I am expanding my gardening hobby into another area...home brewing. Those who know me have come to realize that beer and gardening go hand in hand in my backyard. I like to keep a cold beer close by while sitting and weeding. I do weeding as a method to relax and unwind. It is not a job, but therapy. Beer is self-medication in my self-therapy sessions.
The next logical step for me in my quest to learn new things and become a bit more self-reliant is making beer. My daughters bought me the starter kit as well as a couple of brewing options to get going. I finally sat down and spent some time on Northern Brewer which has lots of tutorials. My kit was purchased here, so this was the first logical step in my learning process. I decided that I needed to purchase a hygrometer to do this right. I was in the neighborhood of the Purple Foot Store so I stopped there to get a hygrometer for beer making. I have picked up items for hard cider and such from this smaller store in the past. You would be amazed at how much hobby can fit in a small space.
The next step was acquiring enough bottles that could be recapped for home brewing purposes. You have to love social media for how quickly you can get the word out and find something odd that you need. I finally tackled the task of cleaning all these bottles and removing the labels. In the end, I have enough to bottle two batches of brew...almost. I was fortunate to have the old dibble boards that have been collecting dust in the potting shed rafters for over three decades, at least. They ended up pairing with old bulb crates beautifully to create a drying rack for dozens of bottles. Now that I have this step done, I will allow myself to open the boxes and start the home brewing process. Stay tuned.
I have winter garden dreams every January. I sit with my seed catalogs and dream about all the things I can do this next year. I have so much energy to get it all done. I never get tired and my body never aches.
It is always a good idea to make your lists, fill out your order (in pencil), and take out your box of seeds and notes from last year (if you are one to write things down) and then let it ferment. I like to let all my plans sit on a stack for at least a week before I commit to the purchase of next year's plants and seeds.
While I am waiting for my plans to ferment, I find ways to use of some of my fruits and vegetables in my crisper drawer that are awaiting new life as a side dish to the beef ribs I have in the oven. Today I cut up the pears that we picked up late last fall, mostly Asian varieties, and added some chopped walnuts and blue cheese. I have tossed it with a few dried herbs and fresh ground nutmeg. I will toss in some balsamic vinegar just before serving.
Another item which I have in large quantity is daikon radishes. I did a bit of searching to get some fresh ideas and came across several recipes for a fresh pickle. One that caught my eye was posted by a Japanese blogger. It had less liquid in it than all the rest which fit the sparing amount of rice wine vinegar I had left in my pantry. It is just a blend of sugar, vinegar, salt, chili pepper and sliced daikon. Everything is mixed in a Ziploc baggie and sealed with as little air as possible. It is recommended to let it sit for a couple days and can be used for up to a month just kept in the refrigerator. I am eager to see how this will come out in a few days.
I also came across quite a few varieties of carrots that got lost under the lettuce and kale. Crisper drawers should be shallow with four rather than two that are deeper. I think these are going to join the slow roast process as long as the oven is hot. I will venture up to the cold storage in the attic and grab a couple of parsnips to toss together with the carrots. Roast vegetables always turn out so sweet.
Enjoy those winter dreams. Until you place the order, those dreams are free. Until the spring comes, there is very little effort involved.
There are different reasons why I pull out my canning tools in the middle of winter. Some years, I freeze my summer fruits when they are ripe and pull them out in the dead of winter to make jams and jellies when I want the house to warm up with all that cooking time verses in the middle of a heat wave in July. Last year I was making maple syrup and needed to bring out the jars and lids for putting up the syrup (which is almost gone so maple syrup season should be just around the corner). This time it was red potatoes that were determined to sprout and shrivel before they could be used.
I had never canned potatoes before, but I have used store bought canned potatoes as a quick camp meal. I par-cooked the rest of what was in storage for easy peeling. I left most whole but halved the larger ones to fit through the mouth of the jar. I heated new water with canning salt for the fluid and pressure canned them according to the recommended pounds and time. One jar oddly lost all its fluid and had to go right into the refrigerator for use now. The others sealed well and are now back in the basement on the shelf.
The other item that needed to be processed into a finished product was my spaghetti squash. I had some rot starting on one, so I pulled the whole bin out of the basement to process. I cut into quarters and stood them up in my deep stainless steel pan with some water just in the very bottom to help steam them. A good size sheet of foil capped it all. It took about two hours to bake all the squash until it was soft, but it was worth it. I scraped all of it out, drained the excess liquid and froze it in vacuum sealed bag for individual meals.
The last of the Ailsa Craig onions were also starting to sprout. I cut and sliced them all on a mandolin and froze what I didn't use for immediate cooking needs. Part of that was pulling out more soup bones (you get lots of soup bones with half a cow) and cooked up a hearty beef broth which I also processed in the pressure canner for later use. The meat which came off the bones went into the freezer for addition to soup or casseroles at another date. I used the Tattler lids for this for the first time. They are reusable canning lids with rubber rings that are BPA free. Only one did not seal that had to be used instead of stored. I figure it was beginner error since it was my first time using this set up. The rest are holding their own.
Rather than compost things that I can't get on the table fast enough, winter canning and freezing provides another option to extending the harvest season.
