With crates and crates of various produce crowding our front porch and entryway, I’m busy as can be, saving seed and canning up tons of food to line our pantry’s shelves. Two days ago I put together a nice batch of tomato salsa, using some of the tomatoes I’d taken seeds from as well as some out of the crates which are slowly ripening on the porch. I also added some onions from the garden which had green leaves yet, as they won’t store well, and some sweet peppers I’d taken seeds from. I love it when I can use everything! The chickens sure love the left-over tomato scraps and reward us with nice eggs. But those eggs are slowing down now that the days are getting shorter and shorter. Yes, I could put a light on in the coop; we have enough battery storage for that. But I feel the hens deserve a winter “vacation” from egg laying. Doing so has left me with older hens that still lay an egg every day from early spring through late fall.

One of our favorite newer tomatoes is Tip Top, a nice, mid-sized, round, very smooth tomato with great flavor. It’s a wonderful canning tomato — full of juice and meat too.

These are Tip Tops, a nice all-around tomato.

I canned up more rutabagas and was going to pull the last few as well as our cabbages. Then I went down to the garden. Oh oh! The *#@! deer had gotten over a low spot in the fence and eaten all the cabbages and the parts of the rutabagas that were out of the ground! No wonder I like to hunt deer. I was mentally moaning about the loss of the cabbages especially, when our friend, Tom, came over, bearing two baskets full of huge cabbages. He had a huge, bumper crop and is only one guy. Could I use a few? Oh boy Yes!

I was sure happy when our friend, Tom, showed up with cabbages like these!

Now, on to rutabagas and carrots … Yum! I love fall! — Jackie

15 COMMENTS

  1. No garden last winter, but cabbage are the lowest price I’ve seen in years. Going to shred up a bunch and freeze for sautéed cabbage later this year.

      • Good, it just didn’t seem fair that the one person that had a such a huge hand in rescuing this plant, had lost out due to critters, abit large ones lol

  3. We have had moose instead although this year we did ok. Last year they ate all of three fifty foot double rows of peas in one night!

    • Holy cow, that was a shock. We had them in Montana although they never got in the well-fenced garden. Although I know they sure could have! Nothing is as strong as a determined moose.

  5. Seems like deer are so clever! I live in a suburb along 3 golf courses that abut 3000 acres of wilderness and a lake but the deer nightly meet under the street lights and survey the neighborhood for munchies. They walk politely on the sidewalks and have no fear of loose dogs as the yards are fenced. It is very much a city-space and so one wouldn’t think deer would be grazing the neighborhood! But under the cover of darkness, they are as brazen and comfortable as if they are living in a wilderness. Anything in my open front yard is easy pickin’s. I have learned that they are about as clever as I am naive!

    • Boy isn’t that true; deer are so smart! One time I left the garden gate open to go up to the house to the bathroom. I was gone perhaps 10 minutes, tops. When I got back I had two deer checking out the grub INSIDE the garden!

  7. God is so amazing! The deer ate your cabbages, but yet someone shows up to fill the void. I am about to start shredding my cabbages for sauerkraut and stuffed cabbage. I am going to try your recipe in your pantry cookbook. I will be using our own sausage instead of the burger. Savoring our burger until my husband gets some deer and it is going to be a a good 6 months before he butchers one of our steers. Busy time of year, but so blessed that we are able to do this. Can’t wait to try some of those Tip Tops!

    • Yes! This time of the year is kind of crazy but it’s a good crazy as I fill jar after jar of so many different foods. Yum!!! We are SO blessed to have what we do.

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