Miscellaneous goings on.. chipping, canning, snowing..

Following on the last post... I did get the chipping done for the debris from the bush trimming.   I didn't take pictures since it just looks the same but with wood chips around the bushes feet!

I finally got around to pressure canning some meat!  I chose venison, since I had a bunch in the freezer that I haven't used as quickly as I thought I would.  The recipe is simple: clean and cook the venison in water, add salt, hot pack in jars, cover with water or broth from cooking (I used both since I ran out of broth), pressure can at 10 lbs pressure for 75 min!  Here are pictures of the results:

I haven't tried any yet because I have plenty of meat already cooked in the fridge.  However, I am curious!  One of these might get opened before too much longer!  I may do more of these if I like them since I have lots of venison in the freezer that I would prefer being in jars on the shelf - especially if we loose power.

Oh, and now this is happening:

My backyard this afternoon, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

See my greenhouse frame on the right?  By this time last year, I had that covered with plants in it getting ready to be put  out in the garden!  ARggggh

Snow Day!

Looks like I'm stuck here in the "city" (suburbs really) again this weekend!  Arg!!!

Big snowstorm - a nor'easter evidently, moved through and dumped almost 20" of snow on us.  Here are some pictures of my backyard here in Silver Spring, MD:

The snow has melted down a lot since yesterday, thank goodness!  You can see the little paths I dug out for my dog Smokey so he can go about his business without getting stuck in the snow!

I just checked my seedlings this morning and found more progress in the cabbage, brussel sprouts and cauliflower tray.  Nothing yet in the onion tray.  Here are some pics:

Here is the tray containing the cabbages, brusselsprouts, and cauliflower.  I started turning on the light above the tray yesterday, once I thought enough of the seeds had put up their first leaves.  I turn the light on in the morning and turn it off at night.  I have been leaving the plastic tray cover on to keep the moisture level high so that the remaining seeds will germinate.

After all of the seeds have germinated, I will begin to leave the plastic tray cover off so that the plants won't rot!

Some of the plants look moldy!  I am not sure if that white fluff is actually mold though.  I am talking about the fibrous looking stuff, not the white "balls", which is simply Perlite.  I suspect the little white fibers might be the seed sending out feelers to start putting down roots!  In any case, those white fibers seem to go away in a day or so. 

I really should get an earlier start on the onions - maybe next year (well this year really) I will start seeds in the late fall....  In any case, I am definitely trying onion sets this year.  Onions are so critical to cooking!

Also, I welcome my new followers.   Well, my first and only followers, since I just recently  figured out how to allow followers!  

Today, I read a blog article: Canning Chicken, (from one of my new followers blogs, actually!) that has motivated me to finally try it!  

Applesauce

I bought 1 bushel of "deer apples" at mile level market yesterday.  Deer apples (not related to road apples!) are seconds from the orchard - perfectly fine apples, but with blemishes and maybe a bit past their prime.  A whole bushel only cost me $10!  I also bought a peck winesaps for eating while I'm up here this week - was $5 for peck.  Got new windshield wipers at auto zone while I was in Bedford.  One of the wipers I had been using was falling apart.

Anyway, today I processed the whole bushel into applesauce.  Made 20 quarts!

Apple Sauce

I processed what was left of the bushel of apples that I got at Mile Level Market last weekend.  I had two different kinds of apples, unfortunately I don't recall the types!  One was yellow and one was red.  The red is a good eating apple, but they are going bad quickly.  The yellow had many bad apples and wouldn't last another day or two I think.

I simply boiled the cored and quartered apples in a big pot (put a little water in the bottom to help keep from burning the apples).  I wasn't watching close enough and did end up burning some of them.  KEEP THE HEAT SETTING LOW AND STIR OFTEN! Anyway, the burn wasn't too bad and I simply blended the burned with the good sauce and its hardly noticable.  Especially not a problem since I am the one who will be eating most of this!

I have 7 quarts in the hot water bath right now - they go for 20 mins.   I will probably get a few more quarts - I don't think I have enough quart jars though.  I may use pint and a half or just pints.

