Wrapping Up Fall Projects

 I have been wrapping things up for autumn, figuratively and literally.  We may hit 32 for our first freeze this weekend.  I still am hanging on to one tomato plant.  It has become a game to see how long I can keep it going, even if it never has another ripe tomato on it.  Today we hit the 70's again after cool temps and lots of rain.  Tonight I wrapped the tomato in a wall of plastic, topped with heavy frost cloth so it has some ventilation.

I followed through on my plan to wash my pots before storing them this fall.  I brought up hot water from the basement to fill my largest tubs on the driveway.  I added bleach to the water to sanitize them with a 10 minute soak (or so).  It worked out nicely to have so much room to work.  It was hard on the back, but I can think of worse ways to spend a gorgeous fall day. (Like the two days my husband and I worked in a very large, very loud costume warehouse to help the band raise money.)

I have a good variety of pots salvaged from other gardeners as well as ones I have saved myself.  It was good to have some help re-stacking them all back together when they were dry.  It will be much appreciated when I am not doing it in a 6'x6' area this winter.  I also don't have to worry about filling the drains with excess soil.

I kept around some of the flats that have broken corners.  I double them up to compensate for their weaknesses.  Many garden centers box plants, so acquiring more flats is not as easy as pots.  I even wash out cell pack to reuse for planting seedlings.

I am also coming along in the cutting bench.  I root some plants in glass jars in water while others I use a sand/sand mix kept moist.  Most cuttings that require a period of callousing off (letting the cutting lie exposed to air over night) I will also use a rooting hormone powder before sticking them in the sand.  Geraniums are one plant I root in sand.  Coleus have been rooting in the glass jars very well.  I also start some of my vines and small flowering plants in water.
The kraut is also coming along well.  It has been fermenting for about a week and is bubbling well.  I push out the excess "air" each day.  I think there must be at least one more week before it is ready.
Now that the plants are in and the cuttings are started, I have some time off to enjoy a few days off.

Bringing Plants Inside For Winter

It was time to bring the tender plants back into the house.  They have been waiting patiently in the low level lighting of the garage for two weeks.  When the morning temperatures warmed up, I pulled them all out on to the driveway.  One by one I gave them a good cutting back, if it hadn't been done two weeks ago.  Each pot was then set in my large, deep tub and submersed for around 10 minutes up to the top of their pots.  I hope to accomplish two things by doing this.  One, it helps to bring any soil dwelling insects to the surface where they can be flushed away with additional water.  Two, if any small rodents have burrowed into the soil for nesting, they will also come to the surface.  No rodents today.  I let them drain and sprayed them down to knock additional bugs or eggs off of the leaves.  I let them sit while my husband and I tackled a long awaited task.

A friend had many paving bricks in his yard that he no longer wanted.  We have an area of the yard which is next to our "pond" that we want to lay a patio.  About half of the bricks were stacked in his yard.  The other half were in a patio setup that had to be lifted.  We are not young people any more.  The repetitive task of lifting and moving so many blocks was not as easy as it used to be.  Surprisingly, it took maybe two hours to lift, load, move, and unload the whole bunch.  Not bad for a couple of "old farts". 

After moving all the block, I was not looking forward to the job of moving in the very wet pots.  I enlisted the use of our new (albeit second-hand) hand cart.  It was less strenuous moving the taller, heavy plants with this method.  Last year, Dan, my daughter's fiance, helped me carry them in.  It was even challenging for him.  I am thankful for the hand cart.  Now all my tender babies are in the house, safe and sound from the cold.

Sauerkraut...new beginnings

 I started my first batch of sauerkraut...ever.  The last time I remember taking part in the process, I was about eight years old. I was sitting under the legs of the adults while they cut the cabbage on the "kraut cutter".  It was build to fit between our kitchen sink and the adjacent cabinet.  My younger sister, Lisa, and I were in charge of picking up the cabbage that didn't land in the crock and adding it to the rest.  The only other person that came down by us, was our mom.  She would bend down to sprinkle in a layer of salt every so often between the layers of cabbage.  I don't have a kraut cutter, or a mandolin (the miniature version of our kraut cutter, or a large enough food processor.  I do have cutting boards and a large, sharp knife.  Last Friday morning I worked my way through six heads of cabbage one eighth of an inch at a time.  I'm sure that my great grandmother did it this way, so why couldn't I?!

