Runamuck Ranch

Seed Order

I just placed my order for my summer garden with Baker Creek Heirloom Seed company.   I am going to completely heirloom seeds in my garden this year.  They had the most amazing variety of seeds.  Some I ordered were tomatoes from Iraq which should do well in Arizona.  I also ordered luffas which should be a lot of fun.

I am determined to lick this PVNS that is attacking my body and I know that a garden full of vegetables is worth more than a medicine chest full of pills. 

It will soon be time to start my seeds in the studio.  I think I will be adding some fluorescent lighting to give them a boost this year.

65 Pints of Green Tomato Salsa & 21 Half Pints of Green Chili

What started out as just seeing how many green tomatoes were left on my last lone tomato plant turned into 65 Cups of green tomatoes ....

This was a cool season tomato variety planted in July.  It did not start to produce until just lately, but I was afraid a freeze would ruin the fruit before it ripened.

There were even more chilies.....

All this made a very giant pot of Green Tomato Salsa ...

Tired and neglected children who finally curled up to sleep under a tree while their mother canned until midnight....

The Farmer took pity on me and helped me process all the jars.  Here is some of the fruit of our labor...

Because I had to purchase some onions, cilantro, cumin, and lemon juice the salsa cost 53 cents per jar.  Still a good value compared to store bought especially considering how much better it tastes.  The cost of the green chilies was free.  The chilies came up from saved seed and only required my garden labor.  Definitely a savings on something I use a lot in my cooking.

Canning Green Tomatos

I have an abundance of green tomatoes and found this salsa recipe from New Mexico State University.  We are not relish eaters so this looks like a good solution to try.   Note:  I only use tested recipes from a reliable source especially with water bath canning.

Tomatillo Green Salsa

Yield: 5 pints

5 cups chopped tomatillos
1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles
1/2 cup seeded finely chopped jalapeños
4 cups chopped onions
1 cup bottled lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp ground cumin*
3 Tbsp oregano leaves *
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and stir frequently over high heat until mixture begins to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot salsa into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner 15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet; 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.

You may use green tomatoes in this recipe instead of tomatillos.

*Optional

Carrots

Last evening we planted carrots.  This evening we shall put in a bed of radishes.  We are enjoying lots of cantaloupe from the garden. 

Sowing Romaine

The summer canning is finally through.  Today I planted a bed of Romaine lettuce and plan to plant a bed a day of winter vegetables for this next week or so  - continuing to sow some type of lettuce every two weeks.  Bell peppers and chilies are abundant and should be enough to preserve (dehydrate and freeze) to last until next harvest.

The End of the Summer Garden

We hauled in butternut squash....

and dug up the last of the onions.....

I cleaned and cut up most of the onions and am dehydrating them in the laundry room.  The squash are taking turns in my big turkey roaster being roasted at 400 degrees.  After they soften up we will remove the seeds and skins and food-saver freeze the rest in side dish portions to be used throughout the year.

Note to self:  Plant less squash!!

I pulled out the tomatoes and readied the beds for my winter garden.  The jalapenos, bell peppers, and serrano chilies are starting to produce abundantly.

This week I will be planting from seed directly in the garden...

• onions
• broccoli
• carrots
• radishes
• lettuce
• cabbage
• cauliflower

I love the winter garden because it involves no canning,  no battling with spurge and bermuda grass, and blissfully cooler weather.

The Frugal Mystery Garden

No it isn't Fall yet - although it looks like it with what I picked from the garden today.  More specifically what I picked from the mystery garden.  Each season I designate one square of my garden to be the mystery garden.  My current mystery garden produced two tomato plants, pumpkins, odd little decorative pumpkin gourds, butternut squash, potatoes, cucumbers, one chili pepper plant, zucchini (which I ripped out), and corn.  The best part about my mystery garden is that I planted none of it. 

Here is the secret.  Shh! Don't tell the complicated garden you have to do it a certain way folks.

