Today's food preservation:
Bread & Butter Pickles, cucumber - 4 quarts
Bread & Butter Pickles, summer squash - 2 quarts
Okra, pressure canned - 2 pints
Pickled Banana Peppers, water bath canned - 1 pint
Szechwan Green Bean Pickles - refrigerator - 1 quart
Pesto, freezer - two 1/3 pints

Today's food preservation:
Green Beans, pressure canned - 3 quarts

Today's food preservation:
Orka, pressure canned - 3 pints

Today's food preservation:
Tomato sauce, water bath canned - 4 pints

Today's food preservation:
Tomato sauce, water bath canned - 3 pints
Mint Sauce, pressure canned - two 1/2 pints+

Today's harvest:
From the farm sitting job:
Onions, bunching
tomatoes, cherry
Tomatoes, Roma
Okra
Green Beans
Watermelon

From our farm:
Tomato
Green Pepper
Carrot
Summer Squash and Zucchini

Today's food preservation:
Watermelon Rind pickles, water bath canned, 5 pints
Tomato Sauce, water bath canned - 3 pints
Dilly Beans, water bath canned - 2 pints
Beets, pickled, pressure canned - 1 quart
Green Peppers, dehydrated

Pickled Beets

Recipe by Alton Brown at the Food Network

Ingredients

• Roasted Beets, recipe follows
• 1 large red onion, frenched
• 1 cup tarragon wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Directions

Remove the skin from the Roasted Beets and slice thinly. Arrange in 1-quart jars alternating layers with the onion. In a small pot boil the rest of the ingredients and pour over the beets. Tightly lid the jars and place in the refrigerator for 3 to 7 days before serving.

Roasted Beets:

• 6 medium beets, cleaned with 1-inch stem remaining
• 2 large shallots, peeled
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl toss all of the ingredients. Place into a foil pouch and roast in the oven for 40 minutes.

Canning continues... Okra Recipe

Potted up the grapes I got earlier this spring into larger pots today.  I also put another layer of mulch on top of the newly planted potatoes to help keep them moist.  It hit 103F here today!

Today's harvest from the farm sitting job:
green peppers,
green beans,
cherry tomatoes,
13#s roma tomatoes,
okra, lavender,
cucumber,
beets.

Today's food preservation:
Okra, pressure canned - 2 pints
Tomato Juice, WB canned - 4 pints
Green Peppers, dehydrated
Lavender, dried buds stripped and stored

Canned Okra Recipe:

Makes 6 pints.

6+ pounds Okra

3 teaspoons Pickling Salt

Water

Wash pods and trim ends. Leave whole or cut into 1-inch pieces. Cover with hot water in a saucepan, boil 2 minutes and drain. Fill jars with hot okra and cooking liquid, leaving 1-inch headspace. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt per pint to each jar, if desired. Adjust lids and process for 25 minutes at 10# of pressure in a pressure canner.

Chow Chow (Green Tomato Relish)

Green Tomato Relish:

AKA (Chow Chow)
12 large green Tomatoes (cored)
(I used about 20 small to med size)
4 - green bell peppers, seeded

4 - medium yellow onions (I used one very large one)
1 - red bell pepper, seeded
1 - tablespoon + 2 teaspoons yellow mustard seed
1 - tablespoon celery seed
2 - cups cider vinegar
2 - cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Chop the tomatoes and peppers very finely. Either by hand or in small batches in a food processor. I diced up all my veggies only because I like a chunkier relish. Put the chopped vegetables in a large pot (heavy bottom non reactive pot) add the mustard seed, celery seed, vinegar, kosher salt and sugar. Stir well and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook stirring often and skimming as needed. ( I did not have to skim off anything) Simmer until the relish/chow chow cooks down and thickens into a relish, about 2 hours. Turn into hot sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath.