Oh, on a side note, Katherine mailed off the check (with a copy of the invoice) for the backhoe today!  It is going to take a while to get there and then it will take some time to clear.  It probably won't be delivered until next week - maybe even later.  I am anxious to get it though, I would really like to get those stumps out and grass seed down before the winter sets in.

Weekend recap

I went up to farm Friday morning, made it there around 9:30 I think.  I called seth fenby at que sales, inc to confirm that I was going to stop by to look at the equipment.  I tried to connect the trailer to the van, but without the tractor to move the trailer out of garage (no hydraulics hose meant I couldn't lift the FEL) I got the van and trailer stuck on the garage door!

So I left in the SUV, after locking up as best I could around the van, to go see the equipment.  I found the place, eventually, and met Seth.    He showed me the crawler-loader and proceeded to demo the unit by driving it.  However, while driving it he had some problems; it couldn't turn right!  I told him that I was more interested in the backhoe, so we moved on.  The backhoe started up and he drove it around a little and then let me drive it!  I drove it around - it hydro so I was already used to the control.  I then tried to use the backhoe portion of the machine.   It worked, but a bit jerky (which I learned later is normal for a backhoe).

I asked him for a better price and we eventually haggled to $6,700 cash and delivered.  I mentioned that I don't like carrying that much cash around.  He said it helps keep the tax off the books so he makes more money in the pocket.  I sympathized, but again, I wasn't sure I could even GET that kind of cash on a Friday afternoon, far away from my bank.  Anyway, I looked at the machine a bit closer and noticed some oil on the engine... I wondered if head gasket leaking.. although there was no unusual smoke.  I did take note that  while the pins are tight, they don't look like they have been lubed for a awhile.  I told him I would consult my wife to see what she said.  I think he thought I was passing on the deal (which I was STRONGLY considering).   As I was leaving he mentioned that he could do check if cash wasn't possible, but that it would just take longer.  I made a mental note, but had to keep moving...I left to rush back home to get septic tank pumped!

Before I got home though I stopped to get hydraulic hoses made at the Fulton Tractor Kubota dealer.  The service man couldn't make the house with 1/2 " hose but could with 3/8" hose. I couldn't see a reason why that wouldn't work so he went ahead and did it.  Only cost about $37and was done in less then 10 mins!!  LOL. So I wasted time and money going to TSC!  Oh well, live and learn!

At that point I was seriously running behind schedule! I rushed home to find that the County Septic truck was in my driveway up near the septic tank!  I drove up and met the guy - turns out that he was running late too and that he had only just got there 10 mins earlier!  Whew!

So we got the tank pumped out and then I went to install the new hoses on the tractor.  After installing the hoses I used the tractor to de-tangled the trailer and van.   Then I used the tractor to go over to the red-barn and knock down some of the trees and crap that grew up around there this year (well, last several years).  I just knocked the trees and fence down, I didn't pull the roots or saw off any trees or mow.  I wanted to keep moving before it got dark.   

Then I went to pick the tomatoes in the big patch.  There were many tomatoes that were goig bad and not many that were ripe.  I hope that we get at least another hundred pounds of ripe tomatoes from these gardens, but now I am not sure.  Anyway, by the time I got done picking the tomatoes, pumpkin, squash, melon, etc it was getting dark.  I put the produce on the porch and sorted the tomatoes out a bit according to ripeness.

Saturday, when I got up (I got up late!), I noticed the sky was cloudy.  I checked the weather and it predicted rain (90% chance) around noon!  I really wanted to get the cover crop in the big patch (the tillage radish is critical to break up the clay there!)  So I rushed out and began clearing the plastic ground cover from the patch.  3 HOURS later! ugh - that's a lot of work and messy!  The pumpkin and cucumber vines are like ROPES and really make life hard.  But I got the plastic up!  I took the electric fence down around the garden and then took the one end of the garden fence down so I could get the tractor and tiller in to prep for planting the radishes!  Here is what the patch looked like after the tilling:

It was starting to sprinkle around this time - about 1 PM!  I was literally RUNNING to get the seed!   Fortunately, I found that the radish could be planted with the manual seeder machine I got earlier this year (but was unable to use because of the amount of sod in the early season tilled gardens).  I used the "beet" plate and planted the whole space with radishes in about 10-15 mins!  Wonderful!  By then it was doing a consistent light rain and I was scrambling hard.  I got the hairy vetch seeds and found a broadcast seeder in the old garage and started seeding my butt off!  I finished before it started really coming down!  Here it is all seeded:

I saved the tomatoes and eggplant!  Everything else is gone from the big patch!  Well, there is a pumpkin vine or two that are trying to survive - but their roots are gone!

