http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_crushed.html

And to everything Kimba said above!

Thanks Kimba for the botulism prevention tips. My mom used to can, freeze, jelly everything! She was a science teacher too. She was religious about canning practices.

Kimba

The deer came by Friday to trim the hydrangeas. The wild turkeys are here today to eat the deer ticks. Things work out.

I love it when the wild turkeys come! They're on our property frequently, sometimes just adults, sometimes a large cluster in assorted sizes, often walking in single file.

I tell Mrs. Skeptic I think they're adorable, which sometimes causes friction, as I also tell her I think she's adorable.

Ahhh, some really gamey turkey jerky...

Most commercial farmers hate turkeys probably as much as the deer.

Turkeys and deer do thousands of dollars in crop damage. I remember seeing a flock hanging out across the lane from our farmhouse. They were positively brazen. They were taunting the dogs, and I think, my dad. I thought they were hilarious, but my dad didn't.

We lived in the mountains of Monrovia, CA several years ago. The man we bought the house and land from (1 1/2 acres) ran down the list of regular critter visitors:

John: let's see, we got a posse of bunnies come through here regular, 4:30 daylight savings. Most of 'em'r wild but there's two black and white ones...people dump animals here all the time, you'll end up with more dogs'n ya came with, for sure...Then, let's see the foxes, a bobcat, bears every day -you're not skeered easily, are ya? - we seen a mountain lion last year, rattlers galore, but all ya gotta do for them is getcha some wild turkeys. Scorpions, itty bitty tree frogs that make such a racket ya think you're in the rain forest...

Me: Snakes?

John: oh, we got some big ones...But a wild turkey or two'll take 'em right down.

So the week we moved in my husband bought several bottles of Wild Turkey. I knew he was kidding but I stuck them out on the lawn anyway, even opened one and sprinkled it around. It didn't work. Some months later, though, I came home one day shortly after a baby rattler had slithered under our crooked front door and scared us all to death to find frozen turkeys dotting the lawn.

My hubby, I think I'll keep him.

One day, in this same house, I was sitting on the sofa in the living room, talking on the phone, when a large lizard came running through the open front door and dashed across the room in front of me, followed closely by a large snake. Thank doG it was a gopher snake, but they look exactly like rattlers when they slither by quickly, so I screamed loudly into the phone. My poor friend.

@Kate 520
I feel your trauma! It's like when I was still working full time and one of my 15 jobs was to coordinate all the float staff at the clinic. It was 6:00am when I was leaving the day's assignments on the nurse's float line when I was suddenly dive bombed by a giant armor plated hornet swooping by like an F14 fighter. On the recording I mentioned that if they heard me scream, drop the phone and run not to panic, that I was being dive bombed buy a giant hornet. I got shit for that all day!

I'm so pooped right now (beer finally in hand). I have 2 canners going on the stove. I spent hours peeling, de-seeding and chopping a ton of tomatoes and have 15 pints almost done! Woof!

Kate: The Wild Turkey story.

After a couple a Wild Turkeys, I can see mountain lions anywhere I want.

Summer in Western WA sucks this year. It has been too cool and seems to be drier that previous years. All that cloudy weather and cool temps grows great gobs of lettuce, cabbage, potatos, peas, etc but the tomatos - don't get me started

Aug 8, 2012 Western WA Tomato

So sorry SueDB

Tomatoes are about the only thing I have this year that did do well, well so far anyway. My spinach, squash, peppers, peas, onions, and even the cucumbers were all for shit. But the maters are busting! I’ve already canned 19 pints and have 8 more in the canner as I type from this morning’s harvest. I’ve also canned 12 (½ pints) of salsa and 12 more of Salsa Con Queso and there’s more coming.

Big beefy buggars too!

This thread is becoming an "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" kind of place.....

Kewl...the spinach is fab this year though. The green beans are starting to produce. I picked the first handful tonight for dinner.

Hey Ms. D...Did ya know...even if you don't get any good squash, the squash leaves are excellent to use as you would grape leaves. I cut a few dozen leaves, dip them for a bit in boiling salted water, then wrap them around any stuffing (usually a ground meat, rice and spice mixture). The squash rolls freeze well. I usually cook them in a nice homemade tomato sauce with a little olive oil and basil.

