Mistakes

Well, we are certainly learning from our mistakes this year. After the deer ravaged the green beans I coated them in cayenne pepper, but was certain that they were ruined and left them alone for a week or so. I came back to find that not only had the pepper worked, but I was overrun by green beans almost overnight. Some had grown too big to use. I will dry them for beans to plant next year or use in bean and ham soup. I did can quite a bit (seven quarts, I think). So, I picked and picked and then picked and picked a couple days later. For some reason I thought they were done. I'm not sure why. I didn't bother to weed, I just left them alone and assumed we'd till that area up sooner or later. Tonight I was out by the green beans and looked again to find them covered in more blossoms, trying to grow more green beans for me. So, I have a HUGE weeding job to do now. The grass has come up between them and gone to seed and grown fox tails. I feel sort of guilty for this but at least I'll know next time. The only good thing about the weeds being so big is that they're almost easier to pull than when they're tiny. I just grab a hold and pull huge masses out at a time. Hopefully my hard work tonight and early tomorrow morning will pay off in several more quarts of home-canned green beans.

Now, on to the cayenne pepper - it DOES work. It works VERY well. We have been quite pleased. While I never was brave enough to "drop trou" and try urinating on the garden as some suggested (LOL, as if I would even consider doing that), Bryan did find a product at the farm and home supply store called "Deer Fortress." It was on clearance so he bought it. It's so gross I almost don't want to blog about it but I will. It comes in a package with six gray cylinder-shaped canisters and these little metal spikes to hang them on around your garden. Inside of the canisters is dried hog blood. Apparently the smell frightens the deer. If I could smell it, I'm sure it'd work on me, too. Yuck. Anyway, the deer have stayed away.

Another important note about weeding: Some of our watermelon have rotted underneath. We thought they were doing great but we've had an onslaught of rain this spring and summer with tons of hard rainstorms. We haven't had to water our garden once. Not once! And it's now August! But, with all that rain, any produce that was touching the ground and not getting a chance to dry out well during the day got rotten. We lost a lot of bell peppers this way even though they were weeded, they just got too wet. So, another lesson learned. We are going to be SUCH good gardeners next year! :)

I have been canning tomatoes and even peaches. The peaches were juicy and I canned them in their own juices like you would tomatoes. It's been a very rewarding experience to put up my canned produce in my pantry and think about the wintry days ahead when I'll pull them out to prepare meals for our family.

Treasures

Last year my dad told me that he had found several boxes of canning jars that belonged to my Great Granny Hare. I was so excited to pack them up and bring them home with me. This summer we finally got to see them. They were dirty and dusty and packed in old boxes but they were absolutely perfect. We brought them home and set them in the garage until it was time to start canning. This past weekend I got them out.


I love the colors, shapes, sizes and names of these jars. I wondered why some of them had the blue color. It's mesmerizing to me. I have some of them up in my kitchen window right now just to gaze at. As I began canning I realized that when you place green food inside of these blue-tinted jars it gives it a rich and appealing color, as compared to the clear glass. I love the names; Presto Supreme Mason, Ball Perfect Mason, Knox Mason and, my personal favorite - Atlas Strong Shoulder Mason.


Holidays 1977: Me at age 6 months with Great Grandad and Granny Hare during the holidays. My mother says they absolutely loved me.

I don't know if I can put into words how special it was to me to get to have these jars and to use them. I know they're just jars but, to me, they are treasures. I don't even feel that they are mine, but that they are hers and I'm being allowed to use them. I believe that our ancestors watch us and take joy in seeing our interests, especially when they mirror their own. I went to the garage this Saturday morning and began opening the dusty boxes and pulling out various jars to wash and can with. It felt almost sacred to take them out of their resting places and revive them. I wondered if she was the last person to can with them and pondered what she put in them. I held one up to my nose and closed my eyes to take a deep breath, curious to see if I might be able to catch just a trace of what had been there. There was no smell but I was delighted to find a brittle old sticker on one that read, "Apples."

