Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Knowing Your Food


Monday morning started out like most Mondays. After our Sunday day of rest O Wise One and I make the rounds finding what crops need to be dealt with. For this Monday it was bell peppers, apples (still), peas and potatoes. For many feeding your family requires that weekly/bi-weekly/monthly foray tot he grocery store and their food supply comes to them neatly washed in plastic/paper grocery sacks. But O Wise One and I made a decision long ago that as much of our food as possible will come in the back door in buckets and baskets. I like a saying that Katzcradul, a friend and follower of this blog makes, " If you don't grow your food, you don't know your food". Needless to say from seed to our bodies we know our food intimately. What kind, how it is grown, what's on it and in it, or more importantly what is not in it and on it ! 


One of the trade offs of this lifestyle is that we spend hours weeks and months growing, maintaining and harvesting gardens and fruit trees. And even after the food is harvested we spend hours and days each week washing, sorting, peeling and preserving what we do grow. 


For many this seems like huge amounts of food but think about the amount your purchase over a whole year or more at your house. This year we have a bumper crop of apples, next year we may not. So while we have them we expand that preserving job to encompass a 2 year supply of apple products.  In the picture above you will see a tart pie apple in the bucket on the left and a sweet red eating apple in the bucket on the right. What amazes me is that I do no spraying on these trees other than soapy water around the bottoms and on the trunks. Rarely do I lose a crop to bugs. That is not to say that yo will not find the occasional insect damage but the percentage is small and we have enough to share : ) 

A perfect example of crop loss this year is our walnuts. We like to include walnuts in our diet because they are good for your heart and besides that O Wise One loves them in baked goods and even as snacks. With a late spring snow this year there are no walnuts on our trees. Thankfully we froze last years bumper crop and still have plenty in the freezer. If not we would do without or be forced to buy walnuts. And they are not cheap. 

On the flip side the pecan trees are loaded!


On the list this week is to can all those little tiny potatoes we are digging. The size of golfballs no matter how good you are at growing potatoes there are always a few of those little golfball sized potatoes and there is a limit to how many you can eat fresh. So the little ones go into jars and the ones that may have bug holes or are marred by the potato fork or such will not keep for long and will have to be dehydrated. 


Many things such as these peas will become parts of dinners for the week.


The apples this year are some of the largest we have ever grown. Thinning makes a huge difference not only in reducing the weight on your trees but also in the size of your apples. 


Saucer size apples that are sweet and crunchy make it into our meals often these days. O Wise One loves his apples  sliced with a little peanut butter on the side.  


And even though we have put up enough pie filling and sauce I continue to dehydrate apple pieces for my morning oatmeal during the winter. A little honey and cinnamon and these added to my oatmeal give it a wonderful taste. They can be used for many other things too and will keep forever this way. 


And my refrigerator stays stocked right now with cold sweet watermelon pieces. 


So for now my food preservation continues although not at the frantic pace of a few weeks ago but with some urgency to get it done before first frost.


So for another week I will be in my kitchen, washing and chopping vegetables, filling jars and dehydrator trays in preparation for another year of meals for my family. Freezing, canning and dehydrating all at one time. 


And for now every morning the food stream just keeps flowing in that back door.  


For this Monday morning the first thing I did was to make supper and slip it in the refrigerator ready to pop in the oven. Baby O's favorite Pizza Casserole. 

What's flowing in your back door these days?

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

22 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree more! Look at what just happened with the "glitch" in the Food Stamp cards over the weekend. People went nuts. I am working towards what you all have, getting as much as I can of our food from my own garden. Thanks for sharing all that you do.

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  2. Like you and O Wise One we like knowing our food intimately and totally share your philosophy in obtaining and storing food. Right now what's coming in my back door is figs, eggplant, field peas and lots of different peppers. We had a late freeze and got not a single peach or plum this year so I too am very grateful for last years heavy yield so we still have plenty of them to eat this year. I've made lots of eggplant jam and shared enough to make the neighbors shutter their houses when they see me coming.......lol.

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  3. hi, I notice all your preserved apples/dried apples are peeled.

    have recently been reading about the huge heart benefits, and other benefits in apple peels. just thought i'd mention this, in case it is of interest.

    if you can't think of a way to "preserve" those apple peels, freeze them on a cookie sheet/bag them, and they are great in smoothies.

