Operating system and software update is complete. Here are some of the photos and what we have been doing.
The top photo is a mix of green tomatoes, onions and garlic. I slice and layer them in pans, then salt each layer and let sit for about 4 hours to draw out some of the water. Then I drain them. The salt I put on each layer with just a salt shaker, and is pickling salt as well.
This is basically the recipe, but every time I make things like this I change things up.
1 qt water
1qt white vinegar
4 C. Sugar
5 Tbsp pickling salt
1 Tbsp dill seeds
12 crushed dry Thai Sun chilis
1/2 C. yellow mustard (just regular yellow mustard)
1.5 gallons of sliced green tomatoes
2 pounds sliced onion
12 large cloves of garlic, crushed
I heat the liquids, salt, sugar, dill seed, crushed chilis and mustard together until boiling and all salt and sugar is dissolved. Then I drain the tomatoes, onions and garlic, and drop into the pot. I bring it up to where it is hot and just starting to bubble, then pack into hot sterilized pint jars and hot water bath for 20 minutes.
I liked the green tomato pickle so much I did the same thing with a few heads of cauliflower as well.
I made a batch of smoking hot salsa too. Over the last couple of weeks I did some medium and mild ones, but this one had the distinction of having more habenero chilis in it than jars they were packed in, as well as a dozen jalepeno peppers. The habenero peppers were liquified into the tomato base, while the rest of the vegetables were simply chopped. It is well beyond Patti’s comfort zone. Eating half a jar put me into a good sweat. Kids all tried it and none of them died, though they drank a lot of milk while eating it.
The Minnetonka garden is basically done being harvested. Frank has pulled all of the tomato cages and stored them at his home. Most of the plants were pulled and tossed over the back fence. The pole beans are all done, shelled, and packed away for soups this winter.
Patti cleaned the chicken house this week. The Buff Cochin chickens (which Patti is shown holding one of) are getting harassed by the Black Austrolope chickens. A few months ago one was even killed by one. We have far more of the Blacks than the Buffs, so we might have the Buffs for Thanksgiving dinner. The Speckeled Partridge Barnvelders seem to be just left alone by the Blacks. Overall they all look happy, healthy, and still giving a good amount of eggs every day. We will need to put the interior lights on a timer this fall to keep them up at good egg production all winter. All of the flour corn leavings, husks, and bean shells were hauled over for them to peck through which they were pretty thrilled about. Plenty of seeds for them to still find in there.
This evening Patti is working at extracting honey from some old comb we still had sitting around from last year that had just been put into sealed plastic bins. We took photos of that too, because it had crystalized, and we had to employ a double boiler to heat up crushed comb enough to separate the wax from the honey, yet careful not to get it so hot that the honey cooked. It never got over 130 degrees and worked pretty slick. Until it is done and bottled to put away with the rest Patti does not want me to post those photos.
The produce level (fresh) is slowly getting done and finding its ways onto the shelves. Slowly but surely, a batch here and there, we are getting it done without taxing my body too badly. Meeting for a consult with a neurosurgeon on the 23rd, and I will go on from there.
