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| tender young squash |
This has been a good harvest week, although there weren't any eggplants and only a few of the larger tomatoes, of which I don't seem to have a picture.
There were some lovely young squash, a yellow zucchini, white patty pan and a baby tromboncino
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| Pencil Pod Yellow Wax beans |
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| Kentucky Wonder pole beans |
There were a few Kentucky Wonder pole beans. I only have one teepee of these, about a dozen plants. I will not do teepees again, unless I can put the over the path to walk under them; it's too hard to find the beans on the inside when I don't want to walk on the bed.
A few months ago I was gifted some apples going bad, so I made some apple cider vinegar. I strained it out and there was just a little over a gallon. I will leave it for 6 months or so to clear, then siphon it off into smaller jars. I wrote a little about how to make vinegar on another blog I write, Cottage Economy. Someday I'll get around to writing a better, more detailed version of the instructions.
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| Apple butter and apple sauce |
I bought some cooking apples at our Farmer's Market Saturday. The folks didn't know the name of them, but they were lovely, sweet-tart, crisp and juicy. So Saturday evening I made a large pot of apple sauce and canned 8 pints, then cooked down what was left some more and make 9 half pints of apple butter.
Have any of you tried these squatty half pints from Ball? I'm not really thrilled with them because they do not stack well. The jar bottoms are bigger than the lids and when stacked they are not very stable, the slightest jostle and they are falling over. Besides they cost more than regular jelly jars. So I think I"m going to stick with the regular ones from now on. Most of the apple butter will probably go in as Christmas gifts.
I tried those squatty half pints. I do think they are pretty for gift giving, but I agree with you. They don't stack well and they don't fit in my pantry with the pint jars well, either. I'll probably stick with regular half pint jars from now on, too, because I figure that most people to whom I give gifts, don't care as much about the packaging as the contents. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've got a bunch of those half pints as well. They look nice, but certainly are annoying to store!
ReplyDeleteThat's weird your beans didn't germinate. Around here it is usually cold, wet soil, which is why I don't plant until the beginning of June. You shouldn't have any problem in AZ unless the seeds were old. My daughter would like to have some of your cider vinegar. She read in one of her ladies mags that a spoonful a day of unfiltered apple cider vinegar is good for you. I'll stick to my two fingers of bourbon a day.
ReplyDeletethe vinegar is so easy to make of leftover cores, peelings and such, she could easily make her own, much cheaper than me mailing some! Old Vermont dairy farmers swore by apple cider vinegar to cure mastitis in cows and many other things. They would drink a spoonful (sometimes with molasses or honey) a day in a glass of warm water.
DeleteI do know that once something was going around work making everyone sick for a couple of weeks at a time. I got it but was only sick about 2 days. However afterwards, every time I ate my stomach would hurt and cramp something fierce. I took several doses of vinegar and in about 2 days I was fine. Of course that could be coincidence.
I really think the germination problems were because of fusarium wilt/root rot or some similar fungus, some seeds were old and some brand new, so I don't think that was the issue.
DeleteVery nice harvest! I also used squatty jars for preserves and fruit butter - they look really nice in a gift basket ;)
ReplyDeleteYou sure had a busy week. Glad your yellow wax did well. Guess every year we win some and lose some but in the end comes out ahead hopefully.
ReplyDeleteNice harvest you picked! I am anxiously waiting for my yellow beans as my pole beans did not do well. Is apple butter sweeter than applesauce and you use it like a jelly? Nancy
ReplyDeleteYes, apple butter is sweeter, and thicker than applesauce and I put cinnamon, nutmeg and a tiny bit of cloves in mine.
DeleteIt is amazing how beans will produce, if you can get them going. I did just fine with beans this year except for edamame, they want more heat than what we're getting this year. I think this is my final experiment with them, they either get eaten by bunnies or languish in cool weather, I don't think all the elements will come together here to allow a successful crop. Oh well, that leaves space next year for something else.
ReplyDeleteHow nice to have all that homemade applesauce and apple butter! My yellow beans always seem to do horrible, the bean beetles seem to like them the most and they always are few and ugly!
ReplyDeleteI'll be trying some yellow squash, patty pan and yellow beans in the garden for next year so it's nice to hear that the beans produce lots. I love that you do make your own applesauce and apple butter....they will make very special gifts.
ReplyDeleteWhat cute squash! Your apple butter and applesauce look delicious!
ReplyDeleteYou have been fabulously productive - great looking jars (despite your concerns about the shape). I will definitely checked out how to make the vinegar - I have always meant to look into it.
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