The big guy loves most people, doesn’t mind the vet, seeming to enjoy the extra attention. The German Shepherd is skittish as they can be and has to be on a leash and wearing a soft muzzle for most of her exam, but she allowed the attempt to draw fluid from the lump without too much squirming.

After that visit, I felt like I had already done a full day so we went to town to run errands and get lunch only to find that a huge area housing many of the non fast food places were experiencing a power outage that ended up lasting well into the evening. We decided to get a bit farther away from there and stopped at Zaxby’s. The clerk at the counter looked like either a recent retiree or soon to be retiree. After taking our order, he said, “I guess I could give you the senior discount.” We didn’t know they had one and I quipped, we certainly are eligible. He smirked and said, “I bet I have a year or two on you, I will be 61 in September.” Well, I couldn’t resist letting him know that I have more than a decade on him and hubby stating that he was older than I was. That made me feel good for the day.

This morning, we set out to get a newspaper, chicken feed, and dog food, and they were just putting out fresh produce at the community store. I know it isn’t local nor organic, but my tomatoes aren’t doing well, so we purchased a 25 pound box of tomatoes to bring home. After several hours of standing coring, peeling, chopping, cooking, and canning, I no longer feel young. I got about 2/3 of them done, cored the rest and put them in the freezer to finish with some from the garden tomorrow. My water bath canner holds 6 pints or 8 half pints. The first batch was herbed tomato sauce and ended up with 8 pints, so two were packed in wide mouth jars and will go in the freeze, the other 6 were canned. Batch two was pizza sauce and there was enough to fill 9.5 half pint jars, 8 were canned, one will go in the freezer and the remaining quarter pint fit in an open jar of pizza sauce in the freezer to be used first.

The remaining tomatoes will probably be made into spaghetti sauce and a few half pints of it cooked down to more pizza sauce. We do enjoy homemade pizza with my sauce, local mozarella and local Italian sausage.

Daylily season if my favorite flower season. Of the dozen or so varieties, this one, call Sear’s Tower, given to me by a friend, is the last one blooming, the rest finished a couple of weeks ago.

The old timers here, have a saying that every day of August that has fog will produce a snow during winter. I am not superstitious, if it were true we would never get out this winter. This is the 6th of August and we have had dense fog every morning so far.

Once the fog cleared and I was standing at the kitchen sink dealing with tomatoes, I looked out to see a flock of 8 Tom turkeys grazing across the back yard.

The broody Oliver egger won’t give up. I have tried cold water, isolating her from the nesting boxes and other hens for 48 hours and nothing has worked. This is the third time she has become broody this summer, stopping and laying for a week or so then going back to broodiness. I give up. I guess she will give up eventually, I take eggs many times a day so she is sitting on empty nests. I think this fall, I will purchase 4 Buff Orpington chicks if I can get them and raise them over the fall so they will lay next spring and not try to raise more than that, they will provide enough eggs for us. In the spring, a small flock of Freedom Ranger or similar meat birds that grow to full size in only a couple of months will be purchased and raised separately from the egg laying hens. The cost of pasture raised chicken at the farmers’ market, since we have the facilities to raise them, makes it worth our time and effort.

August 6, 2019
Quiet Monday Back Home- 8/5/2019

The past few weeks have been quite active. Three weeks ago, eldest grandson came for his annual summer visit. We love having his visits for a few weeks. He loves it here and helps out with the garden and getting to drive the riding mower and tractor. Between the last time I saw him and this trip, only a few short months, he sprouted taller than I, though I still outweigh him by too much.

We got some projects accomplished, though not all I hoped for due to persistent heat, thunderstorms, then other activities getting in the way, like a day trip.

Week two, we added two of his cousins to the mix, two grandchildren that live nearby. We had arranged for them to participate in a history summer camp for the week, with eldest grandson and me as volunteeer helpers. I think we all had fun and some history learned. Following camp, the younger two came back to our house til their Mom got off work. During the weekend, eldest grandson and I did get some garden work done.

Week three, we had all three kids all day for the week. During one day when they were “playing” together (not sure that their activity was really play or ganging up on each other), I got some fall vegetables planted in the garden.

Sprouts in the fall veggie bed, but nothing in the cover crop bed behind it.

Machado pumpkins, not a single bloom, but they are keeping the weeds at bay.

Grandson eldest ended his visit with us with a couple of days of basketball camp in Roanoke about an hour away. His camp was Friday evening and we stayed in Roanoke for the three hours, getting dinner and browsing the bookstore before picking him up and returning home. Saturday was all day, I took him in the morning, returned home to do some canning and cleaning and prepped dinner while hubby went to pick him up in the evening. Yesterday, hubby took him in the morning while I gathered belongings, got laundry done, finished cleaning, and drove over to pick him up and drive him 3 more hours to his home. It has been a busy, often hectic three weeks and we loved it. Now for a few days of rest.

