HomeGrownVegetables

Well it’s mid June and still no rain, the heat around here is breaking records and the tomatoes and squash are still going gangbusters, so is my water bill!

Just a little photo update until it slows down a little around here!

The Veggies

The squash is going pretty strong, it’s a yellow straight neck variety and it is good, also have some green zucchini mixed in there too.

Yellow straight neck squash

More Squash

Onion Seeds

I cut all the seed heads off the onions that bloomed, looks like a lot of onions next year!

Drying the Onion Seed Heads

Cucumbers

After a rocky start with the chickens, the cukes are really growing well, they are moving up the trellises as planned. we still have to keep the chickens out, they don’t stop!

This is the slicing variety Marketmore 76

The pickling cukes, forget the variety.

The Cukes climbing the trellis.

New Additions To The Farm

We had a few new additions to the farm last week, one was a new Jersey Heifer named Roxi and four new chicks hatched this week as well.

The newest addition

The proud mama

The new chixs

So there you have it, been real busy around this joint for the last few weeks!

Stay tuned for more.

Even with the dry conditions, the veggies keep growing. They don’t grow as fast or as big as we would like , but they still grow.

We did get a little rain this last week, but we are way behind so everything is behind the cure. We had a major water bill last month just to keep this stuff going.

The Beets

The beet looked real good, got some nice ones out of this bunch, take a look.

I think this bunch is going to be pickled, along with some of the onions we picked this week.

Peppers And Onions

The onions all started to fall over last week, so I started pulling, well Cathy and I started pulling, we got a few nice ones but most are a little bigger than spring onion size. Still good though.

The peppers are looking good, they love the heat, they almost grow like weeds!

Carrots

The carrots also stayed a little on the small side, most of the looked ok though. we made up for the lack of size by shear numbers!

That’s what we had going on this week, I’m also working on the Whizbang Chicken Plucker, check the story out on the other blog bearded-h.com .

As always, thanks for stopping by!

We haven’t seen any good rain around here in quite a while and the veggies are showing it. I got my water bill for last month, $100 just to keep everything alive. I hope we get some rain soon!!

Anyway enough cry babying , With the drought still on we do have some stuff coming in, although not as much as we would like.

Green Beans

The green beans are doing good, not gangbusters but good enough. We picked two gallon sized buckets full last week, gave some to my dad and cooked some up for supper one night, we also froze a couple bags for later.  Like I said there are enough for us for now, it would work better with rain though!

Bucket of Green Beans

Yellow Zucchini

The squash vines are starting to show some signs of life, they have been slow to get a good start. There are getting to be a foot or two tall and making fruit, so far just the yellow zucchini, that’s ok though, the green zucchini and the crook neck squash are starting to poke thru. Patience is what we need, along with alot of rain!  My other question is , why do the weeds do so well in these condition ! hehehe

Yellow Zucchini

Cucumbers

The cucumbers took a hit at the beginning when the chickens scratched them up, but with some fencing and stakes , that’s not a problem now!  the cukes are a little slow right now too, all we can do is keep the water going and hope for the best. I did see a ray of hope the other day though!

One lone cuke

Well I hope the weather is better in your neck of the woods!

Til next time, garden away!

Pulled up some radishes this morning, radishes are the instant gratification of the garden world! These are crisp and delicious, gonna be replanting these every week or so.  We have the White Icicle and the Red Radish in these photos.

Other News

The green peas, onions and garlic are all chugging along as well as can be in this drought.  The cucumbers are coming up , I planted a second set to extend my harvest a little longer, we did gangbusters on the cukes last season!

So that’s it for now, it’s starting to get busy around here.

I know, I know it should be Black Eyed Peas, but we had a bumper crop of Purple Hulls this year so why not?  The Cabbage is this years fall garden wonder, the freezing temps have been crazy this year with the latest being Dec. 23 at 23 degrees, but the cabbage keeps going, so this will be fried up in some bacon grease yum yum!

Purple Hulls in the Pot

See they even look like black eyed peas, these have been cookin all day and they smell good!!

