The CQ Parade

 

Everywhere I go on the property now is a parade because we all know mama has the good stuff.  I seem to always be throwing them a bug or vegetable of some sort. I do love my quackers!

Just some samples of my continuing ongoing collection of dehydrated goods. Peas and carrots, sweet peppers, okra, shredded potatoes, onions. sweet corn and mixed vegetables.

Dehydrated tomatoes and tomato powder along with canned tomatoes and okra and tomato sauce. 

Dehydrated Mushrooms

With 2 freezers full and the garden winding down I thought I would show you some of the bounty. Much of this I will bag up in mylar bags and they will go into buckets or blue totes to further protect from sunlight and be stored until used.  

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Another September

  September is a rough month for me. September 4th was my Dad's birthday, September 9th was my younger brother's birthday and September 15 was another younger brother's birthday. All now deceased.  The brother who's birthday was the 9th I was especially close too. It was hard to say goodbye. Sometime in the future I want to put up a stone or meditation area in my gardens somewhere for the loved ones who have passed. Someplace to pray with a bench and maybe a small statue of some sort. 

  On a different note I look forward every year for the colors of Autumn. O Wise One and I take a yearly trek through the mountains with a picnic lunch and cameras just enjoying the beauty of where we live. I'll take plenty photos for you.

  As to what I have been up to. Hip deep!! The temperatures have cooled and the rains have returned. Every day now we are starting to pull up and clean out the gardens. Friday we woke up to the sound of a big truck and this.

  Yes Indeed the Good Lord does provide. The County has been cleaning around the power lines. So as we clean around the blueberry bushes and such we can refresh the mulch as well. We sent all the county workers away with fresh eggs, rhubarb strawberry jam and tomatoes and cucumbers. They all left happy. It's a win win situation. 

  The abundance of the month is eggs. All the pullets and the ducks are laying now. They are all such over achievers. Leroy the hen pecked rooster is now mating with the mean old hussy hens. He is strutting pretty high with his harem. And what are we doing with our egg over abundance. 

  Six eggs are scrambled and poured into a ziploc bag and the air removed as much as possible with a straw. Then they are stacked on a sheet pan and frozen. They make thin eggs discs. When ready to use they can be taken out and scrambled or added to recipes. Simply take out the night before you want to use them and allow to defrost in the fridge on a plate. 1/3 cup is equivalent to about one egg in recipes. So when the chickens slow down laying this winter I have a stash of eggs in the freezer for breakfast and baking.

  I have also been freezing these. Simply spray a muffin tin with Pam or grease. Add the filling of choice to each cup. These have sausage, onions, green peppers and cheddar. Then fill each cup to about a 1/4 inch from the top of the cup with scrambles eggs mixed with a little milk and salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. They keep in the fridge for about 4 days. I put them on a baking sheet and freeze then put in vacuum seal bags of 4 and store in freezer. Again simply take out the night before and allow to defrost in the fridge or even frozen just put in the microwave. They are like little quiches without the crust. You could add broccoli, or maybe chopped asparagus and ham or even chopped tomatoes and parmesan. My stash is growing and with 10 hens laying I am averaging about 6 dozen eggs a week.

  The other thing I am doing is using my eggs as trade goods. The farm wife down the road lost her chickens to a fox. So she came down and asked if we would trade fresh eggs for homemade goats milk soap. A bar for a dozen. She has an over abundance of soap. Should have plenty of soap for awhile. 

  I also ask that you please keep my granddaughter Graci Kate in your prayers. She was diagnosed over the weekend with Covid. She is 18 and was living in the dorm at college where she and 2 roommates caught it. 

                            

She has had a rough year. She had to have knee surgery her senior year for an injury that she sustained playing basketball. Then she did not get a graduation because of Covid or a senior trip. She started college 3 weeks ago and now has Covid. Bless her heart she is hanging in there though. 

Well that is my rambling for the moment. Hoping to see you all at the back fence. 

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Blessing from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Tuesday September 1, 2020

Woke up to a cloudy dreary day but eventually turned off nice. The shell beans are in the spare room on a sheet with a fan running on them to help dry them so that they can be shelled. I was afraid if I left them in the field to dry the daily rain would rot them. In the dehydrator today I have blackberries and plum tomatoes and I also chopped onions for the dehydrator tomorrow. It has been running almost daily for several weeks now to keep up with the flow of vegetables from the garden. When I don't have enough for a full load I will fill in with purchased frozen mixed vegetables that I buy in 5 pound bags. I just hate not to run a full load. 

