A New Year Begins

The holidays are over and I am so excited to start the new year at my little farmhouse.  Well as soon as I get over the sinus problem.  Roger spent the day getting the garden ready to plant string beans and garden peas. 


 I decided to try something different this growing season and I ordered heirloom seeds. The string beans are called Kentucky Wonder and were first introduced in 1864 as Old Homestead.  The garden peas are named Wando and are bred to be heat and cold tolerant. Hoping we can plant these early and have fresh peas in about 68 days from planting. 

November and it Still Looks Like a Summer Garden

November 2012 has been a very strange weather month for central Florida.  Last week we had some temps down to 38 degrees at night and this week the temp is in the 80's in the day.  Looking around my little farm you would think it was still summer.           
                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Yellow Summer Squash
We planted the squash with the hope the weather would remain warm until we harvested the squash.  So far we have been lucky

     Okra Bloom and Pods- most of the okra came up in the garden from the compost and some was planted a few days after labor day. 

Tomatoes -the bush with the largest

 tomatoes came from a volunteer bush and the tomatoes in the pots were started at the beginning of September.

Ginger Plants are still blooming

Pomegranate Bush is putting on fruit. We planted two bushes in the spring and the small fruit fell off. I was surprised to see the bushes putting on fruit in November.  The fruit will take 5 to 6 months to ripen.  Keeping my fingers crossed on having mature fruit.

 

The only sign of fall and winter is the sugar cane turning purple and new shoots appearing

 

Another sign of fall is having lots of shrimp in my freezer.  Shrimping season started late September and ended the middle of October. 

Tommy and Roger picking up the shrimp

 

We are also lucky to have friends that like to hunt.  I trade them shrimp for vension. 

 

 

Chickens are growing but still slow in producing eggs

 

 

Turkeys need to grow a little more

 

Over all I have been pleased with what we have been able to produce and put in our freezer this month.  I know the kids will be eating things that are fresh, organic, and great tasting. 

 

 

 

September Garden

                                                   
                                                                                           
Well here it is September and the peppers are still growing and producing. I will have peppers until the frost kills the bushes or Roger decides to pull them up and plant something else.

Cayenne peppers left on the bushes to dry can later be ground into pepper flakes or a powder. The food processor will work for grinding but I use a coffee grinder for this.  Caution !!! let the powder settle before opening the grinder. Place in a dry mason jar for later use. 
We like pepper sauce to go on our collard greens. Our pepper sauce consist of whole peppers (not dried) placed in a jar of vinger and sealed. The vinegar is infused with the pepper flavor.  The infused vinegar tastes great on cooked greens.

The banana peppers are easy to can.  Slice the peppers on an angle (this makes larger rings) Place them in a non reactive pan (I use a large enamel pan) with one cup vinegar and one cup water ( double or triple this until all the peppers are in the vinegar water solution.  Add salt and then I add turmeric which gives the solution a yellow color and makes the pepper rings more appealing.  Heat to a boil and place in sterilized mason jars and place seal and rings on jars.  I place the jars in a water bath for about 5 minutes.  This insures the jars seal.  Banana peppers can also be frozen.  To freeze the peppers just slice and place in a plastic bag. No other processing is necessary.

Jalapena Peppers  I use these in my homemade salsa and I canned a few jars of rings using just vinegar, water, and salt and processed the same as my banana peppers.  I put some in my dehydrator but I did not like the outcome . I have plans to put some on the grill to smoke.  Other than making poppers with a cheese filling I really do not use these peppers very much.

Why purchase peppers when they are so easy to grow.  Bell Peppers are my favorite pepper.  I use these in many of my recipes. Freezing bell peppers is a very easy job.  After I wash the peppers I cut the peppers, remove the seeds , and cut into strips. I place a single layer of peppers on a sheet tray and place in the freezer. After the peppers have frozen I place them in a plastic bag and keep them in the freezer to use as needed.  Peppers do not need blanching like other vegetables. 

My Harvest during Hurricane Debby

Finally the rain quit for a little while so we decided to go to the garden and see what we could get today.  Not bad for a rainy day.  Check out the tomatoes, squash, dill weed, rosemary, chamomile, and peppers. 

We have four different types of peppers that include cayenne, jalapeno, banana, and bell peppers.  I am drying the cayenne and plan to make dried pepper flakes, the bell peppers I cut up and freeze, and the banana peppers will be cut in rings and canned in vinegar. 

The tomatoes and jalapenos are going to be used to make canned salsa. The onions for the salsa came from my moms garden.

Small red potatoes also came from my moms garden. I am going to cook them in the oven with the dill weed, a little olive oil, and salt. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Can't wait for lunch. Yummy!!

Fresh off the vine and free to boot.  Love that!!

Southern Sweet and Crunchy Pickles

The garden produced a large amount of cukes this year. I made plenty of sweet pickles. We use these in salads, on burgers, and straight out of the jar as a snack.

Christine's Southern Sweet Pickles

My mother in law (Teen) would make the most fabulous sweet pickles. Every summer my father in law (Melvin)would plant cucumbers and Teen would make crunchy sweet pickles. She has taught me to make pickles but I still can not make pickles as good as hers but mine are still quite tasty.





Here is the information she has given me on making pickles and this is how I make my crunchy sweet pickles



Choose pickles that are grown for pickling

Pickling cucumbers are not smooth green like salad cukes they have a prickly skin. Last year my husband planted salad cucumbers and pickling cucumbers. I used both in my pickles and the salad cukes did not get as crunchy as the pickling cukes did. This year no salad cukes in my pickles.

Sweet Pickles are best when sliced into rounds and not spears

Do not peel cukes just wash thoroughly and slice by hand about 1/8" thick

Soak cucumbers in a large plastic food grade container or glass container (no metal please) with pickling lime mixture
I use Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime. This is a food grade lime.

mix 1 cup of lime to 2 gallons of cold water in the plastic container and add cucumbers

let cucumbers soak in mixture for 2 hours or overnight

Next remove cucumbers from lime water and discard lime water

Rinse cucumbers in fresh cold water 3 times

Soak cucumbers in fresh ice water for 3 hours

Mix the following items together in a non reactive pan ( I use my enamel canning pot) If you use an aluminum pot the pickles will turn black or a dark color as they age in the jars.

8 cups white vinegar
8 cups sugar
1/2 jar pickling spice (McCormick brand is best)

Bring to a boil and add cucumbers (be sure to drain off all water) to vinegar mixture

Bring back to a boil and turn off heat
Let sit in vinegar mixture for 5 to 6 hours or can be left overnight

Bring pickles back to a boil

Pack pickles in sterilized jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 to 15 minutes

Pickles are ready to eat or can be stored for 2 years or longer. Be sure lids sealed by removing ring and checking each seal -- dry the jar around the seal and replace the ring

Making Grape Jelly

The grape vines have grown very tall so we had to get the tractor with the bucket out to pick the grapes.  Plus this is how we get the kids to pick for us.  These are wild grapes that grow everywhere here in Florida. They are small and tart which makes a very good jelly.

Jelly making is simple and fast once the juice is extracted from the grapes.  A large piece of cheese cloth or very thin cloth works for squeezing out the juice. Last year I decided to use my juicer and it worked but was a mess to clean out of the machine.  Just put a handful or two of grapes in the cheese cloth and twist and squeeze into your bowl. Dump the pulp and repeat until all the grapes are juiced.

Follow the recipe that comes in the sure jell pack and you have jelly. 

Be sure you sterilize the jars and heat the lids.

Check to make sure the jelly is sealed in the jars and it will last a few years in your pantry.

This method works for wild blackberries too.  (getting the kids to pick for me) LOL