I enjoyed the rest of my day canning. I canned jam, green beans and dill pickles. I used a pressure canner for the first time ever. It's safe to say I'm hooked. I love this new hobby and I love that I've learned a skill that my great-grandmother had. I especially love these little treasured jars.

Just Peachy!

I have a friend locally who has a large orchard. She grows all kinds of stuff, but mostly apples. She also has peaches. I asked her to let me know if she had any "peach seconds." Seconds would be produce that had something a little wrong with it but was still usable. They may have bad spots or, in her case, a spot where one of her ducks has taken a bite. They're great for canning and freezing because it doesn't matter if they don't look perfect - you just cut off the bad parts and go on. I love that it keeps the fruit from getting wasted. How can you stand to waste delicious summer fruit?!


Well, I heard from her late last week and she sold me 20 pounds of peach seconds for $6. Yep - 20 pounds of peaches for only $6. That's easier than growing them myself! Ask around your area for an orchard or pick-your-own place. You never know what type of deals you might find.

As you can see, most of my peaches were pretty good. Some were pretty mushy or moldy, especially by the third day I worked on them, but I was able to use all of them.


I was able to peel, slice and freeze 4 quarts and put them in a deep freeze. To freeze them you will first need to peel them. You can either do this by blanching them (immersing them in boiling water for about 30 or 40 seconds and then transferring them to an ice bath causing the skin to come off easily) or just using a top grade fruit and vegetable peeler. Cut off your bad spots and cut the flesh completely away from the pit - remember not to waste! Line them out on a cookie sheet (I had wax paper on mine but don't think it was necessary) so that they will freeze individually. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for an hour or two, then remove and put them promptly into freezer bags and put them in the deep freeze. This way, you can pull out just a handful of peach slices if you want to drop them in your oatmeal or have them for a snack without defrosting the whole bag at once.

I also had some leftover strawberries in the freezer and I made a strawberry-peach jam. It's heavenly. I think it'd be great as a dessert jam, maybe on homemade biscuits after dinner or as a filling for a layer cake. We also ate lots of fresh peaches this weekend and today I used the last of them for a peach cobbler. I'm planning on asking for more. It's just such a great price and I was able to keep them in the fridge and work on them little by little over the weekend. I may make a frozen peach pie filling so during the winter I can just whip up a crust and pour it in and be ready to go. I love that we'll be enjoying the fruits of our labors long into the winter.

My Dear Little Deer,

I've noticed how you took the time to sample absolutely everything in my garden. You've eaten tomato plants, green beans, baby watermelon, pie pumpkins, and even bell pepper leaves. I'm certain that the majority of these items don't even appeal to you. While I've always considered you a graceful and beautiful animal and have admired you as you run around the neighboring woods, I now realize that you are an arrogant and snooty animal and think you can just ravage and waste what is not rightfully yours! I see you decided to try an unripened pie pumpkin rind and then spit it out all over the ground. Not your taste? Please stop ravaging my garden!!!

Sincerely,

The Gardener

ps - I'll be seeing you this fall with my first ever deer tag and a big fat grin on my face.

So, you see we are learning with the garden. The deer weren't a problem until all of a sudden. And then, within a day or two, the entire garden had been ravaged. I had a beautiful crop of green beans coming in and I was so looking forward to canning them. Not only did they eat them, they trampled them and I think I even found a spot where a deer laid down and took a nap in them. The tomatoes are mostly fine as they have the cages around them, so the deer are merely pruning the tops for me, making the plant more bushy and hardy. I had a baby watermelon plant that looks similar to the pie pumpkin.

The pie pumpkin was heartbreaking for me. Where we live, there was a pie pumpkin shortage last fall and I was unable to buy pie pumpkin all winter. I've heard it's easy to can and was so looking forward to growing my own and enjoying pumpkin bread and pumpkin walnut pancakes and pumpkin and black bean soup. I basically had a tantrum when I found that pumpkin. We were given two pieces of advice from everyone who heard our troubles. #1: Let my boys pee all around the garden. #2: Cover the leaves of everything with cayenne pepper. We have neighbors and they're trying to sell their house so I went with the second option.

