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!

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.

Apples and potatoes

We've moved into apple season, with the early tree ready to harvest. We've been making crisps while I gird myself to make sauce and apple pie filling (it is too hot to can this week).

I've also pulled some herbs to dry in the garage.

For the first tie our plum trees have fruit. There are only four of the small yellow plums and one of the red one (which was delicious). But bigger harvests await.

I also dug the first two potato plants up this week to get some for dinner. Wow, fresh potatoes are amazing!

I don't think I have much time to do much this week beyond water as we have a short trip planned.