Garden Bounty

Hello, friends.  With lows in the 30's, our woodstove is back in action.  I pulled four bags of veggie scraps from the freezer, and placed them on the woodstove in a large pot to simmer.  I collected scraps all late spring and summer, so there are many more, but this is a start.  I'm back in my cold weather wardrobe, which usually consists of a camisole and cashmere sweater, with a flannel shirt or fleece vest, or both if needed, wool or alpaca socks.  Pants vary, but are often velour if I'm staying home.  Some years back, I inherited some clothes from an aunt, and there were two pairs of these pants, and I realized how comfortable they were.  They don't feel as sloppy as sweat pants to me, and I began looking for them in thrift stores, and usually find them with the activewear.  These outfits keep me warm indoors and out (plus coat and hat), and the layers are easy to take on and off.  

I strained and bottled cat's claw glycerite.  While watching videos one night, J & I shelled butter beans.  I did not make any purchases during Amazon Prime days.  Most of my family has not given me lists yet, and I've already gotten gifts for the two that have.  I swapped outdoor banners with Fall themed ones I already had.  Before our first frosts last week, I harvested green beans, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers, a tiny cucumber, and a wheelbarrow full of mature cucuzza and tromboncino squash.  I gathered the last floral bouquet of the year, to enjoy in the house.  We're having inverter challenges with our solar system, so we are back on grid for now.  J has been conversing with the makers in China, as it's still under warranty, though it's a slow go, with us being day when they're night.  While doing what they asked, he found a burned out transistor on the power board.  We hope they'll be sending a board he can swap out, rather than asking us to ship the unit back to them.  Time will tell.  I blanched and froze three meals worth of butter beans, and grated a mature cucuzza squash for the chickens and pups, along with the cucumber I'd saved for seeds.  

The first batch of broth was strained, and I emptied the next three gallons of veggie scraps into a pot on the woodstove.  I refrigerated the first batch, and will can it all when the second is done.  Seeds that had been drying were packaged up... honeydew, cantaloupe, yellow watermelon and mizuna, and green bean seeds were placed in a pan to dry.  I cut the large cucumber we had saved for seed, and followed these directions.  We have lots of eggplant and tromboncino to do something with.  One dinner, I made an eggplant spread, and sauteed tromboncino using a recipe that's meant to be grilled.  It wasn't as good as when it's grilled, but I accomplished my mission of using some up.  I picked up requested books at the library.  While sitting at a long light, I noticed Food Lion had sent me a $10 off $50 coupon, which happened to be where I was headed.  When I got parked, the coupon was added to my account, and was received with my purchase.

For some reason, the red onions are sprouting in storage this year, though they were our best storing onion last year.  To make my way through them more quickly, I'm dehydrating the sprouting portion, and using the good parts of the onion in cooking.  While they were in the dehydrator, I added some celery and sweet potatoes for the pups.  There are lots of small and damaged sweet potatoes to use up.  I used some of the damaged ones for pup treats, and boiled small ones for chicken mash and the pup's dinner.  GF pecan sandies were baked, for my SIL's visit, and I shared cucuzza & tromboncino squash, and peppers with her.  I made us a lunch of potatoes, peppers and onions, and a salad, which mostly came from our garden.  She gifted me a plant based cookbook I look forward to exploring.  

I meant to dig up coleus before the first frost, but forgot.  They were a little worse for the wear, but still hanging on, so I dug a few up to hopefully overwinter in the house.  This last round of lettuce seedlings did not get eaten by bugs, like the last few.  They were still tiny, but I went ahead and put them in the ground the day before the first frost, and covered them up.  Most of them seem to be doing OK so far.  I canned up the veggie broth, and put one of the rings on wonky, so that jar didn't seal, but I was able to add 13 pints to the pantry shelves.  While we were having a long stretch of dry days, I filled up a barrel with hay, to have for the chickens over the winter.  Our sheds have a dogtrot between them, in which all manner of things gravitate.  M had his lathe and workshop in half of the dogtrot, and J got around to cleaning up some of that area over the weekend.  He also got the plywood sheeting and vapor barrier on my new sewing room.

Working towards using more of the produce, a pasta sauce was made with eggplant, our tomato sauce, onions, garlic and herbs.  Another night, Disappearing Zucchini Orzo was made, to use a couple pounds of tromboncino squash.  Mixed winter greens were harvested for salads, and some lettuce as well.  The grocery store has been out of my favorite Pink Lady apples, so I've been cutting up our small apples for snacks.  If there are any left, I plan to make applesauce.  I started another round of veggie broth on the woodstove, to be canned this week.  A pot of tiny sweet potatoes was put on the woodstove, for this week's chicken mash and the pup's dinners.  We're still having the most beautiful Fall days, of which I'm so grateful.  Wishing you a lovely week, friends.