Cabbage From The Fall Garden

So anyway, that is our good luck, new years dinner, hope you have a good one too!!

and Happy New Year , hope 2011 is the best year for you yet!!

With the great Okra harvest we’ve been pulling in it’s time to put some up for a rainy, cold day …since the frost will kill it dead, so we pickled a whole mess of it.

I used one of the many recipes you can find on the web, the brine is pretty standard across the board, its the spices and other flavors that make each batch your own. So here is what we did!

First thing, sterilize the jars and lids, I have a large stock pot full of water, I put the jars and lids in the water and bring to a boil, leave em for 10 minutes and pull em out with the jar lifter, set them aside to cool.

Next gather brine supplies, recipe follows!

Pickled Okra

1 quart vinegar – white,cider,rice  your choice

1 cup water

1/2 cup pickling salt

I also add about 3 tablespoons of sugar, to balance the salt.

That’s the basic brine, the you can add Garlic cloves, red peppers , black peppercorns, mustard seeds or what ever you like!

Vinegar and Spices

Put that in a non reactive pan on the stove and bring to and bring to a boil.

In the mean time, clean and trim your okra, I make a slit in the side of each pod so the brine gets in and you get a better idea of the brine level in the jars.

Cleaned Okra

After cleaning, pack your sterilized jars with the cleaned and trimmed okra, we also put and extra clove of garlic, a medium jalapeno pepper, and a 1/4 teaspoon of mustard seed in each jar.  You have to pack the okra in there real tight or they will float around after they are sealed, that way the stay submerged in the brine.

Garlic And Peppers

About to Pack The Jars.

Packed Jars

Once the jars are packed , and the brine has reached a boil, carefully ladle the brine into the jars of packed okra , use the canning funnel its so easy!  Let the brine settle and the top off your jars with the proper headspace, about 1/2 inch, clean the top of the jar off with a damp cloth and put the lid and ring on the jar.

Brined With Lids, Ready For The Hot Water Bath

Now for the hot water bath, using the jar lifter, carefully set the okra filled jars into the boiling water and make sure there is at least 2 inches of water over the top of the lids. keep in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Hot Water Bath

I topped off the water after the jars went in to bring the water level up, it doesn’t show in the picture.

After the ten minutes remove the jars carefully, don’t forget it is boiling water lol!, and set them on a dishrag to cool, if they sealed right you will hear a pop as the jars cool and the lids seal.

Jars Of Pickled Okra Cooling.

Now you could eat these after a day or so, but it’s better to let them sit for at least a week, two is better. that way all the flavors get a chance to mix it up!

Well the vegetables have been coming in for a month or so now and I wanted you to see the laod of good stuff we have!

The Veggies

Here is a rack of stuff we picked from the garden, this is just a small portion of the jackpot. We have some green tomatoes, cucumbers, strait and crook neck yellow squash, zucchini , jalapeno and banana peppers,  green bell peppers and one lone butter nut squash that my nephew  picked , it wasn’t ready , but he couldn’t help himself!

Green Tomatoes

The tomatoes didn’t get to ripen all the way due to a chicken attack on them, so we had to salvage what we could. These tomatoes will give up their existence to make some chow cow, fried green tomatoes and relish, along with a wonderful salsa my wife made the other day …it was delish!

More Veggies

Here is just the up close of the other veggies, the cucumbers are doing well on the trellis system and the squash is really rolling too. The butternuts have a few more weeks to develop and there are some acorn squash out there waiting for the right time to pick. The peppers are coming in hot and heavy, get it? hehehe  We have a mess of Jalapeno and about twice that in banana peppers , we pickled several quarts of those, just like a major sandwich chain makes…you know the one, its named after mass transit!  Anyway they are good eatin, if I do say so myself.

Squash and Zuccini

And here is a close up of the squash and zucchini, these summer squash have really done better than I expected so we have frozen alot of it, along with making pickles out of the cucumbers and some jalapeno jelly and and a batch of basil/apple jelly.