July 28, 2022

 Yesterday, corn day, pickle day, boys to camp and back again day.

We had rain on Monday and cool days since, so when I went out to pick the tiny cucumbers for dills, I got muddy, mostly from the knees down. I can still stick my foot into the sink and clean up. I could sit on the rim of the bathtub, but there is a door rail there.  When I can't get my feet up that high, I hope to be done with getting muddy. 

I got 5 jars of tiny dills, and one didn't seal. I gave some cukes to the neighbor, made cucumber salad for supper and still have plenty left.  I got 8 quarts of dill pickles and 4 of bread and butter earlier this week. I couldn't find any dill in the garden, so I bought dill weed from the store. In a spice bottle.  

Last night, Jim and Aaron shucked corn, had supper, and then cut and bagged while I cooked corn and cleaned up. Out of 13 dozen plus 5 ears, we got 37 3-cup bags to freeze. 

I was tired, my feet hurt, my back hurt, my head hurt and I was glad to shower and go to bed. 

July 25, 2022

99 This year is rolling right along with time rushing by.  The gardening bit really had a slow start with no rain, but we have had some good rains right along and the garden is doing well.  Our peas took forever to get going, but we had plenty to eat.  I don't like to freeze them; they just don't cook up very well. Our zucchini and yellow squash are dying and it looks like we aren't going to get any to do anything with.  We've had a few to eat and Jim planted some more.  The 1.05" of rain we had today will help that get started.  What chance we have to make a crop, I don't know.  We had a major infestation of bugs last fall and lost all our vine crops.  We have been using Sevin, and at the Farmer's Market last week, I got the advice to work in some insecticide in the fall, so I need to look up some options there. 

We got our first picking of beans this weekend.  We've been eating sweet corn for several days and Jim and I put up the first batch today.  It rained all morning to the point of no work getting done outside so Jim braved the wet and picked about 9 dozen and we got 18 - 3 cup bags with more to come. Jim saved the caterpillars in a separate bucket for the chickens and the cows (belong to a friend) got the cobs.  Jim had them trained and they come running when he goes down. We had a really hot spell the last couple of weeks and the cows and the pasture are suffering. This rain and extra corn leavings will be welcome. 

Peaches were at a couple year low, 99 cents a pound. I got four 25 pound boxes and froze some whole, some sliced for mom, saved a lot to eat, put a few away as smoothie fruit and canned the rest. I have written down 23 quarts and 5 pints (for mom). It seems like I made more than that. I also made three pies. One of my quarts of peaches broke just as the canner was getting up to steam.  I sure hate to waste the fruit, but that's the way it is.  As I was putting away the jars, I noticed a cracked one. I'm glad I found it early. 

Our cucumbers are going strong.  I don't really need anymore pickles. The last two years have produced an overabundance.  So far, I've made 7 quarts and 1 pint of dill pickles and 3 quarts and 1 pints of Bread and Butter pickles and we are eating as many as we can.  I like them best with a mayo, garlic, sugar sauce and save some from supper to have the next day in a sandwich for lunch.  

We are having cooler days this week and it is nice.  We opened the side vents of our French door and the new ones in our picture window and enjoyed the cool coming in from the rain as we did corn this morning. 

I enjoy the "putting up" of the produce once I get started. This has been a busy summer and the work isn't as appealing. 

August 11, 2020

We put 118 quarts of corn in the freezer in three evenings work.  When I was a kid and helping Mom with corn, I don't remember making and eating any supper.  We just ate corn.  I should see if Mom remembers, I'm not sure Dad would have been enthused about that.

Friday evening Jim and I picked garden and Saturday spent some time going around town to see if anyone sells a steam canner.  Mine has holes in the bottom and dripping all over, so it is out.  He went to Menards and the Farms stores and I went to Walmart and Ace.  No luck, so I ordered one online, I hope it comes since they aren't out to send until the month is almost over.  I still have my enamel water bath canner and after a refresher course, am using it.  I bought a jar lifter since I don't have all tall enough rack to pull all jars out at once.  Besides, that way is too heavy.  I also bought a 25# lug of California peaches. 

After that, I went to work on what we got out of the garden.  I got 3 qts of dill pickles, 6 qts of Caddie pickles, 5 qts of bread and butter pickles and put 1 qt of grated and 3 qts of sliced zucchini and yellow squash in the freezer.

Monday I put 2/3 of the peaches into 11 qts and bought 2 more lugs. 

Tuesday, I put up 6 more qts of peaches, 6 of Caddie pickles, 3 dills, 8 pints of zucchini relish and froze 2 qts grated yellow squash.  The zucchini looks better in the relish and we don't mind the yellow in bread.  For squash patties, it doesn't matter which kind.