You can see how the top of the bell pepper plant in the photo above has been nibbled away. It's been two days now since I peppered the garden and they've left it alone. I picked a sad amount of beans. I think it may be too late for them - the deer really worked them over quickly - but I'm determined to save our corn.

Also, I have many new watermelons coming in and some more little pie pumpkins. Notice how spicy they are. I think it won't affect the flavor as they have a naturally dense rind and it's not near the roots.

Still, as frustrating as this was, it was a learning experience. It'll make us better gardeners next year. I'm not sure if we'll be putting in an electric fence or not but we have some time to think about it. We'll definitely have to do something differently. Hopefully we can fend them off for the rest of the season with the pepper. Fingers crossed...

Lillie's Gorgeous Garden

Ok gardeners, are you ready for some inspiration? Well, here it is...


This garden belongs to my sister-in-law and her husband. They have been avid gardeners since they got married so they've been through several years of trial and error and they know what they like and what works. I felt they had some handy tips and ideas to share.



First off, you'll notice the electric fence they've installed this year. They live in the country and the deer will eat your garden before you have a chance to enjoy it. (Sadly, we've learned this this year). The fence is also low to the ground to keep out rabbits and other small animals, as well as the larger ones. They purchased the pieces for this and installed it themselves. It's worked beautifully.

We've always used tomato cages because that's what we have, but I think we'll be trying this next year. These are cattle panels. They come in six foot sections and can be purchased at farm and home supply stores.

As the tomato plants grow up Josh and Lillie push the top of the plant back and forth through the bars, weaving the plant as it grows. They say they've tried lots of methods and they like this the best because it's easy to weed and easy to pick. They also use the cattle panels for their peas and blackberries.

Lillie commented that when they were first married and had less property, they began experimenting with adding in crops that were also ornamental so they could fit right into the landscaping without taking up lots of space. I remember they had lots of fruit trees and grape vines. She was always canning something delicious. (My friend Jolin also does an amazing job of fitting crops into the landscape. Sadly, I forgot my camera on my visit to her Kansas City garden).

Lillie has used their cabbage to make sauerkraut.

She describes this method as being "straight from the Depression Era." You shred your fresh cabbage and stuff it down into a sterilized jar. You add a teaspoon of salt and begin pouring in hot, sterile water. You let it sit and add more water until it's almost all the way full. Then, you put a lid on it and set it in the sun. Over a couple of weeks as it ferments the salt will prevent the growth of bacteria. When it has finished fermenting and settles back down it will seal the lid and voila - you've got homemade sauerkraut. How about that?

You'll also notice the pond in the background there. Josh commented to me once that he would sometimes carry water from the pond to water the garden to avoid watering with treated water that would add chemicals (from the tap).

This is the little strawberry patch that they put in this year. There are young peach trees next to it, and this area is enclosed in the electric fence as well. These strawberries have done really well.



Here she is picking zucchini. I took some home and made zucchini bread with it. Yum!


I believe these are the watermelon plants. Behind Lillie you can see an area that has been dug up. They had just harvested their potatoes and did quite well. She is able to get a year's supply of many things from their garden; potatoes, corn, green beans, blackberries, bell peppers, tomatoes, etc. The bell peppers she just chops and freezes. They freeze well. They also do great if you dehydrate them, then you just add them to soups and chili in the winter and they taste just like the fresh peppers.


Now, are you ready for something really freaky? Well, they had a bunch of pumpkin plants come up voluntarily. Apparently, pumpkin can cross-pollinate with watermelon. They now have an odd assortment of pumpkins growing. Some are little and yellow like this:


Some are bumpy with watermelon stripes like this:


Notice here how the pumpkin leaves morph and turn into watermelon leaves. These are pumpkin plants:


And finally, the weirdest part of all? They are thinking that pumpkin can also cross-pollinate with zucchini because look at this pumpkin. Please note the size of that thing - compare it to Lillie's hand. It's a monster zucchini-pumpkin:

I'm curious to see what they look like inside when they cut them open.

