Plant:This was a big week. Told ya I'd get back on the wagon.
Vates, red Russian, and lacinato kale; red chard; purple and white kohlrabi; purplette and hardy evergreen onions; hakurei turnips; broccoli; Amish snap peas; lutz and chioggia beets; spigariello liscia and sessartina grossa raab; napoli and red chantenay carrots; bilko and minuet napa cabbage; early Jersey Wakefield cabbage; red cabbage; chieftan savoy cabbage; bok choi; brussels sprouts; chervil; cilantro; flat leaf and curly parsley; fennel. The row cover in the picture is covering the seed beds to help keep them moist and prevent them from baking out.
Seeds saved:
Endive, swiss chard, leek.
Harvest:
Lettuce, chard, purplette mini onions, green onions, mixed beans, sweet olive grape tomatoes, gold nugget and sungold cherry tomatoes, costata zuchini, yellow squash, slicing cukes, Asian cukes, purple dragon and chantenay carrots, dill, basil, thyme, chives, green peppers, Anaheim hot peppers.
Preserve:
Pressure canned 9 pints of black beans and 9 pints of chicken stock. 7 lbs butter.
Store:
Gallon water, citric acid, plastic storage lids for canning jars.
Prep:
Canning lids, pint canning jars, picked up 75 slow growing broilers.
Manage:
Pulled plants, weeded, tilled, added compost, fed plants.
Cook:Chili rellenos: roasted Anaheim peppers we grew, stuffed with chevre from our cow and battered with eggs from our chickens.
Yummmm.
Now, if only I could get the cilantro to grow through the heat of the summer.
Add:
CSA delivery to 10 families: lettuce, chard, mixed beans, mixed tomatoes, mixed carrots, potatoes, summer squash, purplette onions, green onions, bell peppers, hot peppers, slicing cukes, Asian cukes, dill, basil.
Reduce:
Turned water heater down further. It's an iterative process. We're trying to get it cool enough to use only the hot water faucet for hot, but not so cool that the hot water heater incubates bacteria.
I'm hoping to convince Jim to put a timer on the hot water heater, but at this point, we need to decide what hours we want hot water access. Of course, having the outdoor shower would help considerably in terms of flexibility. Money enough and time.... And, apparently it's hard wired and, therefore, non-trivial to add a timer. He looked for me yesterday. Bummer.
Learn:This week I learned to pressure can! Yay me. I'll do a follow up post about the pressure canning with more details later this week.
Let's just say that once I did it, it was easy peasy. Low stress, low energy, high output. Definitely worth learning.
5 comments:
Wow....quite the harvest you got going on there. I would love to see your garden!
Yay, on the pressure canning!! You'll find it saves sooo much time over water-bath and it expands the amount of things you can can (as you probably are finding with the beans and stock!!!)
(I think I mentioned this on an earlier post, but it took me a year and a half to finally feel confident to try using mine!)
Carolyn, I have a couple different gardens, and they're pretty big compared to regular back yard fare. I just kinda kept expanding. I talk a little bit about them in my Garden Napoleon post.
Gina, yes, you did mention it, and I really appreciate the support and the push! I'm so glad I tackled it, but I really do like having the new canner rather than a borrowed gasket one with no instructions. Yikes.
What type of canner did you get? I couldn't find it in any past posts. I think I may get one for my birthday which is coming up way too soon.
Christy, I just answered your post over at your blog, but figured I'd post the info here as well, though I do plan to do a longer pressure canner post soon.
I got the All-American model #915, the one that holds 7 quarts and 10 (though really 9) pints. I wanted one that felt safe to me, and I like the bomb proof nature of the A-A.
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