Greetings, All.
The weatherman warns but the weather does not deliver. No snow – yet. I am very grateful that the forecast has been wrong. Overnight temperatures are at freezing. The only things standing in the vegetable gardens are the cole crops. (I now see 2 cauliflower heads.) In the flower beds there is still a pale blue forget-me-not that is hugging the ground, a few pink dianthus, and the mums are still bright red.
I have been picking the leaves from the bottom of the broccoli and cauliflower plants. Then they have been washed, de-veined, sliced, blanched, and frozen. I even peeled the outer layer from the largest of the stems, blanched and dehydrated them for additions to soups. I dried some of the broccoli leaves, too. One of my goals this winter is to work more with drying and using my dehydrated foods. Next year, I hope to dry more veggies over the summer.
I decided NOT to transfer the strawberries to the new bed. The leaves are still green, but if I did them up there will not be much in the root mass for them to survive the cold weather. I’ll have to get them early in the spring.
Meanwhile, we are digging the beds with compost to get them ready for the early crops next year – peas, and broccoli. It has always been a goal to get the beds dug in the fall, with compost, and ready to go, but we have never succeeded in having more than a few done. So, for now, that is my daily activity, getting ready for spring
Our apple tree did not produce this year. I have no idea how old it is. It could be old age, or overspray from the neighbors application of glyphosate. We purchased one bag of apples at an orchard. I had visions of how much I could do with ONE bag. Shattered. I was able to get three quarts of apple pie filling. Just three. I saved the peels and cores to make jelly. It never tasted “apple-y” enough to make into jelly. I was hoping for some dried apple rings, too. So, I learned that one bag, or is it a peck, of apples does not provide much. Next time, or perhaps still this year, I will need to get some more apples to preserve. I did get a few pounds of crab apples to make the spiced apples. They are good. More for next year. On the other hand, do I really need more? I have more than a dozen jars of applesauce on the shelf that I have not used.
Our wood splitter does not work. The review for the one we bought at a garage sale was not good, but it worked great for two years. Hubby has tried multiple ways to get it to start this year, new spark plug, etc. He has decided to purchase a new Honda engine and fix it that way. Cheaper than buying a new one. He has been splitting with a maul and wedge. Good workout but not a good idea for an entire winter’s worth of wood by an 80-year-old.
While on the internet I saw a recipe for a vegetarian dish from the New York Times. You had to sign in to get it. So, I registered for a 30-day free pass. The dishes sound really good and hearty for winter. Lots of soups and stews. I have been copying the recipes to a word file. I have about 100 so far and hope to get more before my free subscription runs out. I hope to try them and put the best into regular rotation.
I have a problem. I am a collector. Some things enter the house and do not leave. It can be a real challenge. Things like sewing and needlework supplies, books, recipes, pictures, etc. I also have a palate that requires variety, texture, and seasoning. Someone, somewhere, on one of the prepper sites, said she had a different pastas saved for variety. Different shapes for variety. My taste buds said that is was all the same taste and not much variety. So, I keep looking for recipes for variety. Do not ask a small town grocery to have variety. I sent Hubby to find Orzo to use for a type of risotto with leftover squash. They did not carry it.
The recipe I tried yesterday worked out well, despite not having one of the major ingredients. I do not purchase parmesan cheese by the “round” or in the rind. The recipe was White Beans and Greens in a broth from the simmered Parmesan rind. I added shredded parmesan toward the end and it still tasted very good. I don’t think I would can it as the recipe is written though since you need the parmesan rind. It used a lot of greens from the garden. It was a simple recipe, but satisfying. It was a vegetarian soup until I decided it needed a bit more flavor and added a few strips of bacon.
I have told you that I keep looking for foods that are more plant based in case we cannot get meat in the future, with the goal of being able to grow our own pantry. With all of the meat recalls, perhaps I am more right than I want to be. We are not Vegan/Vegetarian, but eat a lot of that type of meal. I have told you that I cannot handle dairy. (Except for the hard parmesan cheese for some reason. Yay!) Have you ever noticed how many recipes have dairy in them? Therefore Vegan is better. But Vegan asks for odd items that most preppers don’t have, and normal groceries do not carry, and I probably cannot store. I am finding things in the middle.
It would be cool to have a recipe repository on the Forum for dinners made just from shelf stable items. That is one of my goals: A Recipe file for fresh dinners, and another that uses just canned or preserved ingredients. I usually forget the original source of the recipe to give proper credit if the recipe is passed along. That would be important.
All that said, it is time to spend the warm part of the day in the vegetable gardens. During the morning cold temperatures I keep processing the greens, recipes, etc.
Stay warm, healthy, and safe, My Friends.