Well, I hope you all got some ideas. I love looking at other's gardens. Everyone has a different way of doing things and there's always something to be learned. Lillie and Josh - thanks for letting me come photograph and share your garden!

Canning Pickles

While my garden is not yet ready to start canning from, my sister-in-law and her husband planted about 6 weeks earlier than we did and she's been sharing. I sent over some homemade bread one day and the next day she sent over a bunch of cucumbers! I didn't even plant cucumbers this year so it was even better. I looked up a recipe for bread and butter pickles and have made about 8 jars (she's sent them twice now as she has more than she can use). This recipe also uses white onions which I bought at the store. We opened some last week and put them on grilled burgers and OH. MY. GOODNESS. they were good! Much better than anything I've ever bought at the store.

I've never canned pickles before but I found it to be simple, yet time consuming. I think that basically sums up canning of all types. It's not really hard, it just takes time, but it's well worth the effort.

And, as for my sister-in-law's garden goes - I'm going to go take photos. It's awe-inspiring. Seriously. She and her husband have been avid gardeners since they got married and they're really good at it. They have lots of ideas to share.

Here is a photo of my canning jars preparing to boil and sanitize before I made the bread and butter pickles.

When it comes to jars, they can be expensive. When we moved into our home we found boxes and boxes of canning jars thrown out in the shed. They were dirty, but since they are glass, we can wash and sanitize them and they'll be as good as new. All I've had to buy are some new lids and bands and we're good to go. I've also heard of people finding them for pennies at yard sales.

These particular jars (shown), however, are very special. My dad found boxes of canning jars that belonged to my great-grandmother. She used to can in them. I LOVE antiques. Most of these jars only have slight differences to the modern ones, like different designs, but to me they are treasures. I used some of them to can the pickles and I reminisced about what my Great Granny Hare would have canned in them and what it was like in her garden and in her kitchen where she did her canning. Some of the jars are an antique green glass. I can't wait to use them. Maybe for green beans?

An added bonus of making these pickles is that I will soon have a year's supply of pickles in my food storage. That may not sound like much but it's one less thing I have to buy at the store over the next year. I can use them for all sorts of things; garnishes, toppings, tuna salad, potato salad, etc. And, if you're wondering about the onions, they're as crunchy and tasty as the pickles. Divine!

Vinegar in the Wash

I've never been a fan of vinegar. I've always detested the smell of it. In fact, I'm certain that the only times I've used it in the past were for certain recipes that required it - like Asian cole slaw. Several of my savvy blog readers, however, have told me about the benefits of using vinegar in the wash and I have to say, I'm becoming quite the fan of the stinky substance!

Here's how it works:

1. Put 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar into the fabric softener compartment in your washing machine.

2. Run the machine like normal.

3. End up with fabulous results! First off, it acts as a fabric softener. Your clothes will be fluffier and softer. Secondly, it helps prevent your laundry from souring. Now, if you leave it in there a really long time I'm sure it still will but I left a damp load in the dryer for 24 hours on accident (on a warm day) and it was still fresh when I found it. I didn't have to rewash it. Third, if you have trouble with a stinky washer it fixes that, too! A couple of people commented that they have a type of drain on their washer that holds a little water and it was always stinky. They added vinegar as a rinse-aid and voila! no more stinky washer. And finally - It's so stinkin' cheap compared to purchasing fabric softener. For my family, it's an added bonus because I hadn't been able to use fabric softener at all since we have such sensitive skin.

Now, I know what you are thinking... Are my clothes going to smell like vinegar? No! Not in the slightest. This may be the thing that surprised me the most, but, it's true. I can smell it a little in the washer because there's a little bit in the fabric softener compartment, but the clothing just smells fresh and clean, no vinegar odor at all.

I'm now using vinegar to help clean my toilets, as a fabric softener, and as a rinse-aid in my dishwasher instead of an expensive store-bought rinse aid. I've gone from having a teeny bottle of the stuff tucked back in the pantry somewhere to buying this industrial sized bottle to use all around the house! Love it! Thanks, readers, for turning me on to this great idea.