Saturday, November 12, 2011

The snow has arrived

Its official- the snow has arrived.  Last night was the first snow storm.  We have about 3 inches now.  We did not get a chance to rake up the leaves.  Hopefully it will melt and we will be able to get that done as there was alot of them!

Today I made a batch of this jelly.http://growitcookitcanit.com/2011/03/17/stout-beer-jelly/  Joe makes homebrew, so when I saw the concept of making a beer jelly, I looked it up and found this recipe.  It definitely has a stout flavor.  It can be use on grill cheese sandwiches or used as a glaze for ribs.

Then I tried this recipe for Caramel Apple Jam using this recipe http://hitchhikingtoheaven.com/2011/10/caramel-apple-jam.html  Can't say that I was thrilled with it.  But the boys like it and I think it would be good warmed up on ice cream.

The gardens are put to rest for the winter and ready for spring.  We did not get the other bed made before the snow came.  So it has become a spring chore to do.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Preserving the Harvest

So fall has entered the area and we have been harvesting from the garden.  I have canned 6 quarts of tomato juice and probably have another 7 to do yet.  Last week I made this huge pot of spaghetti sauce, saved about a third of it for James' birthday dinner of ravioli. (Very good!)  So I thought I was going to get at least 4 quarts out of the rest,  I only got 2.  They looked fabulous but I was disappointed that the batch did not make more.  This was the first time I ever made a spaghetti sauce to can and just winged it. I plan to use it for our homemade pizzas!  Of course, due to the wet, cold spring, the tomatoes were very small and not plentiful.  I did not get a huge return, but since we are not making huge meals as we used to, we are just fine.  We still have enough for tomato noodle soup when the snow is blowing outside!

About the last week in September, Joe was in the Yakima area, so he was able to stop at a fruit stand.  He brought home a box of peaches, a box of cucumbers and 7 pounds of jalapeno peppers.  They were huge!  I wanted to make Jalapeno Pepper Jelly for teacher's Christmas gifts.  Well they were so big that they did not have a very hot flavor. So I ended up almost doubling the amount of peppers, but still had a lot left to do something with.  Katie & Chaz came out on a Sunday afternoon, Chaz made pickled Jalapenos, I tried dill pickles for the first time ever and Katie made a salsa recipe from a free mix I got from the Ball Canning facebook page.  This was all new territory for all of us.  This is the recipe that I used.   http://woodridge.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/crispy-dill-pickles-just-like-klaussens/   It has a lot of red peppers in it and it is a little too hot, but the kids and I like them.  Joe cannot eat them.  Joe & I later tried making whole pickles in a quart jar, they turned out relly mushy.  Chaz liked how this recipe turned out for the pckled jalapenos, but they were a little soft. http://www.examiner.com/farmers-market-in-seattle/easy-pickled-jalapeno-recipe-adaptable-to-other-hot-peppers

We thoroughly enjoy the peaches and since then got another box and ate the whole box of peaches with ice cream.  So good.  With the first box, I used my recipe that I have had for about 22 years, it uses frozen orange juice concentrate and sugar and you toss freshly peeled and sliced peaches.  Then freeze them in freezer bags.  Here is the recipe.
 
LIKE FRESH FROZEN PEACHES            
6 oz. can of orange juice, thawed       2 c. sugar    peaches
Into a large (7-quart) bowl, put in thawed orange juice and sugar.  Mix well.  Blanch peaches in boiling water, just until skins remove easily, pit, and slice directly in the bowl.  When bowl is full, mix well.  Fill quart bags and freeze.  They will not turn dark unless when thawed they are left sitting for more than 4 hours.  So once thawed-make a peach pie or crisp.         

Joe & I are really enjoying trying different recipes, not having to can for survivial and being frugal.  It has been fun.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Garden Update

The garden finally got itself started as it slowly warmed up.  It has issues though.  Since we are using railroad ties, we are going to have take each one apart and line them due to the creosote treatment in the ties.  The good news- we had a great strawberry crop this year!  We had enough to freeze 2 batches of Strawberry jam!  The strawberries liked the cold weather! The basil did not grow after 2 plantings and the tomatoes are okay, nothing stellar. Thess photos were taken 2 weeks ago, now the sunflower and dahlias on the edge of the planters are in full bloom.  I planted pickling cucumbers, only one planted grew and I have gotten 2 cukes from it.  So to sum it all up, we have a lot of work to do with revamping the planters, and adding 2 more where the pumpkin patch area. We defiantly hope next year will bring better soil and better weather.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Goals for the garden-2011

I want to plant peppercini pepper plants and can them.
I want to plant pickling cucumbers and make dill pickles -Planted 5-21
I want to have successfull tomatoes to can. Planted 16 12' high plants 5-21
I want to have lots of basil to freeze into cube of pesto
I want a fricking pumpkin patch

New thing that I am going to try -
Put the poinsetta plant out today.  Not looking very good 5-21
Plant zinnias-to see if Katie likes them for the wedding and for a splash of color in the front "B" triangle
Work on the living wall.
Rooting willow trees for the privacy line

Spring prep and planting

Yesterday was Mother's Day.  Went to church and had a good breakfast, just the 3 of us.   Joe, Jake & I went and gathered poop to amend the box gardens along with lime.  Last year- 2010- we made 6 8x4 railroad ties garden boxes.  We filled them with dirt that we took away from the previous owner's weird ass landscaping around the house.  So the dirt was probably "dead" dirt as our garden were terrile last year.  Hopefully warmer spring weather and this will help produce some plentiful gardens.  Never in a million years, I would of thought that I would be out in the pasture on a little garden tractor with Joe following behind and me yelling "Poop" for Joe to scoop up. We actually did have fun, laughed alot.  The kids came over later on and it was a very nice Mother's Day all around.

Today -
Just planted basil, spinach,  peas, radish and romain lettuce.  I also planted some dahilias on the edge of the boxes to give a border of flowers on each side of the boxes.  We will see how they will turn out.  It is 62 degrees out right now

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Freezer full of beef 2-2-2011

David offered us a beef, we eargerly took him up on the offer.   So he showed up yesterday with the beef.  We paid $2.10 a pound for 570 pounds.  The is after the degutting and bled, that is the weight hanging on the rail

Butchering at Jerry's 1-28-2011

Joe went Friday to do the killing, then on Sunday, Chaz, Katie, James, Joe,Jake, & I left at 6:00am for Jerry's.  Got there at 8. Before butchering, the pigs weighed 300# rail weight (sausage pig) & 280#  Joe, James, & Chaz cut the pig up. We bought the seasoning for $145, So Jerry called it even for the price of the pork. One half went into sauasge and the othe half (different pig) went into cuts.  Susie, Kevin & Jerry have the other halfs.  We made Italian, Smoked Italian, Brats and tried a Jimmy dean copycat recipe.  (here http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-jimmy-dean-pork-breakfast-sausage-250325)  The tasting of it at the time, was ok, not a real "aah we found it".  We had a good time with the kids and visting with Susie & Kevin.  Good memories were made and the freezer is full of pork.