It was 34° but no frost that I could see out the window. Very cloudy but no wind.
I finished 16 pints plus one for the fridge yesterday. I used the Victorio strainer for the first time and was very happy with it. I used the wrong cone because I couldn't find the correct one so I have some tiny bits of seeds and hulls that I don't like but I can Foley Food Mill it out for guests. Then when I am ready the box to store things, out of the depths falls the correct cone! Drat, drat.
I have a tray of the last apples we bought. I think I will just freeze them.
Sunday Morning
Well, I was wrong about no frost yesterday morning......I went outside around 4 pm and saw that the sweet potatoes were totally blackened. I corralled DH into helping me and cut off the tops and dug them. There were only strings in the first 4 hills and then, paydirt! I don't like the huge sizes but I had no control over that. I think this was just 3 or 4 hills. I only planted 10 and lost some.
Since I didn't cut the tops off that morning as soon as the sun came up, they may not last. That is what Dad always said. We will soon know.
The Early Girl tomato had been completely covered by the sweet potato vines and was hanging full of green tomatoes....we just picked a few. My poor little hot pepper had just finally begun to grow and was hanging full of small very hot peppers. I picked a few and then just pulled the entire plant and hung it in the smoke house. I found just a few of sweet peppers.....they were covered with the sweet potato vines too.
We definitely had a freeze last night. About the middle of the week, I will mow the entire east garden down. I am ready for it all to be gone.
Note to Self: Next year plant sweet potatoes in the new orchard garden and leave space on either side so I can just mow down when the vines get out of control.
This is Sunday dinner with my MIL as guest. I have a Pikes Peak roast in the crock pot with a package of onion soup mix. I just took a banana cake out of oven (to be frosted with cream cheese frosting). I will be fixing potatoes and the 'gourmet' green beans with toasted almonds later. I am also making a batch of the Best Ever Potato Rolls from Granny Mountain. DH is still commenting on the bread from the recipe. He says it is the softest bread ever which is what he really likes for sandwiches. It toasts beautifully too.
I finished 16 pints plus one for the fridge yesterday. I used the Victorio strainer for the first time and was very happy with it. I used the wrong cone because I couldn't find the correct one so I have some tiny bits of seeds and hulls that I don't like but I can Foley Food Mill it out for guests. Then when I am ready the box to store things, out of the depths falls the correct cone! Drat, drat.
I have a tray of the last apples we bought. I think I will just freeze them.
Sunday Morning
Well, I was wrong about no frost yesterday morning......I went outside around 4 pm and saw that the sweet potatoes were totally blackened. I corralled DH into helping me and cut off the tops and dug them. There were only strings in the first 4 hills and then, paydirt! I don't like the huge sizes but I had no control over that. I think this was just 3 or 4 hills. I only planted 10 and lost some.
Since I didn't cut the tops off that morning as soon as the sun came up, they may not last. That is what Dad always said. We will soon know.
The Early Girl tomato had been completely covered by the sweet potato vines and was hanging full of green tomatoes....we just picked a few. My poor little hot pepper had just finally begun to grow and was hanging full of small very hot peppers. I picked a few and then just pulled the entire plant and hung it in the smoke house. I found just a few of sweet peppers.....they were covered with the sweet potato vines too.
We definitely had a freeze last night. About the middle of the week, I will mow the entire east garden down. I am ready for it all to be gone.
Note to Self: Next year plant sweet potatoes in the new orchard garden and leave space on either side so I can just mow down when the vines get out of control.
This is Sunday dinner with my MIL as guest. I have a Pikes Peak roast in the crock pot with a package of onion soup mix. I just took a banana cake out of oven (to be frosted with cream cheese frosting). I will be fixing potatoes and the 'gourmet' green beans with toasted almonds later. I am also making a batch of the Best Ever Potato Rolls from Granny Mountain. DH is still commenting on the bread from the recipe. He says it is the softest bread ever which is what he really likes for sandwiches. It toasts beautifully too.
I had to go to Granny Mountain to check out her recipe and saved it. I've got a loaf of oatmeal bread going in my bread machine. It's almost done and it smells wonderful in here. :-)
ReplyDeleteSo, you got your first frost. We are having 'more' rain. It is still warm and very humid. Temps are in the 80's but it feels like it is in the 90's.
Hope you have a great week ~ FlowerLady
Oatmeal bread sounds good. I found one on my King Arthur flour bag I'm going to try next....it has raisins in it.
DeleteEnjoy your day.
It got down right cold here last night, I am not sure, but it was predicted to be in the teen's, and the car windows were covered in ice, so it did get cold. All my plants except my strawberries were hit hard and are black. We tackled those Monday and pull everything.
