Summer '09 / My Addiction to Home Canning

So the Fall is upon us now, and we have had a wonderful Summer... it went by so quickly!

The one thing that has become obvious as the year progresses is that I have developed a serious problem- I can't stop putting things in jars.

So far this year I've made / preserved:

Pickles

Pickled Beans (twice)

Pickled Peppers (three times)

Pickled Okra

Peaches (canned, frozen and dried)

Zucchini Chips (dried)

Tomatoes (dried)

Fig Preserves

Green Tomato Salsa

Regular Salsa (twice)

Cream Corn (frozen)

Pepper Jelly (twice)

Muscadine Jelly (twice)

Vegetable Soup (twice, frozen)

French Onion Soup (frozen)

Beef Stew (in a new pressure-canner)

Only a couple things needed to be added here and there that we did not grow, like spices or some carrots, etc., but for the most part, every ingredient was fresh from the field. (Peaches and figs were not from our farm, but right off the tree and into the jars the day they were picked.)

Here are some pics from the foolishness:

Peaches ready for the freezer.

Jars of pickles and peaches.

Dehydrator stacked with tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers... bell peppers DID NOT work!

My friends the Gordons' fig tree!! It is HUGE!

Figs I picked and preserved.

Tomato bounty!

SALSAA!

Muscadines right off the vine.

Crushed...

Cooking them down...

Jelly!

Fresh veggie soup!! Almost EVERYTHING from the garden!

Ready for the freezer, and my belly!

Peppers!

Must wear gloves... hot stuff!

Pepper Jelly... mmmmm!

Pickled peppers and beans.

Stringing peppers to dry.

Pepper sauce.

Group shot (all in one week!)

Beef stew!

Stew in the pressure canner.

Another group shot...

We have loved eating and sharing all of our summer bounty from the garden, it is so wonderful to have all winter long!

Georgia Peach!

Boy 'o boy does summer mean delicious peaches, especially in GA. In the last month, I've canned peaches, dried peaches, frozen peaches AND made peach ice cream!!

The peach ice cream was first- for my friend Jill's birthday... here are some pics from that process:

Yummm!

A few weeks later, my mom wanted to can fresh GA Peaches with me, so she picked some up in South GA and we set to work:

It was quite a process, but the peaches turned out more delicious than you can imagine, and will last through till next Summer! (Plus, I always love canning with my mom.) :)

Baby Beets

About a month ago, as we were clearing the last of the spring veggies out of the garden, I pulled all the beets I could find, large or small. Sadly, most were small (so far we haven't had a lot of luck with beets) but I decided to try roasting them anyway.

When I was a child, I couldn't stand the thought of eating a beet- to me, they tasted just like dirt. Ironically, that is part of what I like about them today- their earthy flavor seems like the closest I can get to the soil somehow. Plus, beets brought Michael and I together, so they are my #1 favorite.

I planted three types of seeds for the beets, "Detroit Dark Red", "Golden", and "Chioggia." "Chioggia" was clearly more successful than the other two- it is a mild beet, that has concentric rings inside when sliced.

So, anyway, I decided to show the process of roasting beets, in case you've never tried it! I love them this way- it isn't a speedy process, but worth the time in my opinion. (Again, these were tiny baby beets, I think ones a little larger have a better flavor in general.)

Cut off the tops,

Rinse,

Trim and scrub,

Wrap in a tin foil pouch with olive oil, kosher salt and rosemary,

Roast until knife tender (usually at least 45 min), then peel- (the skins will slip off easily, but be careful, the beets will be super hot out of the oven!)

Everything in this delicious salad was from the garden except the grilled chicken- lettuce, squash, peas and... chilled roasted beets!

Garden Update!

Here are a few updated pics of the produce...    several of these were taken a couple weeks ago already!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Thanks to my dear friend Kelly, I have been consumed this past week with the following book:

(Click here for Amazon link)

The basic premise is that of a family who decides to spend one year eating only foods that they've grown themselves or sourced locally.  Just by reading the first few chapters I feel so much more knowledgeable about how we get our food as a nation, and how getting it is taking a toll on the world around us.  

Along with charming stories about planting, growing, canning and raising livestock, the book also provides startling information and statistics about commercial farming, the childhood obesity epidemic, and genetically engineered foods.  

I highly recommend it-  thanks again Kelly!!

April Showers Bring... May Showers.

Hello once again from the vegetable patch!

It has been a while (as per my usual lazy blog schedule) but here I am again to finally post fresh pics and news on what we've been doing.

It has been a very rainy Spring, which is great on one hand, but tough for farming on the other...  the upside is that the lake is almost full again, the downside is that most things got into the ground a little later than they should have.

We've had a couple of awesome family gatherings / birthday celebrations in the past few months- it is always so fun to be together, enjoy the outdoors, and EAT EAT EAT!

Family is obviously one of the best parts of the farm-  it is so fun to be together.  The gang does all sorts of different things when there, garden related and not!  (Hitting golf balls and flying kites are new and welcome practices in the field outside the garden fence.)

SO... the good thing about taking so long to post is that I can show before and after shots!!

PEAS

Dad planted sugar snap peas in a seed tray-  here you can see them heading into the garden, Shelly, Emma and I planting them on a trellis, and...  the final product-  delicious sweeeet peas!

POTATOES

Who knew digging potatoes could be so fun.  It is like an Easter Egg hunt under the ground! Here you can see the healthy green plants (each came up from one quarter of a seed potato), dad digging in the ground, the buried "treasure", and a pile of taters, about 20 from one plant!

TOMATOES

Again, a great before and after...  little tomato plants started from seeds-  look at 'em now!!

PEPPERS, ONIONS, CUCUMBERS, ZUCCHINI, ACORN SQUASH, CORN, ETC...

Here are more transformations-  first the trays of various seedlings and then examples of their progress-  it is going to be a yummmy summer!!

ALL THE LITTLE "BABIES"

ACORN SQUASH / ZUCCHINI

SWEET POTATOES / FIRST PEEP OF CORNSTALKS (DAD PLANTED TONS OF THEM!!)

ONIONS / JALAPENO PEPPERS

CULTIVATING THE GROUND / TRACTOR RIDE!

NEW SEAT AND STEERING WHEEL FOR THE TRACTOR!!

All for now...  I promise to be better about posting-  really!!