I rested a bit and did some more internet studies on the backhoe. 

I ate dinner then got to work canning the sauerkraut!   The kraut was fermented PERFECTLY!  It was sooo good and crisp - it was a perfect ferment!  I am so happy!  I think I will do the rest of the cabbage up there into sauerkraut.   One thing to note, however: canning sauerkraut is kind of a pain!  The "fibers" of cabbage stick to everything and don't want to go into the jars easily.  Eventually, I got it all in jars and canned - totaled about 10 quarts (counting about a pint of mostly juice in the last pint).  I gave mom and dad a pint and took a quart back to SS (along with the pint of juice).  Anyway, here is a pic of the kraut all canned:

Sunday morning, I got up late again!  I rushed out to re-install the fences on the patch and decided to mow the orchard while I was there!  Fences back up and electric fence on!

I picked the tomatoes out of the other two patches, as well as the green beans out of the paw-paw patch. Then cleaned dishes, packed and took off for mom and dad's.  I gave the green beans to them, as well as a pint of the sauerkraut I had made.   Then i took off for home.  

Katherine put up 7 pints of roasted tomato sauce Sunday night (lastnight).

Tomatoes canned, rutabagas, wine

Finished canning 14 quarts (actually did 14 pints sauce and 14 pints juice) of tomatoes.    Things went smoothly.  Used the double boiler juicer thing and the squeeze-o strainer.  Used the pressure canner - 10lbs 15 mins.  Got caught up on all the ripe tomatoes.  Only a small number left to can here.  Saving those for Katherine to do this weekend (not sure they will even be ready - I think they will be though).

I picked the rutabagas tonight.  I was getting tired of seeing them decay out there and the tops were crowding out many other plants.  The chard should do better now.  I took the good rutabagas and cleaned them, diced them and roasted them with some salt.  Katherine and I had them for dinner.   Was just about 2 cups once cleaned.  Not exactly thrilled with their productivity - but the soil here is a bit hard on most plants.

I finally got around to doing the next step in the winemaking on my zinfandel.  Did the de-gas and added the "F-pack" (flavor pack?) and isinglass for clarification.  Now wait 14 more days (Oct 3rd) and see if ready to bottle!  I need to check to see if I have enough bottles!

I got my draw-knives and my hydraulic line adapters today. I got 2 different sizes (3 of the smaller and 1 of the larger) of hose adapters - not sure which size is correct though - if either!  I am hopeful that at least one will fit the bill and then I can replace at least one of the lines and use the tractor for garden tilling and planting my cover crops this weekend!  NO DIGGING with the tractor anymore! [unless I don't get the backhoe or excavator!]

recent plumbing and More tomatoes!

Well, the sink issue in SS finally came to a head.  We tried using more draino on it Monday (and of course, the small snake) and it didn't improve.  in fact, it got worse!  I guess the draino adversely affected the plastic pipes?  Or maybe just the jostling of the plunging actions, but by Tuesday morning, it was leaking under the sink!

I took Tuesday off from work and proceeded to try to figure out a course of action.  I wanted to put in a heavier metal pipe based solution (I had a mix of light plastic and metal), but i couldn't find the parts I needed at Home Depot and time was running short to create a decent PVC solution.  The local Home Depot "experts" are useless, at least with respect to plumbing!

Anyway, long story short, I ended up going back and forth to HD only twice!  A miracle!  LOL  I did end up using the crappy light weight plastic pipe fitting that they offer.  Unlike last time i used those fitting though, I immediately bought pipe sealant!  I also got a 50 FOOT 1/2" pipe snake to clear that damn clog up once and for all!  It took a while to put the snake down and run it through, but I did it and cleared the clog (never did identify the clog though!)  I rebuilt the drain with all new plastic and sealed them good.  The build seemed solid.  Leak testing showed few leaks - mostly just needing to tight compression fitting around the garbage disposal connection.  Hopefully that will get snug and we will be OK soon.  Its good enough for use though, and saved me having a $300+ bill from James Wheat (and having to WAIT for Wheat!)

