Windfall... part 2

 

Isn't the color amazing?



 

 

 

The purple color of the grape skins did not emerge until I added the skins to the warm pulp.

 

 

The pie was delicious.  So much so, I forgot to take a picture of the finished pie.

Now, I did use a store bought pie crust.  I have learned, over the years, I just can't make a pie crust.  I have tried and I do not have that ability.

DH and I ate the whole pie in two days.

Here is the recipe, below, that I used exactly and we loved it and I will make it again.

Concord Grape Pie I

In fact, one of the reviewers said that she made the filling and then froze it, so I have five more pie fillings in the freezer.

The cooler made seven pie fillings.  One we ate, one I shared with the gal who gave me the grapes and then five are in the freezer for winter.

I liked that you only use 1 1/2 cups of sugar and the pie is tart, it's not real sweet.  You taste concord grapes, not the sweetness, like welshs grape juice.

I hope that if you have concord grapes that you will try out this pie and see how good it is.

Windfall.....

I was so lucky.  A friend called me and said that her husband didn't have time to make jam with their grapes this year, would I like them?

 

SURE!

 

I had no clue how to make jam, or jelly.  But, I thought, I am not going to refuse free fresh fruit!

 

 

 

 

I had never even had Concord grapes before.  Just Welsh's concord grape juice.  BOY! Is there a difference in taste.

 

 

 

 So, I brought home a whole cooler FULL of grapes.  Pounds and pounds of grapes.  That smelled heavenly, by the way. 

 

I went to my preserving books and they all said SUGAR!  Some were 5 cups of grapes, to 5 1/2 cups of sugar.

 

I don't know about where you live, but sugar here anymore is becoming expensive AND they've reduced the package size, but not the price.

 

Then, I went to allrecipes.com, one of my favorite places and found a recipe for Concord Grape pie.

 

 

 

Yes, I said pie.  Interesting.

 

So, I began to "pop" the flesh out of the skins.  What an interesting thing.  The skins just pop right off, very easily.  Too bad apples weren't so easy.  Or tomatoes for that matter.

 

Anyway, I popped the flesh into a measuring cup and the skins went into a bowl.  I needed to save those to add back in to the pie.

 

 

 

 

Then you put the flesh into a pan and you slow heat them and mash them a bit as you go to release the juice.  You bring them to an easy boil and the flesh just kind of melts and then the pits fall to the bottom.

 

 

 

Next, you strain everything.  I used my strainer and a potato masher to get as much of the juice and pulp as I could.

 

And, because I want to keep your interest, please wait for the next post to see the out come!

Our visitor or pest control

 

While straightening the area where one of the water barrels was, look who I found?

 

I almost missed him or hurt him.  He was so difficult to see and was so camouflaged in the stone.

 

 

 

We have learned since we moved here that we have toads in our yard.  This year, especially, we have noticed a toad in every area of gardening that we have.

 

And I know that it is not the same toad, as I have seen several in one day in far different locations.  As well as a few different sizes of toad.  I do not have an idea what kind they are, I guess I will have to go google that, but I am glad to have this wild life in my garden, it means that I am doing something right to help support wild life.

DH wishes we had more of them to eat all the gnats in our yard!

During and after

Part of my gardening plan has been water collection for this year.  In the spring, we were fortunate enough to purchase two water barrels at a good price and begin work on putting them in our back yard.

 

 

 

 

This is the area DH chose to place the water barrels, given that our yard is such a challenge.  None of our down spouts are in this area, or even on the same level as the main part of the backyard.

 

 

This spot was chosen as it is the most level, and gives me access to where a large part of the gardens are.  Those posts are four by four oak that was cut just for DH by a friend, and he carried them up the yard and cut them to size and places them.

 

 

That was back in May.  Then, life got in the way, and the hot, humid weather of summer and so this is how the yard looked until now.

 

The next four by four was put in place.  Red rock filled in the space to make it level, and the two water barrels have been placed.

 

 

It is not exactly where I would have placed them, nor are they in a spot I particularly like, but one thing I've learned after thirty years is to choose my battles and this isn't one of them,

 

 

 So next year, I have decided I will put flower containers to the "back" side of the water barrels, along the four by four and either put flowers or vegetable plants.  At least it gives me more flat growing space.

 



 

And no, the downspouts are not currently hooked up.  I told DH since it is so late in the season, lets make that our priority project for May 2015, for which, he agreed.





 

I don't have a picture of it, but we've taken both water barrels and put them elsewhere, upside down, so that water or ice and snow cannot collect in them until next spring.

Gardens are always a work in progress.  I hope that you will follow along with mine.

