This afternoon I came home from work and the recliner was calling my name, but I knew If I sat dow in that recliner, I would have never finished the chores, the garden was in dier need of picking. I went straight down to the shed to get a bushel basket and started picking. I hit the cucumbers first. The slicing variety is really being affected by the hot weather and the drought, they feel a little soft but they will crisp up in the fridge... I hope! The pickling cukes are handling things a little better, but its just about curtains for the pickling ones, we planted them about a month before we planted the slicers. The squash is pretty much played out as we say here in the south. then it was on to the three rows of tomatoes, and they are loaded. Probably picked a half a bushel basket full. Looks like the next few afternoons are going to be spent canning. We raw pack our tomatoes in pints and quarts, the pickling cukes are made into bread and butter pickles. The recipe I use is pretty intensive, we soak them in salt for an hour, rinse them off and bring the pickles almost to a boil before putting them in jars. It is an out of sight recipe, I have had so many compliments on them from coworkers and friends that I think I will stick with this recipe, it's worth the trouble.
Speaking of preserving, we also dry a lot of things from the garden. Our neighbors taught us a lot about drying food. We have learned how to dry Cherry tomatoes, squash, and all sorts of things. I've had a dryer for years and never used it, but after learning from our neighbors we use it all the time. My favorite thing to dry is hot peppers like cayenne. You just remove the seeds and membranes from the pods, and cut them into strips with a pair of scissors, and dry them. How long should I dry them you might ask? Until their dry, of course haha. That's what my neighbor tells me when I ask him and yet I still fall for it every time. But it's true, every dryer is different so just check your manual. Another thing I like to dry is basil. It's the only herb that survived my first attempt at an herb garden. It's pretty prolific stuff, I just dried the leaves whole and crumble them up in a spice container. By the way, the last time i dried cayennes I halved them, removed the membrane, and dried them that way, and just crumbled them up afterwards.
Hogs on the brain
I've been thinking about getting a hog or two, I have the perfect place in mind for them , the old catch pen we used to keep a momma goat and her baby. We have plenty of garden waste to fatten one or two up for the fall. If any of you have ever ventured into raising livestock, you know the hardest part is convincing your spouse. Michelle is on board, it didn't take a lot of convincing to get her to go along, but of course she is married to me and is used to my hair-brained ideas. I guess she thought "it could be worse, at least its not camels or something" (note to self; where can i get my hands on a camel). I think raising then would be a good learning experience for us. Just have to make sure we don't get to attached to them. Maybe I will name them tenderloin, and bacon.
This afternoon I came home from work and the recliner was calling my name, but I knew If I sat dow in that recliner, I would have never finished the chores, the garden was in dier need of picking. I went straight down to the shed to get a bushel basket and started picking. I hit the cucumbers first. The slicing variety is really being affected by the hot weather and the drought, they feel a little soft but they will crisp up in the fridge... I hope! The pickling cukes are handling things a little better, but its just about curtains for the pickling ones, we planted them about a month before we planted the slicers. The squash is pretty much played out as we say here in the south. then it was on to the three rows of tomatoes, and they are loaded. Probably picked a half a bushel basket full. Looks like the next few afternoons are going to be spent canning. We raw pack our tomatoes in pints and quarts, the pickling cukes are made into bread and butter pickles. The recipe I use is pretty intensive, we soak them in salt for an hour, rinse them off and bring the pickles almost to a boil before putting them in jars. It is an out of sight recipe, I have had so many compliments on them from coworkers and friends that I think I will stick with this recipe, it's worth the trouble.
Speaking of preserving, we also dry a lot of things from the garden. Our neighbors taught us a lot about drying food. We have learned how to dry Cherry tomatoes, squash, and all sorts of things. I've had a dryer for years and never used it, but after learning from our neighbors we use it all the time. My favorite thing to dry is hot peppers like cayenne. You just remove the seeds and membranes from the pods, and cut them into strips with a pair of scissors, and dry them. How long should I dry them you might ask? Until their dry, of course haha. That's what my neighbor tells me when I ask him and yet I still fall for it every time. But it's true, every dryer is different so just check your manual. Another thing I like to dry is basil. It's the only herb that survived my first attempt at an herb garden. It's pretty prolific stuff, I just dried the leaves whole and crumble them up in a spice container. By the way, the last time i dried cayennes I halved them, removed the membrane, and dried them that way, and just crumbled them up afterwards.
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