Blue Hubbard Magic

I am very excited about the blue hubbards from Baker Creek growing in the community garden.  They are getting huge and I'm already imagining what I'll do with all that winter squash goodness.  It seems they grow exponentially every day and out of all the squash this one showed no signs of fatigue through all the heat and lack of moisture this summer brought.  Looking forward to saving seeds and planting this variety next year.

Watermelon Soon...

Taste Testing

Today, right before it started to rain, I stopped by the garden.  In the process of checking on everything's progress I spotted a few items worth taste testing.  The beets are coming along, but still have some growing to do, and so do the spuds.  However, one beet looked too good to pass up and the red la soda that was partially uncovered due to all the rain lately also looked worthy of taking along to add to a roasted vegetable dinner.  Add in a hand full of kale and one couldn't ask for more.

Pumpkin Hunt

More Garden Flowers

Wonderful, wonderful flowers at the community garden...I can't imagine a garden without flowers and am already excitedly planning for next years selections.  It was hard to spot a sunflower without a happy bee enjoying its pollen!

Appreciating Green Tomatoes

Here is a small "appetizer" batch of fried green tomatoes.  Green tomatoes are in abundance around here--the tomatoes have been very slow to ripen this year.  But those green tomatoes are tasty though {I can't help it and am not apologetic for craving them in the least...too many Southern genes!}.

Growing up all we ate was fried green and I love their tangy taste, but I'm discovering there are some fresh ways I like them...almost prefer them--I'm surprised it took me until this season to start delving into this other world of the green ones. And did you know that baking green tomatoes works quite well?  I feel like a wonderful discovery has been made.

Finally Some Tomatoes

The tomatoes are finally turning red.  The cabin garden has a few black krim and romas ready {as well as a few peas and a bowl full of lettuce}.  At the community garden a few more we've been able to pick.  After the higher temperatures this weekend I'm sure we'll have more than we can count.  I'm already starting to dream of putting them away in spaghetti sauce and canning some stewed tomatoes that will be delicious all through the fall and winter.  Then of course there will be all that fresh eating!

I'm also hopefull my small patch of ground cherries decide to produce something.  There are certainly enough little "lanterns" hanging out on my plants.

Zinnias Everywhere

Zinnias are everywhere this year being in my sister's garden, the community garden, and the cabin garden in substantial quantities.  The one's pictured above are some from the community garden that I captured pictures of the other evening before the light faded.  Zinnias are quickly becoming my favorite flower {probably tied with those very seasonal lilacs}.  It's hard to pick my favorite variety, but I do love that peppermint heirloom.  One think I love about these heirloom selections is the variation found in the flowers at times.  The bottom three flowers above are all peppermints.  They also come in a very nice looking red and bright yellow.

There are also a fair amount of cosmos this year.  I've mixed some bright lights in with some senorita zinnias in front of the cabin in hopes of getting some flowers there before fall and recently they decided to open up and look nice.  The first average frost is usually some time in mid September, so these will have a little bit to grow still.  I'm already planning ahead for next years zinnias!

Cucumber Troubles

There are three varieties of cucumbers planted in the community garden:  Long de Chine, Delikatesse, and Ruby Wallace's Old Time White.  All are starting to produce, but I'm having trouble with bitterness.  I've tried pealing, tried slicing from the blossom end that is suppose to be less bitter if that bitter starts to show up...nothing seems to make them un-bitter.  The bitterness is due to the extreme dry conditions that have stuck this northern region that is not suppose to be this dry.  Daily intense watering sessions have been taking place to keep the garden alive, but it's not enough for the cucumbers.  It has me thinking a soaker hose would be worthwhile for next season.  In the meantime the watering continues as well as the taste testing in hopes that the bitter bout goes by the wayside.

Blueberry & Raspberry Preserves

{Wild} Blueberry Preserves

6 cups blueberries
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

In a large pot crush 3 cups of berries, then add remaining berries, sugar, and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 15 to 20 minutes--or until gel point is reached.  Add a pad of butter or skim off foam.  Ladle preserves into jars and process for 15 minutes in a hot water bath.

Raspberry Preserves

About 8 cups whole red raspberries
About 7 cups white sugar
1/3  to 1/2 cup lemon juice

Stir in all ingredients in a large pot over medium heat and then stir slowly and occasionally waiting for signs of boiling. Once boiling stir slowly and constantly for 5 minutes.  Add a tsp of butter at this time—or don’t and skim foam off jam before canning.  Remove from heat after 5 minutes.  Ladle into jars and put in a hot water bath for 15 min. 

The berries have been collecting around here as they get picked little by little.  It was high time to make some preserves!  Before making a few batches my sister and I did go out to collect a few more blueberries.  There are plenty still out there and we saw evidence that bear have begun to appreciate them, so it's probably a good thing are picking is done for the season.

Back at the cabin we laid out our berries and finalized our recipe choices.  I went with a pectin free blueberry where my sister didn't.  It will be interesting to see how they compare to one another.  The pectin preserves did allow for a few more jars in the end and used less berries, but mine taste pretty good.  After comparing flavor I'll decided what I'll do next season.

We both stuck with our standard recipe for our raspberry preserves.  Raspberry is my favorite and I'm thrilled with how much I have to enjoy plus give away.

We enjoyed conversation, listening to some concert archives from two musicians we both enjoy, and analyzing the results of our projects.  By the time we were done, the kitchen was hot, vaporized fruit clung to my skin, and we couldn't have been more happy with how we passed the day.

Blueberries are pretty much the end of the berry season, although there are some other berries such as pin and choke that I don't enjoy as much hanging around.  I will be going out and getting a few more Juneberries to make a very small batch of syrup for ice cream since there are a lot of these right out the cabin door.  Right now I'm very happy with our small stash of summer goodness!

Escapee

The pumpkin that escaped the garden and was later tucked up into the fence is doing well.  I'm thinking this may be a good way to save space and organize the pumpkins better next year!

Community Garden: Monday, August 12th

The community garden looks like a sea of leafy goodness right now.  Things have been very, very dry here and I've been going out daily to try and soak things down, especially after I noticed that some of the pumpkins were suffering to the point of failure.  The flowers by the path have almost all opened up by now and soon there will be the sunflowers!  I spied a few beans ready to pick and the summer squash is starting to give me about two new ones per plant a day--cucumbers I have my fingers crossed for.  I was able to pick a pickling and two nice long slicers and am trying to keep everyone hydrated and happy enough to provide plenty for pickling.

First Sunflowers

The red evening sun sunflower variety is the winner when it comes to which variety would open first.  The community garden is bordered by several beautiful varieties--I will have to count, but it's a lot and I've been very eager for them to show their faces.  This evening sun is one of my favorite varieties and from Baker Creek.  There will be several other colors of this type opening soon I'm sure.  The last one pictured is one of the yellow red blends.