Well, the front porch and entryway are loaded with buckets of dry beans, dry corn, and other various produce, from tomatoes to watermelons. For what we thought was our very worst gardening year ever, I’m totally amazed and very thankful for this extremely bountiful harvest! We had a light frost the night before last, but it only burned some of the pumpkin, squash, cucumber, and pepper leaves. It really didn’t hurt anything.
Due to our heavy tomato harvest, I’ve been canning tomato recipes like mad. On Tuesday, I ran the Goat’s Bag tomatoes and a few Bill Beans through the Victorio tomato strainer to remove the seeds (which we’re saving for Lynn and Jesse) and peels. Then, yesterday, I put together a big batch of chili. We are out of ground beef, so I took a few older roasts out of the freezer and thawed, then ground them. I added about 3 pounds of various dry beans we’d raised, onions, garlic, and dry chili powder and made a big roasting pan full of chili. (Yes, I did soak the beans overnight.) I ended up with 14 quarts and three pints of chili! Every jar sealed.
Then, today, I am canning up the leftover beans, which I’d added tomato sauce, brown sugar, onions, and molasses to, making baked beans, which we can always use. They’re nearly finished right now. Meanwhile, Will went out to the Central Garden and picked the Bear Island Chippewa corn, then our two small patches of Damaun super sweet corn as the birds were getting into it pretty bad. This morning, I was sitting on the front porch, shucking the Bear Island. Even though it was very weedy and nearly got drowned, then dried up, it has produced very well. I have a full crate of shucked corn and a whole crate to do in a few minutes.
Once that is done, I will shuck the Damaun then get on to peeling and cutting up some tomatoes to can, which I add to my chili and also other recipes. IF I get done, I want to run some unpeeled tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeños, and onions through the electric meat grinder to make more salsa. I also use my pints of salsa for adding to other recipes. It’s very versatile.
Will got his new air bag on the big round baler and fixed the part that cuts the twine when the bale is full and tied off. Before this, he had to jump down, cut the twine, then climb back up when each bale was tied. It was a very tiring operation! Hopefully, now it will cut as it is supposed to. It took him quite a while to figure out that it was missing a spring.
Just a tip: If you have the ability to can up some food, please do that. I have a very bad feeling about the future. No, I’m not paranoid. Just a bit cautious, given the situation of things happening, from weather to the price of diesel and gas. Remember, too much food is much better than not enough. — Jackie
Your comment in a previous blog post got me to thinking about preppers. IMHO, there are two kinds – doomsday preppers who, again IMHO, bring bad publicity. Y2K era: people who lived in a high rise, in FL buying a wood stove. A couple who had all their teeth pulled and got dentures. Nat Geo had a show called doomsday preppers – and honestly if you have stores of goods for whatever reason, why do you want to advertise it? Rhetorical question of course as the answer is money.
What we on this blog do is ensure we have sufficient stores in case times get rough – economy wise.
I am going to check out finding a Victorio tomato strainer. I can understand removing seeds but if ground properly, I wouldn’t think you’d need to peel unless it affects processing time. After all does anyone peel a tomato before slicing for BLTs (which we’re having for lunch on Saturday). I could eat them every day during harvest but then again, I don’t have a Y chromosome.
Thank-you for taking the time during your busy season to post your blog.