Monday, August 16, 2010

Harvest Monday, August 16 2010

It's Harvest Monday! Hop on over to Daphne's place and see what everybody has harvested for the past week.

My tomatoes slowed down a little this week, although I still gave lots away. I didn’t can any tomatoes this week, although I tried the Zucchini Relish that The Frugal Gardener makes. What a great use for those zucchini that I somehow miss on the vines! I ended up with 6 pints of relish, plus a little smidgeon I put in a small container in the frig. I tried it with a pepper jack cheese sandwich, and it was very good. I’m sure the next time I make this recipe, it won’t take me near as long as this first one did!


I’m enjoying the first of my cucumbers this week. It’s so nice to walk outside and grab a few to go with the tomatoes I slice for dinner. I even took some in a salad I made for a potluck on Friday. This week was also the very beginning of our apples. I can see the applesauce coming already! And I’m running out of pint jars! Geoff bought more while he was in town, so I wouldn’t have to make a special trip when I start making the stuff. Michael (our oldest) really likes applesauce, so I think I’ll can a bunch in quarts to send home with him. The quarts are much faster, and I have tons of them in the garage just waiting to be filled. I selectively picked a basketful of Fuji’s to make a cranberry apple pie, and have a few on the counter for some tart eating. Of course, we have to be a little careful, checking for a few bugs, but it’s not really a big problem.



The total for this week is: 44.125 pounds

Tomatoes; 22.625 lbs

Squash; 5.5 lbs

Peppers; .5 lbs

Herbs; .625 lbs

Chard; 4.375 lbs

Cucumbers; 4.5 lbs

Apples! 6.75 lbs

11 comments:

  1. Hey is that the pie we were talking about? Results? Would you do it again? Nice results this week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Becca, yes, that's the pie I was in the middle of making when I was talking to you. Results: too much cranberry, not sweet enough, but that might be because there was too much cranberry, or the apples were the very first ones, I couldn't really tell. I will definitely do it again, but will be changing it a little. Hopefully soon. Will let you know!
    ~~Lori

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lori thank you so much for mentioning me in this blog post! I am tickled and delighted that you liked the relish. I have made 3 batches already and am going to start more tonight.

    Do you have a recipe for your apple sauce? I have never canned it and would like to try this year. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Frugal, You're welcome! Thanks for the recipe.
    When I can applesauce, I only use apples, and a little water to get them started when they first are on the stove. The trees that we have that are the most productive are Fuji, and they are really sweet, so no sugar is needed. I did a post on making applesauce, here is the link:
    http://beyonddirtmycreativejourney.blogspot.com/2009/11/apples-apples-apples.html
    Let me know if you want any more info, I'd be happy to help!
    ~~Lori

    ReplyDelete
  5. That cranberry apple pie looks really yummy, and if you didn't say anything about it having too much cranberry, I would have just assumed that it was perfect - it looks that good!

    And when you said that your tomatoes slowed down, I was starting to feel bad for you, until I got to the bottom of the post and saw that you still got over 22 lbs. I take back every last morsel of "sorry" I felt for you! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for the link! We have an apple orchard just down the road and my friend at the farm has a couple apple trees. Can't wait to make some homemade sauce.

    Thank you again! BTW, your relish looks fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  7. thyme, there will be more cranberry apple pies made very soon here. It's not too far off, and I would like to get a good recipe for it. No more feeling sorry for me??? Ahhh, I'm bummed!

    Frugal, You're welcome! Be sure to let me know how it turns out! The big thing that saved a bucketload of time for me was the Victorio. It would have been worth it to buy one with as many apples as we get each year.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Weirdly I'm getting so many more cucumbers than I am zucchini. I made cucumber relish. Yum. I made way too much though. I only use about a jar or to a year and I have seven. What am I going to do with it all?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Daphne, what a great problem to have!! Did you make dill or sweet? Do you share your recipes? I'm looking for a really good dill relish recipe.
    ~~Lori

    ReplyDelete
  10. Daphne, I have a cucumber bread recipe that is pretty good. My kids devour it so it must be ok. Here is the link http://www.frugal-gardener.com/2010/07/cucumber-bread-recipe.html. I have frozen some but am unsure how it is when thawed. I would assume similar to zucchini bread. Hope that helps with your cucumber issue!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is a lovely looking pie. We did some selective apple preparation as well this week.

    I have had poor luck with cukes this year so it is nice to hear that other people are enjoying them.

    ReplyDelete