Cherry Tarts!

A few years back, we bought a semi-sweet cherry tree (I think it was a Juliet) for the back yard. I harvested about a cup and a bit of pitted cherries this year and froze them in the autumn rush.

Earlier this week, I defrosted them and turned them into filling. I then made some tart dough and baked everything today.

Overall, pretty tasty. I think a better option would have been a short-bread crust, the filling, and then a crumble on top. I hope to have enough cherries next year to can some pie filling but if we have extra, I[ll give the another shot.

Last week's tomato sauce from the basis of chilli (which also used dried beans and peppers from the pantry) as well as the sauce for a pasta bake. We're making progress in the freezer and I see we have a whole lot of saskatoons to do something with soon.

Tomato Sauce!

As winter continues, I've been busy using up what we stored from last summer. We still have some potatoes and garlic plus a bunch of frozen items. This push to clean out the freezer is part of a month-long effort to use up what we have stored in the pantry and see just how much we can whittle down our January grocery bill.

There were two bags of tomatoes that I froze in October, mostly because we were sick of eating them and I was too tired from processing to do anything useful with them. I let them thaw overnight and then ran them through this food mill to remove the skins and seeds.

That gave me about a gallon of tomatoes that I cooked down into sauce. Some other stored items I was able to use included some garlic, some dried red pepper flakes, and a bunch of oregano. We had already used up our basil from last summer so I dug out some commercial basil from the cupboard.

Overall, this turned out pretty tasty and will form the basis of two meals this week. I think my next tasks include dealing with grapes I froze and also some semi-sweet cherries. The grapes are probably destined for a small batch of jelly. I suspect the cherries could be used to make filling for tarts or turnovers.

Prince of Orange potatoes!

The first frost hit about a week ago and we pulled in all of the tender stuff just before. I've since been working on the root vegetables, with the dog carefully watching my every move in case a carrot happens to fall out of my pocket.

We had an interesting harvest of squash, much of it of mixed parentages. These are curing in the dining room.

I also pulled the last of the tomatoes, basil, peppers, and the melons.

The cantaloupe were very small this year because July was cool and I'm not sure of they will ripen enough to eat before they rot. I think next year I will try something different in this bed. Maybe cucumbers?

In the interests of time, I just froze the basil in oil and have been pulling out a puck every time enough tomatoes come ripe to warrant a salad.

The autumn has been gorgeous around the neighbourhood!

Jess has been helping me convert two in-ground beds into three raised beds. 

I finished these late last week, filled them, and got the garlic (110 heads) planted for next year.

This involved a trip to the manure mounds. I will top dress with compost when it come available next spring.

This morning, I went out and dug the last five potatoes plants. These are Prince of Orange potatoes and the harvest was crazy. one plant gave me 32 potatoes! The others each had in the 20s.

These were not small potatoes, either. I think they did well because I watered aggressively, it was sunny and the soil was pretty soft.

I will definitely do these again next year!

I still have a bunch of carrots to pull and process as well as some more end of season work in the beds. Hopefully, I get another two weeks to putter in the yard before the snow flies!

 Oops, looks like I forgot to post last week after we returned from a short vacation to the Okanagan!

The good news with the extended fall has been that the squash and melon plants now have a chance at getting some mature fruit off!

I've also harvested about 75% of the potatoes. I'm letting some plants go a little longer this year in hope of extending the shelf life of the stored potatoes. The picture below is about 25% of the total take this year.

Jenn and Cajun helped me harvest the second half of our second apple tree.

These are a slightly more tart baking apple.

The result was a lot of apples!

The big ones I reserved for baking. The smaller ones all got sauced.

We ended up with close to 20 litres of apple sauce and a few pints of apple butter.

I also harvested the grapes to make a small batch of jelly with later on. These are currently in the freezer.

In anticipation of the last haul of veggies needing to be frozen, I have started thawing and jamming the gallons of raspberries this summer.

I managed to get two gallons finished (maybe 6 litres of finished jam) before I got bored. I will try to do something similar next week.

It looks like we'll be getting a frost this weekend so I am harvesting the more vulnerable crops. I have also been moving dirt around to install three more raised beds in the warm, sunny spot by the garage. Hopefully, I will have this done by next week!

Beans, beets and tomatoes

Most of this week was spent managing the harvest and beginning to put the garden to rest. Since there is no frost expected for at least another two weeks, I've decided to leave lots of stuff to continue growing.

I did pull the last of the bush beans and harvested the first of the pole beans and froze them for a winter meal.

The tomatoes are just starting but there aren't enough to do anything with them except eat them fresh. So I took the ripest of the excess, cubed them and froze them. When we get enough to process, I'll thaw and put them through the mill.

There is a half decent grape crop this year but it needs a bit more time to ripen.

I did yank the rest of the beets and made some sweet pickles. I forget how much work and mess there is when pickling beets!

Apples and pesto

We're reaching the point where planting decisions are now starting to come back and haunt me.

The grape vine is looking like it will produce enough grapes this year to make a very small batch of jelly.

Jess helped me pick the last of the early apple tree last week.

We had about a third of the tree's production left. I made crisps and such but also cooked a bunch down to make apple sauce.

The extra sauce that wouldn't fit in the canner got turned into apple butter and canned later. I'll probably repeat this with the later tree once we harvest it (probably the last half of September).

Some of the peppers are ready enough to be incorporated in dinners.

The squash are in a race against the front. We might get this hubbard squash off.

The cucumbers were a wash out this year and I'll need to make better planting decisions with them next summer.

A friend gifted me a head of celery. We ate a few stalks and then I dehydrated the rest. It shrinks down to about half of a cup once the water is out.

I also harvested enough of the basil to make some garlic scape pesto to freeze for the winter months.

We've been trying to enjoy the garden as fall sets in and had out first autumn fire the other night. The huge squash patch in the background continues to grow.

There are a couple of pumpkins I'm feeling good about. Maybe also some butternut squash. The vines are sprawling and hiding little pumpkins everywhere, including two that are growing at chest height on raspberry canes.

Today's task is to deal with the first of the tomatoes. We're getting too many to eat but not enough to can (kind of a busy year for tomatoes in my garden) so I'm thinking of freezing them whole or chopped for later processing.

Plums, squash, tomatoes and melons

As we head into fall, the garden is hitting its stride. The sunflower patch is blooming, much to the delight of the bees. I'm hoping the cosmos will also put on a show out by the back gate.

I harvested the last of our plum crop, which was tasty but is mostly encouraging for the future.

We have a couple of squash on the go, including this on giant pumpkin that is presently beachball sized.

We are starting to see signs of a modest tomato harvest (not really hot enough, early enough for a good harvest).

Last week, I had written off the melon crop due to lack of heat. This week, I find seven small cantaloupes  on the vines. I dunno. Fingers cross the frost stays away until October.

I did some carrot thinning and froze a few bags of chopped carrots for use in the winter along with a few more green beans.

The apples are demanding attention and we have been making crisps and such.

I had to call out the reinforcements on the weekend when I made and canned five litres of apple pie filling.

I've also begun digging rough potatoes to eat. Most of the crop can stay in the ground for now.

Now back to apple picking.