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Stocking Up ~ Freezing and Dehydrating ~ Herbs ~ Bag Holding Hack (if you have a jar lifter for canning)

 


Our last 87°F day was yesterday.  Woke up to find one of my older hens has passed away.   We are on the downward slide to cooler weather, with a pretty chilly weekend coming up.




Feeling a bit better, I took advantage of the heat, and washed bed covers, bedding and other laundry.  I mostly washed the large bed covers, so they could dry outside.  The bedding smelled so good too!  

Someone else wanted to enjoy the sunshine.


I even unpacked (and washed) our holiday bedding, which I forgot about, and had not used for 2-3 years or so.  I mentioned it to my husband, and he was all for using them the next few months.



Okay, now on to other happenings here. . .


I don't see the price of any culinary herbs and spices going down any time soon.  I am busy putting my herbs into storage for winter/spring.




Bag Holding Hack:  Use a jar lifter to hold your freezer bag in place while you snip away or fill your bag.  I used a quart freezer bag in this photo.  Worked great!  I haven't tried this with heavier fillings, but if I do, I will update.

I dice and freeze my green onion and chives.  These two do not dehydrate well.  They just blow all over inside your dehydrator.  Trust  me on this, as I have tried it.  I am freezing these two in freezer bags this year, due to freezer space.  Otherwise, in the past I have used freezer containers.


I am dehydrating sage, yarrow, spearmint, peppermint, and more oregano, and thyme.  The peppermint this year is limited, as the plant is not that big.  I have my mints in pots this year.  I have yet to convince my husband for a medicinal/wild growing weed garden somewhere around this homestead.



My cilantro has gone to seed, so I am saving the seed.  My outdoor basil is still going strong, so I have taken a cutting for propagation, and the same with parsley.  My dill has also gone to seed, so I am saving dill seed as well.  Not one store in our area sold dill seed (for culinary uses).  We had to travel 3 hours to the Amish area stores to find any.  I will be sure to dry as much of our own as I can.


Mullein that grew up in a flower bed, but has not gone to seed/flower yet.  I will harvest it before our fall frost arrives.

I have been making notes in our garden journal, on new herbs to grow next year.   A few that I used to grow and for some reason just didn't get them planted, like Tarragon and Marjoram.

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Comments

Faith said…
that was one thing from my garden which was abundant Basil. Got multiple cuttings, dehydrated them, made pesto. Rocket did well also. Love my dehydrator. Rain this evening, and is cooler, nice.
October 5, 2023 at 6:52 PM
Pioneer Woman at Heart said…
Faith, I love to have basil indoors and outdoors. I used it often.
October 6, 2023 at 8:30 AM
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