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    Replies
    1. I actually have dried apple rings with the peels on them but had not heard of their heart benefits. They can also be used for making apple cider vinegar homemade : )

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    2. But we should only eat the peels off organically grown apples, or home grown that have not been sprayed. The everyday variety of store bought apple is the most sprayed product on the grocery store shelf, often having had 26+ applications of insecticide, fungicide, etc. Dr.Brian H. Leung has a great post on his Wordpress blog about apples. I found it when I went looking to validate what 'anonymous' had posted...and found it to be true. Good to know.

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    3. Katzcradul looks like we both learned something today : ) Hello my friend and good to hear from ya!

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  4. O Wise One and I are kindred spirits! I love peanut butter with apples. Peanut butter is an essential for me! I love all things nuts!

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  5. You're so far ahead of me, it isn't even funny. I want to be you when I grow up. LOL You and O Wise One have created something wonderful and amazing. And what a legacy of dedication, self sufficiency, and hard work you are leaving for you children and grandchildren. I've never seen two people who work more diligently to grow and preserve their own food. What you do is truly commendable...and that you share it all with us, through this blog, is such a blessing and inspiration. (Can you tell I'm a fan?) May God grant that you continue for many years to come.

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    Replies
    1. Such sweet words from someone that I respect very much for your work on youtube!

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  6. My eyes popped out when I saw all those bell peppers...love those on lots of stuff, but also sliced and eaten as snacks. We will be growing bell peppers this next year!! I went to buy one orange bell pepper as I like it better in my homemade pumpkin soup. They were on SALE..ha...for $2.50 EACH. No way was I paying that much for one pepper.
    Love your posts as always.
    blessings, jill

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  7. After loosing almost all our apples the past 2 years to insects and fungus, I VERY RELECTANTLY resorted to a light 2 stage spraying early on this year. The result was an amazing crop. Oh, the dilemma of tradeoffs! I am curious about your soapy water method.

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    1. My elderly mother in law who lived here all her life in her 90's told me to pour soapy water around the roots of my fruit trees. She said that root worms eat the roots if you don't and the trees will just die and fall over. I have done it religiously for years several times a growing season. Always at the end and several times early in the year. I just take a 5 gallon bucket and mix up about 2 cups non biodegradable dish soap, horticulture soap or even liquid soap and pour around the base of the trees. Remember that the roots go all the way to the end of the canopy and do not use DETERGENT! Make sure it is soap. you can spray it on the bark also.

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  8. CQ,

    Talk about a very nice harvest of vegetables and fruit.

    Right now green beans a flowing in my back door with Japanese eggplant.

    I'm hoping we get some peas before a frost comes through.

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  9. We have the second crop of turnips about ready to can, hot and sweet peppers to freeze (am thinking about making pepper relish). CQ I thoroughly enjoy your blog!!! You amaze me lady, I look forward to every new post. You have helped me soooo much with all your recipes, canning hints, and homemade products. Thanks

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    Replies
    1. I still have turnips out there also. Thanks for the kind words : )

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  10. Eggs from my hens flow from my yard to me.

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  11. Dear Mrs. Wise One, I'm a kindred spirit with your hubby....I love a nice crunchy apple with crunchy peanut butter on the side! I saw something new in a blog today and thought that you might also find it interesting....making tomato powder that can be reconstituted later for tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomato soup, tomato juice....here is the link:
    http://homejoys.blogspot.com/2013/10/how-to-make-tomato-powder.html
    A whole bunch of tomatoes are dehydrated to crispness then blended to powder and put in a ball jar and into the freezer. Easy peasy!

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    Replies
    1. I too am a follower of that blog and have some dehydrated tomatoes that I have not crushed into powder yet. I am going to try this and I do appreciate all input and ideas. Isn't that blog wonderful. She amazes me all that she gets done with small children.

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  12. Everything looks fantastic! Our garden is winding down so I put up apples today. Tomorrow it's squash and I'm freezing peppers as I pick them. I'm hoping our first frost holds off another week or so in order for the rest of the peppers to finish growing. :) Our chickens are starting to molt so the eggs have slowed, but hopefully we'll be back in the swing of things soon.

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  13. I just recently found your blog and so glad I did. I'm looking forward to going backward in time to read more wonderful posts.

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