In true style for everything I do, I read up on it first.  The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman was my first encouragement to try something I had very limited experience with.  I consulted the Ball Canning and Freezing handbook.  I had the University of Wisconsin Extension handbook that I picked up at State Fair YEARS ago.  They have the same publication on line in pdf format.  Same words, different format.  I talked with friends and family on-line, at work, over the phone, and even strangers who wanted to talk canning.  The one thing I couldn't do, which would have made me much more at ease, was talk to my mom.  She's been gone for 18 months and there are still times I want to pick up the phone to ask her a question.  I wanted to pick up the phone several times on Friday, but I just sent thoughts heavenward in hopes that some divine inspiration would come seeping downward to get me through.  
I improvised.  I didn't have the cutter, the stomper, or the crock.  I made do with a knife, a wine bottle, and a re-purposed pickle pail (this is food grade plastic, laundry detergent pails are not).  With a bit of advise from my friend's mother (the cabbage from our drought summer was not going to be moist enough), I was able to decide to make up a brine one and one half tablespoons of salt per quart of water to add to the pail.  This advise was my sanity saver.  I mixed my three tablespoons of pickling salt (don't used iodized) to the five pounds of shredded cabbage.  The directions said to let is wilt for five minutes.  I would cut the next five pounds while the first sat wilting.  Layer by layer I added it to the pail while pounding it down with my flat bottomed wine bottle.  It was juicing but not enough to cover the cabbage no matter how much I pounded it down.  I would add some cool brine a little at a time until it came to the surface.  

 Layer by layer, batch after batch.  Cut, salt, wait, pound.  In the end six head of cabbage, which were average size by farm market standards, filled the pail just over half.  My arms were tired, my hands were cramped.  Tasting bits of salted cabbage took me back to the linoleum floor under the cutting board.  I missed my mom more than I have in many months.  My full canning shelf remind me of the hours she put into preserving food for our family.  Hers was at least 3 times the size of my own.
I made more brine and let it cool as I finished up my cabbage lasagna.  The higher the layers came, the easier it got to hold on to the bottle to pound.  I remember Dad standing over the kraut cutter moving the cabbage halves back and forth over the triple blades.  He cut himself every year. In my memory he did.  I will probably be corrected by my older sisters, all five of them.  Dad also did most of the stomping.  We all took a turn, but it was Dad's arms that truly brought out the juice from the cabbage.  Mom was a strong woman in her own right as well.

I had made another gallon of brine which went in to a two gallon Ziploc bag.  After putting a plate on top of my sufficiently salted and liquidated cabbage, I laid the partially filled bag on top of the plate.  This sealed around the edges of the pail to keep the air out of the briny mix as much as possible.  I believe this is working well, as today is the first day I felt the need to skim the scum from the top of the pail.  Bubbles are coming up from below when I push down on the plate, so fermentation is taking place.  As we like to say in our household...it is processing nicely.

I also weighed down the plate with a half gallon Ball jar with more brine in it.  I could have just used water, but if I need more brine, it will be at the ready.  Some liquid has evaporated as it came over the top of the bag.  I have not added more since starting the process.
Most books recommend keeping the crock in an area 68 to 72 degrees during fermentation.  This will keep the fermentation going at a steady pace.  Too warm and it happens to quickly and may spoil.  Too cool and the process takes longer, which means you have to baby sit the kraut with daily visits for skimming.  I also placed the pail on one of my multi-use boot trays.  If the kraut were to be higher in the pail this would be more necessary for possible run over.  I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to our old, hardwood floors.
I will update as needed so I can keep track of the process for future reference.  In the meantime, we're processing nicely.

Canning Season Part 3 or ...

My coworkers are starting to talk about what I will stick in jars next.  Yes, it has become almost an obsession.  There are just so many recipes out there and so much good produce that it seems a shame to not try it all.  The cooler weather has also made heating up large kettles of water an appealing way to add heat to the house while accomplishing another task.  So many vegetables, so little time...

