Tomorrow night we'll get our first freeze so I had to harvest today

[dixie_belle]

I spent the day harvesting all my pumpkins. I had quite a few. I'm pleased especially considering I planted really late and did it just as an experiment. Next year I'll plant earlier and probably plant pie pumpkins instead of the jack-o-lantern ones like I did this year. I pulled all the vines and cut them up and threw them in the compost pile (which made it overflow), I had to use a plastic garbage can for the overflow compost. Once it is all broken down it will be small enough to dump together.

I had to harvest all my tomatoes that were red. Surprisingly I had quite a few so I canned them. I now have 6 quarts of diced tomatoes - ready for spaghetti sauce this winter.

I am in the process now of canning my carrots. This will be the first time I"ve used a pressure canner so I'm a tad leary of the results but it seems easy enough. Got my pint jars all sterilized and just waiting on the carrots to boil. Recipe says to cover them with boiling water and let them simmer for 5 minutes before putting them in the jars.

All this domestic stuff has got me really tired.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Good for you! What a great harvest.

I have carrots coming up but I can't imagine having enough to can.

All around us got frozen last night. We covered the peppers but left the rest to chance. Our neighbors got frozen but our garden did not. Peppers and tomatoes still look okay today. One more night to get through, then it will warm up again. We live by a mountain, and also have a cover over the garden. Sort of a micro climate.

Good luck with your canning!

 

[Sonya]

Our stuff has been done for a couple weeks now...we can't get anything that grows in the ground (carrots/radishes) to do any good. Our tomatoes and cucumbers did very well and our peppers did awesome (green, habenaro, jalepeno, chili)...and are beans did good but they were late this year. We canned some salsa/tomatoes and spicey pepper medley and some pickles. I don't can, I watch my husband do it...it's a pain! We are now onto smoking venison and salmon and making venison jerky. The hubby wants to can some salmon and venison but I'm not so sure of that....something about canned meat turns me off.

 

[dixie_belle]

OK, so I was either out in the garden harvesting and weeding or inside canning all day long yesterday. I have 6 quarts of diced tomatoes and 6 pints of carrots PLUS a bucket of carrots that were a tad large. I was concerned about canning them as I think they might be tough because they are so large but they'll be just dandy in the slow cooker with a pot roast today. Yum. And I've got about 30 pumpkins sitting out on my driveway. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them. They are the jack-o-lantern ones, not the pie pumpkins. I think I'll just put them on the curb with a FREE sign and see what happens. Next year I'll plant pumpkins earlier and plant pie pumpkins and then cook and can the puree so I can make pie and pumpkin bread. It's a fruit, so I should be able to use the boiling water bath canner instead of the pressure canner. Right? In years past (and another life ago) I made all kinds of homemade jams and jellies. I had a wonderful canning kit and would just go to town making all sorts of things. (Lost the kit in my divorce. What was I thinking???) I'd go to the farmers market and buy a bushel of something and go home and spend the weekend making jam. I'd give everyone a basket of four different kinds of jelly or jam for Christmas. Now I'm sorta into canning what I grow and this past Spring was my first garden here in Kentucky. I tried to put in some blueberry bushes but the drought killed them. I'll try again this Spring.

And I've started doing some research about canning meat. Seems like a ton of work and I'm not real sure I'm going to like canned meatloaf. Does anyone have any experience with it? Wanna tell me if it's worth my time? We're all into this "prepping" thing but I can buy freeze dried meat so easily it seems silly to can some. But I don't want to have all one kind of thing, so if it isn't yucky I may try my hand at canned meatloaf or maybe meatballs or something. Let me know.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

You have to use a pressure canner for pumpkin. Things with sugar, vinegar, or acidic tomatoes can be water bathed. Your county extension office will have lots of good pamphlets about it. And they should also be able to test your pressure valve if you question whether it is accurate. Personally I like the pressure canner; all that boiling water makes me nervous, and really heats up the kitchen.

I have canned spaghetti sauce with meat. That is the only thing meat-wise.

I am so impressed with your harvest!

Our peppers and tomatoes survived another night and it's supposed to warm up, so we may get a little more harvest from them.

 

[justjinx]

Did you pick your green tomatos? if you cover them with newspaper they will ripen & turn red. You can also make green tomato jams from them as well as green fried tomatoes. jennifer