Preserving from the Garden

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Green Beans

First, I wash my beans. I then shake them dry or dry them on a paper towel. I cut both ends off my green beans, then cutting the beans into two or three pieces. I transfer those pieces into a gallon freezer bag, use the water displacement method to remove extra air, then I label with item month and year, then I freeze. I have already done two large harvests this month and was able to fill this bag in just 2 weeks. I planted 12 green bean vines.

To do the water displacement method, fill a large bowl or pot with water. Seal your bag 3/4 of the way and remember the edge that is open. Begin submerging the bag into the water. Leave out the edge that is open, and once most air is removed, seal the rest of the bag. You can then flatten out the contents of the bag for easy storage.

Onions

When I harvested all my onions, I first had to let them dry out. So, I stored them in this container on my kitchen windowsill. The windowsill gets pretty warm but it doesn’t get much sun, just a bit when it’s setting, and it’s not very strong that time of day. Once the tops all browned, I began preserving. If you have a root cellar, you can chop off the tops just above the stem, and clean off the roots, then they can immediately go into storage. If you don’t have a dry space under ground like me, then you can simply dice them and place them in the freezer for future use. I got two full sandwich bags, and I have used them heavily before processing the last of them. I once again used water displacement method to remove air.

Carrots

Carrots can lose nutrients if you pick them and leave the tops on in hot weather. So, our harvest was in two batches. We emptied a bin, took the carrots inside. Cut the tops from the carrots. then repeated with the second batch. Once all the carrots were harvested, I scrubbed them to remove dirt and the roots. Once all were processed, I cut off the tops and the end of the root, then I sliced then and transferred them to gallon freezer bag. I then used water displacement to remove the air, labeled them, then added them to my freezer.

Tomatoes

My tomatoes were starting to go bad, and since I haven’t had any more to harvest lately, I figured one small canner of tomatoes was better than nothing for now. You aren’t supposed to use rotting or damaged tomatoes, however that is how my family has done it for generations. First, cut off any bad spots deep into the tomato. Sanitize your knife and the spots. Then treat them like normal tomatoes. Drop the tomatoes into boiling water, boil for 1-2 minutes, then transfer into an ice bath. After a minute or so, the skin will loosen from the fruit. Remove a tomato and place on a cutting board. Cut off the top stem then peel off the skin. Dice your tomatoes then add to a preheated jar. (I just soak them in very hot water.) Fill your canner 1/2 way with water and bring to a boil. Also bring a small saucepan of water to a boil, then add the needed number of lids and remove from heat. Push down on the tomatoes and add any extra juice from your dicing. Once near to the top, you need to add Lemon juice and salt. For a Quart add 2 Tbsp lemon and 2 tsp salt, and for a pint, add 1 Tbsp lemon and 1 tsp salt. Add more tomatoes/some very hot water to get to 1/2 inch from the upper lip of the jar. You will then need to stick a butter knife down the edges of the jar to remove air pockets. Then you can wipe the rim clean, add the lid and ring, finger tight, then once all are ready, add them to your water bath, add additional water to cover the jars, bring that to a boil, the process for 85 minutes. Once they are done, carefully remove hot jars and place on several towels on the counter, and let cool to room temperature. Check the tops to see if they sealed, remove the rings, wipe down the jars and label, then store in a dark and cool location for the most available storage time.

August 18, 2020 0

August Weekend Harvest and Next Year Contemplation

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This weekend we got a huge harvest from the garden. We pulled our 2 fabric pots of carrots and we harvested green beans after several weeks of waiting. For the green beans, we rinsed them then immediately preserved them. (I’ll do a post about preservation of food really soon. I have decided to freeze veggies this year since I have no interest in pressure canning.) As for the carrots, we pulled them in 2 batches and immediately took each batch inside to remove the carrot tops. You should immediately remove the carrot tops from your carrots once they leave the ground, because if they sit in 90 F weather for more than 10 minutes, it’s bad for both the carrot and the tops, if you plan to use them like us. Once all the carrots were separated, I used a brush and water to remove the dirty and roots. I also threw the carrot tops in a strainer and rinsed them before prepping them meals by removing extra length off the long stems.

I’ll do a post soon about how I preserved the carrots and green beans, as well as how I am saving my onion harvest that I pulled the end of last month.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about the garden for next year and maybe planting more for this fall. I have seeds for more radishes that I plan to plant this fall, however I’m still terribly indecisive. We are thinking of putting up one to two more raised beds by the peach tree that would be low maintenance plants, but we’re still deciding on that too. So far, I’ve decided on double the tomato plant for next year, 10 indeterminate, and another row of green beans but on a trellis double the height of the fence this year. I would also like to plant garlic this fall for next year, but I’m still determining were to place that. We are planning two fabric bags of each, potatoes and sweet potatoes. And, if we are able to get in one more bed, I’ve been thinking about bell peppers, cabbage, and broccoli. If we add a second bed, I’m also considering more onions and carrots. If you have any thoughts or input, it is greatly appreciated. This was my first year with a garden, so any advice is helpful.

