Amidst the technical woes there were some fun things:
First, I found out more about my mis-named squash which is a Cushaw, or kershaw. It is sometimes used to make canned pumpkin! So my dreams of pumpkin pie will be realized - yay! I'm really excited that I found several of these monsters growing all over the property - including hanging over the top of a fence. I'm not sure I was able to show just how big they are from the picture shown here.. so here is another with my work gloves for scale:
This one is huge!
And I just can't stop clickin' happy snaps of the geese.... we have a real flock! That's OD in the lead:
I love you, OD!
It turned out that Mrs. Beezley only hatched one chick... so we named him Neo because he is "The One."
Little Neo with Mrs. Beezley
And then there are all these peaches..
What could be more summer-like than baskets of peaches and black berries?
Well, I guess this big tomato:
I think this is a Tula Black.. just stunning. And tasty too!
I'm going to start a Canning Report.. kinda like Farm Notes but, listing what we "put by." This will help me figure out how much we put up, what worked best, and will help me plan for next year. Sorry if its boring but this is easy record keeping for me:
Canning report:
* 4 pints of blackberry preserves
* 3 pints of tomato sauce
The blackberries are made with low-sugar Pamona's Perfect Pectin. This used the 2 quarts of berries we got from our orchard friends. I used only 3/4 cup of sugar for the entire recipe. They set up very nicely.
The tomato sauce was processed in a water bath for 35 minutes from tomatoes that I gathered to make our pizza sauce. I let them process while I finished cutting up peaches for a crisp. I think doing small batches may be a good strategy so I don't have to spend huge chunks of time doing just canning.
Tomorrow I'll do more of the peaches (as preserves) and see what else I can work on.
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4 comments:
That's a nice haul of peaches. How many trees do you have? And do you have any problems with critters eating your peaches? If so, how do you handle it?
I'm doing the same type of harvest tracking that you are so that I know how much to plant again next year. I've always been a bit haphazard with it. I'm canning quite a bit this year, but am dreaming of a deep freeze so I can put more up with the freezer next year!
Hi Tammy! btw - your Alice the mouse cat is a stunner! (for whatever reason I cant leave comments on some blogs)
The only thing better than having your own peach trees... is having friends who own an orchard! So these are not ours but our orchard friends are very generous with us. If you have a local orchard (or farm market) ask if you can buy "Seconds" or as I say "anything too ugly to sell." Most folks will make a deal on fruit that isn't perfect.
We have 2 chest freezers... and then the side freezer to our beer fridge - so we have a ton a space. The chest freezers are totally worth the investment.
OD is now the farm's White Knight?
Once upon a time, a long time go, a traveling blind poet told me a story of yore. In the story a valiant young maiden wielding a bat'leth, accompanied by her two trusty hounds, entered into the lair of a fierce Gander. Torn from the pages of the Norse saga's of old the heroine, after losing one of her companions, battled the dreaded (fire breathing) Drake.....
hi CC... its the old story.. I love him, I hate him, I love to hate him... I hate to love him... oh OD when will you love me back!?!?
My new defense is love love love... its not working but I'm still tryin'.
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