Kitchen Stuff

This is kind of mish mash post. We've been really busy in the kitchen of late. Then I picked up Salmonella from something (still not sure what exactly... but something outside..) and that took me out of commission for some time. Let me tell you , Salmonella is NO fun. I wanted to die. And I think I had a pretty mild case actually with none of the usual symptoms except possible hurling my guts out. ANYway, moving on, I am better, several pounds lighter and willing to look at food again. I've had enough energy to do things for a few days then I overdue it and have to crash for a few days. But it is so good to be able to DO something when I can that maybe I get carried away. Anyway, I'm thankful for whatever I get.

Isn't this weird? I thought the leaf coming out of one was weird but this is definitely weirder... is that a word?

I'm not sure what variety these are because they don't look like anything I planted. Except for the one on the right which is a Poona Kheera.

Blueberry ice cream. It looked very strange. But it tasted very good. Now we have no more blueberries because I used them all up.

A Hillbilly. A fat one. I was very proud.

TWO Fat Hillbillies.

They are going to bury us soon ...

But we are fighting back by sucking the life out of them in the dehydrator .

Fermenting apple juice .

This tastes better..

Well look what we have here.

I was just leaving....

Pardon me...

I love red. Well, when it is on tomatoes and stuff.... I can't wear it.

More squash.... Elly May chops it up for pickles. I think we canned 19 pints of stuff that day.... I didn't get a picture because it got put away before that happened. And by then I was too sick to care about anything.

Still not enough for ketchup though...

But we did make tomato soup.

Then I made Minnesota Chili Sauce which is some old tomato relish type recipe I got a long time ago. It is really good on meat . First you have to scald and peel tomatoes though. Not my favorite job. So Elly May did it. ;-)

And I chopped.

Pretty.....

On to the beans. We've been saving them up for days til we had enough to do to make it worthwhile to heat the kitchen up with the canner.

I wish the purple ones staid purple after they got cooked... It would look so much nicer...

One batch down...

For the next batch we actually had flowering dill heads .. FINally....

And I put some of our yellow peppers in.. just because they looked cute.

Voila.... Phew! I feel very accomplished. And tired. There are still more tomatoes... More squash... but they can wait. Especially since we have a major heat wave hitting us now with some triple digits. The pool is very nice about now.

The Saga of Galeux de' Eysines

I decided to plant the weird French variety of winter squash called Galeux de Eysines from Baker Creek this year . I'm sure I've mentioned it before. And posted pictures. Well, I must have planted 20 seeds over the course of 3 different planting times and only 2 deigned to come up. I was kinda bummed. Two? Two measly plants? I'm so thankful now. I had no idea this squash was something out of Jumanji . If I had any more than two I don't think I'd have much else in my garden this year. Originally I thought I'd just let it meander in the walkway but that quickly proved to be a lousy idea. There would be no walkway at all if this thing had its way. So... Dad helped me put up some trellis. It reached the top in a day or so..... So now I had to do something else. We had some other trellis laying around and a friend who is handy at things like this, rigged up a better set up for me . (Thank you!!!) . Though this should last a few more days until it takes over the chicken roof.... It makes a nice shade canopy now...I just better get some good squash out of this whole mess before the year is over.. That's all I have to say...

The new trellis... up and ready.

It sends its tentacles out and grabs on...

It is a pretty plant.

And you could use the leaves as umbrellas if need be.

These things really have a mind of their own.

A squash! Yay!!

Now, one week later.... it has nearly covered the trellis. Sending out new tendrils all the time.

Happenings

A picture post to catch up on the goings on round ch'ere.
Tomatoes are coming in!

That squash (a Galeux de Eysines from Baker Creek... which took me about 2o seeds to get 2 plants because I planted 3 different times until something finally came up...) is getting ginormous. I measured it and it grows about 6 inches in a 24 hr period. I think it will take over the upper garden. I'm so glad only 2 came up! If they all came up I'd be in deep trouble right about now.

This was a few days ago.. it is about twice the size now.

June garden... basil ready for pesto.... mmmmmm. And tomatoes... finally the tomatoes.

Summer is time for .... ice cream. And we've been experimenting with how cold we can get our chill water before we put the ice cream in the actually freezer thingy. Well, you're supposed to chill it in the fridge for 12 hours but who has that kind of patience. Elly May came racing in to tell me she got it down to 0 F and I told her to take a picture but when she tried again it had gone up to 8... still that is pretty darn cold. It takes a lot of salt to get there.

Chocolate macadamia nut .... mmmm. Our own recipe. It is very rich and the best tasting chocolate ice cream EVER and it is made with raw milk so it is healthy. ;-) Only this batch.... well... someone didn't sniff the cream first and it was a little teeny bit on the sour side. So.... well... it just tastes a little ... shall we say... off...

What a beaut!!

Father's Day... we had hamburgers but grilled steak for dad. Was it ever good. Grass fed beef from Chaffin Family Orchards (thanks Chris!!) .

The spread..

Sample plate.

Pesto time.

Somehow it doesn't look as nice all chewed... I mean ground up.

Ever had pesto on a fried green tomato? You are missing out in life .

Yummy.

Makin' garlic braids with oversight from Jesse.

It is kind of fun once you get the hang of it.

Canning season is here! I accidentally deleted the pictures of the squash before it got this far but oh well. This is zucchini. Three kinds actually. A yellow, an Italian and a regular black beauty.. at least I think that is what it was. These are being pickled.

All done. Pickles are surprisingly easy. Well, the vinegar ones anyway. I've done the fermented ones and they take a bit more time and labor. Soon we'll (hopefully ) be canning dilly beans and tomatoes. Thats all for now around the farm.