What did you grow or can this year?

a reply to: mamabeth

I had noticed you weren't here for a while, you were missed!
Hope everything is getting better for you.

originally posted by: chiefsmom
So, did you garden and or can this year? Any tips or tricks? Good recipes?

Zone 4 Canada
Got my freezer all pack, all herbs and greens dehydrated and
heirloom seeds harvested and put away for next year
Dehydrators are
Good too for making home made tea.

I only grow stuff that normally we would have
to import in winter.
(which I will absolutely never will do)
Sorry, but american gmo produce is a no no here.
So . . .
Organic heirloom-
Celery,
Spinach,
herbs-oregano,basil,parsley,peppermint . . .
garlic
All gets dehydrated, that way
we don't have to buy any imported american stuff
during the winter.
Green beans, wax beans, tomatoes, salsa, . . .
all gets put in the freezer.
As it turns out we never have to import any veggies
during winter. Saves a lot of $, but not only that . . .
it's organic, heirloom, and no Monsanto

a reply to: chiefsmom

I thank-you for the kind words.I have been having trouble with
my left arm and I am left-handed.The waterbath canner is too
heavy for me to lift.I have thought of only filling it half way and
then putting it on my stove,finish filling it then.But,I haven't
done anything yet.

a reply to: tovenar

Another poster mentioned cow poop and tiling into the garden. Most animal poop is WAY to rich in nitrogen, or "hot", to put in the ground right before crops.

You're absolutely right! I should have added that we left it sit over the winter, as well as that growing season, actually two...as we worked on it for two years.

Thanks for pointing out to me!!

originally posted by: chiefsmom
a reply to: NerdGoddess

I'm in Zone 5, but I have always wanted a lemon tree. Don't they get too big to bring inside? Do you cut it down? Very curious to hear from someone that does it.

I'm not sure to be honest- When we bought it we had still solidly planned to move to Florida in 2020 by which point I planned to bring them with us as we have them in those gallon style planters but they are still only like twigs up to my knees. Now however we are unsure of if we really want Florida to be the destination so I'm just kind of keeping them in light and watering them until I figure out what's going to happen. :O

-Alee

originally posted by: chiefsmom
a reply to: tovenar

sauerkraut made with red kraut, little green apples and carrot slices fermented into it.

Ok, last year I used red cabbage, and it does look neat, being pink in the jar. But I am really curious about the Green apples and carrots. Why? How much, how thinly sliced? Do you leave them when canning? (or eating)

I leave them in because I like the taste. The Granny Smiths add a nice tart note separate from the kraut itself. The carrots keep some crunch. It's kind like a Cole slaw. Especially if you rinse the kraut, and then stir in some raw sugar. Rotkraut is a separate, sweet German dish. You can find tons of recipes for homemade kraut online, and most of them have stuff added. Nuts, seeds, fruit, all kinds of things.

We just made strawberry and freezer jam and froze blueberries and cherries for pies and bars. We did blanch and freeze a bunch of yellow beans, it's hard to get the yellow ones frozen here, I guess people just desire green beans these days. We also froze about eight quarts of local strawberries to make things out of over the winter.

a reply to: seagull

Olive trees are easy ... But they need a few things ...first , they need Alittle cold weather to shock team into producing . Not freezing weather , but chilled ....depending where you live and the seasons there , you could keep one in a pot and move it in and out of your house to keep it from fREEZING. .... And two , the trees need a few years to mature and produce a big batch .. The first few years they only produce a handful olives ., and it produces a few more each year as the tree ages ... So after about 4 or 5 years you will have a lot Of olives ..but not u til the tree is mature ....we are in the Florida keys ....it's either too hot for things to grow or they grow like on steroids ! .... Oh ... And once you have olives on a tree you have to pick them and then cure them to get them soft like the ones in the store .

a reply to: Meldionne1



Thanks for the information!!

Could have looked it up, but this way is more fun.

I'm going to be in Tennessee, so cold enough, without being too cold, shouldn't be a problem.

I started too late this year, in the more coastal area of the Pacific NW, resulting in a smaller garden that I didn't protect too well from wildlife. I only have a bit of veggies that are hanging around despite a cooler temperature. I ended up with some swiss chard(does better in colder temps) but it happened to be a local deer's favorite, she didn't eat any other of the veggies.

Blackberries are what I'll be interested in canning next year. Luckily there's quite a few of those plants growing that will be ready for picking and canning by next summer. For anyone new or interested in black berries, there's recipes for this tart berry such cobbler to use of them in salad toppings and even cocktails.

originally posted by: chiefsmom
a reply to: diggindirt

Wow!
I only tried a spaghetti sauce once, and hated the taste, but I would love to try it again if I could find a good recipe. Got one? LOL

I do make a chili/goulash starter with tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic. That cans up easy enough and tastes good.

