WHAT I CANNED THIS YEAR—THE FINAL TALLY

27 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving

DESPITE THE UNSEASONABLY COOL SUMMER HERE I was able to put up quite a bit of produce from the vegetable garden. The paltry crop of peppers–seven pounds of mixed green (read unripe) peppers, Anaheim/long green, anchos, sweet Italian/pimento types, and jalapeno were combined with ripe, slightly ripe and green tomatoes, and became Tomato-Chile Salsa a week ago. The tomato plants came out of the ground to make way for fall planting of garlic on Wednesday of last week and five pounds of green tomatoes were turned into Green Tomato Chutney.

Most of the fruit was grown in other parts of Washington. Strawberries from the Skagit Valley; red plums from West Seattle; apples, cherries and peaches from Eastern Washington; and tomatillos from California. The bulk of the apples were grown right here at what I call Backyard Farm© (ha! ha! tongue planted firmly in cheek).

THE NUMBERS:

JUNE
13 pts Pickled Cauliflower

JULY
8 half pints Red Plum Preserves
10 half pints red Plum Jelly w/lavendar
3 half pints Red Plum & Port Syrup
9 half pints Balsamic Strawberry Preserves

AUGUST
7 pts Cherries In Wine
6 pts Apple Maple Preserves
17 pts Peaches
5 pts Brandied Peaches

SEPTEMBER
3 pts Dilled Beans
6 pts Dilled Green Tomatoes
6 pts Applesauce

OCTOBER
5 pts Pickled Purple Cauliflower
11 pts Tomatillo Salsa
3 pts Bread & Butter style Zucchini Pickles
11 half pints + 3 pts Apple Chutney
11 half pints Brandied Apple Preserves
8 pts Tomato-Chile Salsa
13 halfpints Green Tomato Chutney
4 qts Tomato Sauce
3 qts Tomato Broth

The only canning left on my agenda is Cranberry Wine Jelly to serve with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and to give as gifts. So that, should wrap it up for the year. Much of what I have preserved will be given away to family and friends over the next year.

Has anyone thought about or participated in a Canning Exchange (modeled on a cookie exchange)? I’m thinking that could be fun!

PLENTY OF BEAUTY IN A FALL GARDEN

22 Friday Oct 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Uncategorized

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OVER THE LAST WEEK I HAD TO TAKE A BREAK FROM LIFE IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN and the related canning chores, so I took a look around for the bright spots in the fading fall garden. I have several patches of fall blooming cyclamen, pink and white, around the yard. They make themselves right at home and spread ever so slowly, their dainty petticoats upturned.

Little Stell d’Oro is reliably long blooming late into fall along with dahlias and chrysanthemums.

There are beautiful deep blues this time of year with ceratostigma, also known as plumbago.

Assorted chrysanthemums are at nearing prime bloom time now with the shorter days. I can’t find the name tag for this one, but I love the simple form and color.

Ditto for this reddish one. The reds and oranges of fall mums echo the turning of leaves and brighten the shortening days.

This white chrysanthemum was given to a friend as a potted plant when her father passed away about fifteen years ago and she asked if I wanted it. I planted it out at the edge of the vegetable garden and I think of her when it begins to bloom. I is vigorous and blooms for a long time.

Trycirtis is like a miniature orchid and brightens a shady corner under conifers and tall, old rhodies. It is a slow spreader.

This is Karma Choc, a dahlia that I bought this year at Chocolate Flower Farm this past summer and it finally is blooming. I put them in a pot until I can decide where to put them in the garden.

‘Prince of Orange’.

Other reliable bloomers into the fall are hardy fushcias. They don’t need babying, aren’t to fussy and do well in filtered sun or shade. This year they were slow to take off and start blooming due to a couple of hard cold snaps.

‘Santa Claus’

Unknown. Grown from a slip that my cousin gave to me about twelve years ago. One of my favorites.

Hosta ‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’.

I take some comfort in the slowing down that fall brings. There is a certain beauty in the decay that comes with this time of the year, and knowing that most outdoor chores are over for about four months or so. But there is still some preserving left to do this weekend and that should be the end of it.

THE LAST APPLES

14 Thursday Oct 2010

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YESTERDAY I USED THE LAST OF THE APPLES (thirteen smallish ones) to make this Tarte Tatin from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook. After many iterations she calls this recipe the definitive one. She is right. It was delicious! The spartan apples held up very nicely.

ADDENDUM: I have never been a big fan of apple pie, eating or baking it. This, however is the ultimate apple pie. One crust, perfectly cooked apples bathed in buttery caramel. I had a slice this morning with a cup of tea and the crust remained crisp and the perfect foil to the apples. With a spoonful of whipped cream lightly sweetened and enriched with some soft goat cheese, it was sublime. This is the apple pie in my future!

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL OF THOSE TOMATOES…

11 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, Tomatoes

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THIS IS THE LAZY WAY to turn a lot of tomatoes into sauce for the freezer. Cut up all the split and imperfect tomatoes; place them in a very large roasting pan and toss with chunks of onion, whole garlic cloves, some sprigs of thyme, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper and fruity olive oil. Roast at 300° for about two hours or so.

This is the result: nicely softened tomatoes, onions and garlic with deep flavor. Since these are not really sauce tomatoes, there is a lot of juice. Next step is to put the solids (strain off the juices) through the Foley food mill.

I started with about twelve pounds of tomatoes which yielded two quarts of sauce and two quarts of tomato broth. I can always add some fresh herbs and a little onion when it comes time to use the sauce later on for a little fresh, bright flavor. The sauce will be a little bit of summertime in the middle of winter.

FROM SUMMER’S LAST FLING TO OCTOBER RAIN

10 Sunday Oct 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Rain, Tomatoes, Weather, West Seattle garden

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LAST WEEK WAS A LITTLE BONUS — SUNSHINE NEARLY EVERY DAY. The summer-like temperatures are helped to extend the tomato harvest that should have begun in August, but who can complain about fresh ripened tomatoes in October? The leaves from the tomato vines have now been removed to coax the fruit into ripening before the nights are repeatedly in the 40’s. I generally do this near the end of September; seems to help. The photo above was from mid-week, the photo below is today’s rain induced harvest — some ripe, some nearly ripe, and lots of splits, twenty pounds worth. Guess that maps out some of today’s endeavors.

I KNOW THAT FALL IS REALLY HERE because the spiders have been putting in overtime to construct webs of enormous proportions and a lot of them too.

Fall is here with the nodding heads of fading pink anemone japonica. Chrysanthemums, the colors of falling leaves, are blooming, as are fall cyclamen, nerine lilies, little pale purple asters, and fall crocus. Some of the few dahlias that I have seem to be in their prime now with intensifying color in fall sunlight. And yesterday some very real October rain to shock us back into reality. One blessing is the warm temperatures are continuing (Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. it was 57°, yesterday 58°!)

Despite of the dreariness of spirit that rain engenders, all things growing look lovely with the shimmer of raindrops. So I stood on the deck under cover and shot with the zoom to see what turned up.