So that was my Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday night we got back to processing tomatoes (after Katherine spent much of Tuesday and Wednesday cleaning a BUNCH of dishes by hand!)  We got to use the squeeze-o style strainer (BTW, the mail order squeeze-o arrived Wednesday night - but we used the one I bought from Zimmermans because it was already clean).  We processed 5 pints of sauce and  7 pints of juice.

Also, I hung up the sunflower heads in the shop to dry so that the squirrels can't get to them!  Once the heads are dry enough I will remove the seeds and then soak the seeds in salt brine, then dry the seeds for eating.  I need to remember to save some of the seeds for planting!  Probably try to save those that are still on the sunflowers up at the farm.  I don't want to harvest them too early in case they aren't mature enough to make good planting seeds!

Today, I would like to process all of the remaining tomatoes that are ready.  I have a batch in the juicer right now.  Will update blog later.

Weekend update

Well, its been a frustrating weekend.

I went up to the farm Saturday morning, earlyish - got there around 11ish.  I immediately started to clean up the wood that I in the driveway last week.   But first, I had to sharpen the chainsaw chain.  After sharpening, the chainsaw was back to cutting through the wood easily!  I cut up the odds and ends that I left from last week near the old garage wood pile.  Last week I started making a round wood pile next to the garage. I stacked the wood that I sawed up.  I found a couple of pieces that I cut into chock-blocks for the trailer.   It occurs/occurred to me that I can't really use those blocks on the trailer while the trailer is in motion!  I had intended to use the blocks to help secure the tractor while transporting it, but I just don't see a safe way of doing it (the chock-blocks themselves would become dangerous if they fell off the trailer on the road!).  It would be safer to just trust the tractor brakes and the chains.  However, the chock-blocks are still useful for blocking the trailer while it is being connected/disconnected to a vehicle.

After finishing the driveway wood, I mowed around the paw-paw patch then went to check the tomatoes/garden situation.  I harvested a bunch of tomatoes and pumpkins (and some squash/cucumbers/cantaloupe etc) - most tomatoes came from the big patch.  After seeing that there were many tomatoes ready to process, I considered that I REALLY needed a squeezo/tomato strainer up there.   So I head off to tractor supply company/WalMart to see if they carried them.  I ended getting some canning jars at WalMart, and (too much candy!) some soda, but they didn't have strainer.  I went to TSC and still, no strainer, HOWEVER, TSC did have 3/8 inch hydraulic hose!  So I got 2 hoses that looked right and went back home to install them!  When I got home, it was getting too late to install the hoses so I went straight into working on the tomatoes.   I used the new strainer and it worked well!  I did scorch the tomatoes a little during the initial boiling (make sure you keep the temp REAL low and stir frequently - keep the setting under 4 on that stove!)  I got 7 quarts tomato juice canned with only about a cup of juice left over (which I drank).  It was past mid-night when I finished, so I went straight to bed afterwards.  I did take a shower while the tomatoes were in the canner (since it takes 40 mins in the hot water bath!).

Sunday morning, I woke up late - almost 9am!  After breakfast, Jay Knepper rides up on his ATV and I go out to talk with him.  He wanted to know about the wood pile situation.  I showed him the wood in the basement and garage.  He mentioned that while he was bush-hogging my field (there were ornamental pear trees left over after he hay-bined it last week) he saw that there were several dead trees along the fence line - he asked if he could cut and drag them out - I told him it was fine.  He mentioned that his friend at work was interested in the wood and that he would mention the would in the garage was available for sale (which I agreed to - but only if they came to get it on the weekend while I was there).  I am not sure of what I should charge, since I do want to get the wood out of there so I can work on the garage/shop (I am still considering converting it to two floors next year - need to talk to FetterVille).  He said a pickup truck load usually goes for about $30-$60 (depending on local demand- if there is snow on the ground).  I am guessing about 3-4 truckloads there - at best maybe 4*30 = $120 for all that wood, does not seem like much money. HOWEVER, remember - it gets the wood out of there and they are moving it!  While we were talking, I spotted a fox running out of the thicket below the front garden.  The fox ran up to the paw-paw patch - i think maybe he was hunting a mouse/varmit.  He looked in good shape though - maybe a bit thin. Then I noticed him running up the hill - right along the road toward Keller's driveway.  I told Jay about my issues with the tractor hydraulics, he confirmed my guesses.  Just turn the tractor off and raise & lower the front and back attachments to make sure they are depressurized.

