Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Green, Ripening, Ripe

We have staging boxes of tomatoes in the cool basement.  They are sorted by color every few days to make quick work when it's time to process a batch.  Later today I'll can more ketchup.   Since the majority of our tomatoes were picked green, this has given a little bit of lee-way on getting them all canned.

Our two rather small apple trees (McIntosh and Haralson) produced seventy-five pounds of organic worm free apples.  The McIntosh were easy pickings for the birds ... and I wasn't vigilant about protecting the crop as I should have been.  Haralsons are a much harder apple and didn't suffer as much damage.

 Three blemish free boxes have been wrapped and stored in the cool of the basement for later use.   The rest have been divided: un-pecked and slightly pecked (by the birds).  At least one more batch of applesauce .. and I'll call it a day.  The peels are fermenting in a crock and will hopefully turn into raw apple cider vinegar.

The gardens are still hanging on.   Onions, garlic and tomatoes pulled.  Still need to harvest carrots, potatoes, summer squash, celery root, pumpkins, cabbage and our second round of raspberries from the ever bearing plants.  Strawberries have rebounded and provide enough for a yogurt topping every few days.  I've only watered the garden once in the past several weeks.  The plants are hanging on with early morning dew and deep roots.

I'm so enjoying the late warmth of summer!  What's being 'put up' from your summer garden?

13 comments:

Dani said...

What a bountiful harvest! And storing it to preserve later - clever lady :)

I'm also making my first batch of apple cider vinegar... :)

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

What wonderful produce Mrs. Mac and it sounds like you still have much to process for winter. That's really great.

Have a lovely weekend ~ FlowerLady

Sandy Livesay said...

Nice looking tomatoes and apples Mrs. Mac.
I'm happy to hear you still have vegetables growing in your garden. Do you have plans for the carrots and potatoes?
Everything around here has died off or finished for the season.

Mrs. Mac said...

Sandy .. we have such a short and late season here. I just went out and snacked on raspberries that are delicious. The potatoes will be air dried for a few days to toughen the skins and then stored probably just for a short term as we've been eating them for a while .. and just have a few plants to pick from. Carrots .. I have a whole 4x8 raised bed which will get picked and stored in bins with garden dirt and stored in the garage as soon as it gets cooler out. They should stay fresh if kept cold. I need to go pick seed pods too for the green beans to plant next year. Thanks for stopping by.

Laurie said...

This has been a very unusual garden year here. We usually have much more still producing, but only have okra, lima beans & a few green beans producing. Sweet potatoes need to be checked & dug soon. Fall greens are up, along with some carrots & beets. Your apples are beautiful! That's an area I need to work on... ours are always small, gnarly things. I most recently put up grape jam, from mostly wild muscadines.

Jada's Gigi said...

what a harvest you are gathering and preserving!

Felisol said...

Dear Mrs. Mac,
I'd so like to see a full view of your storage rooms. They must be formidable.
I don't have a single room fit for storage. I keep the potatoes in the wash basement and the rest in the fridge or in the freezer. I also dry many herbs for tea or food relish.
We definitely need a bigger house.
Gunnar made me a narrow storage room,the appendix, but that is filled with goods for my little shop. Another room might have been suitable, but it was turned into "The Chapel". Combined prayer and guest room.
I guess, maybe we could turn some of the cellar into a storage room,we just have to make space first. Next autumn, maybe.

Mrs. Mac said...

Felisol, there are lots of ways to store root veggies. I'll try and send you a few links. Sounds like you are doing a good job with what you are storing away. Think of vertical storage too. And .. if you have a cellar, that is wonderful .. for sure, give it a cleaning .. this is the perfect temp to store with minimal spoilage of crops.

A Woman that Fears the Lord said...

I was tempted to try a ketchup recipe this summer. My husband loves Heinz. Does your recipe taste like a certain store bought brand? You've been a busy lady! :-)

Mrs. Mac said...

@ Living on Less Money ... I want to avoid GMO's PERIOD .. and since most ketchup has corn syrup, beet sugar and white vinegar, you can bet they have GMO (genetically modified .. ingredients). I use the standard recipe from Ball Blue Book of Preserving .. except I leave out the bell pepper, use cane sugar and organic apple cider vinegar. Cook it til it's very thick .. It's a family favorite.

ChiotsRun said...

Can't wait to have a few apple trees. I just harvested all my late potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes and now fell great knowing I have 150 lbs of root veggies in the cellar!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure the best for you XoTspOCb [URL=http://www.aaareplicahandbags.weebly.com/]imitation louis vuitton[/URL] online eYIlCWpv [URL=http://www.aaareplicahandbags.weebly.com/ ] http://www.aaareplicahandbags.weebly.com/ [/URL]

Anonymous said...

view lYFkevqy [URL=http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/]designer knockoff handbags[/URL] to get new coupon OvsOUPYA [URL=http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/ ] http://www.cheapdesigner--handbags.weebly.com/ [/URL]