Green Tomato Salsa Verde

My father in law always plants a few tomato plants every year in his yard and this year was no different.  But this year he has been plagued with blossom end rot and has only been able to harvest a few ripe tomatoes from them.  He has left the tomatoes to ripen on the vine, fall to the ground and rot.  When I was there yesterday I asked if it was ok if I harvested the remaining green tomatoes on the vines to use.  McKayla and I picked 12 3/4 pounds of green tomatoes off of those two plants!

So now I just need to use them up... the first thing I am making is a green tomato salsa verda.  Salsa verde is a traditional Mexican sauce made with tomatillos.  Tomatillos, although resembling green tomatoes are actually related to cape gooseberries.  My 2009 "Ball Blue Book guide to preserving" has a recipe for Tomatillo Salsa which along with the recipe for Green Tomato Salsa Verde at ModernComfortFood is how I came up with the following recipe:

Mild Green Tomato Salsa Verde:

4 pounds green tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 cups yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 green jalapeño peppers, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon fresh lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoon honey or sugar
2/3 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped

1. Combine the green tomatoes, onion, jalapeños, garlic, salt, cumin, olive oil, and water in a stock pot. Bring to a boil and cook covered on a medium-low heat burner for approximately 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes and onions are soft.
2. Stir in and simmer for an additional five minutes the lime zest, lime juice, honey (or sugar), and cilantro. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning, if needed.
3. Blend the mixture in the pot with a stick blender or spoon into the container of a food processor or blender and pulse until the salsa reaches the consistency you prefer, either chunky or a smooth puree.  Makes approximately two quarts of salsa.
4. Ladle into sterilized jars and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  Remove jars from the water and allow to cool on the counter.  Test tops for a good seal and refrigerate any that have not sealed properly and use within 2-3 weeks.

Other farm happenings today:
Our alpaca stud Novio bred our female Aberdeen this afternoon.  I will have to keep watch to see if she spits him off in the future.
Spotted a hummingbird in the marigolds in the greenhouse.

Another Experiment in Dehydrating

I still had a couple of pounds of zucchini that I got from Heather last week that I really needed to do something with before it went bad.... and I hate to waste food by letting it go bad.  I did an Internet search on my options and I discovered a few new things to try!

I normally shred and freeze extra zucchini for making zucchini bread but our freezer is still full of beef so freezing was not the best option.  Canning pickles was an option as well but I still have Bread & Butter pickles from last year to use up (I am the only one that eats pickles in the family).  I did find a recipe for Zucchini Relish which I might whip up with the next batch of zucchini I get.

What I did find that was interesting was dehydrating it!  My research found that shredded zucchini can be rehydrated and made into bread with great results.  It can also be added to spaghetti sauces, casseroles, fritters, etc.  So here is a tray of freshly shredded zucchini ready to be dried.

(photo to come)

I also found that the zucchini could be thinly sliced (about 1/8 of an inch), lightly salted and dried into chips!  I was so ready to try that as I love salty crispy things.  Here are my zucchini slices ready to become chips.

(photo to come)

Kimchi experiment

Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented dish made of vegetables with varied spicy seasonings. It is most commonly made with napa cabbage and other vegetables such as radish, green onion, carrot, chive, and cucumber. Kimchi is the most common side dish in Korean cuisine.

I have never made Kimchi before.  In fact, I have never eaten Kimchi before.  But I do like spicy food well enough so I am all for adding more raw fermented foods into my life.

So, using the two heads of Bok Choy that I soaked in the brine overnight, I followed this recipe:

Kimchi Recipe

2 Cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

1/2 cup fish sauce

1/3 cup chili paste (recipe called for twice this amount if you are brave)
1 teaspoon honey

1 bunch green onions, cut into 1-inch lengths (use the dark green part, too, except for the tough ends)

1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks

Put the first five ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth texture is formed.  In a large bowl mix Bok Choy (or Napa Cabbage) with green onion,carrots and sauce from food processor.  Pack the kimchi in a clean glass jar(s) large enough to hold it all and cover it tightly. Let stand for one to two days in a cool place, around room temperature.  Check the kimchi after 1-2 days. If it's bubbling a bit, it's ready and should be refrigerated. If not, let it stand another day, when it should be ready.  Once it's fermenting, serve or store in the refrigerator.

