Category Archives: Fruit

food preservation, Fruit, Garden

Odds and Ends in the Kitchen and Garden-Aug. 8, 2024

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One of the things that has been keeping me super busy is that I am working quite a bit more than I used to. One of the super fun things I get to do right now at work is make milkshakes! They are a super popular item this summer. I’ve been getting ice cream at a super low price ($3 for a carton) and just making them at home. When I was little, I thought milkshakes were such a mysterious, special thing. Now, they are still special, but not mysterious. Put ice cream in my little blender, add milk, blend. squirt whipped cream. Add sprinkles. Done!

We went peach picking a couple of times.

I canned 14 quarts.

I made 6 quarts of peach pie filling as I was completely out of that.

I told people to eat what they wanted and I froze the rest.

As you can tell, I am canning/preserving less this year of many things. I have a large amount left over and my freezers are very full. I planted less in the garden, am u-picking less and preserving less so I can work on getting some of that used up this year.

The funny thing is….the bean patch did not get the memo. My 5 short rows gave me 45 pints and 7 quarts canned, around 10 quarts frozen, and numerous bowls to give away. We also ate as many as we could hold.

Let’s not even talk about zucchini. I’m just glad my relatives and friends are still talking to me. They have been given so many! I froze a bunch, and we’ve been enjoying it, as well.

I pulled most of the beets. I have more growing, but these were the ones that were ready. I have never seen a beet as large as the one in the middle. I wasn’t sure if it would even be good, but it was super sweet and tasted great.

We ate a lot of them and I pickled the rest. I ended up with about 7 or 8 pints.

Because I am struggling for freezer space since I’m getting so much produce, I pulled out a turkey, had Rob cook it on the BBQ and made broth from the bones.

I also pulled all the beef bones I could find from the quarter beef we bought last fall and made beef broth and canned it.

The beans are now all pulled up and fall crops are planted. We have more beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, boc choi, cabbage and snow peas I planted yesterday. I have a second crop of cucumbers, zucchini, beets and green onions I planted a few weeks ago on the upper right of this photo.

But, even in the midst of it all…Papa has the time to take the little man down to Costco for some pizza and hot dogs. It has been a busy, but very fun summer so far!

food preservation, Fruit

Cherries, Cherries, Cherries! July, 2018

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My sister has cherries, and I was invited over to pick what I wanted.  I went early in the morning yesterday, and had a good visit with her while we picked.

I was fortunate enough to find all 3 available kinds:  Ranier (light), Dark (like Bings or Lamberts), and pie cherries.  Then, I spent yesterday processing them.

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I canned 7 quarts, and 22 pints of sweet cherries.  Some jars were dark, some light, and some, like these, were mixed.  They were very ripe and sweet, so I used a 6:1 water/sugar ratio.  A little sugar helps them stay firm and fresh longer, but they sure didn’t need much.

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I made pie filling, and got 7-3 cup jars, and 7 pints.  That was a lot of work, because I had to pit all of those little cherries, but I’m super happy to have the pie filling.  I used the recipe here.

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I made cherry jam for the first time. I used a mixture of dark and light sweet cherries for that.  I used a low-sugar recipe.

With all these projects, I finished off the pie cherries and light cherries, except for a few I kept out for eating fresh.

I used some of the dark ones, but there are quite a few left in the camper fridge.  I plan to pit and freeze those today.

I’m very excited to have so many cherries.   I’m only guessing, but I think it was between 40 and 50 pounds combined. We have been completely out for a while, so this will fill things back up nicely.

 

 

Fruit, Garden

Garden Update–July 6, 2017

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I have so many green bean blooms coming on the bushes, it’s almost scary:)  I can see teeny, tiny beans forming, so I know I’ll be canning in a week or 2, and canning….and canning…..  I’m excited.  I like canning, and did not get to can last year.

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I got 2 ripe Sungold tomatoes, and 3 small Glacier Ultra Early tomatoes, but that’s it.  There are no more that look like they are even remotely ripe, but there are lots of green ones forming.  I will still buy tomatoes for a while, but the day is coming when I’ll be eating and canning those as well.

I had zucchini in a stir-fry for dinner tonight.  I’ve picked a small one and a very misshapen/half rotten one, but was able to salvage the rest.  There are lots more little ones coming along there, too.

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I’m getting a few raspberries and blueberries every few days. I have a few cups of raspberries frozen already. The Marion (black) Berries are starting to ripen.  There won’t be very many this year because we moved the entire patch last fall, but we will get a few.  I can pick wild blackberries this year.  Today, when we mowed the lawn, I took  the grass clippings and mulched the Marion Berries with them.  I’ve been able to keep them weeded out, and want them to have a good chance to get a foothold this year—-weed-free with plenty of moisture.

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I left 1`bolted cabbage.  Then, I chopped off the bolting part to experiment with it.  It started forming some tiny little heads.   I’ll see if anything comes of them.  Thankfully, my sister told me she will have cabbage to share.  I did plant 6 little plants for a crop in the fall.  Hopefully.

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We have harvested broccoli from each of the 5 plants that survived.  We’ve had it one time.  Lovana has eaten the rest.  The heads haven’t been super big.  Although it’s a lot of broccoli, it’s nice to see her eating veggies!  I still have side shoots coming along.  I’m not sure if I will try a fall crop of broccoli.  I will see how my time and energy holds out.

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I’ve been able to weed quite a bit in the flowerbeds this week.  There are still lots of weeds to pull, but it’s nice to see some progress.

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The nasturtiums have begun to bloom and I’ve cut many, many old, spent blooms off of the dahlias and roses.

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Rob put some systemic rose food and black spot deterrent on the roses, and I can see a little bit of difference in them.  They still have a long ways to go, though.  I did mulch a couple of them with grass today, and have put ashes on them as well.

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It’s been pretty hot, so we have watered a lot.  We are very thankful for the fact that there is a well here on our lot and the watering system is connected to it.  We have one of the greenest lawns on the block for that reason.  There is no way we would water so much, except for vegetables and a few flowers, if we had to pay for all that water.  It’s a real blessing.

 

 

 

 

 

Fruit

Cherry Season

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One of the most interesting things I get to do while parked at my sister’s house is be a part of cherry season.  Their orchard has Rainier (pale), Dark (various kinds), and pie cherries in it.  They sell the cherries U-pick and the season started today.  The cherries are extremely early, but are clearly ripe.

On the first day, they always open at 6 a.m.  That’s because there are very eager people who want to pick that early.  After today, they will open at 8.

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My sisters and I grew up on a U-Pick farm, and I continued working there for many years after I was married, so this feels comfortable to me.  I enjoy visiting with the customers and watching people.  They come from miles around, lugging buckets, baskets, plastic containers, stepstools and ladders.  They head out into the orchard and pick, then bring them back to the stand to get weighed, and pay for what they picked.  In actuality, Rob got to help with that a lot more than I did today, but I did get a short turn while others ate lunch.  My jobs today were to take Patsy to school (45 minutes away-1 way), stop at the store, cook for everyone, and then go back to town to take Lovana to work, and then pick Patsy up from school.  I love to cook for a crowd, so enjoyed that job. Driving–not so much, but it needed to be done.

The season will only last for a few days, due to the amount of customers that come, and the fact that the crop is not huge.  But that’s ok.  Peach season is coming up in a few weeks, and I’ll be ready!