ReplyDeleteI have green tomatoes that I had covered up under the carport and I will go through those and freeze what I can, the rest I have to chuck. I just do not have any more room in my freezer. Then when I get some time hopefully by the weekend, I will do my chow-chow and can that and I'm done.
We had about an inch of snow between Friday and Saturday.
I copied the recipe for potato rolls and I am going to try this.
Glenda, I tried a small bag of King Arthur bread flour, and it worked up beautifully. I just wish I could get larger bags of it. Wally only carries the small bags.
Have a wonderful week
Hugs
That's exactly what I said to DH last shopping trip. WM doesn't carry it here so I get it at a Dillon's (Kroger). I bought 2 bags of unbleached and 2 of bread flour and they are almost gone. I would get 20 lbs bags if I could.
ReplyDeleteNice haul on the sweet potatoes, Glenda. I wouldn't worry about the size - I just slice mine 1/2" rounds, spritz with olive oil and roast 'em. Talk about yum!
ReplyDeleteExpecting a hard freeze tonight. Usually we don't even get a FROST until the 18th - but this year is colding up fast. Foreboding of a bad winter? Brrrr.
Roast in the oven? Details please.
DeleteI don't think it got as cold here as predicted.
So simple to roast. Scrub (I don't peel) then slice into 1/2" rounds, spritz olive oil onto a cookie sheet (with 1/2" sides), lay rounds flat, spritz tops, roast on top rack of HOT oven at 425F until tops caramelize. (Must be HOT or potatoes will just steam.) Sometimes I flip them over then, sometimes not. When cool I freeze.
DeleteThey can be eaten as they are or sometimes I mash them or even whiz them up for velvet soup. Waaaay better flavor than just saute or boil. Be careful. You'll be tempted to eat them all right out of the oven. *heh*
I use my Victorio strainer all the time, and I love it! Sauce making made easy! :) Got it as a wedding shower gift, 19 years ago!
ReplyDeleteI am sure glad I gave mine a try again. I tried it with tomatoes when I first got it and thought it was a joke. I must have done something wrong.
DeleteIt's so strange that you folks so much farther south than us have had killing frosts and we have not. What the heck is going on here??
ReplyDeleteSure wish we could grow sweet potatoes up here (northern MN). I do love them so just purchase a couple once in a while at our organic co-op.
All your talk about your wonderful bread is going to make me start baking bread now again since the weather is cool enough to not mind using the oven! I've never had a bread machine so just do it the old-fashioned way.
Oh, Mama Pea - I just noticed your new picture. What a riot! LOL
DeleteThe old fashioned way is the way I do it too except for using my KA mixer.
ReplyDeleteThe weather has been strange everywhere this year.
I just read Keeping a Family Cow - Heifer Diary which is based from a farm in Maine and she grew a couple of sweet potato plants up next to a building and got potatoes! She was surprised too.
Yeah, frost here, too, two mornings in a row now. What escaped yesterday probably will get it this morning.
ReplyDeleteThere's a trick to using your Victorio with tomatoes. They need to be softened by cooking a little first, or freezing and then thawing. If you try to run them through when they're just right out of the garden they just squirt all over the place.
I think Granny Mountain's potato bread is about the same as my "Featherbeds" recipe. I never thought of using the recipe to make a loaf, though. Good idea!
I've heard, also, that the sweet potatoes that aren't dug before frost won't store, but I don't know that for a fact. One summer I actually had a volunteer sweet potato in one of the raised beds from the previous year's crop. I'll probably never see THAT happen again. I got two or three sweet potatoes not hardly big enough to eat but I'm going to, anyway. I think I'll just cook mine in the microwave. I think I need a deeper spot for my potatoes to grow in, especially if it's going to continue to be so hot and dry each year. With any luck at all, ALL my raised beds will be deeper and will hold moisture better once I get all this lakebed dirt incorporated. This summer I had to surround my sweet potato plants with chicken wire and the chickens kept the edges pruned.
Try peeling and slicing those apples into a gallon of water into which a tablespoon of canning salt has been dissolved. When the bowl is full, drain the apple slices (don't rinse though) and pack them into the freezer. They keep their color and are really nice as snacks, right out of the freezer. I've made pie with them before, and some other things, but when they thaw they get limp and the juice separates from them, just so ya know....
I enjoy growing sweet potatoes in tubs, because the rabbits eat the ones I try growing in the ground. I got an OK harvest this year, but forgot about the ones in the front yard. I dug them out after the plants had died back. I should use those first. I did get some skinny ones, though, and know they will shrivel before I decide to cook them. Still, I keep them, just in case I get to them.
ReplyDelete