Stocking Up! The Farm Report 08-16-2020

Stocking Up!
The Farm Report
08-16-2020 

The garden season culminates in the harvest, then begins again before it is over. "Next Year!" is what we say as we contemplate successes and mistakes; things we will re-do and not do 'next year.' I'm flying solo now, so things are different than when we were kids. But not. Back when Joyce and I were first married (1971 if you're counting) 'Putting Food By' and 'Stocking Up' were two books that were all the rage. Self-reliance and going 'back to the earth' were very popular themes for us 'nearly hippies'. (I could have been a really good Hippie back then. I was just too conservative to do it.  Now, according to some, I'm wayyyyy to liberal, and the odd thing is that my views have never changed. Go figure.) People were worried they might need to know how to survive back then - Vietnam was raging and leaving everybody anxious and disappointed in their government. War-time 'Victory Gardening' techniques were making a comeback and there was a real sense of the importance of the self-reliant lifestyle. Joyce and I fit that model like a hand in a glove. We weren't afraid of the Boogey Man getting us; it just felt good to have a pantry full of plenty of our own wholesome food to draw from all winter long. We grew it, we put it up, and we were stocked and ready - and it felt great. Now, half a century later, I still feel that way. Only now, it is a different game - but it isn't. The pandemic has left us with the clear message that sometimes things happen, and it is good to be ready. It can also taste great! So I have been stocking up, as I do every year.

Remember the Billboard Tarp Garden I started late last winter/early spring? Well, the tomatoes absolutely love it! I know it might look like a forest of foliage, but I've hauled out buckets and buckets of red ripe - VINE ripened - tomatoes.

THIS! is what you garden for; this is why you grow your own 'maters.

Well, Joyce always accused me of going into what she called 'Del Monte Mode' when it came to canning and putting up food. I just like to get on with it and not fool around with little batches. I only appear to be patient. As part of my work, and part of my work shop, we established what passes for a 'Summer Kitchen' in the shop. No color coordination, no fancy stuff anywhere - everything was obtained on the cheap. But it is sooooo handy and efficient for summer canning and processing. Here, you see 'Big Bertha' the boiler/canner. My grandmothers used ones just like this. No little pots for me! You can put up a whole bunch of jars at one time in these. I also use a modified old-school grocery cart to move things around. One difference between a real kitchen and my summer kitchen is best explained by the old joke about the difference between an auto mechanic and an aircraft pilot. The mechanic washes his hands before he goes to the bathroom.... We wash first, and again after.

This pic is mostly for the benefit of my sister: She wanted to know if I was putting up 'According to Hoyle.' Of course I am! By the book, by the bible - the bible of canning, that is. This is one - just one of many - of our official Ball Blue Books which has all the USDA requirements for safely putting up just about any food you can think of. This copy also has Mrs. Inman's handwritten notes in it. The USDA apparently didn't know everything, according to my resident Home Economics Teacher Pro.

'Mater Juice in the Makin'

After the appropriate, By-The-Book! processing (boiling) time, the juice comes out to cool and seal. When everything goes as planned, the lids dimple down and the juice is good stored on the shelf for months - and months. Making tomato juice is fast and easy. I like to just make up a whole bunch of juice when the fruits are ready - then I can use the juice later on when it is cooler to make up other things. Things like my own spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, homemade ketchup, you name it. Sometimes I even dry it down to make my own homemade tomato paste. I'll show you how I do that sometime. Score: 49 Quarts so far.

We're doing green beans again. This time it is for the winter, but I'm trying something different this year.

Nice quickly grown beans. They're delicious, too.

These are the ones I like to put up. This variety is 'Slenderette.' I also put up some 'Tenderette' beans. My favorite? Blue Lake Bush beans. I couldn't find anyplace to buy them this year. COVID-19 has sent everybody to the garden, it seems. There's always something good to come of a disastser.

Once I have the beans picked, cleaned and cut (Joyce preferred to snap them - one-at-a-time), then you have to do a little two-step dance called 'blanching' in order to preserve the goodness that lives inside the beans. Most people blanch by putting the beans in a pot of boiling water for the appropriate time (See Your Blue Book!) However, we have used this big vegetable steamer/juicer to do this for years. We think the steam leaves more flavor behind in the beans. We might just be full of beans, though. You do it however you like to do it.

My book says to steam blanch for 3 minutes. Just enough to give the beans a hot foot and kill the spoiling enzymes, but not enough to actually cook the beans.

Pop! The hot beans get dumped into a pan of ice water to shock them and stop the cooking.

They stay in the ice bath until they are cold all the way through. I never time this. I just eat one every once in awhile and when they are cold, I know I can move on. Joyce used a timer.....

So here's what I'm doing differently this year. I'm vacuum sealing the beans in 'Enough for One Old Guy's Plate' sized servings. Then I'm freezing them. It is a lot easier, quicker, and some say more nutritious than pressure canning. I like to pressure can, but this would be great, too. I'll let you know what I think as the winter wears on. Never forget to label your work! No, you will NOT remember what you have in the bags. Label your work. Score: 31 vacuum packets @ 215g each.

We did Greek pepperoncini peppers last time. This time, I'm doing sliced Jalapeno peppers for the Super Bowl Game - if there is one. If there isn't, I'll find another excuse to make some nachos and cheese dip with jalapeno peppers added - from my own garden!

This is an old vacuum sealer we've used for decades. I'm pickling the jalapeno slices and vacuum sealing them. They have not been heat processed, so they need to be 'refrigerator pickles.' This is not a problem. My brine is half vinegar and half water, with some salt and sugar to help kill the heat. I like peppers, I don't like heat - from peppers or from August!

"And it's just that easy," as Uncle Red Green would say. I even saved a 'real' pickle jar for the occasion.

Here is another reason to do your own gardening. This broccoli is just ready to 'head out.' If you were growing these for a living, you would let the head go on and grow out some more. If you're not doing this for a living, like me, you pick this head right now when it is the sweetest ever.

I'm trying to keep my farm reports real. I'm not doing magazine photo shoots for this. This is the real deal, and this is what a greenhouse looks like at the middle of August. Everything is either tired or dead, and everything needs a good cleaning up. Annie agrees. "Tim, you've gotta do something about this mess. It's pretty terrible. I'm embarrassed by it." Well, me too. But this is reality. I can't keep the place cool enough for strawberries to survive, so we'll clean and re-start here pretty soon. In a couple more weeks, it will be time to take off the shade tarps and let the sunshine back in. I'm already starting seeds for the indoor fall/winter garden. It is a circle of life to be sure.

My neighbor, Ron's grandkids wanted to come see Annie the other night after supper. Annie had already gone to bed for the evening. We got her out and let her play with them though. She loves kids. Especially these two. What more fun can Iowa farm kids have than to pick ears of corn off the stalks and feed them to the dog on a summer evening? (Well, unless it would be putting on a helmet, your best cowboy boots, and protective vest and riding sheep in the Mutton Bustin' event at the Sidney rodeo - which BOTH of these kids did!) Annie likes corn, but she loves attention even more. Can you tell?

"Life is so good!" says Annie, and it is. In spite of all the swirl of disharmoney that we are living with - and the very real disasters and loss caused by disease and weather, life is good. We can't ignore reality, but we also don't have to let reality ruin the good parts for us either. Even an old notch eared tomcat can manage to find a soft spot on the seat of a wrecked Cadillac somewhere back in the junkyard. Peace! as we used to say in the Hippie Days. Peace. All is well at Oakdale Farm, and I hope all is well with you, too. Peace