Garden notes and drying tomatoes

I knew when we planted our garden this spring that I didn't want to do a lot of canning.  It's just a lot of work, and I was tired and wanted rest. 

Ahem.  I did NO canning.  Oh, wait.  That's not true.  I think I did up two batches of freezer jam: one strawberry and one peach.  But still.  That's not a lot.  I imagine I'll regret that come fall and winter.  But when it's 80-something degrees in the kitchen, I just cannot get motivated to can.  No way.

I froze a lot of berries- strawberries and raspberries from our yard.  We made several batches of fruit leather.  We ate beans fresh and roasted them up for a few dinners.  We made a lot of tomato-and-cucumber-and-garlic-and-basil-and-feta salads.  YUM.  

 

I still have tomatoes and basil coming out my ears.  So this morning I was up early in the garden and picked a huge bowl of Sun Gold tomatoes (my favorite), and decided to try drying them.  I just sliced them in half (quartering the larger ones), and then in a food processor, blended about 10 leaves of basil and a couple of garlic cloves and olive oil, and drizzled it all over the top of them.  Sprinkled salt and pepper over the top and we'll see how it goes.  But I cannot WAIT to try them.  They look and smell delicious.  :) 

I'm contemplating doing this with my rhubarb.  Has anyone ever tried this?  And I'm definitely making some more rhubarb syrup just as soon as I can get ahold of some cheesecloth. 

Canning

I've done my first canning of the season:

9 jars of nectarine jam with raspberries and strawberries.  The berries are from our yard, and the nectarines were from the store. 

I canned so much jam last year that I don't think I'll have to do much this year, actually.  I still have several jars in the cupboard and the freezer.

I'm always looking for new recipes for my rhubarb, too.  We have thriving rhubarb plants that keep getting bigger every year, and I try my best to keep up with all of it.  So far this year we've made Rhubarb Crisp, Rhubarb Coffee cake, Rhubarb muffins, and a strawberry-rhubarb sauce to put atop our waffles.

I recently discovered some canning recipes for rhubarb that intrigued me, so last night I canned something called Victorian Barbecue Sauce, with another variation called Spicy Rhubarb Chutney.  It's basically barbecue sauce using rhubarb as the main ingredient, (but if you don't puree it it could be called a chutney.)

Although I relied on the chutney recipe (above), I pureed it because chutney scares me.  I left out the allspice, and wish I'd reduced the cinnamon.  I also added garlic, smoked paprika and slightly more salt than the recipe had called for.  And I wished for some chipotle peppers, but even without them it was actually pretty tasty!  I plan to throw it in the crock pot with some roasts in the fall and winter months.

this years' preserves are going in on the left, last years are on the right.  (and there are still LOTS of jars of applesauce and green beans from last year in other cupboards.)

Canning!

We picked blueberries this week.

Audra picked 14 berries (exactly: she counted) and then declared that I should fill up her bucket while she ate her snack in the shade.  Adelia wandered the row and crammed blueberries into her mouth but not so much into her bucket.  She also wanted me to fill her bucket.  Isaias sat in the shade of the blueberry bushes and ate blueberries the.entire.time.  I did not look at him once without seeing his mouth full.  My stomach hurt just looking at him.  But he was also (somehow) a hearty picker, so I was grateful.  Isaac was hot (it was awfully warm) and picked about 1/5 of a bucket but insisted it was more like 1/3.  :)  Ella picked steadily and cheerfully the entire time and about matched my own picking speed.  She won't eat a one but she loves to pick!

Washed blueberries on the table

***

This morning I was in the garden early, picking green beans and rhubarb.

With the rhubarb, I canned some jam:
4 jars of Rhubarb-Lemon jam, using this recipe.
4 jars of Blueberry-Rhubarb jam, adapting the above recipe.

I've been diligently recording everything in our Garden Notebook this year- which will be SO helpful come next year!- and these jars will be added to what I've already preserved this summer, listed below:
14 jars of Strawberry freezer jam
10 jars of Strawberry-Rhubarb jam, canned
13 jars of Raspberry freezer jam
4 jars of Peach-Raspberry freezer jam
Still to come: more Rhubarb jam and Blackberry jam.  Mmm!

I also canned 4 quarts of Dilly Beans today, using my mother-in-law's recipe, below:

Dilly Beans

For each quart-sized jar:
4 cloves garlic
4 heads of dill
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Boil:
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups vinegar
2 T salt
*the above will cover 2 quarts of beans, so adjust accordingly

Pour over beans, process in canner for 10 min.

These were my Dilly Bean helpers:

Proud dill farmer, and adder of garlic and dill to jars

Snipper and overall canning assistant, which included encouragement whenever there was a stressful moment.

Oh! And last week we canned 9 pints of green beans.  (Much more to come, judging by our garden.)

Audra, proudly cutting beans (into itty-bitty sizes) ;)

 

Raspberries!

One of my summer joys-- so far-- is making tiny batches of raspberry jam from the raspberries growing in our own yard.

Last week I started picking and then looked at what I'd gathered and thought: "This might even be enough to make some jam!" When I checked the recipe and realized that I needed 3 1/4 cups (I had a little more than 2 cups) I was not to be deterred.  I would just make a half batch!  Then I realized that it was supposed to be 3 1/4 cups of crushed berries, which was a bit of a problem. By that time Ella was on my little mission with me and she headed back out to the bushes and picked anything remotely ripe so that we could make our half-batch of raspberry jam.  And we did.  I think it resulted in only three very small jars of jam, but those three jars made me happier than any other jam I've ever made- because we didn't even have to drive to the U-Pick raspberry fields! 

We came home from camping over the weekend and I realized that:
a) No one had picked our bushes for two days, and
b) My kids hadn't been out to pick (eat) the berries since we'd been back.

So I had enough for a full batch.

Then yesterday Ella picked a bunch of berries again and when she showed me her bowlful, I happily exclaimed that we could make another full batch.  And we did. 

I'm pretty happy that my kids are free to graze on our raspberries and I can get some jam made, too.

[Our camera is broken, hence the no-photo post.]

Canning

first pickings from our garden~ and purple beans!

Canning reminds me first of my grandma.  She canned beans, peaches, pears and tomatoes.  Maybe more, but that is what I remember.  My mom used to take us out to grandma and grandpa's house when it was bean-picking time.  They had a huge garden, and there was always extra for anyone who wanted some.  I don't remember the picking part of it.  I must have played with my cousins while my aunts and mom and grandma picked-- but I do remember sitting with bags full of beans in my grandma's yard, down on the grass near that big old apple tree, snipping the ends off of those beans, or snapping them in halves or in thirds.  I remember that part.  I remember the chatter of my grandma and mom and all of us working together toward a common goal. 

my wonderful helpers!

In later years I remember our home: the laundry room full of ripening fruit; all laid out carefully on newspaper on the floor.  I remember our kitchen all a bustle as my mom canned the same things her mother had canned.  I remember how excited she would get-- we would all get-- when those jars sealed.  

So it's tradition, why I do what I do.  It's why we have a garden and it's why we preserve.   And I've come to appreciate it so much.  It is truly satisfying to plant a garden from seed, tend it and watch it grow, and then harvest it and eat from that garden throughout the year.  We nowhere near put up enough food to last us through the fall and winter months.  Maybe someday, but for the time being that's not our goal.  But it is important to me to keep that tradition of my mom and my grandma, to be good stewards of the land God has given to us- even in our own back yard, to teach my children to garden and preserve food, and to take advantage of the opportunity to work alongside one another toward a common goal.

the beans we canned last night- Mark and I sat in the kitchen and waited until we heard the last jar seal