My freshly made Kimchi.

And on another topic... this afternoon Neil got in the pool with the kids which they loved!

Local Farmer's Market, Strawberry Jam & Turkeys

Today our local Farmer's Market opened for the season.  McKayla, Taylor and I went over to see what was being offered.  There was someone selling Grass Fed Angus Beef (which we didn't need), someone selling plant starts (a bought a Cherrokee Purple Tomato and a few herbs), a local woman selling fresh baked goods (I got a rhubarb tart and got cookies for the girls) and then there were fresh strawberries.  Big geaurgous strawberries!  I bought four quarts of them.  The girls and I ate some of them right in the parking lot as we just couldn't wait until we got home to eat them.

Once home I made a quick batch of freezer jam with them.  I cleaned and sliced the strawberries...

Then I added in a package of freezer pectin and mashed it all up until it was the consistenacy I wanted for jam.

Finally, I spooned it into freezer containers and let it set for 30 minutes to gel before putting them in the freezer.  It made 11 half-pint jars.

This afternoon when McKayla and I were out walking around the farm we noticed a turkey hen with baby turkeys at her feet.  I always feel bad about taking babies from their moms but I know if I don't I will loose them all.  McKayla helped scoop them up while I got another brooder pen ready for them.  We caught up seven of them...

McKayla (with wet hair from the pool) holding all seven turkey poults.

Beef Jerky.. yum!

I am excited to say that I made my first batch of homemade beef jerky today. I, of course, used our own home grown Dexter beef for it. It was super easy since I have a jerky kit that came with my dehydrator.

I mixed a pound of ground beef with a salt cure and a spice blend loaded it into the jerky "gun" and formed flat strips of jerky onto the dehydrator trays. Turned the dehydrator on high for an hour and then patted them to removed excess grease and turned the temp down to medium. Took another 6 hours to get a good dry product. Both Neil and I were impressed. I will be making more soon I think.


Other then normal farm duties I prepared as much as I could for our coming snow storm tonight. I turned the water off to the automatic waterers in the barn so they didn't freeze and burst. Made sure there was enough wood for the fire for at least 3-4 days (we have been cutting it as we need it this year). Neil's Dad brought over a kerosene lantern just in case we lost power. Come on snow!

Drying carrots... the outcome

Here is a photo of the diced carrots all dehydrated. I got distracted and forgot to take pictures of the shredded carrots.

Cows, Carrots and Cabbage Patch

Cattle round up this morning. An interior cross fence gate came open at some point and the cows, donkeys and our male alpaca moved into our female alpaca pasture... meanwhile three of our female alpacas were out in the cow pasture. I think the gate was not shut tight after the kids were out there yesterday afternoon giving their cousin a tour of the farm. It took 20 minutes and some create bribing with apple wafers to get everyone straightened out.

I purchased 10lbs of Organic carrots on my last shopping trip and have been meaning to do something with most of them so they won't go bad. So, today I pulled out the dehydrator again. I shredded up enough carrots to fill two trays and then diced up enough to fill the other three trays.

The shredded carrots were done in just a few hours but I left the diced ones in overnight.

I finished up a cute little hoodie sweater for McKayla's Cabbage Patch doll tonight. I cast it on just two days ago so it was a quick knit. McKayla has requested more clothes for her dolls so I will be doing a few of these smaller projects in between larger ones.

Drying Green Peppers

My mom bought me a new food dehydrator for my birthday a few weeks ago. I had been so busy with Christmas stuff I hadn't even gotten it out of the box yet. I rectified that today!


I picked up four organic green peppers while shopping this week.


I diced them up and put them into the dehydrator.


Just before bed they were done. Now I have dried green peppers for my sloppy joe mix that I make again.