August 23, 2018

I sure haven't done a very good job of keeping close track of the garden and it's produce this summer.  I'm running out of canning jars and I'm done with pickles for the year, because I have loads left over that last year. We've put gallons of apples in the freezer from both trees, some for applesauce, some sliced and ready for pies and crisps.  The red apples we've done over the last three weeks, (the yellow ones last month,) but they are too ripe now, and are falling and will have to be picked up, unfit for any to use except for the chickens to eat.  I have about 30 quarts of sauce on the shelves and two pies in the freezer.

I've put four gallons of beans in the freezer and more may be coming. The okra is going great guns, and we're eating them and freezing them and pickling them.  I've put up more peaches.  I got a box of 25 pounds for $22 dollars.  They were beautiful peaches and I wish I could have had more, but surgery intervened. 

Our final count on the corn was 112 quarts.  It's too many just for us, but we will share with the family. 

The tomatoes are just starting up. We've had so much rain this summer.  I think we've had a decent amount every week, enough so we've done no watering since we planted the garden.  Every plant has grown over-sized and over-amounts.  We can hardly get through the tomato plants to pick them.  We are eating the yellow ones and freezing the red ones for soup or juice later.

We are eating our potatoes, carrots and onions. 
Our cantaloupe failed, we can't seem to get that right and we are waiting on winter squash.  The summer squash died early on and I didn't get enough to use or freeze as much as I wanted.

First batch of red apples, we did another batch this size. 

We wouldn't have been able without a very nice peeler/slicer.  

 First results from the apples

Our pullets are laying. So are the older hens, too, of course.  

July, 27, 2015

It was hot again today.  It usually is in July in this part of the country.  I spent most of my day inside making pickles and relish with one voyage out in the heat to watch Zane learn soccer in the Park and Rec class.  Oh, I guess I did make another trip out to buy "ziploc" bags later in the day.

Accomplishments:

6 pints zucchini relish

6 1/2 quarts Caddie Pickles

Squash cooked and blended for soup base, 4 pint.s

14 pints of sweet corn

Messy kitchen cleaned up twice. 

Plus a bunch of other normal things that happen in a regular day.

The dining room floor is one thing that is waiting for tomorrow. It just has cracker crumbs all over it. 

August 13, 2014

The garden has been beautiful this year.  The spring was cool, the rain early.  We had no rain in July, but watering and cooler weather kept everything producing abundantly.  We had a big storm August 8th with 3.80" of rain and hail.  The wind from that storm flattened our corn that we were ready to put up the next day.  It didn't ruin the corn, it just made it a little more difficult to gather.  Mom and Dad came that day to help with the corn and we put up 10 1/2 doz into 36 pints.  

Before they came Jim brought in these buckets of cucumbers and I made pickles again using the same formula I did last time.  However, after preparing a bunch of big ones for cinnamon pickles I threw out one bucket to the compost pile.  Sadly, in the busyness with the 38 qt. of pickles I did, I did something wrong with the cinnamon pickles and they had to be thrown out.  I'm sorry, because it would have been nice to have them, and because the ingredients are so expensive, and it was all thrown away.  

More bread and butters.

More dills.

It is so hard to keep up with picking squash even when we determine to pick them small.  They get huge SO fast.  The big ones went to the compost pile.  I grated some, chopped some and sliced some for future meals. 

Without this mixer/kitchen center I would not get pickles and other canning done nearly so quickly.  It has a food processor that grates and slices two thicknesses, a grinder, a small processor that chops, and a blender. I have a host of attachments and would need three or four separate appliances to replace it.  It is a standard in my kitchen and I can't do without it.  

I bought the first one soon after we were married.  Since nothing like this is made anymore, when one wears out, I go to eBay and buy another one.  This is the fourth one, and this time I bought the stand and the mixer arm separately and without the extra attachments which was nice for a change. 

Wind damage.

Hail damage.

Ready for the second batch of corn, 36 dozen.

Ready to cook.

The rest.

We got 95 1/2 pints out of that 36 dozen.  

Below is our stats.

I was tired after two days of work, and then Mom decided to stay one more day and do applesauce.  So, we did.  We processed 5 of these buckets into 35 qts. of applesauce, saved 1/2 bucket for eating, and mom took the rest home. We took on one bucket too many and we were ready to be done long before we were.  Mom was sure ready to be heading home and within a half hour of finishing, they were gone.  

We gave five more buckets to some friends of our, (two different ones) after Lynette and friend Anthony picked more after dark on the tractor loader.  

I have a little over a bucket left that was supposed to go to someone else, but I guess they don't really want them.  I need to start preparing them for freezing.  Ugh. I'm tired of it. 

Tuesday, the 12th, I picked cucumbers and made some more bread and butters and dills, I also pulled up 10 of our 12 hills of cucumbers.  I just can't do any more and we don't need them.  My few bean plants are just enough this year, and I put another quart in the freezer and grated a big zucchini.  