August 13, 2020 0

Green Beans

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It’s not everyday I do two posts, however, my earlier post was short, so I wanted to share another today. I’m growing green beans in my garden this year. I usually just serve canned green beans, but I was convinced they would be good to have fresh, and if we don’t have them fresh, we can at least freeze them to preserve them. Here is a delicious way to serve them that doesn’t take much time or fancy prep work.

Green Beans Recipe Card Download

What You Will Need

Fresh Green Beans
Knife and Cutting Board
Small Saucepan and Slotted Spoon
Water
Salt and Butter

Directions

Rinse your green beans, transfer to your cutting board.
Cut off both ends of the green beans, cut into 1 1/2 – 2 inch pieces, then transfer to your saucepan.
Add enough water to cover, add 1 Tbsp salt to pan, and place over medium high heat. Cook for at least 5 minutes.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer cooked beans onto serving dishes. Once plated, top with salt and a thin pad of butter.

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August 1, 2020 0

Homemade Baked Beans

I started this recipe in a saucepan, as you can see in the pictures below. I had never worked with dried beans before, so I had no concept of how long they would take to fully cook. After cooking for a couple hours and straining them, I added the sauce, but they still needed longer to cook. I highly recommend making this recipe in a slowcooker and just letting it go for 24 hours to make sure all of it is done. I wasn’t able to make these that easily, however, the recipe below is how I would make it in the future. The sauce for the beans is very good. They are sweet from the syrup, but have lots of good savory flavors thanks to all the spices. If you want, you could add some fat from any meats you may cook. That would add more savory flavor and also add to the overall flavor of your beans.

In a slowcooker, add 1 pound of Great Northern beans. Rinse, and cover with at least 2 inches of water. Cook on high heat, covered until it boils. Reduce heat to low and cook for 6-12 hours (overnight) or until soft.
Strain your beans and return to slowcooker.
Add 1/2 cup maple syrup, 2 Tbsp Brown sugar, 1/2 diced medium onion, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp Mustard powder, 1 Tbsp ground ginger, 1 Tbsp garlic powder, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 Tbsp Oyster sauce, and 2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce. Stir and heat over low for 1-2 hours.
Refrigerate and serve later, serve right away, or keep over low heat for as long as you desire.

July 20, 2020 0

Garden Update June 2020

Hello, and welcome to another one of my garden updates. My last update was for May, and this one is for June. (Sorry it’s a bit later than the last one.) My garden has grown so fast, it’s shocking! I’ve gotten some radishes and lettuce off my plants, and this weekend I was able to get some cucumbers off my plants too.

This last month I’ve learned some valuable lessons. First, and I mentioned it in my last post, it is so important to space radishes. I tried to get them high density, just it just grew into a mess, and it took about 2 weeks longer to get any. Also, the two pictures below of harvested radishes is all the radishes I was able to harvest out of that mess. I had several radishes break under the soil and begin to rot, and I had many many more that produced no bulb due to overcrowding.

Second, I’ve discovered that cucumbers are a handful! I’ve been trying to grow them vertically, tying them to a tomato cage. And, though that works, They don’t climb naturally well, so I find myself every 1-2 days in the garden directing and tying off my cucumber plants. I also trimmed off some of the lower leaves off my cucumbers. They were turning yellow and dying, and they were also restricting air flow and making it hard to see any low hanging cucumbers.

Third, I learned all spacing needs to be respected more. I planted my green beans and cucumbers about 18 inches apart, and you’d swear they are star-crossed lovers. I go out into my garden everyday, and I always see these two plants reaching for one another, and being less than an inch from becoming a tangled mess I don’t look forward to dealing with. However, my other bed of lettuce, Swiss chard, tomatoes, and onions aren’t having any crowding issues. My Swiss chard didn’t come up. I believe I waited too long to plant. I also planted another segment of lettuce, and that also didn’t come up, I’m assuming same problem. My onions in that bed have appeared to stop growing. They are tinier than the other bed despite being planted earlier. They tops have also begun to fall over on several in that bed, leading me to believe pour drainage is likely a problem. I have several tomatoes that are nice and big, however none have begun to turn red yet. I also have one that a bug got into, but that’s not bad.

Fourth, I’ve learned good soil and drainage is important. As I just mentioned, my one bed isn’t holding onions, and I’m positive that if it isn’t holding onto moisture too much, the soil is likely not giving them enough nutrients. This bed was filled with mostly decomposed mulch, so the soil isn’t as good as my other bed. Besides that, the fabric bags we filled using soil from my in-law’s house, and their soil has a very high clay content. Because of this, in the hot June/July weather, I have to go and water them about every other day, when I see the leaves really wilting.

I’ve gotten everything planted and going. Some things aren’t growing as well as others, but I’m learning. We got a peach tree about 2 weeks ago and got that into the ground. I also left a few radishes to go to seed, and I have 2 onion sets going to seed now.

Ive also fertilized my soil about 3 times. I’ve been using Miracle Grow plant food for vegetables. Between that, watering regularly, and all the warm weather, my veggies have grown so fast!