Hey Cooking Kids,
Wisconsin just got it's first frost warning today. Our garden is all pulled up, except for the kale and lettuce garden. All the landscape fabric dried, brushed, and rolled.
What a great year. Green beans, corn (bought from farmer), kale, 98 qts thick tomato sauce, 105 pints of salsa, we have 5 lbs of tomatoes left for eating. Lots of sweet sour pickles (we won't grow cucumbers for canning next year). Dehydrated 30 some zucchini for zucchini bread this winter. Dried the celery for a celery powder. Green and hatch peppers did GREAT, chopped for the freezer for winter. All the herbs harvested, some still drying, a few plants brought in for winter, thyme and lemon grass. We're still eating delicata squash, potatoes, uzbec golden carrots, and onions in the downstairs pantry. Garlic hasn't been planted yet. We have a load of composted manure coming, then to till the 3 tillable gardens.
A lot of fruit went on sale this summer for about 99 cents/lb, nectarines, peaches, grapes in 3 colors, strawberries, plums. We made each of them into fruit purees/concentrates for spreading on bread, and 20 lbs of grapes into raisins (green grapes), sweet as candy.
We're tearing out the thornless black berries, it's just too cold in winter for them to produce a good crop. We'll replace them with raspberries hardy for zone 4.
It looks like everyone had a pretty good year.
Looks like you've been busy. All that canning, drying, preserving and processing seems like a fool time job
Well worth it in the end.
Ive ont a lot more of it this year. Now that the kids moved out, I tried to keep the quarts of tomatoes to about 25, But the tomato year was so good, they kept coming and coming and I had not other choice but too continue processing and freezing. Im in he mid 40's now and still have several dozen ripening. I think the vines are finally done. Weather permitting, I ll go out today, pick what's left and star trippin them up. Honestly, except for swapping out maybe 2 plants for different varieties Im not changing a thing for next year with tomatoes. Whatever I did, I did it a whole lot better this year than past years.
Got a few large jars oof pickles that I've been snacking up. Still nice and crisp.
Potatoes Ive frozen a few bags of Fries and a few bags of grated potatoes for hashes and other stuff. Still good 1/2 my potatoes to harvest. Just kept them n the ground for a bit, cause I only had so much time and space for them. But they'll all come out soon.
French cut a bunch of string beans, blanched and froze for later use.
Got some winter squashes in a nice harvest basket in the kitchen. Now serving their purpose as fall decoration but will ultimately wind up in a soup or on a plate somehow.
okra frozen In soup side portions ( my primary use for them is in vegetable soup)
Still awaiting to be harvested is Peanuts, Sweet potatoes , water chestnuts ,1/2 my potatoes, A few eggplants and a bunch of peppers. We still have a month before our first projected frost.
Fall crops got a bunch of leaf lettuce which should be ready in a week, along with arugula, spinach, kale, Cabbages and rutabaga Im questioning if they will have the time to mature, and the brussel sprouts just haven't taken off, so Im guessing they wont make it unless a very mild beginning of winter, but even then, not sure they'll have the light to mature. Im kind of annoyed, cause I got them ( live plants) from Burpee, who I usually have success with, and they were packaged so poorly. It looks like whoever delivered them were playing soccer with the box or something. All separated from their cells, cirt all over. I salvaged the plants, but was very disappointed. I got tomato plants from them earlier in the year and they came wrapped differently, in a much better way. It also took hem over 2 weeks to process and deliver my order. That 2 weeks may have made the difference of them maturing or not ( especially in the crapy condition they came in).
Also have parsley, dill and cilantro in large pots that Im hoping to get a nice good bunch of. Dill for freezing, Cilantro for a chutney and the parsley usually keeps well throughout the whole winter. Ive dug it out to use from under the snow in past winters.
Built a new raised bed for zucchini next year. this past year I had extra plants and tossed them in an area I thought they wouldn't do well, but had no place else to put them. They did so well, and being separated from he the squash plants, avoided any serious insect or mildew damage. kind like the good old, dont keep your eggs all in one basket thing. So, I built them a new home for next year in the same location. Its a very high raised bed ( about 3 feet). They are kinda close to a fence , so im hoping this extra height will allow them to get a little more sun and do even better.
Also got a third planting of cucumbers that are still chugging a long. Not anywhere close as productive as the summer, and lost half the vines to wilt ( which I definitely have to solve that problem next year), but im managing a cute or two even other day which , with all the tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions I got, has allowed me to have fresh gazpacho multiple times during the week.
Garlic beds basically ready too go. Spread a few inches of my chicken compost ( All my compost goes into the chicken run, where the chickens ( not chicken) break them down rather quickly. then , When I clean the run, I compost it in its own pile to break it down even further, and give it time so it's not 'hot'. Its worked pretty well over the years. Garlic will go in in 2 weeks or so.
Oh yeah, got a bunch of carrots in too. A few different varieties , that are theoretically good for overwintering. Ill find out .
Now just waiting for my first catalogue to come to start planning next year
Will probably spend the next few weeks looking over my notes to see what needs changes and tweaking, and what I should repeat for next year.
