Preserving the Harvest

[1967mama]

Romaine lettuce is still growing -- this was my first time growing anything from seed. The cabbage looks way to small to make it, but you never know.  I probably planted way too late (August). I think I am zone 8.
!

Goldielocks, Thanks for the great directions on using the juicer to make applesauce! Excellent!

I'm quoting myself above -- just wondering, how do I know when my excellent looking romaine lettuce is ready to harvest? I don't want to use it too early if it could have grown more, but I also don't want to lose it if I let it go too long. I neglected to write down the date I planted it and the number of growing days on the seed packet. <sigh> Newbie! I really didn't think it would grow! haha!

[horsepoor]

Instead of harvesting the whole head, pick the large leaves off and let the plant keep growing.  In Zone 8 they'll probably keep going until early December, though growth rate will slow.

[Fi(re) on the Farm]

I just picked the last of the tomatillos and made some roasted salsa verde.  I love to pull out a jar in the dead of winter, the tangy taste always brings summer back.  We haven't had a frost yet, about 2 weeks overdue, so still picking summer squash and tomatoes.  Anyone else with the same weather pattern?

[10dollarsatatime]

We're supposed to get a hard freeze Monday night, so I'll be picking out the last of the tomatoes tomorrow.  Green ones will be set to ripen on the counter.  That will leave me with 40 lbs of purple potatoes, 7 lbs of red peppers that I had to pick green a week ago but are ripening nicely on the counter, 5 lbs of jalapenos (don't know what I'm going to do with all of them), and a pile of winter squash in addition to the two bushels of apples I picked up today and a few more bushels coming my way via my mother.

Preserving projects done this year:
Lots of diced tomatoes/tomato sauce
6 half pints Tomato jelly
36ish pints of Pear Sauce
6 pints Apple BBQ sauce
7 half pints Ginger Pear jelly (heaven!)
27 quarts of grape juice
24 pints of diced potatoes
24 pints of assorted pickles
12 pints of salsa
Frozen roasted anaheim pepper pucks
Probably a bunch of other stuff I can't remember

Other stuff to do this year:
More salsa
Jalapeno jelly?  Maybe.  I'm not sure if I'll eat it.  I might just freeze the jalapenos I have left after Salsa.
Dried tomatoes (with all the cherry tomatoes)
Piles of dried apples
Canned Ginger Apples (I really like ginger...)
Apple Jelly
Apple Sauce
Pickled Sugar Pumpkin
roasted red pepper sauce (the recipe in the ball blue book is fantastic.  Like ketchup.  But better.)
More canned potatoes

And after the harvest is put up...
Half-pints of turkey
turkey broth
Ham and beans
Other assorted ham based soups and broth (I get turkey vouchers at work at Thanksgiving every year...  Last year's birds/ham are still in the freezer.)
Cranberry mustard
Mountain Dew Jelly (for my employees for Christmas :) )

My goal next year is to make my crawlspace accessible for root cellaring.  There's about 4' of space under most of the house, which would be fine but you can't get to it without shimmying through about 6' of just enough room to shimmy.  Otherwise I'd be cellaring the potatoes instead of canning them.  Thinking about going old school like the other house I nearly bought and putting a trap door in the middle of the kitchen floor.

[horsepoor]

10daat, you MUST make a batch of fermented hot sauce with some of those jalapeņos.  I did a batch with bajio chiles and habaneros and it is downright addictive.

I'm getting home on a red eye tonight and received our first frost warning, so had dh out there putting sheets on the peppers and tomatoes.  Looks like we'll be OK through the weekend though, so lots of harvesting and preserving will occur next weekend and all the green tomatoes will come indoors.  Long season this year but I'll take it.

[MayDay]

Deer got in my garden. Fuvkers. 

Apparently they found enough food to not bother all summer, but now they're getting hungry.  I don't begrudge them the lettuce (which is now covered with chicken wire) but I hate when thru bite off tomatoes, remember they taste bad, and spit them out.

Anyway, I did my last tomato sauce a week ago, finished pears, we are eating the apples so no need to preserve, and the last few garden things will be eaten fresh (lettuce, green onions, kale).

My fridge is chock full of root veggies, so we are happily eating through them.  I may buy another bushel of sweet potatoes and cellar them in the garage.

[10dollarsatatime]

10daat, you MUST make a batch of fermented hot sauce with some of those jalapeņos.  I did a batch with bajio chiles and habaneros and it is downright addictive.

I'm getting home on a red eye tonight and received our first frost warning, so had dh out there putting sheets on the peppers and tomatoes.  Looks like we'll be OK through the weekend though, so lots of harvesting and preserving will occur next weekend and all the green tomatoes will come indoors.  Long season this year but I'll take it.

Googling it now.  That sounds fantastic!

[kathrynd]

Just saw this thread.  I am all over this!  I started canning about 10 years ago, and have slowly ramped up to the point that we don't purchase jarred tomato products, pickles, or jams. 

Notes from last year:
Need more diced tomatoes and tomato sauce
Have plenty of tomato soup and salsa
Have a lifetime supply of pickles and applesauce and apple butter

One thing I have trouble with is predicting what the kids will eat.  They went on a tomato soup kick, so I canned 24 quarts.  Now they don't like it.  Same with pickles.  Apples I have tons of because we had a bumper crop last year. 

Things I won't be doing again:
Freezing kale (we just don't go through much of it)
Freezing zucchini chopped/sliced/diced (will do shredded only for baking)

I need to freeze more basil leaves.  I also make pesto but use plain basil for adding to sauces.  I need to do some jam- didn't get to strawberry pick this year, so hopefully will get blueberries.  If not, we can always fall back on the lifetime supply if apple butter :)

Sadly the Ohio peach crop was decimated due to our harsh winter.  Peaches are the most popular thing I can.   

Probably the most useful thing I can is vegetable soup (do it in a friend's pressure canner, but I might freeze some, too, this year.  It is basically a ton of veggies, plus Lima beans.  We use it year round as our emergency dinner when we don't have time to cook, and also bring it camping.

For the tomato soup, consider using it in casseroles, or other main meal dishes. That is the way I use most of our tomato soup.