After Jay left, I went to try the new hose and found that while one end fit, the other end did not!  I thought that the issue was that the hose was marked 1/2 inch and I mistakenly got the wrong size ( I got the 3/8 hose).  So I went back to TSC and got the 1/2 hose (after I called to confirm that they had it) . I got back home to fine that 1/2 hose didn't fit on EITHER side!  Then I noticed that the original hose had a different connector on the one end!   Anyway, after this I was frustrated so I went to harvest tomatoes from paw-paw patch.

I harvested tomatoes, and sunflowers and green beans.  I also picked up many of the red "pins" - hold-downs.   I decided that that point to just pack it all in and head home - since there weren't that many tomatoes ready to can and I didn't feel  like heading back monday morning.

I went back to house and looked down to the paw-paw patch - just a minute away - and saw turkeys moving along the edges of the paw-paw patch!  I took some pictures of them as they moved up the hill.

I packed all the produce and headed back to SS.  Didn't even clean all the dishes because it was already 6:30pm and getting dark.  I took the scenic tour using the waze app - get back onto 70 just before Hagerstown.  Was kinda cool.  Might be nice trip coming up, as well - we would pass a number of grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants (at least 2 chinese restaurant that i saw). 

I got back around 8:45pm, not a bad time.  About 2 hours an 15 mins.  After we unpacked the car and settled down, we cooked the green beans with some meat and some of the leftover tomatoes that Katherine was working on.

Later on I looked up a possible solution to the hose situation.  I found a 3/8 inch NPT to 3/8 inch JIC connector that should do the job.  Note that a 3/8 JIC is actually 9/16, I think.  I ordered from a hydraulic connector site: hydraulic warehouse.  Expensive shipping!  Hopefully will arrive this week, but I doubt it - I paid only for standard UPS shipping. (was still about $16 shipping for tiny objects!).  I preferred the adapter solution since this allows me to replace the hoses with cheap TSC hoses instead of custom hoses from CASE!  I still will probably call CASE  (hines) and see if they can order me some new hoses for the loader hoses.

Katherine stayed in SS to process tomatoes and eggplant.

Unfortunately, while processing the carrots I managed to cause a clog in the sink which did not clear the whole weekend, so poor Katherine had to work around that WHILE CANNING!  Ugh.

None-the-less, Katherine managed to process all of the eggplant.  I think its about 2 quarts of eggplant, after processing.  Processed by breading, baking, then freezing.  She also did 12 pints of tomato sauce (not seasoned).  She roasted the tomatoes in the oven - cooked them AND removed quite a bit of the water!  Great idea! Also, it gives the tomatoes a bit of a roasted flavor.

Pickled Carrots

Did up most of the carrots (8 lb 10 oz) we harvested from our front patch in PA and all of the carrots from the raised bed down here in SS.  Got a total of 12 pints pickled carrots (with about 1 C over) .  I used some jalapenos from the raised beds in the last 5 pints for a change.  Shouldn't be too hot since I made pickled jalapenos earlier this year and these peppers aren't very hot.

Here is the recipe I followed:

Pickled Carrots
2¾ pounds peeled carrots (about 3½ pounds as purchased)
5½ cups white distilled vinegar (5%)
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons canning salt
8 teaspoons mustard seed
4 teaspoons celery seed
Yield: About 4 pint jars

Procedure:

1. Wash and rinse pint canning jars; keep hot until ready to use. Prepare lids and bands according to manufacturer's directions.
2. Wash and peel carrots well. Wash again after peeling and cut into rounds (we cut into spears) that are approximately ½-inch thick.
3. Combine vinegar, water, sugar and canning salt in an 8-quart Dutch oven or stockpot. Bring to a boil and boil gently 3 minutes. Add carrots and bring back to a boil. Then reduce heat to a simmer and heat until the carrots are half-cooked (about 10 minutes).
4. Meanwhile, place 2 teaspoons mustard seed and 1 teaspoon celery seed in the bottom of each clean, hot pint jar.
5. Fill hot jars with the hot carrots, leaving 1-inch headspace. Cover with hot pickling liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened, clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids.
6. Process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes. Let cool, undisturbed, 12 to 24 hours and check for seals.

