Where to begin! So much has been going lately with my family, the garden, and some big decisions. We are moving again. This time it is not a rush decision to get out of a bad situation, but instead a thoughtful decision to help Jon's family and finally be able to save up some money. Jon's Gramma's house in Massachusetts needs to be looked after long-term. I hate moving, and I'm not looking forward to being in Mass. again...but having a whole yard and house for very reasonable rent is too good to pass up. Who wants to help me pack?!
And year, the garden seems to get ahead of me. The apartment garden is right here, I don't need to get a ride, but I kinda gave up on it when I saw how slow things were and that I really should have improved the soil...which wasn't going to happen when I knew we would be moving sometime. At my parents'...I should have been in there every day maintaining it, but that is impossible for me. Squash bugs have now gotten all of my cucurbits (squashes, cucumbers). Tomatoes are just starting to come in. Rutabagas are the size of a cabbage. I see two very large Amish pie pumpkins way out in the back. Sunflowers are tall. I'm not sure how it will work with moving and things still going in the garden. I'm hoping to come back before a major frost. I should have a very large quantity of winter squash, rutabaga, turnips, cherry tomatoes, green tomatoes and dried beans to share/trade if anyone is interested. My parents also have tons of sweet corn, cukes, zucchini, summer squash, potatoes and tomatoes for sale!
Until I have my own orchard, I keep an eye out for cheap ways to get fruit and preserve it for the winter. An orchard near Jon's parents', Breezelands Orchards, sells seconds peaches, a file box full for $10. These peaches need to be used within 24 hours before they start to spoil...and this year, I got two boxes. This led to a marathon of peach preserving that did nearly last 24 hours. I took over my mother-in-law's kitchen and patiently worked over the stove, peeling peaches, stirring sugary mixtures, boiling water. I still have no idea how many pints I ended up with because I have filled an entire cupboard. Some of the nicer peaches were sliced and canned in a light syrup, the rest went to jam.
I do not use pectin when making jam, so I ended up taking a basic peach jam recipe and then making my own variations.
Base:
7 cups peach chunks
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 cups sugar
Variations:
Vanilla cinnamon: 1 tsp really good vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon
Blueberry spice: 1 pint blueberries (then enough peach chunks to make a total of 7 cups of fruit), 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp almond extract
Apricot: about 1 cup diced dried apricots -or- 2 cups cubed fresh apricots (then enough peach chunks to make a total of 7 cups of fruit), 1 tsp almond extract, 1 tsp vanilla
Cherry: about 1 cup diced dried pitted cherries -or- 2 cups cubed fresh pitted cherries (then enough peach chunks to make a total of 7 cups of fruit), 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp almond extract
Mango: 1 peeled, pitted, cubed ripe mango (then enough peach chunks to make a total of 7 cups of fruit), 1 tsp rum extract
Spiced peach: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp allspice
*Try these at your own risk. These are not proven recipes as of yet, just food experiments =)
I have also been experimenting with ice cream. My favorite recipes come from David Lebovitz. Jon's favorite ice cream is rum raisin, and he LOVED David's recipe so much that it lasted one day. I can wait to try more of his recipes out (when getting the link I just stopped and stared at his recipes for ten minutes). Maybe tonight will be avocado coconut...but for now, I'm working on Jon's sweater. Again. This time, I'm not pulling it out, now matter how silly it looks. Pictures to come when it actually looks like something.
And year, the garden seems to get ahead of me. The apartment garden is right here, I don't need to get a ride, but I kinda gave up on it when I saw how slow things were and that I really should have improved the soil...which wasn't going to happen when I knew we would be moving sometime. At my parents'...I should have been in there every day maintaining it, but that is impossible for me. Squash bugs have now gotten all of my cucurbits (squashes, cucumbers). Tomatoes are just starting to come in. Rutabagas are the size of a cabbage. I see two very large Amish pie pumpkins way out in the back. Sunflowers are tall. I'm not sure how it will work with moving and things still going in the garden. I'm hoping to come back before a major frost. I should have a very large quantity of winter squash, rutabaga, turnips, cherry tomatoes, green tomatoes and dried beans to share/trade if anyone is interested. My parents also have tons of sweet corn, cukes, zucchini, summer squash, potatoes and tomatoes for sale!
Until I have my own orchard, I keep an eye out for cheap ways to get fruit and preserve it for the winter. An orchard near Jon's parents', Breezelands Orchards, sells seconds peaches, a file box full for $10. These peaches need to be used within 24 hours before they start to spoil...and this year, I got two boxes. This led to a marathon of peach preserving that did nearly last 24 hours. I took over my mother-in-law's kitchen and patiently worked over the stove, peeling peaches, stirring sugary mixtures, boiling water. I still have no idea how many pints I ended up with because I have filled an entire cupboard. Some of the nicer peaches were sliced and canned in a light syrup, the rest went to jam.
I do not use pectin when making jam, so I ended up taking a basic peach jam recipe and then making my own variations.
Base:
7 cups peach chunks
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 cups sugar
Variations:
Vanilla cinnamon: 1 tsp really good vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon
Blueberry spice: 1 pint blueberries (then enough peach chunks to make a total of 7 cups of fruit), 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp almond extract
Apricot: about 1 cup diced dried apricots -or- 2 cups cubed fresh apricots (then enough peach chunks to make a total of 7 cups of fruit), 1 tsp almond extract, 1 tsp vanilla
Cherry: about 1 cup diced dried pitted cherries -or- 2 cups cubed fresh pitted cherries (then enough peach chunks to make a total of 7 cups of fruit), 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp almond extract
Mango: 1 peeled, pitted, cubed ripe mango (then enough peach chunks to make a total of 7 cups of fruit), 1 tsp rum extract
Spiced peach: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp allspice
*Try these at your own risk. These are not proven recipes as of yet, just food experiments =)
I have also been experimenting with ice cream. My favorite recipes come from David Lebovitz. Jon's favorite ice cream is rum raisin, and he LOVED David's recipe so much that it lasted one day. I can wait to try more of his recipes out (when getting the link I just stopped and stared at his recipes for ten minutes). Maybe tonight will be avocado coconut...but for now, I'm working on Jon's sweater. Again. This time, I'm not pulling it out, now matter how silly it looks. Pictures to come when it actually looks like something.
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