It was getting to be sort of a game to see how much I could get put up.  I've filled nearly all my jars and some of mom's.  

I think I'm looking forward to fall.  

The okra is just starting to produce.  

July 21, 2014

Our garden is beautiful this year.  Everything is green and full.  Jim has been able to keep the weeds under control.  We had rain and cooler weather at the right time in the spring, with no wild storms so nothing was broken.  The only mistake that was made was getting too much 2, 4-D on some of the corn and it isn't quite right.

We got our first beans today.  There are a couple of cups waiting to be eaten in the next couple of days.  I processed a 5-gallon bucket of squash into chunks for soup, slices for scramble, and grated for bread or fried zucchini patties.  I also made 3 qts. of dills today.  I'm going to put as much squash away as I can and the chickens will get what I can't use or give away.  It is so nice to see everything doing so well.  I haven't been able to get a decent crop of cukes for several years.

We've been eating onions right along also.

July 12, 2014

I wasn't going to put this picture on the blog.  I have lots of photos of the flower garden.  But it looked so nice ready for graduation.

We didn't plant much before the graduation except for these deck rail boxes.

Then it was time to get the garden planted. 

These roses are doing really well this year.  They are gorgeous in early June when they are growing and blooming like crazy. 

I planted spinach right outside the front door.  Our first harvest. 

I accidentally cut this clematis way down this spring.  I cut off some green stems, but that didn't seem to hinder it any.  There is more purple in the blossoms this year that usual.  I wonder why.

My lovely oldest daughter gave me these lilies, with the boy's hand-prints on the pot.  After they stopped blooming I planted them in the flower garden to enjoy them next year.

Our garden is beautiful this year. We've had little rains often, and all the damaging winds and hail that have pummeled surrounding areas have missed us.  We shorted the garden by about 40 feet so we have less area to plant, but also less area to weed, so Jim is doing a good job with it.

We are now eating summer squash and I expect we soon will be overrun.  We heard that planting radishes under the squash will keep the squash bugs away, but since we heard that just this week and planted the radishes accordingly, we haven't much hope that they will come up and do their job under the shade of the squash bushes.  

Cucumbers are thriving as well.  My first dill pickles that I have made with my very own hands in two years.

I have discovered that I like certain fruits on my cooked cereal in the morning.  They provide some interest since I can taste nothing sweet.  I've been buying strawberries whenever I can get them under $2 a pint and freezing them.  Blueberries and peaches are also going in the freezer when I can get them cheap-er. I've discovered that rhubarb sauce also works well on my cereal, but I have to depend on other people for that one since rhubarb with not grow on our property. 

I have tried and tried and tried again.  I think I am done trying. 

August 26, 2013

The past couple of weeks, I've put up a few things.  This batch of bread and butter pickles, for one.

I've frozen 10 qts of beans.  We got 4 qts of our own grapes, and I made a batch of jelly and froze a pint of juice.  

I also made a batch of strawberry/raspberry jelly from last year's fruit from the freezer and bought peaches to make a batch of peach jam. The strazzberry is a hit.  1 cup raspberries and 5 cups strawberries.

I've been chopping what zucchini and summer squash I have to put in the freezer to put in soup.

Mom came this weekend with tomatoes from her garden and we made a huge batch of tomato soup, 23 1/2 pints. 

Today I've done 3 qts of beans for the freezer and have two 5 gallon buckets of huge cucumbers.  Do I give them to the chickens or make cinnamon pickles out of them?  

Stay tuned for further announcements.  

August 3, 2012

My mom came to help out here to keep the house running so Jim could work instead of look after me.  She spent most of her time looking after the garden.  Wouldn't you know it, the corn came in early, clean and good.  Between her times of working alone and Jim helping her they got 52 bags in the freezer.

Mom also canned two 11 pound boxes of bing cherries, for herself and for us. (We ate plenty, too) And, then bought more for canning for herself.  I think we got about a dozen jars, both pints and quarts.

Then, the cucumbers are growing by leaps and bounds.  We haven't had such a good year for cukes in, well, years. So, mom put up several quarts of dills for us, too.  We grow our own dill, and it will be very nice to have them.

We cannot keep ahead of the summer squash, but who ever can.  We are eating green beans, too.  If mom were here she would work on the green beans, but she wouldn't want to.

Freezing Corn

We got our corn in the freezer for this year.  We took three days to do it. Five dozen ears, Thurs, July 28th, made 24 pints and took us four hours.  We did 10 dozen on Saturday, with 51 pints, and 6 dozen today, 28 pints.

Last week, I put a couple quarts of beans in the freezer and canned 3 quarts, 1 pint of Caddie Pickles.

Then with my few cucumbers I made 2 quarts of dills.