Up next will be fall canning, a fall fiber retreat at a new location, and possibly some help with eldest grandson as his family works on a new to them dwelling and move as school starts and jobs conflict.

No more signs of snakes in the coop, I guess the 6 footer was the culprit and he is now far away.

If you have been missing me, the blog has had some technical issues. It looks different now, there are no archives, but there is a “Like” you can use, still a place to comments, and a place at the bottom to subscribe if you are a new reader and want to be notified when new posts are made.

August 5, 2019
Putting By Commences

Our strawberry plants are first year and we probably won’t see any berries this year and strawberry jam is grandson and son-in-law’s favorite. When I was in the grocery yesterday, I saw that 16 oz clam shells of organic strawberries were 2 for $5.00. Not inexpensive, but a really good price for them. I haven’t found any you pick strawberry fields within an hour drive of us and even if I did, they probably aren’t organic. I purchased 6 clam shells of strawberries. It was interesting that they varied in weight from barely 16 ounces to almost 22 ounces.

I pulled down my copy of preserving by the pint and set about to make jam.

I love the recipe as it has only strawberries and honey with a couple tablespoons of lemon juice. Since it is pectin free, it requires longer cooking and a broad shallow pan to cook it, so it only makes a couple of half pints per batch. The rhythm was quickly found, cutting the first batch, adding the honey to sit for 10 minutes and starting cutting the next batch. While the first batch cooked, the second batch was prepped. The first batch was cooked and put in clean jars to can. While it was processing, the second batch was cooking and the third batch was being prepped. When done, all 12 half pints popped as they sealed, a good sign and now they are sitting to cool on the kitchen counter.

There will be a blackberry jam making session this summer. Blueberries and raspberries canned or frozen for muffins and pancakes or cobblers.

All of the canning supplies will be put away now as it will be a couple of months before we need them again, but it is nice to put something on the shelves now instead of using up the last of the supplies from summer past. Perhaps we will stumble on another deal on strawberries and will put away a few more jars.

April 7, 2015
Things I don’t buy anymore

Tortilla’s for tacos and enchiladas

Ricotta cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Pasta noodles

Bar soap, shampoo, laundry detergent

Eggs

Chicken

Tomato products, salsas, jams, chutney

Mustard

Yogurt and cream cheese

Hand and body lotion

The longer we homestead, the more products have been eliminated from our shopping list, more products are made at home. As the garden and orchard grow and my desire to be more aware of what goes on and into my body, the more items are removed. Hopefully, the day will come when we are growing a couple of pigs on our land and at least some of the lard will replace the oils that I buy for cooking and soap making. If Son #1 or 2 raise bees, we will be able to have honey and beeswax too (I am allergic to bee stings, so I can’t tackle that task.)

I love being able to make these items, our bread and chicken feed, grow most of our vegetables and have the health and time to do it.

January 27, 2015
Pumpkin Soup
I thought the pressure canner had been stored away for the year, but then the winter squash started appearing through the jungle of leaves and I realized that I had so much more winter squash than the two of us will ever eat. Mountaingdad likes pumpkin pie at holidays and will tolerate about two small baked pumpkins stuffed with rice, sausage, etc. each winter, but that will hardly put a dent in the harvest. Last night I texted Son#1 and asked for suggestions and he was quick to suggest pumpkin soup, and if I canned it, he would eat a couple quarts a week as he takes his lunch to work with him. This seemed like a splendid idea as soup is my favorite food, if it is not commercially canned soup. We have a local restaurant that always has chili and two soups made fresh at the restaurant and they are unique and rarely duplicated on the menu. In the years we have lived here, I have only gotten one soup there that I did not like so I set out to make a creative pumpkin soup. Here is the recipe, I hope to soon be able to insert my recipes in a printable card, but not yet.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup
- 5 c cubed, pared raw winter squash or 3 c cooked winter squash
- 2 1/2 c vegetable stock
- 1/4 c onion
- 1 Tbs. oil
- 1 Tbs. minced ginger
- 1 Tbs. minced garlic
- 1 Habanero (may be omitted or use a less pungent pepper for a milder soup)
- 1 1/2 tsp whole cumin
- 1 tsp whole coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 c dried milk
If you use raw squash, cook it in the broth until soft. Blend or puree the cooked squash and put it back in the soup pot. Retain 1 cup in the blender and blend in the milk powder until smooth and creamy.