Love the thread here.

Didn't go with the various squashes this year. Next year we will plant some and try this...

Well, my terminters has been a disater. I planted two different strains of tomato and had less than stellar results. I also planted one Jalapeño plant which seems to be a happy camper. The peppers are a bit on the small side, but look like they'll be yumm when I harvest them. I think I'll see if they go all the way red.

Anyway, my little experiment to see if I could grow veggies in in a pot on my driveway has me making plans for next year; more pots, lower plant density per pot. Other potting soil and fertilizers as well. (I over-planted my one big pot this year; only the pepper thrived.)

And the very shady, birch & redwood forest, back yard can continue to produce moss, toadstools and angst.

Hey Gurlie..segway from the food thread...ARUGALA grows very nicely in pots and you can plant intensely...as in close together. I planted a four-foot long patch just ten inches wide last year and kept it slightly moist and fertilized. Kept going all season long. Just go snip off outer leaves and the center ones grow up and out. I did the same in a southern window during the winter in Patagonia with arugala and, believe it or not, with beet tops I stuck in a pot.You don't get any more beets with the tops, but for me they just kept putting up the greens which were great. I have some beet tops growing now but Marnie Fife the goofy dog loves them so they have a new home up on a window sill.

I have been growing the No Hot Jalepenos. I can't tolerate alot of spices, but I love the flavor.

Put up 40 jars of dill pickles and 12 12 oz. Seedless Blackberry Jam. MMMMMMMMM goood...

Time to go back to the BB patch for the 2nd round.

Got some Grannie Smith Apples from a tree behind my friend's Dad's house. Nice mature tree...good fruit..
There is pretty much just the two of us as all the chillens be gone.

Hornswaggled some tomatos....

10 jars of Apple/Cherry Jelly, 10 8oz jars of Salsa w/Fooled You/No Heat Jalapenos , 6 pts of Pasta/spaghetti sauce, and 5 mini loaves of banana bread (don't like to waste food - had some "very ripe" bananas.

Whew, it has been a busy day!

Today the Kitchen, Tomorrow The World!!

Oh yes, tomorrow we have on the canning calendar - 10 x 8 oz Genuine Sue D'Bastards World Beater Pizza Sauce. Just enough for 1 nice, fresh, and hot pizza per jar.

Necessity is the mother of invention...

This is an odd quasi-pepper that grows here in Panama. The locals call it alcachofa which is actually Spanish for artichoke, though this is nothing like an artichoke. They taste like cucumbers when chopped and used fresh in salads, but are also excellent for stuffing with rice and ground meat, then baking.

So, I used my jalapeños in ackshul cookery, sort of, tonight and OMG, they were soooooooooo good!

I have been letting them ripen to red and the very first one, a couple weeks ago, I just sliced it and tasted the raw, fresh off the plant, flavor. There was still that wonderful jalapeño flavor, but with a kinda sweet unertone that was really very nice. Plus it was hot...just enough to make my nose run.

I've been plucking them as soon as they turn red, give 'em a rinse and throw 'em in a glass bowl in the fridge; they keep real well.

Tonight I had liver for dinner. I know, I know, that's just offul of meh. I LIKE liver. Anyway, I don't fry it, I throw it in the oven and tonight, with my usual seasonings, I took a couple of my jalapeños, split them, seeded, them, then sliced them thin and tossed 'em on top of my oh so yummy liver.

Any of ya remember the old Hannah-Barbera cartoon with the dog that, if he was given a treat, would repeatedly hug himself and make yummy noises then launch into the air and float down like a feather? Mutly, maybe? No? Well, I remember it and my dinner tonight was exactly like that. Without Paul Winchell voice-overs.

Next year, I bring potted driveway gardening into the mainstream!

100 degrees just two weeks ago, now tonight the temp will drop into the 30s! I can kiss my basil goodbye!

Freeze it!

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2006/06/ho ... -herb.html