What is it?

I was recently at my dad's, where I have a garden as well. (I'll write more about that adventure in the coming months.)

DH and I decided to make a few raised beds there and we were working at putting in another one, so I had to do some weed removal before we could put the bed in.

So, I'm on my knees pulling away the weeds and all of a sudden a tuft of fur is revealed.  I couldn't really see anything, but all I could think was, "oh no, who have I disturbed?"

 

I didn't want to reveal too much, but I had to know, what was there.

 

 

 

It turned out to be a rabbit's nest with 7 babies in it!  What on earth are baby rabbits doing being born in mid September?!!  DH said, They're rabbits!  They're always having babies!"

 

 

I was afraid to move them, but DH insisted since they were in our way.  So, very carefully, with a shovel, I dug all around the nest and move them down about five feet from where they were.  That was when I was able to see that there were seven of them in this tiny nest and that their eyes were still closed.

 

 

I looked up on the internet and it said that if their eyes were closed that they were under 10 days old.  I stayed for four days and on that fourth day, one had it's eyes open just a tiny bit and they had grown to the size you see.

 

 

 

I was afraid that the mother would not come back, but by the second day after my moving the nest the mother had done a great job of hiding her little babies again and I knew that she was coming back to care for them.

 

My DH said we should have gotten rid of them, which I could never have done, because he felt they would eat the garden and leave nothing for us.  As far as I could tell, momma bunny had only eaten one of the cabbage plants that we had let go, so it really was not a garden loss in my book.

 

I'm glad she felt it was some place safe to have her family.  Please, remind me of that next spring and summer if my garden is eaten continually by rabbits!

Heritage Tomato

 

At the time of year when everyone is inundated with tomatoes, I just have to show you ours.

 

 

Yes, these were grown from seed.  These are the tomatoes that DS received from his friend, that he saved the seed from last year.  They are just lovely.

 

 



The size of each is perfect for sandwiches.  They are so large that they take up the slice if that is how you choose to eat them.

 

 

 

Please excuse the use of the lighter.  I needed something which I had hoped would show good scale of the size of the tomato.

 

 

On the right side of the plate, I actually cut from top to bottom one side of the tomato because I wanted to see how that would look.

 

 

 

The picture below shows a bit better.  The left side are slices from side to side.  They are so meaty and the flavor is just lovely.

 

 

I served the slices with fresh mozzarella and fresh basil from the garden.  Forgot to take a picture of it though.  I also had Italian dressing on the table, but everything was so fresh and the flavors worked so well together no dressing was needed.

 

Peppers and Green Beans, Oh MY!!

 

Yes, I guess you could say, with these last few posts I have been tooting my own horn with the pictures.  But, I know if you are here looking, you are interested, and happy for me.  SO thank you for stopping by and leave a comment for me of how your garden is doing.

 

 

 

I know that the seeds I got this year were, Sweet Cherry Peppers, from two different places and California Wonder, which was to be an orange bell pepper.

 

I have no idea where the yellow ones came from.  They are small, like the cherry peppers, but they have more of a bell shape.

 



 

 

 

Here are some of the beans that actually made it into the basket.  I have a four-legged who will bark continuously until I feed him some.  Well, more than some.  It seems like one for me and one for him some days, he loves them that much!

 

 

 

 

I know the green ones are just not ripe California Wonder Orange tomatoes, but I picked them because I noticed some damage on one, that I think was done by earwigs and I didn't want to risk leaving more to be their dinner instead of mine.

 

 

Carrots!

 

We've got carrots!  Four different kinds of carrots!  I am so pleased.

 

 

 

 

 

If you've been following my blog at all, you know that DH made, what we call, "the trough" last year for me to plant in this year.  The depth is perfect for carrots and it would keep them above the ground so I wouldn't have to worry about carrot root fly getting them.  Plus, since the trough is on our deck, I don't have to worry about the garden rabbit getting them either.

 

 

 

 

These carrots are from the second thinning that I have done.  They are small still.  Most of them just one to three inches long.  But very nice shape and the colors are great.  I just wish my picture taking skills were better!

 

The white ones are the most fun.  People don't realize that carrots come in colors, let alone that they can look so lovely.  But the taste!  You have never tasted a carrot until you've grown them yourself.

Weighing garden produce

 

I've decided that next year I need to look into getting a scale.  I do have a food scale, but I believe it only goes up to 5 pounds.  I would like to weigh my produce and try to see how much I am actually growing, and not only using, but sharing with friends and family.  I have sent off countless containers of tomatoes with DH for work snacks, brought them to knitting group and have had them at home, plus I also dehydrated some as well.  OH, and our four-legged, Sylvester, has had more than his fair share as well.

