Tag Archives: fall garden

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–November 1, 2020

12 Comments

I tried out a new pizza crust recipe this week, and topped it with some cherry tomatoes. I did tweak it to make it gluten free. I want to try again and make a few more changes, but this was pretty good. When frost was threatened, I picked the green cherry tomatoes and put them in a 9×13 pan in the garage. They are slowly ripening up and we are eating them as soon as they do.

Rob has been finding some ripe larger tomatoes in his stash in the shed. They are wrapped with tissue paper, and ripening slowly.

We still have some things growing in the garden that are not frost sensitive. We’ve had boc choi in stir-fry. The “Quick Start” cabbage has made heads. They are small heads, but just right for us. I’ve picked several and there are still more out there. We had broccoli a few times this week, too, in various stir-fries. I made a beef-broccoli one for dinner one evening that was delicious. The celery isn’t doing well–it’s too dry, I think. The winter lettuce is growing and there’s kale, which is very hardy. The spinach is so tiny that I doubt I’ll get any before spring.

We’ve done well this week at eating up all the leftovers. We ate a lot of salad and used most of the lettuce I picked before it frosted.

I’ve had to water the veggies with watering cans, it’s been so dry! That’s very unusual for our part of Oregon this time of year.

Rob went ahead and tilled the empty part of the garden one more time, since it was dry enough, after I pulled up the last few dead tomato and zucchini bushes. It will help the weeds be more manageable in the spring. He also tilled in some grass clippings while he was at it.

We went for several walks. One day, when we were keeping Michaela and Jake, we went down to Waterfront Park in downtown Salem and all took a nice walk. The weather has been amazing!

The wood project continues. Rob went up to the forest several times again this week, and the piles continue to grow.

While he cuts wood, I’ve been sewing and doing school with Patsy. There should be more projects to show in a few days. When her school is done, she goes with him. She enjoys getting out of the house! I’m not sure how much more he’s going to cut, but I’m loving the fact that he’s got so much piled up already.

Garden

Garden Update–July 23, 2020

18 Comments

The garden is growing by leaps and bounds. We are harvesting daily, and replanting each area as it becomes available. This lettuce and kale was planted a while back and is looking great. The little lettuce in the background needs help! A couple of days after we planted the little starts, the weather became very hot, so it’s unhappy. With the cooler weather yesterday and today, and all the water we’ve been giving it, it should revive.

The old Alderman Tall Telephone Pole pea seeds have produces enough for a couple of dinners. I really didn’t know if they were too old to sprout, but obviously, they sprouted!

We are getting so many Tromboncini zucchini, and yellow and green zucchinis that we needed to take drastic measures. After giving them away to anyone who would take them and eating them like crazy, we did this….

We love zucchini relish, and now have a large supply for eating and gift giving.

I think this should hold us over:). Even though I picked the big ones, small ones, and everything in-between, there are small ones out there again this morning! We ground the zucchini in an antique meat grinder by turning the crank as we fed the squash into the top. We did a x13 batch–and used 26 cups of ground zucchini–then added the peppers and onions called for! I had to send Rob to the restaurant supply store for peppers and took all the onions my sister had at her house. I have never made so much at once before. We got 32 jars, many of which were pints and the rest 1/2 pints. They all sealed except one. I can’t ask for a more satisfying outcome.

Beans are growing well, although I will say the bush beans don’t like their area very well this year. These are the pole beans and they are very happy. I think the bush beans are getting too much shade from the shop and apple tree. We’ve still canned 21 quarts so far, so it will all work out.

It’s really looking like a jungle in many places. I’ve been able to keep the worst of the weeds out, but it’s a challenge to have time to both weed and harvest.

I’m still getting a small, but steady, supply of strawberries. I have one blueberry bush that is almost finished, and another one that still has many, many berries on it. It takes me quite some time to pick them all. so I’ve just been picking one container in the evening, and freezing it, then waiting until the next day or two. That’s why I got a few unripe ones in the dish—it was getting dark. Mostly, they have much better flavor than last year, though, now that I’ve learned to wait a little longer to pick them. The raspberries and blackberries are almost done, but I’ve been getting a few of those each time I pick as well.

The Glacier tomatoes are continuing to ripen. I got a large bowl full of them yesterday. The Romas and Willamettes are starting to ripen, one here, and one there. The various cherry and pear tomatoes are, too.

I am very happy with my garden this year. We are supplied with so many wonderful veggies and berries, both for fresh eating and also preserving. I have plans for more succession planting as areas free up, and hope to have food growing far into the fall. Rob has baby broccoli and cabbage, plus more lettuce starts growing in the greenhouse, waiting for their turn. So far, I’ve planted more snow peas, beets, leaf lettuce, cucumber and zucchini seeds. I’ve also planted head lettuce, Buttercrunch and Frizzy-Headed Drunken Woman lettuce starts. It has been a good, constructive activity for me during this time where I’ve been home much more than usual. I enjoy it, and really love having all the produce!