The only think I needed to make was a nice home cooked dinner and deliver some to Dad for his 87th birthday. It all depended on if the chickens gave me more eggs too.
I had to flour and pepper my pumpkins due to the excess of bugs. I am sad too. Only 2 jack'o lantern pumpkins on them, and no pie pumpkins (a few blossoms, but they look terrible).
If we ever have another wet spring like we did, I will not plant our garden. It's so big and wide that I can't get the weeds caught up either (due to rain). It's been a huge issue, and now faces us with the cost of putting in raised beds (so I can plant and weed no matter what), or move the entire garden, or reduce it's size.
As for the tomatoes, the weather is now cooling down, and they don't like that, so I'm going to salvage any green ones and start ripping them out. Yeah, not gonna plant a garden late ever again.
Speaking of freezer, has anyone ever frozen their tomatoes and thawed them later to can salsa or anything sauce-wise? If so, I'd love to hear how to froze the tomatoes - skin on? skin off? etc. Just asking in case we can't get enough in one picking in future years.
Just after washing all the dishes and putting them away, I did it two more times. I guess the "to-do's" found me.
Made a jar of nettle hair tonic.
Made a jar of Four Thieves Vinegar.
Simple way of freezing tomatoes....
ReplyDeleteBlanch! Drop tomatoes into boiling water for
60-90 seconds and, using a slotted spoon,
transfer immediately into a bowl of ice water
to cool. ...
Prepare tomatoes.... Remove stems and core tomatoes...
Transfer into storage bags. Using a ladle or measuring
cup, fill pint or quart sized ziploc bags....
Seal bags. ...Into the freezer....!
Also....It is possible to quickly freeze raw tomatoes
without blanching them first. They may be frozen without
their skins or frozen whole with their skins. Frozen
tomatoes are best used in cooked foods such as soups,
sauces and stews as they become mushy when they're thawed...!
Thanks Willie, I do freeze my tomatoes, but wondered how well they worked thawed to make sauces later. I typically use fresh tomatoes at sauce making time, but have not been getting enough ripe all at the same time to do it this year.
ReplyDeleteHi there from over here in Wales. uk
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your blog
I freeze my tomatoes in their skins. To skin them when I take them out, I just pop them in to hot water for about 10 seconds. The skins come right off.
Kathy
One year I grew a "cherry" tomato that turned out to be a fairly good size . . . almost like golf balls. And they were so plentiful, we couldn't eat them all as they came off the vine. I didn't blanch them at all . . . just put them in freezer bags and, plop, into the freezer. They were fine for cooked products such as you would plan on using them.
ReplyDeleteThanks walking in beauty and Mama Pea
ReplyDelete