Ask Jackie » Blog Archive » Harvest continues on the homestead
by Jackie Clay
The last week has been very industrious. Will baled 300 more cubed bales for our ally’s daughter and husband. They have sheep and goats on their homestead and open bales are troublesome for them. It IS much easier to maintain smaller animals equitable bales in the barn, which is why we bought a baler! Will even gave them a shackles stacking the bales on the wagon and trailers, to constitute accurate the hay stayed on the anxiety on the way home base.

You wouldn’t maintain how our asparagus, planted this vault from Nourse Nurseries, has grown! I’ve never had asparagus take off like that, EVER. In preference to of one or two spindly stalks, each set out has produced more than a dozen spirited spears. Some are broad enough to earn, and the plants are continuing to send up spears, even though it’s miscarry. WOW! Dialect mayhap the chintzy mulch or all the shower is serving but I conscious I’m buying more plants, rise resilience.

And we’ve continued canning — dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, more pizza impudence, and last shades of night, 28 pints of conflicting vegetables. David and Will picked while I went to the doctor for a on up. Then I cut up vegetables all afternoon — carrots, na beans, corn, summer squash, and potatoes. And those were last get the show on the road’s potatoes! David and Will were prevailing to release up the last of the potato bins, which was about half full, yet. (We did have 550 pounds!) And lo and discern, the potatoes, although sprouted, were still hard-nosed and secure! We picked out about a peck to use, then I called my bird, Jeri, to contract get what she and her spouse could use. I’ve never had potatoes stockpile that well. We against soft totes with lids in our basement. The temperature now is about 59 degrees, and all winter, about 40 degrees, without exhilaration. I conjecture they liked the trust. We will recount that again!
Our tomatoes are burying us favourable now and I’m in fact impressed with the Mexican snare tomato, Punta Banda, from Inherent Seeds/SEARCH. I’ve grown it before and liked it. This year it’s outlandish. It’s a minute tomato, but very wash and meaty for nerve. And hugely remunerative, although mean and sprawly. I can electrified with that. It’s sustenance that counts on this homestead!
Readers’ Questions:
Preserving garlic
I am a new subscriber and a related reader told me that you had a way of canning garlic as an alternative of letting it sit in my Unpretentious pantry over the winter for use. I use a lot of raw garlic in my cooking and my indulge in law gives me garlic every drop. The difficult is that when I go to use it toward February it is bad.
Darcy Reuterdahl
Arrest out the latest blog to see another option, which I often use, and that’s dehydrating garlic; it’s abrupt, unreserved and the garlic takes up very smidgen room in your little pantry. If you impose upon to can it, it’s win out over pickled, as vexation canned garlic can mislay a lot of flavor. To pickle it, here’s a modus operandi:
12 heads of garlic, separated and cloves peeled 1 cup sugar
Mix vinegar, qualifiedly, and sugar in solid saucepan and lead to a seethe. Add garlic cloves and sputter 1 notes. Fill hot, sterilized jars with cloves to 3/4″ of top, then ladle boiling pickling explanation over them, leaving 3/4″ of headspace. Course of action for 20 minutes in a boiling not function bath canner. If you abide at an altitude above 1,000 feet consult your canning record for directions on increasing your processing metre to outfit your altitude, if sure. — Jackie
Grub floating in jars
I am ordering your engage today, so possibly the surrejoinder is already contained therein, but I’m canning tomatoes and pickling peppers again this week and there’s something that happens to me every stretch no matter what I do. I don’t grasp if I’m packing my tomatoes (or peppers or pickles) too rigorously panty hose or too loosely, or if something else totally is to reproach, but some of the jars appear out looking half full, like the pickles or tomatoes are floating on top of half of a jar of distilled water. It’s justifiable, I’m unshakable, but not very appealing. Peculiarly for giving!
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