What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

DH pronounced his salsa "excellent." It is WAY too hot for me. The recipe made about 10 cups, and had 8 habaneros and 6 jalapenos.

He had some on the tacos we had for dinner. I licked the spoon, and that was enough for me.

Yup, I'm a wimp!

 

[NewBoots]

I made a batch of medium hot salsa since I love hot, but DP just said she'd like to try eating salsa so next batch will be zero heat. She hates hot but I'd love to get her eating salsa, it's all good stuff and healthy.

 

[WIchickMama]

Pulled out tomato plants. I have Chile peppers still coming and fall round of strawberries just turning pink.

Tomorrow is canning tomatoes all day! This is what I have out fresh, turning, and then I have 5 gal bags full in the freezer.

 

[Elyrian1]

DH pronounced his salsa "excellent." It is WAY too hot for me. The recipe made about 10 cups, and had 8 habaneros and 6 jalapenos.

He had some on the tacos we had for dinner. I licked the spoon, and that was enough for me.

Yup, I'm a wimp!

I might need to tuck that recipe away if he's willing to share, lol. DH loves HOT stuff, and our toddler doesn't turn his nose up at jalapenos. I'm outnumbered by heat lovers in this house so far. Give me hot pepper flavor without the heat any day. Like the taste, not the kick, or the sweating, or crying. Or the crying three hours later when you forget and rub your eye...

 

[karenerwin]

I guess I should tell what I am doing today! I smoked Tennessee Cheese peppers and red jalapenos last night and am drying them today. The smoked paprika from the cheese peppers is fantastic! I usually make and can some chipotles in adobo sauce from the jalapenos. I would never be without those things now, God willing! I almost forgot to mention I cooked up and canned 7 half pints and 4 pints of "red hot sauce" yesterday and am basting some smoked sausages and chicken with some leftover sauce today on the grill. The sauce is from my Joe's Long Red Cayenne's and is not real red hot, but mildly hot and tasty. Sometimes I make it hotter. Ya'll have a great day!

Do you have a recipe that you will share for the chipotles in adobo sauce!!?

 

[littledog]

Here's our formerly-feral kitty - we've been just calling her "kitty" but she had to have a real name to make her vet appointment. So her official name is now Pumpkin. Not too original, but hey, she's orange, and I had to come up with something on the spur of the moment.

She was scared of Lily the dog at first, but she's a smarty and figured out pretty quickly that Lily, an elderly Golden Retriever who loves absolutely everybody, would be her friend. We call them the "golden girls."

For those of you getting low on freezer space you could freeze in a good quality freezer bag and freeze it flat so it can fit into small space

What a great idea, I'm going to do that!

I think we need more Penny pics!!

Definitely!

To see her doggie grin at us with an open soft expression in her eyes is such a joy

She's so cute, smiling there on her "forbidden" couch! I can't tell from the picture - do her ears flop backwards, or did some jerk in her past do the "gotta cut off the pitbulls' ears" thing? I hate that - but Penny is a cutie either way.

Dh said to tell ya'll that the pallet buster is an absolute win. However you've got to pay attention to the wood so you don't split the boards

Yay! I ordered one a while ago, but just put it in the shed and haven't made any time to use it yet. I hope this winter when the garden's asleep I can use to to make the rest of the raised beds I need. Good to know it's a worthwhile purchase.

Starting to think about doing Christmas jams...anyone have a favorite jam they'd like to suggest

I made grape jam last year to give to people, just because I couldn't resist buying a case of those tiny mini canning jars that are like one cup but use regular narrow-mouth lids.

only the bindweed is a problem and it has large white trumpet flowers or the smaller variety with small pale pink or white flowers. It also has horrible roots that go everywhere and break off when you try to pull it.

Yes! Yuck. and it grows these alien-looking, huge pods that seem like some "Pod People" are going to hatch out of them.

Or the crying three hours later when you forget and rub your eye...

