Orchestrated (Hah!) Chaos
Jul. 26th, 2010 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluesgarden1 pound = 0.45 kilogram
I feel bereft without so much as a single picture to post. This is due to lack of actual picture taking not a lack of actual subjects, mind you. Yesterday was Adventures in Canning: The Pickles Edition. Nine pounds of cucumbers became 4 quarts and 1 pint of bread and butter pickles, at least in theory. They have to hang out in their jars for at least 4 to 5 weeks before sampling. I achieved said pickles last year, but I introduced a new part of the process this time around - soaking in a lime (no, the mineral, not the fruit) and salt solution overnight before heating up in the vinegar and spices, putting into jars, and 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. We'll see. I made the mistake of sampling a slice before it went into the spice and vinegar mixture, but after it had been rinsed of the lime and salt solution. Ewwwwaugh! *spit* So, yes, we'll wait and see.
Anyway, those cucumbers came from the 12 pounds I picked a few days ago. I gave away 4 pounds, plus let someone pick some more from the patch, then today I picked another 6 pounds. Hrmm. Fortunately my mother really likes bread and butter pickles, and I have a tried and true recipe from last year to fall back on.
Meanwhile, I picked another pound of green beans today, which is actually the smallest amount to date but I'm only picking the Empress at this point. The total so far for green beans harvested (by me, as D's aunt is now taking the beans from the other row, the Fin de Bagnol, off our hands) is 19 pounds, 4 ounces, which has yielded 9 quarts and 15 pints of canned beans. A pint jar is about the size of a commercial can of green beans in the U.S. while a quart is double that size. Today's harvest was too small to bother with canning, so for dinner I diced up some bacon, rendered it until it was nice and crispy, then added the beans, diced Yukon Gold potatoes (from the garden also), and a large container of chicken stock. After simmering for just over half an hour, they were quite tasty!
I am both looking forward to and dreading tomato season. *g*
Fall planting is... running late. The summer carrots are rather bitter, which I suspect is from the heat, so I'm hoping these latest that I planted end up being sweeter. Similarly, the Sweet Million cherry tomatoes have been quite acid so far. I have planted the rutabagas, cabbage, parsnips, and radishes (yeah, too early for the radishes - I'll be lucky if they grow and the leaves are already looking lacy from flea beetles). Tomorrow I really need to get the beets and turnips into the ground, and the kale and swiss chard while I'm at it. There's no sense in planting the kohlrabi a week early considering the weather, plus it is a plant that's also susceptible to flea beetles so I'll need to pick up some floating row cover for protection.
The potatoes are fading fast from the mostly unrelenting heat wave (today was an exception as it was relatively mild). The only minimally restrained tomato plants are growing heavy with green fruit and sprawling into all available space. A few bits of corn must have shown up. The watermelons are taunting me with near but not quite ripeness (I think). The Ring of Fire sunflowers are blooming and are gorgeous - I really must take some pictures tomorrow - as are the volunteer sunflowers from last year. The jalapeños, poblanos, and bell peppers are ready to harvest and I've already given away some of the first two. Mostly I'm waiting for the jalapeños and bell peppers to turn red and the Dancing Spirits to turn multi-colored before harvesting more. There's definite signs of blossom end rot in one of the poblano plants, and I suspect it's the same cultivar that had that problem last year.
Really exciting news of the day: I only had to do dishes once!
I feel bereft without so much as a single picture to post. This is due to lack of actual picture taking not a lack of actual subjects, mind you. Yesterday was Adventures in Canning: The Pickles Edition. Nine pounds of cucumbers became 4 quarts and 1 pint of bread and butter pickles, at least in theory. They have to hang out in their jars for at least 4 to 5 weeks before sampling. I achieved said pickles last year, but I introduced a new part of the process this time around - soaking in a lime (no, the mineral, not the fruit) and salt solution overnight before heating up in the vinegar and spices, putting into jars, and 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. We'll see. I made the mistake of sampling a slice before it went into the spice and vinegar mixture, but after it had been rinsed of the lime and salt solution. Ewwwwaugh! *spit* So, yes, we'll wait and see.
Anyway, those cucumbers came from the 12 pounds I picked a few days ago. I gave away 4 pounds, plus let someone pick some more from the patch, then today I picked another 6 pounds. Hrmm. Fortunately my mother really likes bread and butter pickles, and I have a tried and true recipe from last year to fall back on.
Meanwhile, I picked another pound of green beans today, which is actually the smallest amount to date but I'm only picking the Empress at this point. The total so far for green beans harvested (by me, as D's aunt is now taking the beans from the other row, the Fin de Bagnol, off our hands) is 19 pounds, 4 ounces, which has yielded 9 quarts and 15 pints of canned beans. A pint jar is about the size of a commercial can of green beans in the U.S. while a quart is double that size. Today's harvest was too small to bother with canning, so for dinner I diced up some bacon, rendered it until it was nice and crispy, then added the beans, diced Yukon Gold potatoes (from the garden also), and a large container of chicken stock. After simmering for just over half an hour, they were quite tasty!
I am both looking forward to and dreading tomato season. *g*
Fall planting is... running late. The summer carrots are rather bitter, which I suspect is from the heat, so I'm hoping these latest that I planted end up being sweeter. Similarly, the Sweet Million cherry tomatoes have been quite acid so far. I have planted the rutabagas, cabbage, parsnips, and radishes (yeah, too early for the radishes - I'll be lucky if they grow and the leaves are already looking lacy from flea beetles). Tomorrow I really need to get the beets and turnips into the ground, and the kale and swiss chard while I'm at it. There's no sense in planting the kohlrabi a week early considering the weather, plus it is a plant that's also susceptible to flea beetles so I'll need to pick up some floating row cover for protection.
The potatoes are fading fast from the mostly unrelenting heat wave (today was an exception as it was relatively mild). The only minimally restrained tomato plants are growing heavy with green fruit and sprawling into all available space. A few bits of corn must have shown up. The watermelons are taunting me with near but not quite ripeness (I think). The Ring of Fire sunflowers are blooming and are gorgeous - I really must take some pictures tomorrow - as are the volunteer sunflowers from last year. The jalapeños, poblanos, and bell peppers are ready to harvest and I've already given away some of the first two. Mostly I'm waiting for the jalapeños and bell peppers to turn red and the Dancing Spirits to turn multi-colored before harvesting more. There's definite signs of blossom end rot in one of the poblano plants, and I suspect it's the same cultivar that had that problem last year.
Really exciting news of the day: I only had to do dishes once!
