Squirrels, Ants and Me: The Farm Report 08-31-2022

 The Farm Report
08 - 31 - 2022

Squirrels, Ants and Me

We're all getting ready for winter out here. I am especially joyful about that. But "First," as my Dad used to say, "you've gotta get ready." I wrote about the storm damage to my roof a few issues back in the spring, when Oakdale Manor suffered from the blows. Well, Jake Borntreger and his crew showed up and here is my glorious new roof!

Ain't she a beaut!? All steel and permanent - at least it will be permanent unless a tornado rips the whole thing up out of the ground and I get a chance to meet Dorothy and Toto. Barring that unhappy event, these roofs are rated to last 50 to 70 years minimum. This is a shot from an aerial drone; something you might not think an Amish crew would have. Jake says this is the most complicated roof he has done so far - and he's been doing this since he was a kid. Who says you can nod off in geometry class and not pay a price for it? Intersecting planes. See those junk piles on either side of the house. Make a mental note; I'll come back to this later.

Here's a link to a photo file if you just need a huge major fix on roofing pictures. 

It is tomato juice time! I plant lots of tomato plants so that when I want to put juice in jars, I can just head on out to the garden with five gallon buckets and come right back in with big clean plump juicy 'maters to work up.

My secret weapon: The Electric Roaster. After a wash and core - and cut out the bad spots, of course - I squeeze the maters and heap 'em up in the roaster.

About an hour after they start cooking, I start lifting out the excess juice into another pot. If I didn't, then I'd have one he&& of a mess! Usually I get this started before lunch, then when I come back after lunch break, this is what I have. 

You know me! If there is a machine for it, I'm in. This is my new little electric Squeezo tomato juice mill. It is fantastic. That whole roaster full of tomatoes goes through it in under 9 minutes. I've timed it. I've done multiple batches this summer. Excuse the rough kitchen. This is actually where I used to resilver mirrors. The mirror pan is the perfect wet sink for juice making.

This is all that is left after the electric squeezer has done it's thing. Skins and seeds. The chickens make this into eggs. Waste not/want not, they say.

Crude but effective. The pot on the right is exactly like the one my Grand Mom used back in the 1960's when I used to help her can. The one on the left is just the standard Presto pressure canner, sans pressure lid. I can a bunch at one time this way. Boiling water bath is all you need for tomato juice. The USDA standard is 4.5pH or less for water bath canning of high acid product. My tests papers show me that my tomato juice is actually 4.0pH. I like to know so I'm safe!

Chili, tomato cocktails, whole tomato goulash, more chili - Oh boy! After the smoke clears up a little and I get a breather, I'll label and date each jar before taking it into the house and putting them on my pantry shelves. Let the snow blow this winter!

Oh, and just so you'll know, I still have and use Joyce's Official Ball Blue Book nailed to the wall above the canners. This is the Bible of Canning. Get one; use it. USDA has a newer version of their own. If the old Ball Book was the bible, maybe the new USDA book is the New Revelation. Whatever, follow the rules and be safe. 

Part of the joy of a 'Canning Kitchen' is the fact you get to clean up with a garden hose. No mess in the house, and everything is clean and spotless at the end of the day. Even my cabinetmaker's clamps get into the act.

Sweetcorn is another story this year. I was soooo hopeful, and soooo happy. I put up about 15 bags and was ready to really get after it the next day. Except the next day when I went out to the garden, the raccoons had destroyed the ENTIRE REMAINING PATCH. Apparently my going in and out of the corn had raised scent cues that were undeniable. I did have an electric fence around the sweetcorn, but only on 3 sides. Who would have thunk they'd find that invisible wall of opportunity? They did, and I lost.

Ambrosia is the variety. It is unbeatable. Delicious, big, robust. MMMMMmmmmmmmm.

I use an old fashioned Lee Corn Cutter to remove the kernels from the cob. A sharp knife works, too. But if you've ever tried a Lee, then you know how to do it - and you won't want to use a knife anymore.