A friend of mine who's a chef told me a story...he and his wife harvested their hot peppers, chopped them up and made salsa, put it in the canner - then while waiting for it to process, they started, um, getting quite romantic. Just as the timer went off, excruciating burning pain "down there" set in for both of them - and the salsa ended up over-processed and ruined.

I think I might be getting the hang of these "Harvest guard" reusable rings and lids. The first load was a big fail, I re-read the directions and reprocessed, then only two jars didn't seal. But my next two canner loads have all sealed. Sauerkraut, dill pickles, and sweet relish. I'm going to keep the rings on though, and not try to store them without rings. All pickled or fermented recipes, but hopefully I'm learning enough to do tomato sauce in a week or so when the sauce tomatoes are ready.

I'm way behind on processing pesto, lemon cukes are still producing like crazy so another load of cuke soup is in order, and it's probably past time to cover the baby fall cabbages. And who knows what monster zucchinis are lurking in the squash jungle!

 

[oldhen2345]

I might not grow cukes next year for the same reason you will not grow zukes. I have roughly 60 qts of pickles. I will not need to make pickles next year as these will last me two years I'm sure. I might just grow a few straight eight cuke plants next year for fresh eating in salads and such. Any extra next year will be given away or turned into chips I think (if I like them as I am just now working on a batch of pickle chips for the first time). I also will not grow corn again. I'm sick of the squirrels getting it.
I'm going to grow more pumpkins, garlic and parsnips next year. I think I'm going to grow more tomatoes even though I had 48 plants this year. I like my sauce and salsa and I like them thick. It's amazing how I can turn 4 trays of tomatoes (filling my oven completely) into just 8 pints of salsa. It's darn good though. I just need more. I'd also like more flowers, as I've really enjoyed having the marigolds and sunflowers this year. I was supposed to have two long, narrow flower beds along the garden fence this year, but I didn't get them developed. I'm now killing the grass where the flowers will go next year, but I also have a bunch of firewood stacked on top of the weed fabric I'm using to smother the grass, so I'll need to find a new home for all that wood come Spring if I'm going to plant flowers there.

I’m impressed. This is me canning ( photo from Facebook)

 

[oldhen2345]

I will say I did go to cackle & put 3 new chicks in a cart. That's all I did, then I closed the page. Ha!

I do that sometimes too…my babies from Meyer shipped today- getting the brooder ready.

 

[oldhen2345]

Good morning gardeners. My goodness @Sueby, you don't already have a Mama Heating Pad? I think everyone should keep one handy just in case.... I got another little haul this morning. The last of the potatoes, very small about 1 pound worth, more pole beans some okra and lima beans. The jalapeno was small and accidental. I was checking it and it came off the branch. The 5 pounds of peaches gave me a little work out, but they're pretty and smell amazing. I got the okra into the freezer, a total of 1/2 pound so far. My okra plants kept producing into October last year so I expect to double that at least. I need to freeze some of the pole beans today after I finish my first batch of peach preserves. They're sitting on the counter warming up a bit before tossing them into the pot and cooking them up again. I still need to make the salsa verde with the tomatillos I bought at the Farmer's Market. Either today or tomorrow. Still so much to do. I have the same brand of brooder plate @Acre4Me. I need to get the dome for mine. I've tried making one out of cardboard but it's just not sturdy enough. I have the smaller model just to keep me limited in how many chicks I can get at one time. I have an area rug being delivered today. It's for the kitchen. An indoor /outdoor carpet to cover up the worn out old laminate that's on the floor now. Well, back to work now. Have a great gay everyone.

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i use a Mama cave with heating pad for my babies- they love it and I know when to turn down the heat- they sleep on top instead of inside.

 

[oldhen2345]

I sent DH a text saying y'all are telling me to get chicks. No response. LOL

Fall chicks are best- they feather out before winter and use the cold months to grow so that in the spring (when others are getting their babies) yours are ready to lay.