Toast the cumin and coriander until fragrant and then grind. Saute the onion in the oil until soft but not browned, add the garlic and ginger until softened. (You may use garlic paste and ginger paste as a substitute, but just add it with the ground spices) Add the ground spices and the sauteed onion and stir to blend in. Add the puree with the milk into the soup and bring back to a simmer. It will stick if you let it boil. Yields about 8 cups

I doubled the recipe and the result is slightly spicy and delicious. With two cantaloupe sized pumpkins, I made the 4 quarts of the soup for canning and had just enough left over to savor myself.

I guess it would be a bisque as it is blended smooth and contains milk. My plan is to alter the seasonings with each batch for variety, make and can until I run out of jars again. Son#1 said we could bring down another load from his house when I go pick the up for Thanksgiving and they would help me peel and seed the squash and pumpkins to make more while they are here. It is rather time consuming, peeling and seeding 2 pumpkins, but it occurred to me after I was done that I could have just as easily split and baked them and used the baked flesh instead of boiling it soft, but I do like the flavor the broth added to the soup.

NOTE: canning failure. You can’t can pumpkin puree or soup, just chunks of pumpkin. The soup is in the freezer and will be enjoyed after thawing the jars. Lesson learned, I guess we just can the pumpkin chunks and make our soup later.
October 26, 2014
Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

As the canning season is nearly over, may be over if it really went down to 30ºf last night as predicted, I haven’t checked yet. Yesterday was a day to harvest everything that was ready, do a small canning as I wanted to try two of Marisa McClellan’s recipes for canning small quantities.

Before we had freezers, refrigerators, and pressure canners, food was preserved by smoking, salting or fermenting. The Germans preserved cabbage, the Koreans made Kimchi both using salt and the anaerobic process known as Lacto-fermentation. These products are available, but the raw, unpasteurized products made at home are so much tastier and have more health benefits.

Fermentation on the counter.
A basket of tomatillos, assorted peppers, bush beans, too many radishes and lots of greens were brought in, a 2 pint batch of Chunky Tomatillo Salsa made. Quite uncharacteristic for me, I purchased a quart of out of season Strawberries as one of her books has a recipe for strawberry jam made with honey and Thyme that I wanted to try and I made a small batch of that as well. I rarely grow radishes as they all are ready at the same time and you go from famine to feast. I took the surplus and made a quart jar of radish Kimchi then shredded cabbage to start a half gallon of Sauerkraut. The Cider started as vinegar a few days ago is beginning to smell, well like vinegar. Maybe another half gallon of Sauerkraut will be made later. Pickles and sauerkraut used to be made in quantity in large crocks or barrels in the farmhouse basements, the farm cook going down and drawing off what was needed for a meal and the crock re-covered until needed again, lasting until spring vegetables were growing. We usually go through about a gallon each year. The eveningwas finished blanching and freezing the beans and hoping the plants survive the night to give us a few more meals before the real frosts and freezes of autumn arrive.

The tarp on the meat chicken pen was anchored more securely, the peppers and tomatillos covered with light tarps and row cover.

A photo of the pumpkin patch was made to document the wild growth they did in the rich soil of the compost bins.

I’m afraid to venture down to check the thermometer for the low or to peek out to see what survived the night. I am hopeful that we are high enough to avoid the frost pockets that should have formed last night.

Lovin’ life on our mountain farm.

October 5, 2014
Rainy Autumn Afternoons
are perfect for processing a half bushel of apples. The apples peeled and cored, some chopped fine for applesauce, another 7 1/2 pints canned, others chopped for Apple Cranberry Chutney, 4 pints, 4 pounds pared and sliced and frozen for pies or cobblers during the holiday or when guests arrive. Again I am thankful that I discovered the Peeler/corer tool, but it still took quite a while to prep all the apples and prepare the recipes for canning.

Apple Cranberry Chutney

After trying Marisa McClellan’s Green Tomato Chutney in her book food in jars it seemed that apples would be perfect for a chutney. After looking at various recipes, I created my own that turned a beautiful red color from the blush pink of the Rome Apples and the red skins of the cranberries.

Apple Cranberry Chutney
- 2 qts. mixed apples, pared, cored, chopped
- 1 c yellow onion chopped
- 1 c Cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 c Yellow seedless raisens
- 1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp pickling salt
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 whole star anise
- 5-6 whole cloves
- 1 Pt. Raw Cider Vinegar
- 1 1/2 c Brown Sugar
Place the cloves in a muslin bag or tea ball. Add all ingredients to a large non reactive pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until reduced by half and thickened 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring frequently. Remove the spice bag and the star anise.

Ladle into clean hot pint jars, wipe rims, add hot lids and bands. Water bath process for 15 minutes or pressure can at 11 PSI for 10 minutes. Allow to cool, wipe and label jars. Enjoy with roast meat or served over Neufchatel or goat cheese on crackers or baguette slices.