My sister, Beth, gets the MacArthur Genius Award this year! To have really good, really high quality long lasting frozen sweet corn in the freezer, you MUST blanch it before freezing. I use nylon/polyester vacuum/cooking bags all the time. I freeze my food in them for later. So, Beth said one day, "Why couldn't you just put the raw corn into the bags and seal them, then blanch them in hot water AFTER they have been packed and sealed? GENIUS!!!! You can, as it turns out. No hot water boiling the ears and then into ice water and then sloppy cutting and etc. etc. I just simply cleaned the ears, cut the corn and packed it into the bags. Sealed it, THEN, I dunked the bags into the boiling water/ice water and into the freezer. This is so much easier, cleaner and better. Perfect!

You'll read on the interweb about how people don't blanch their produce before they freeze it. Then you'll also read about how their corn was tasteless and mushy and not as good as when they put it in the freezer last summer. You've gotta blanch it! This kills/stops enzyme activity and that is what spoils your frozen corn/veggies flavor. This isn't a 'food safety' thing; it is a 'food quality' thing. Doing your blanching INSIDE the freezer bag is just so much easier. Thank you Sis!

Broccoli: Same drill. Gypsy is my favorite variety. It produces one big head in the spring, then these wonderful side shoots all summer long, until freeze up.

I do still steam blanch my broccoli the old fashioned way. I think it is better. This is my (Joyce's) steamer.

I like it a little more 'cooked' than blanched. Once it has that special color (about 5 minutes for me) then it gets popped into the ice water to stop the cooking music.

Shock!

We discovered years ago that a salad spinner is not just for spinning salads. It makes the perfect tool to get all the water out of the broccoli before it goes into the freezer. This makes a much better product after it comes out of the freezer, I think.

"Hey Annie!" I was showing her my harvest of basil. I was excited. I thought Annie would be, too.

Nope. Annie is almost all Australian; Australian Shepherd Daddy, Australian Cattle Dog Mama; there's nobody named Luigi on her family tree. She just doesn't see much of anything good about Italian food, either. She took a sniff and headed off to check the terraces on the farm. "Bye Tim. I'm busy. Call me if you put a shrimp on the Barbee."

Look familiar? Yep. Washed and cleaned the basil leaves, then gave 'em a spin in the salad spinner to get rid of all the water. Obviously, Annie was impatient and bored, and couldn't wait for me to get this job done so we could go back out in the Ranger.

First, though, we needed to get those basil leaves made into what I call 'Pasta Pesto.' It is just like real pesto, but without the nuts and cheese. I just whirrrr the basil together in the food processer with garlic and olive oil until it looks a lot like cow poop. OK, I'm still in 5th grade. But it does, doesn't it!?

This is so good in the winter. I refrigerate this mess until the oil hardens (overnight). Then, I use a little baby ice cream scooper to make little balls of Pasta Pesto on a cookie sheet. That goes into the deep freeze. Once really hard, then the little Pasta Pesto Balls go into a freezer bag for winter. When I make pasta, or whatever, I put one ball into the boiling water with the s'ghetti. Delish!

Back to the mess piles on both sides of my house. Nails everywhere on the ground! Henry Ford suffered a sore foot, but so did Emmy the old Farmall (both front tires), my truck, and my lawn mowers. I've fixed a LOT of tires this summer. And we're still not done.

It has been a super busy, super hot dry and miserable summer. OJ and Annie sort of came to an agreement. 

Too hot to fight, too hot to care. Neither wanted to just let the other one know that they weren't watching though. Still on duty regardless.

And nothing really changes. For those of you who don't know much about dogs and cats, let me use this photo to enlighten you: Dogs can't leave cats alone. "Let sleeping cats lie." Or was that dogs? I can't remember. Well, when Annie can't let a sleeping OJ lie, this happens. Annie was stirring up trouble while OJ was asleep. If you are new to Old Tomcats with an Attitude, look at OJ's head. When a tomcat flattens his ears and his eyes begin to go crosswise, you should get ready and LOOK OUT! Yep, the next move was an explosion that happened so fast I couldn't provide you with a picture, but it was funny for all of us except Annie - who acted surprised even though she's done this to him about sixty hundred times.

All is well at Oakdale Farm. The seasons are changing and I'm glad for that.