• Dig a bed about 6 inches deep and use the soil you remove to make a border around the edge.  4 feet by 4 feet would be a good starting point.  Mine are mostly 6 feet by 6 feet.  Don't get too technical you just want room for things to grow.
  

• Put a large container like an empty ice cream bucket on your kitchen counter.  If you don't have an empty plastic ice cream bucket go to the grocery store and get one, eat the ice cream without guilt as you will soon be eating vegetables and you just finished digging a bed.
• Every time you cook or eat a meal put non meat scraps into the bucket.  Veggie peels, seeds, cooked veggies, bread, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, rinds, small pieces of paper etc.  You now have a compost bucket.  Put lid on bucket.
• Every time your bucket is full empty it into your mystery garden.  If it suits you, smash and dig your garden with a shovel every so often.
• If you already have a garden, you can throw stuff from it into your mystery garden. Do not throw weeds or grass clippings in your mystery garden!  The seeds and grass starts will ruin your mystery garden and make you miserable.  I also throw flower heads and plants into mine.  It makes a nice garden to have some flowers mixed in with the veggies.
  
• After a month or so of throwing your compost into your garden, begin watering it.  You want to keep it moist at all times.  Keep adding compost until your plants are too big and the compost it interfering with them.  Then you can begin a new mystery garden.
  

Here is a picture of my current mystery garden square.  I just threw all my squash plants I tore out into it.  There is actually a cantaloupe plant that has come up and so it will be soon time to find a new compost spot.  Most likely in the old onion bed.

 

Garden Abundance

The Farmer was complaining that his favorite blog author has not been posting much.  He also observed that a guy could get really fat hanging around our house lately.  Could it be that I have been harvesting, canning, and baking with a vengeance lately? 

Here is a couple of pictures of my mature summer garden.

Here is the first load of morning produce

The second load...

The third load...

To answer a question about dehydrating onions in the comments.  They can be dehydrated and just stored in an air tight container without a food saver vacuum pack.  I just vacuum pack mine because it does make food last longer and it is actually really fun to use the food saver.  Garlic can also be done the same way as onions except that the cloves need to be peeled first.  After dried the garlic can be left in chunks or put in the food processor to make garlic powder.  Of course onions and garlic can be canned but I never have because I am not sure I would use them in my cooking.  The directions are in most good canning books.

Dehydrating Green Onions

I love to use dehydrated onion flakes on roast and also in recipes either when I don't have a fresh onion or I am just being lazy.  They are quite pricey however.  This year I am dehydrating my green onions from the garden.  First I clean them and chop them into big chunks. On to the food dehydrator they go.

They dehydrate for 10 to 12 hours.  Then they are crumbled up, put in mason jars and vacuum packed with the food saver.  I use the used canning jar lids for sealing dehydrated foods which is safe and frugal.  Never use used lids for actual canning as it is unsafe.  The dehydrated onions can also be run through the food processor to make onion powder.

A Gardener's Feast

Here is last evening's picking.  There are also green beans hiding under this mess.
First I started preparing the green beans by snipping off the  ends, cutting them in half, and boiling them for about 6 minutes just to make them a bit tender.  I then put them in a baking dish and added Lawry's Season Salt, Garlic Powder, a pat of butter, and a tiny bit of water to keep them from drying out.  I popped these in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Next, I boiled the corn - but not too much.  

I also had zuchinni, green onion, and yellow squash in the frying pan with a splash of olive oil and garlic powder on high heat.  This carmelizes the onions and puts just a little burn on the squash while keeping it a bit al dente.  When it was finished cooking I sprinkled a bit of grated parmesan on top.  This is my family's favorite way to eat summer squash.

I also had some natural fed 4-H produced bacon in the oven on a foil lined cookie sheet baking at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.  This is the easiest and tastiest way to cook bacon - especially for a large family.

 Finally, here is the finished meal.

 The Caboodle approves of this meal - especially the corn. 

This meal was home grown.