 



 

These are Martino Plum tomatoes and Matt's Sweet Cherry tomatoes that I grew from seed this year under grow lights.  It was relatively easy and enjoyable knowing that I could take this small seed and actually grow it INSIDE (I'm not a good inside plant person) and that I could get produce from it.

 

 

I would recommend to everyone, look at those catalogs and choose some seed to grow on your own.  You not only save money, but you get such joy from knowing that it came to your table purely from your efforts.

 

If you look very closely at the lower right of the basket, you will also see a Sweet Cherry Pepper, also grown under lights from seed and planted out into the garden.

Pictures from around the garden

 

Below is, a not so very good picture, of one of the tomatoes from the plant that DS gave me the seed.  I may have mentioned that last year, when he bought his house, a friend of his, gave him two heritage plants as a gift.  He has been growing these for many years, and apparently, he sells them for $5.00 a plant.

 

 

 

DS shared 6 seeds with me this spring, and all six seeds grew.  We/he had no idea how to collect seed last year, so I was very surprised that it worked.  All he did was open a tomato, put the seed on a paper towel, let them dry, and hid them away.

 

I shared one plant with my father and one plant with a cousin.

 

 

 

Above is Purple Petra Basil.  I am trying my hand at getting better with taking pictures.  These are the seeds of this plant and I just thought they were so beautiful.  No wonder the bees love them.

 

And here we have Fern Leaf Dill seeds.  Which, I have been successful at saving.  Pick them on a dry day and put them in an envelope for next season.  I plan to plant more dill next year to use for my refrigerator pickles.

 

Well, that's all from the garden today. 

Gutter garden - success or monster?

 

When we came home from vacation, this is the sight that greeted us!

 

The beans had taken over the trellis on the other side of the gutter garden and came over the top.  Now the beans are becoming really easy to pick, as they hang down and I just need to reach up to get them instead of pulling out the step stool.

 



 

We began to pick beans on July 9th and have been able to pick rather regularly since.  The one downside of this is that Sylvester has too be given his share while I'm picking or he picks them himself!

Growing like this truly adds another dimension to how you can see things grow.  The vines just intertwine themselves on each other and to whatever they can to keep reaching for the sun.  The flowers on all of the plants are just lovely.  Some are a nice yellow/cream colors, some have been purple.

Here is how the gutter garden looks.  The plants seem a bit tall at the moment reaching for the sun because of the beans hanging over top.  I am going to try planting some of the lettuces out in the deck side garden so they will get more light.

We've moved the butterfly bushes

 

Well, it had to be done.

 

We moved the remaining three butterfly bushes.

 

I had heard that they could be invasive.  Wasn't exactly sure HOW invasive.

 

They are SEED invasive!

 

We have removed hundreds of small plants.  Many of them had grown very well where they fell and I know that I will now have seven years of pulling them out from where they fell last fall.  I can not let them to continue to grow where I had planted them as they were not in the appropriate place for being a seed invasive plant.

 

So, they were drastically cut back, dug up and replanted to the side yard and now it doesn't really matter how many seeds fall.  I just hope they will grow as well where we have planted them as the seeds grew where we didn't want them.

 

Another lesson learned.

New deckside garden

 

If you remember seeing this potato vine last year that took over this area of the deck side garden, you can see why I thought this would be a great place to add vegetable gardening here.  This was one plant that took over the entire area.

 

 

 

DH and I worked on removing the rock border we had and then he put in oak ties (or is it tides?) to the back nearest the deck and along the front.  Along the side opposite the deck, we replaced the rock border there. 

 

Then it was a matter of going to the free composting site to get bucket full after bucket full of compost to help amend the soil at low/no cost.  I also added in some of our nearly completed yard compost and a few bags of humus.

 

I direct planted on May 9th, Gold Marie Vining Beans, Beurre De Rocquencourt, and a Gourmet mix of beans. They all began to show on the 15th of May and have been growing ever since.

 

To the front, or right side of the picture, I direct seeded spinach, then under cover I have lettuce plants from inside.  I did many seeds under grow lights inside this year.

 

And to the back are the three tomato plants that I grew from seed that our son gave us.

 

 

 

 

Our fall project for this area, is that DH will build a cold frame that will be placed where the tomato plants currently are and it will be used to grow some veg during the winter months to help extend our season in the fall and spring of the year.

 

With a little thought and planning, I am sure you too can find new places to plant vegetables or flowers in your yard.  I'd love to hear what you've come up with.