Canning Pic's

Here are pictures from our canning experience so far!

Huge stock pot of cut up tomatoes!  All these make....

6 pints of yummy tangy tomato sauce!

Dehydrating Apple Slices.  First we had to peel them all and then we sliced them.  

Here they are soaking in lemon juice and then getting loaded onto the dehydrator.

All the peels from the apples!

  

Canning Tomatoes

We now have 8 jars of home canned tomato sauce. This year was our first attempt at canning, and I have to say that so far it has gone really well! We decided to can for a few reasons. 1.) Saves money. We'll probably get another 8 jars once the tomatoes are done ripenening. So let's just say that in the store a jar of sauce costs around $2.50 (or even more expensive if you buy organic). If we get 16 jars, that's a savings of $40. Doesn't sounds like a lot, but the more you can, the more you save! 2.) Convenience. So many times we wonder what to make for dinner that isn't going to be a lot of work after a long day. Now, we can pop open a jar and have "fresh" tomato sauce for pasta, pizza, etc. 3.) Organic! Who knows what's in some of the stuff you buy at the store. Preservatives. Pesticides. When you are putting your own tomatoes into the sauce, you know exactly what you are putting in. Just plain 'ol yummy tomatoes! 4.) Local. Imagine the amount of energy it takes to get a jar of Ragu on the shelf at the store? First the tomatoes have to be picked, then transported to the Ragu factory (energy). Then, they have to go through an entire huge process to be made with machines, etc. (energy). The sauce has to be put into jars with more machines, and then the jars have to be labeled (more energy). The labels were made from trees which were cut down, shipped, processed, printed on with ink (chemicals) and then have to be stuck with some sort of glue onto the jar (energy, resources). Then the jars of sauce have to be driven around the country to get to their destination. More energy. You get my point. Our tomatoes grew from a packet a seeds that cost $1.50. They grew from water, sun, and nutrients in the dirt. The energy it took to make them was physical labor on our part and a bit of stovetop time. And, after we use the sauce, we get to save the jar and reuse it! What an efficent process! Maybe I'm a geek, but that get's me excited.

Tonight, we try Apple Butter. More updates to come...and pictures too!

-L

Ripening

It's hard to believe that Labor Day is almost here, signaling that summer is coming to an end. I have some bitterness toward this since like most summers, I feel like it was just so short! This year, however, I believe there is some truth to it. Our winter lasted longer than usual, flowers came up late, and grass didn't need to be cut. I did get my garden in around the same time I did last year...right before Memorial Day. Last year, I had tomatoes like you wouldn't believe. So this year I scaled back by one plant, and grew from seed all one type of tomato. I grew them inside and transplanted them at a healthy size. I read that this tomato that I picked (can't recall the kind) was excellent for canning. They all would come in around the same time so that canning could all be done in large amounts rather than a little here little there. Since this is my first attempt at canning, I am looking forward to it!

I really should start keeping a garden diary, because I am pretty sure that by end of August I had tons of tomatoes last year. This year....none. They are there on the vine, and they look great, just one problem - they are all green! Just this week did we notice a few tinting to red. Maybe this is my motivational push to diary the garden! As we continue to try new vegetables, new types, and different styles of gardening, I'd better get my act together.

I am happy to report that the zucchini are done for the year and provided us with much good eatin' for winter. The Green Beans are still pushing some new ones out, but their flavor is becoming less desirable. I think it was just too hot for them the last few weeks. I'm surprised they even hung on this long! The broccoli is faithfully regenerating itself and giving us a little more now and again.

I'm not sure if I will do broccoli again next year. Seems like they take a lot of space for not a lot given back. We will easily eat through the broccoli I've been able to freeze. Maybe next year I will do eggplant or another type of squash in its place.

The good news about summer coming to an end is that my favorite season, fall, is on it's way!! That means time to harvest apples (going to try some dehydrating this year) and that yummy acorn squash will be in the stores soon. It also means soon I will be counting down to our annual anniversary trip!

I'm hoping that in the next week these stubborn tomotes will ripen up. I'm looking forward to the canning and recipes I've found. More updates on that when I start! -L

Hot....humid....and PLENTIFUL!

For someone who lives in Wisconsin, you think I would enjoy the hot humid weather we have been getting these past 3 weeks. Beats the cold of winter, right? Well, give me warm, but that's about all I'd have if it's my choice! 72 degrees, sunny, white puffy clouds in the sky, a slight breeze from the west, and no humidity please. Well, that's not exactly what we've been granted with here. Instead, 85-90 and HUMID! The good thing out of this, the garden is ripening up something real good!

Today after arriving home from work, we went out to water (we've officially almost tapped our rain barrels dry after 2 weeks without rain). In the process of watering, I noticed how plentiful the garden looked. To my surprise we had a few more zucchini's. I'm not exactly sure how well the zucchini will continue to grow. I'll be honest, I tried too many zucchini in a small raised bed and they are kinda choking each other out. Well, lesson learned.

Then I moved along to the broccoli. 4 out of 7 generous heads have started. In a few days, they'll be ready for harvest and will keep regenerating. The tomatoes are also coming along. Lots of green, nothing ripened to red yet.

Next, I got to the green beans. Now, our garden takes up a very small area of our yard. We had to keep the garden close to the house for watering purposes, so we have 4 raised beds that are about 15 sq. feet of planting area each (3x5 beds) and another that's about 3x6 (18 sq. feet). The beans are planted in rows in a 15 sq. feet bed. All of the planting I choose this year is based on it's ability to be preserved, in effort to help feed ourselves over winter. I planted tomatoes, broccoli, green beans, strawberries, zucchini & a sugar snap pea bean pole (these snap peas go straight to our stomach & never make it out of the garden).

Anyhow, I digress - back to the green beans. So I could see there are plenty of green beans to be picked. I grabbed an ice cream pail to put the green beans in. I decided I would count the green beans, you know, just a challenge to see how many green beans I would find! Well, 2 ice cream pails later and drumroll please.......371 green beans! Wow, from my tiny 15 square foot bed. I probably pulled out about this many between the last two times I picked too. Talk about return on investment, I'm sure that pack of seeds cost a mere $1.29.

I'm in green bean heaven! -L