Tomorrow, I harvest radishes, turnips, tomatillos, and peppers then cover as much of the remaining garden as I can with sheets and hope that we don’t really get a frost this early in October. Many of the radishes and turnips will become Kimchee, the Tomatillos and peppers will become salsa and hot sauce. This may be the end of the season for us or we may get lucky and have a few more weeks.

Tomorrow will also be a day to make a batch of Sauerkraut. I see Roast Pork or chops with sauerkraut and chutney in our future.
October 4, 2014
It Can’t Be Over

Warm weather and garden season that is. When I arrived home from last week’s wanderings, the woods were beginning to wear jewels. I had seen a bit of the dark red Poison Ivy climbing the trees and the barest hints of color elsewhere, but by this week’s end there is much more color on the mountainsides.

The Maple aka, the Tick tree as you can’t walk beneath it without acquiring at least one.
The photo doesn’t show nearly the color the eye sees.
So I conceded and pulled out the fall banner and mini banner, the fall wreath, tablecloth, napkins and kitchen towels. With no kids in the house and no Trick or Treaters come this far, I only put a few decorations out, a real pumpkin on the porch, a resin one on the front table, a ceramic ghost and ceramic lighted jack-o-lantern on the bookshelves.

The table set with a large dried bottle gourd, a smaller gourd I painted at Garden Club years ago and a Burgess Buttercup squash from the garden.
So I have conceded, sort of, but I’m not ready for the early frost/potential hard freeze predicted for our region on Saturday night. Today and tomorrow, I will harvest Tomatillos and peppers, drape a sheet over the peppers tomorrow eve in hopes that we either miss the frost or only have a short light one. Sunday I may be able to find all of the Buttercup squash, Seminole Pumpkins and sweet potatoes, but I’m just not ready yet.

This is when I wish I had a portable hoophouse that could be put over the two beds that are still providing, hoping to extend their season by a few weeks. Maybe next year.

Today as the rain comes in, I will can applesauce and apple slices. Yesterday I started the cider vinegar. Tomorrow, we will bundle up and go buy meat for the freezer, leaving space for the 15 chickens that will be processed next weekend.

October 3, 2014
Printed Goodness

Several years ago I joined the eBook populous and either rent ebooks (did you know you don’t actually buy them! And they can be withdrawn from your library on the whim of the publisher!); or check real books out of the library and rarely buy a print book, but yesterday an exception was made.
A few weeks ago, a fellow blogger sent me a link to another blog for a recipe. The recipe author has penned two cookbooks.

Before I bought either, I wanted to preview them and couldn’t find them in the library so I looked for them in our local Barnes and Noble retailer but they didn’t have either in stock. They special ordered them for me to preview and they arrived just prior to my leaving for the retreat so I couldn’t go look at them. Tonight, after dinner we traveled the two towns over so I could preview them before they were returned or put in their stock.

I couldn’t decide between them, both containing many interesting recipes for putting by garden and Farmers’ Market goodies and I left with both books. I don’t know whether to thank my blogging friend or not, but I have added to my library and have many, many new ideas for preserving garden goodness, so thank you Yanic for the linky.

October 1, 2014
It Isn’t Over ‘Til The Fat Lady Sings. . .

Or the garden quits producing. The tomatoes are long gone, the Tomatillos and peppers are making up for it. Much to my surprise, the late planting of bush beans is producing.

I returned from my Retreat and the 12 hours of driving in 2 days, the babysitting and errands with more jars, lots of them. I have been taking jars to NoVa for three years, full of canned goodness and have brought a few home, but today I have enough to keep me from a purchase for a while at least.

And bigger jars purchased for the winter storage of bulk goods.

I left NoVa early today and arrived home in time for lunch with Mountaingdad and wandered off to chicken chores and a garden check and was greeted with . . .

Peppers, 5 kinds, tomatillos and beans. This was inducement to pull out the canner again and pickle 4 pints of Jalapenos, 5 cups of XXX Habanero/Tomatillo sauce, blanch and freeze 3 meals of beans and a quart of bell pepper slices. The tiny hot little peppers that I bought as cayenne are being added to a bottle of vinegar as I harvest them for a couple of smaller bottles of pepper vinegar.

The more I put by, the more we will enjoy this winter and the more we can share. The garden has been good to us this year. I still plan to put up a few more pints of applesauce and a few quarts of apple slices in juice, make a gallon of cider vinegar, as much green salsa and XXX hot sauce as I have Tomatillos and peppers, pints of pickled Jalapenos until the frost hits. The winter squash and pumpkins continue to spread and grow. Hopefully, below all of those leaves we will find a good harvest of Buttercup squash, Seminole pumpkins and yellow and white sweet potatoes that were engulfed a couple of weeks ago.

Lovin’ life on our mountain farm. It is good to be home.

September 30, 2014