harvest

[Willowbilly3]

I know there's some other gardeners here. We've had a great year but an early frost hit a couple nights ago. I just finished canning my 4th batch of salsa today. I made juice from all the fruit I picked so far, still have some peaches and apples to dehydrate. All the beets, carrots and taters need dug up. So far I think I've canned about 30-40 quarts.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

Thats great for you willow,, Ive tried some (New) soil stuff that was supposed to be (The stuff ) to get for my tomatoes .... well it was the worst crop I ever had .. done good on my new plumb and nectarine trees , peach tree didnt do so well .. I didnt plant the garden this year (Pink eye purple haul ) peas and the (colored butter beans) we still have a good bit in the freezer . Ill plant some collard greens and some mustard greens, and turnips this fall ... Its funny what you learn to eat down south ..... Never heard of GRITS till we moved here.. or that you actually ate the tops of turnips Hey , we just pulled the turnip up cut the leafs off and thew them on the ground (rabbit food ) .... who new you can eat them ... turns out there pretty tasty with (cornbread) which I still can't eat the original stuff I got to have the jiffy mix corn bread (you know ) the cake without the icing [cl

 

[Yankee Transplant]

I guess I can say I've still got a lot of Yankee in me .. Hey Willowbilly have you tried to can deer meat yet ... ?? My sister has been canning deer meat for about 6 or 7 years now ... its great for stews and BBQ sandwitches. It good for people who dont like to freeze ..

 

[Willowbilly3]

I always have beet greens a few times early when I'm thinning. I used to eat grits all the time when I lived in Anchorage but haven't had them in years. I used to pick poke salad in Texas but never had collard or turnip greens. I don't bake so only get cornbread a couple times a year at my sister's, just like mom used to make. She always made cornbread when we had beans and ham. Slather it in home made butter, pour on some home made chokecherry syrup, yum yum.

 

[Sam_Fear]

Been canning salsa, sauces, even do a small batch of ketchup every year now. Tried BBQ sauce this year too. The new one is Zucchini in tomato sauce - we'll see how that goes... Got a pressure canner this year so started doing beans and such now, before it was just tomato and pickle things. Oh, and tried pickling some zuke's too - not bad... crunchier than cuke's.

First time planting rutabagas - not bad in with the mashed potatoes. Soon will be making chow-chow and chutney with the cabbage green tomatoes and kohlrabi.

We've made 4 batches of pepper jellies. One jalapeno, two habenaro, and one a mix of other peppers. The habenero is freakin' awesome.

Also tried a batch of freezer salsa and dehydrated zucchini.

We'll keep going at it until it frosts.

Cornbread - best in the cast iron skillet with a couple cobs worth of fresh creamed sweetcorn mixed in the batter.

 

[Sam_Fear]

WB - you might be interested, or know about this site already:
http://www.seedsavers.org/

We were camping up around there this summer and took time to visit - picked up a few packs of seeds (and I swiped an apple from one of their 150+ varieties of heirloom trees)

 

[Willowbilly3]

I have visited that site.
I tried to grow rutabagas a couple years ago and all I got was tops. I used to can and freeze veggies but there just isn't time with all the wild berries and fruit. About all I can is my juices, a batch or two of tomatoes for soups and lots of salsa. I might do a big jar of refrigerator beet pickles. I hoard 2 quart jars when I can find good ones for just such things.