Add jalapenos or chilis for a spicy version. Add peppercorns for some flavor and great contrast for color.


Actually, I used a modified recipe.  For 5 lbs of CLEANED carrots:

10	vinegar	C
1 7/8	water	C
3 5/8	sugar	C
3 5/8	salt	teaspoons
14 4/8	mustard	teaspoons
7 1/4	celery	teaspoons

More tomatoes

Did more tomatoes like last night. It worked so well!  We got 7 pints juice and 7 pints pulp tonight.  14 pints in pressure canner right now.

Took this picture just now (next morning):

New approach to tomatoes!

Katherine found a reference to a technique to process tomatoes that is such a neat idea!  The technique first processes the tomatoes with the hot water bath juicer to separate the water juice from the tomato solids, then the solids can be run through the Foley mill and used for a thicker tomato sauce!  Brilliant!

Pressure canning tomatoes on hotplate

Katherine is doing crushed tomatoes up here on the farm using the new hotplate that we got a month ago.  The hotplate was a bit disappointing for hot-water bath because it takes so long to heat a full canner load of loaded jars!  We are proceeding with the general recipe found at NCHFP, but it agrees with the ball blue book recipe as well.  We did not add any acid to this first batch because we had mostly heirloom tomatoes which are known to be high acid.  If we do Roma tomatoes, perhaps we should add some citric acid.

However, for pressure canning, it is perfect!  We are at an altitude of 1150 ft here and the books say we should be doing quarts of tomatoes about 15 mins at 15 lbs pressure.  With the 15lb weight on, the hotplate heats up the canner to pressure in about 15-20 mins (of course, the time will depend on how hot the jars were when you put them in as well as how hot the water in the canner was before you put the jars in).  Then we vented for 7 mins, placed the weight on and started the 15 min countdown.  We adjusted the heat control from 12 (max) to 8 to maintain the 15 psi.  The hotplate had no trouble maintaining the pressure.

Katherine prepared and canned 7 quart jars and 6 1.5 pint jars of tomatoes today!  They all sealed with no mishaps or problems.

A total of 11.5 quarts today!

Beets

Canned 7 quarts of beets up on the farm.

Most of the beets came from mom, but some - maybe 1/4 (at most)  came from our gardens here and the raised beds in SS.   Some were turning woody, so I think its time to harvest all of the beets (I assume that the woodiness comes from cold weather - although some of the woody ones were white beets which only come from the SS beds...).

I drove up to farm; arrived around 2:30-3ish

First thing I did was tighten up the hydraulic lines on the tractor.  We will see if that works tomorrow.

Then I picked and sorted tomatoes from all three patches - amounted to about 10 gallons - most have to ripen before they can be processed though.

FDA guide to pH of produce and pH of heirloom tomato varieties

FDA guide to pH levels in produce

This is a big pic from an Excel file but there's a lot of popular heirloom varieties on the chart, as well as some lesser knowns & OP's, see the last column showing pH.

Canned tomatoes last night

Canned the ripened tomatoes from the farm last night. They were mostly ripe, just a few green hard spots.  Put up 2 quarts and one pint.  One of the quart jar cracked on first placing in the water bath. I tried to save the contents and mostly succeeded.  I added citric acid to this batch. 1 teaspoon for 2 quarts.

Again, like last time, lots of tomatoes leaked during canning.  One of the quarts failed to seal.  I made up the lost liquid with water (about a half inch) and re-canned that.quart.  it did seal after the second canning

Damn frustrating!

I am thinking of taking some quart jars with me to Pennsylvania in case more are ready.

Total tomatoes canned so far is only 3.5 quarts!