O Wise One and I worked together most of the afternoon cleaning the old bedding and straw from the chicken run and the duck run and both houses. The old straw went to the compost pile and was replaced with a thick layer of fresh  pine shavings and then wheat straw. So all the houses, runs and nesting boxes are clean and ready for another few months of the deep litter method. Hung up a whole pack of fly strips to help with that problem also. 

We finished picking the last picking for the season of paste tomatoes. With so much rain for the last month or so fungal diseases were running rampant. The small plum tomatoes are doing fine though and continue to make huge amounts of little tomatoes for our salads and the dehydrator. 

So the next couple days will be spent making tomato sauce and dehydrating onions and hoping those two jobs will be finished for the season. O Wise One will work on completing our firewood supply and cleaning up the garden. He will be pulling tomato stakes and storing and also pulling and burning the tomato stalks. We do not compost tomato stalks. 

It looks like the butter beans beans are filling out finally and the bell peppers are still blooming and making. The figs are getting bigger every day and it is a toss up if they will have time to mature and ripen before that first frost. 

As the vegetables coming in the back door wind down our minds move to other things. With plates of seeds drying and the canning winding down the circle completes itself for yet another year. 

See ya over the back fence.

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Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Minnesota Midget

 As fall approaches I am starting to see the leaves start to turn a little bit on the earliest trees and the temperatures are cooling off now. Rain is rolling in almost every day lately. Looks to be a wet autumn coming. 

Today in the dehydrator I have okra, blackberries and tomatoes. In the oven I have tomatoes roasting. I have yet to skim and freeze a batch of chicken broth in the fridge and I sliced a new supply of cucumbers for snacking in the fridge to go along with cold cantaloupe. I put in jars dehydrated green peppers from yesterday. And labeled my jars of tomato sauce from last week ready to be stored. 

Still in the garden is my last batch of paste tomatoes waiting to be picked. I still have peppers, okra, blackberries, butter beans, figs, cantaloupe, watermelon, plum tomatoes, and my last batch of shell beans which is a horticulture bean. We have started cleaning up and getting ready to put parts of the garden to bed. 

I planted lots of garden this year because I was unsure what the grocery situation would be and we have been working like little squirrels filling our winter holes. 

One of my successes this year was the planting of a new variety of cantaloupe called "Minnesota Midget". Those of you that have followed me for years know that I have always liked the heirloom variety " Healey's Pride " and while it is a great old variety it tends to struggle in Tennessee with all the rainfall we get. It wants to crack and split and rot after heavy rains. So we switched to "Minnesota Midget" because it makes a smaller almost individual melon really perfect for 2 people. It is easy to tell when ripe because it changes color and slips easily from the vine. And best of all even in the rainy few weeks we have had there has been no cracking. So we have saved lots of seeds and will definitely be planting it again. 

That is a pint jar behind the half melon

  Perfect size for 2

So as August winds down and September comes in we are right on schedule garden wise. Soon we will be raking leaves and carving pumpkins but for now we are winding down the garden. Saving seeds for the coming year and giving thanks for all that we have already preserved. At the end of August we continue to social distance and rarely leave the property. When we do venture out and about always with a mask and hand sanitizer at ready. I am starting to look forward to wrapping up my canning for the year and resting over the winter with my knitting and quilting. Another garden year gone by  a wet and rainy one with lots of bugs and issues. But through it all we have persevered and have plenty for the upcoming winter and beyond. 

It is such a good feeling knowing that no matter what the supply chain or grocery stores do we are prepared and can simply close the doors and eat well. 

I wish for you all that same feeling of peace and plenty.

See ya at the back fence! 

Over the Back Fence Forum

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Tomato powder

I have a new love in my life. Tomato powder. How have I missed this ?  

Simply dehydrate tomatoes, peels or even the left over mush after straining tomato products.

Run it through a blender.

And like magic I have tomato powder. 

Throw it in a pot for some extra tomato zing. Add hot water or broth for a cup of hot tomato soup. Oh the possibilities! 

 

Everyone in the path of this storm stay safe. Have a great weekend and see you on Monday.

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Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter