Photo by Daughter (see her reflected in the pot?)A little rain today; the clouds have sat upon the hills across the river and their ghostly feet are stumbling through the damp firs.
I'm canning some tomatoes that are still straggling in. We're predicted to have two days in the nineties this week; but for now I'm relying on the canning kettle to warm the house, and worrying about the tomatoes in the dehydrator, which doesn't do them a lot of good in the rain.
I'm canning some tomatoes that are still straggling in. We're predicted to have two days in the nineties this week; but for now I'm relying on the canning kettle to warm the house, and worrying about the tomatoes in the dehydrator, which doesn't do them a lot of good in the rain.
The Week In Review: planted peas. Late, but that's how it is. Hope to add beets today or tomorrow.
Harvested grapes, sweet corn, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, kale, blackberries (yay, Daughter!), cabbage, yellow zucchini, beets, green zucchini, turnips, turnip greens, kohlrabi, chard, bok choi, radishes, beans, bell peppers, potatoes, onions, garlic, chicken eggs, duck eggs.
Dried apples, tomatoes and beans, canned tomatoes and applesauce, strung leather britches (beans), and wrapped and stored apples. Started fifteen gallons of grape wine (including pulp, so make that eight to ten gallons we hope to bottle -- still, that's ambitious for us!). Our method with tomatoes is to cut the outer slices off all the way round, and these, with the skins on and salted and spiced, go into the solar dryer. The rest of the now-naked tomato goes into the canning pot.
Converting garden waste into compost now -- corn stalks for example are going into the shredder. One corn patch got past us while we were eating out of the other one, and all those ears are going over the fence, where they keep the poultry almighty busy!
Sold chicken eggs and gave away lots of veggies.
100 foot diet: from frozen: rhubarb, chicken. From home canned: blackberry jam. From the land: apples, duck and chicken eggs, bok choi, turnip greens, potatoes, zucchini, elephant garlic, blackberries, cabbage, onions, green beans, basil, chives, onions, cucumbers, eggplant. 100 mile diet: wheat, oats, rye, spelt. 1000+ mile diet: Some corn chips. Successful purists we're not!
What size shredder does it take to handle the corn stalks?
ReplyDeleteOne that costs about twice as much or more than the one we got. Most of the electrics are too puny, as is ours. We're getting by, but barely. It's one of those yellow McCulloughs that get all the rave reviews on Amazon (from people who have never seen a Kemp in action) -- we got taken in. Trying to get electricity to serve as a substitute slave for gasoline is -- well -- trying. We're better off with our machetes in the long run.
ReplyDeleteWhat it is good for, though, is to use as a giant blender -- it's perfect for making wine and cider pulp [grin].
Ah. We had a small electric one briefly that could not handle the corn stalks. I'd like to get a good shredder to turn that sort of yard waste into mulch and/or compost cover. The cost, though, is definitely a limiting factor!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I've never heard of using a chipper-shredder for making wine. LOL!