My pasta sauce "recipe" depends on what's readily available and needs to be preserved. At its most basic it's the same as your chili starter. I throw all those in the crockpot and cook them down. If I have extra squash I'll throw some in and when it's cooked down I run it through the food mill. Then I put it through a screen that will hold the sauce and let the excess liquid drain off. I can or freeze the excess liquid and use it to cook rice or beans or soup. I do add a basic Italian or Pasta spice mixture to the sauce but we're basil freaks so we prefer our basil to be freshly snipped when served. We're a "there's no such thing as too much garlic, basil or chocolate" family.

Roma is my preferred tomato for sauce. But I can honestly say that I've never met a tomato that I didn't like. I usually stick with the old tried and true varieties. We plant a few "table" tomatoes to be consumed fresh but we now concentrate the bulk of the tomatoes on plants that produce a lot of fruit. We're still trying to figure out how many bushels of tomatoes it takes to get us (family of three) through a year. LOL This year so far I've preserved between seven and eight bushels of tomatoes and almost as many peppers from our gardens. I'll probably have at least one more bushel when my late plants are all harvested. I need to make a whole bunch of salsa before the fresh tomatoes disappear.

a reply to: chiefsmom

hey this is an awesome thread! thank you!

I canned Armenian Cucumbers and made pickles out of them for the first time this year. Made my own bread and butter mixture and they turned out really good.

I have a couple question for you if you don't mind.

I'm assuming you sterilize the jars before and after canning with either the pressure cooker or a steam bath?

When you can meat, do you have to fill the jar with anything else other than meat to preserve it? Or do you just pack it full of cooked meat, then use the pressure cooker to sterilize?

After that, do you have to refrigerate or do you just leave them in a cooler dry place?

I want to can more food but i'm also a little afraid of something nasty growing and getting people sick.

If you live in place that never freezes or doesn't get to -10, you can have figs. Some varieties can handle the low temp and bounce back each summer. Others are like the lemon trees and have to avoid below freezing. I have a hardy tree that barley makes it each winter, since I live too far north. It dies all the way to the ground and the root ball is all that lives if it gets too cold and the 1st frost the leaves 'freezer burn' that get frost on them.

Wasps pollinate the tree but do not sting you because they are so drunk from the fig nectar.

Soak the fresh picked ones in lemon juice and dehydrate to last for years. Tastes like dessert too just to eat these dried figs. Nothing like dates in flavor or seeds but similar in texture.

a reply to: chiefsmom

I have seen a few posts of people wishing they too could garden, maybe they don't have the space or the time. The good news is that you can!!! Sprouting seeds into wonderful nutritious sprouts can be done with as little as a mason jar and the space to sit it on.

I grow veggies all summer in my raised bed garden. During the months when I can no longer grow anything I start sprouting seeds and beans. I always have mung beans growing as a source of protein and vary the others for interesting tastes and textures. It is a wonderful, extremely rich in nutrients, and an inexpensive way to eat fresh, live food all year round.

a reply to: booyakasha

Hi!
I either steam bath the jars, or run them through the hottest cycle on the dishwasher, it depends on how many I need. You can also put them in your oven, from what I've read.

If I am just canning meat, like cut up roasts, I don't add water to it. Plain hamburger either, which I will do raw. the taco meat I cook the burger first, because I don't want it too greasy. It has a little water, because I put the taco seasoning in the bottom of each jar, and add water so it is like a paste.

No, you don't need to refrigerate after pressure cooking. As long as the jars seal, the inner lid is sucked down,(which you can hear, and test with your finger, you can store them on a shelf. I have large shelves in my basement, out of direct sunlight. But I also have a few jars in my kitchen cupboard.

a reply to: booyakasha

Here is a link for you from one of the best home canners on youtube.

www.youtube.com...

Here is another...www.youtube.com...

In my opinion,these two women are about the best in home canning.

We bought our house two years ago. The first year I didn't do the garden because I was too busy and finances were tight. This year I did do a garden and it was bountiful! A first year garden never does this good in my experience. I planted 25 tomato plants and all of them came in. My daughter planted two pitiful looking cucumber plants and those took over. We have several types of herbs and pepper plants. Everything did good except the green peppers.

I believe in the backyard garden. Its much better than the store and if you are lucky enough you can can stuff for the winter.

a reply to: mamabeth

awesome thank you so much!

a reply to: chiefsmom

I did not grow a garden this year because my backyard has been taken over by 2 GSD puppies who devour everything. But I did go to Farmer's Markets and Urban Gardens.....I have canned tomatoes and spiced peaches so far. This coming weekend I'm going to try canning applesauce and apple pie filling, plus my husband wants to can a habanero sauce.

a reply to: booyakasha

It depends on what your canning. Fruits like tomatoes, yellow fleshed peaches, jams, jellies and pickles can be water bathed. Things like green beans, or vegetable that are low in acidity MUST be pressure canned to kill botulism. Oven canning is a no-no. A good and tested resource is the National Center For Home Preservation website.