Tasks:
Harvested a milk crate full of basil for Kim at the MC food service
Major website work
Canned okra pickles, cucumber pickles, and hot pepper pickles
Canned grape jelly
Pulled dead plants from herb garden
Cleaned up around the bricks of perennial beds and herb garden
Cleaned up debris and tools around the garden
Sprayed squash with BT and trees with sulfur
Planted sweet potatoes
Re-trellised peppers
Oven roasted tomatoes
Solidified activity schedule for fall semester
Blanched okra and zucchini
Painted sign
Notes:
Belstar tomatoes: Both of the Belstar varieties we grew this year are disappointing in a myriad of ways: the growth form, the quality of tomatoes, and now the resistance to pests. As of the past week or too, we throw away four times as many Belstar tomatoes as we harvest. They are either cracked, bug-eaten, or rotten and soft on the vine. We know this is strictly a variety issue because the Red Dafels and the Big Beefs are completely fine.
First two weeks of tomato harvest: Our tomato harvest has slowed down drastically. Where during the first two weeks we would harvest three or four milk crates full of tomatoes everyday, we now harvest one milk crate full of tomatoes every two days. This may only be a trend with large red tomatoes, as I remember an abundance of yellow and cherry tomatoes plants last year that seemed to be always exploding with fruit. This said, we should plan for this two week heavy-harvest period and preserve accordingly. After the two weeks we can open the harvest up to the community and plan to do much less tomato processing.
Grape jelly: Recently we received a box of concord grapes from John Curtis. We cooked them down with small amounts of water, sugar, an lemon juice, and then strained the mash through a mesh colander. Though the mixture tasted very good, the jelly did not jell, which means we need more pectin. We need to consult the Ball Blue Book for the right amount, but I would estimate a tablespoon of pectin per pint if striving for jelly.
Trellising peppers: Weaving peppers with twine seems to work very well if a few conditions are followed: 1) Use strong metal stakes to start and finish the weave. We used mambo stakes and they are not strong enough. 2) Keep the string taught, and make sure it maintains its tension. 3) Make the line at a level where all of the peppers in contact with it will reach at least three inches above it. Otherwise only the tips of the plants will be supported.
Oven roasted tomatoes: This week we quartered tomatoes, drizzled them with olive oil, salt, basil, oregano, and garlic, and roasted them in an oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 4 hours. When raw, the tomatoes filled up an entire milk crate. We then let them cool and flash froze them. When cooked, they barely filled up a gallon-sized bag. This is a tasty and easy way to preserve tomatoes. They can be thawed and used for cooking, added to humus, or just eaten on crackers.
Blanched okra: Besides pickling okra, we have also begun blanching and freezing it. The hope is to be able to thaw the individual pieces out, chop them up, and then add them to stir fry and soups. The only thing is that once the okra is blanched it becomes very slimy.
Final pickling recipe: 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup water, 1/8 cup salt
Per pint- ¼ tsp pepper corn, two hot peppers, 1-2 cloves of garlic, three sprigs of fresh dill or 1 teaspoon of dried, 1 teaspoon mustard seed, 1 teaspoon dill seed, and 1/8 teaspoon of Alum
Tally of frozen, dried, and canned goods:
Canned: Okra pickles: 11 pints
Pepper pickles: 1 pint
Cucumber pickles: 1 half gallon, 9 quarts, and 5 pints
Bean Pickles: 4 quarts (two of green beans and two of purple beans)
Blackberry Jam: 4 pints
Grape Sauce (failed jelly): 2 pints
Stewed Tomatoes: 11 pints and 14 quarts
Tomatoes sauce: 27 quarts
Tomato Soup: 7 quarts
Tomato Salsa: 18 quarts
Dried: 1 gallon of dried eggplant
3 quarts of dried oregano
3 quarts dried of thyme
Frozen (a rough estimate, measured in bags):
Broccoli: 3 quarts and 2 gallons
Cauliflower: 4 gallons
Bush Beans: 8 gallons
Pole beans: 2 gallons
Turnips: 1 gallon
Swiss Chard: 8 quarts, 1 gallon
Zucchini: 1 gallon
Peas: 3 quarts
Rhubarb: 1 quart
Musk Melon 5 gallons
Bell Pepper: 1 gallon
Red Noodle Bean: 2 gallons
Eggplant: 5 gallons
Acorn Squash: 4 gallons
Basil: 1 gallon