I pulled my two foot square patch of beets out of the garden and cooked them up the other night.  I popped them in the frig to cool overnight so I could peel and cut them for pickled beets.  I had enough for three half pint jars.  I got everything hot, and sterile except I didn't heat those beets enough.  A couple minutes after dropping the jars, I heard the ping. A lift of the canner's lid revealed bits of orange zest floating in the water.  What a disappointing waste.  It did reinforce past lessons that all hot ingredients are better for canning.  I do get around this somewhat with pressure canning by starting out with just warm water and heating it all together once the jars are in.  I am not a fan of cold pack methods because of liquids being forced from the jars and broken jars.

I found a bag of mangoes in the freezer and thought this would make a good relish.  The newest Ball Canning book has some great recipes for tropical fruits and mango relish was one of them.  I was not about to run out and buy papaya or white grape juice so I improvised with some pineapple I had frozen earlier this summer, juice from the orange I used the zest in the beets, and various peppers from the garden (fresh and dehydrated).  I added a couple of spices that complimented the fruits and heated it all through.  It thickened up nicely and has just a bit of heat from some of the hotter peppers.  I was able to get six jars for the winter pantry.  It will be a nice quick addition to a supper of chicken or pork, possibly even fish.  
The canning experiments also have me thinking about our state fair.  Maybe this is the year I finally get off my duff and enter something in the fair.  One of my favorite parts of the fair is looking at the entries that have one in culinary and creative arts.  It might be fun to have another reason to browse the cases.

Canning and Cuttings

With a conference to attend and family in town, I have had no time at home.  Today was catch up time.  I spent a pretty penny on the precious apples and was not about to abandon my plans of spiced apples and green tomato mincemeat.  
The mincemeat was a little putzy, but I think it was worth it in the end.  I even pulled out the old meat grinder to grind up eight cups of green tomatoes.  I have still been trying recipes from The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman.  Both of these were in her book.  Most of the pickling recipes need about six weeks of shelf time to fully develop their flavors.  The mincemeat is ready to go any time and can even be frozen if that is more convenient for the cook.  It was supposed to make six pints but I had at least two more in the kettle when the canner was full.  I did one pint in two half pint jars for smaller uses, and I ran out of pint jars.  I took some extra to the neighbor who passes produce my way and put a bit in the frig to try a bit in some crust when I make pasties for supper tomorrow.

The other job on the top of my list this past week was making sure I get my cuttings in the house before the plants freeze.  My coleus are done after last night's cold, but there was good cuttings at the neighbor's house who I share a cup of weekend coffee with. We met when I used to walk the dog.  Both of us garden, but he changes up what he is growing.  It is this neighbor I have to thank for my light table as he lost interest in using them himself.  He consistently keeps roses in the mix.  The conversation is never lacking for interest.
It may be time to see about cabbage for sauerkraut on my next market trip.  I look forward to trying another new skill.

Cold Weather Coming...preparations part 1

Things to get done in preparation for a possible frost night:

• Cover lettuce and other crops I am still holding that I don't want "frosted"

• Cut back the plants that I am bringing in for winter so they fit through the door (and then some)

• Put cold sensitive plants in the garage for the night

• Harvest the rest of the peppers

• Water the root crops that are staying in the ground a little longer

• Take some pictures of the garden as it goes into a new color season (the sugar maples and flowering kale are really kicking in this week)

• Cover my lone tomato plant that I am going to see how long I can keep going next to the house

• Start using only rain barrel water so they are empty by the time it freezes

allysum, flowering kale, sedum and sugar maple

Heliotrope and lemon verbena
I wish you could smell this planter right now

Fall Farm Market and canning season

The time is right for getting out to the Farmer's Market.  We are nearing frost time so pretty soon all the summer stuff will be gone and the cole crops will be in their prime.

It is also time to get out and get your apples.  In our neck of the woods an early spring followed by a freeze knocked out much of the apple crop so pickings are slim and the deals will not be found this year.  I am thankful that putting up applesauce is not on my list this year.  I will make do with what I have on the shelf from last year until it runs out.  I did get some Granny Smith's apples to make some spiced apple pickles and also am looking at a green tomato mincemeat to put up with the last of the crop I stripped off the plants this weekend.

I recommend a great book that I have been referencing and doing some canning with.  Our library had a copy of The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman in the new volumes.  I have done pickled spice plums, pickled cauliflower, pickled tomatillas, and dilly bean so far. I want to try sauerkraut and the apple recipes I mentioned already.  I am putting this book on my Christmas wish list this year.  Try something new this year.