September 20th, 2006 - Beginning to end the garden
I’ve been reading about the end of the garden in other blogs and now it’s hitting me. I feel like I just started eating a lot from it only a month ago! Last night, Bryony, Maggie, and I picked all the tomatoes. Maggie put tomatoes in the buckets for us then helped by picking leaves from other plants. It was so cute! I can’t wait for next summer when she’ll be able to follow more directions.
I put the tomatoes in the basement, in hopes that they will ripen slowly indoors. I was going to use large boxes with lids, but Mom said that they would do better in the light. So I used paper box lids and trays from picking strawberries (I so glad I saved them from last year!). I put them on some shelves in the back, but I’m not sure if there will be enough light to check them over. I might have to move them to the front table, but I’d have to clear off the table first!
I picked the last of the beans, which I finally steam blanched and put in the dehydrator. These dragon beans are FANTASTIC keepers in the fridge. For the second time, I’ve kept some over a week in a bag in the crisper and they look like they were just picked!
And the last three Yugoslavian finger fruits came in. When washing them, I remembered that they were said to make neat gourds, and I wish I’d thought to leave one on the vine. Maybe next year.
Two more jalepenos were ripe; there are two or three still green that I left out. It’s supposed to warm up a bit this week, so maybe they will still ripen. I also left out two zuchini; I was surprised that more grew after getting only a few earlier in the summer. I almost ripped out the plant (it grew into the aisle and was a huge hassle) so I’m glad I didn’t bother! There were 3 or 4 growing, but the others withered in the damp and rain of the weekend. I want these two to get as big as possible so I can grate and dry them. Part may also be used in soup stock this weekend (planning a batch each day).
It was damp all day, so no more Cherokee Trail of Tears beans have dried. Hopefully they will by the weekend or I may bring them all in anyway to dry downstairs (by the dehumidifier). That leaves two pumpkins, potatoes, and carrots. I’m trying to hold out on the digging until the first frost hits so they remain in the ground as long as possible.
September 20th, 2006 at 10:23 am EDT
Run your zucchini, with or without peel, thru the food processor. Freeze in 1 or 2 cup portions. Use instead of liquid in muffins, pancakes, etc. Of course, with the peel it makes everything a little green. Sure does make quick breads nice and moist and nothing goes to waste. For your peppers, you can try to transplant them to an indoor pot and grow them on the windowsill. My father-in-law had 1 or 2 peppers every other week this way…harvested when small. So sorry to hear about your cat, hope everything goes well.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:11 am EDT
[…] B. Somers commented that I could run my zuchinni through my food processor and freeze it (Hi! thanks for reading!) I’m one of the last people in the US with a fully equipped kitchen that lacks a food processor AND a mixer! (We do have a small food chopper and a hand held mixer, neither of which is used more than 2x a year.) Since high school, I’ve preferred to use arm power to cook and bake when possible. It all started with making cookies and progressed from there. The only thing I don’t mix by hand is bread since I put it in the bread machine! […]