Garden Archives - Page 2 of 3

August 27, 2019April 1, 2021

Dehydrating Veggies

A few things in the garden exploded and we have tomatoes and banana peppers running out our ears. So, I’ve been dehydrating veggies, a lot of them.

The tomatoes

We planted a lot of tomato plants this year because we weren’t real sure they would all grow because the seeds were so old. We planted all these plants with the idea some wouldn’t make it.

We were wrong.

tomatoes to be cut up for dehydrating — Mortgage Lifter tomatoes

These Mortgage Lifters don’t get as big as I thought they would, but they made up for it in sheer volume.

They’re beautiful and really good, but there’s so many of them.

They’re called “salad sized” tomatoes. Too big to eat like a cherry tomato, small enough to cut up for salads, but too small for slicers.

And the perfect size for dehydrating.

We got some cherry tomatoes, but not as many as I expected. I’ve just been eating them from a bowl right off the counter like snack food. They just don’t last long here.

Banana Peppers

When we bought these banana peppers, we weren’t sure we liked them. I was pretty sure my husband would, but not too sure about me.

Like the rest of the garden it was an experiment.

After cooking several and just eating them right out of the garden, we both discovered, they’re really pretty good.

We like grilling them with what we’re having for supper.

The little plants look like they have Christmas light on them, there are so many little peppers on them.

They were slow to start, but once they got started….watch out! They went to town and we have quite a few of them now.

Dehydrating Veggies

My Dehydrator

If you remember from a post or two back my dear hubby got me the dehydrator of all dehydrators for my birthday. And I’ve been using it almost constantly since to dehydrate veggies.

A dehydrator full of tomatoes. — Getting ready to dehydrate my tomatoes.

I’ve dehydrated so many tomatoes and Lemon Balm leaves, I have enough to last several months.

Dehydrating veggies is so much easier than canning. The actual amount of time it takes is probably a little longer, but it’s much easier.

I turn on the dehydrator and walk away.

And it holds so much, I can get a lot done at one time.

Dehydrating Tomatoes

Dehydrated tomatoes. — Powdering my dehydrated tomatoes.

I slice the tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick and filled all but 1 tray, using parchment paper on the trays to hold all the juice. This makes clean up a lot easier.

Once they’re dehydrated, they pop right off the parchment paper and are easy to grind up.

I was originally using my mortar and pestle, but couldn’t get them powered enough so I started using my spice grinder.

Peppers & Okra

I used the dehydrator from my dad for the banana peppers and a few okra. I was trying to do as much as I could all at once.

I sliced the banana peppers about 1/2 inch thick, the same with the okra.

The peppers and okra are pretty dry and don’t take very long to dry. Dehydrating the tomatoes took about twice as long because of all the liquid they contain. They’re really juicy.

Storing my Dehydrated Veggies

Dehydrating veggies takes up much less space in my opinion. You can seal the Seal-a-meal attachment in canning jars or in the sealing bags. Or you can crush or powder, like I did with the tomatoes.

I’ve dehydrated our garden goodies before, but only had four trays, so it took a while. Now I have 13. YAY!!

Next…

I’ll be canning the pink brandywine tomatoes this weekend. I like choices when I’m cooking.

I’ll be freezing a few things too, like breaded okra. Makes frying up okra this winter quick and easy.

I hope you got a couple of ideas here. There’s a lot of things you can dehydrate to help preserve your garden.

Just last weekend I found a book on dehydrating food and of course, I bought it.

I can’t wait to see what I’ve been missing.

If you have ideas or have tried something I didn’t mention, let me know. I’m always up for trying something new.

Until next time –

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

August 20, 2019August 19, 2019

Homemade Catsup (or Ketchup)

Grilled burger with homemade catsup and grilled banana peppers. — Homemade catsup on my grilled burger with my homegrown grilled banana peppers.

Either way homemade catsup is really easy and really good.

Recently, I’ve been on this theme of trying almost everything I can find homemade. Hint – coming soon, mustard and crackers among other things.

My goal is to make as much as I can from scratch and buy as little as I can from the store.

Just like garden grown veggies have so much more flavor than their store bought counterpart, in my opinion so does homemade condiments like catsup and homemade sweet pickles.

Regardless of what it is if it’s homegrown or homemade, it’s always so much better than what you get in the stores.

And if it’s homemade it’s a bonus, or maybe it’s the point of it, that you know what every single ingredient is you put into it.

Store bought tomatoes or home grown

In this spirit, every homemade catsup recipe I came across called for tomato paste. I rarely have tomato paste since you usually only use a tablespoon or 2 and I end up throwing it away.

But, this year I have a garden and I’m beginning to get a TON of tomatoes.

A batch of tomatoes getting ready to dehydrate. — Tomatoes that I’m getting ready to slice and dehydrate.

And, this year for my birthday, my awesome husband bought me the Cadillac of dehydrators, an Excalibur Dehydrator. I’ve wanted this thing for years, but it costs so much I wouldn’t buy it for myself.

Anyway, this means I’ve been dehydrating tomatoes. I knew there had to be a way to use those for this recipe.

So I searched the net and finally found a ratio method for mixing dehydrated tomatoes to water for paste and for sauce.

Just so you know…..it’s a 1:1 ratio for paste and a 2:1 water to dehydrated tomatoes for sauce.

So now I’m excited. Dehydrated tomatoes take up WAY less space than canned tomatoes. And this means I don’t have to can so many tomatoes….BONUS!!

Okay, back on track for homemade catsup.

To ferment or not to ferment

A jar of catsup with a fermenting lid. — My jar of homemade catsup with one of my new fermenting lid.

Most of the recipes I found said I could ferment them or not. As a general rule, we don’t use a lot of catsup, so I kinda wanted to ferment just so it would last longer.

Recently, I also bought myself some fermenting lids so I could ferment more. So since I had those I thought I would go ahead and give the fermented catsup a try.

From what I was reading, the recipe is no different either way. So, that made it easy.

Homemade Catsup

Making homemade catsup truly is one of the easiest things you could ever make. And best of all it can be made to suit your tastes. As you mix the ingredients, all you have to do is continue to taste it and adjust it to what you like best.

Although I read through about 3 or 4 different recipes, this is the one I settled on. First because I liked the ingredients and second, because I’ve liked most of the recipes I’ve found on her site so I trusted it would be good.

This recipe comes from theprairiehomestead.com. If you haven’t been there yet, you should check it out. She had a ton of great stuff there.

Ingredients:

12 oz or 1.5 cups of tomato paste
3 TBL of maple syrup or raw honey
3 TBL of raw vinegar
2 TBLS of whey or brine from an existing ferment***
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp allspice**

*** You only need this ingredient if you plan on fermenting your catsup. I had just made some sauerkraut, so I used some of the brine from that.

**I didn’t have allspice, so I found a mixture you can use to make a homemade version. To make 1 tsp of allspice you use 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground clove and a pinch of ground nutmeg.

Instructions:

Mix all of your ingredients in a bowl. If you are not going to ferment it, then put it in the refrigerator and your done. I’d let it sit for a few days just so all the flavors blend well.

A bowl full of ingredients to make catsup. — Mix all of your ingredients into your bowl and mix well.

If you’re going to ferment, then put your catsup in a pint jar, cover it with a fermenting lid, an airlock or a regular lid. If you use a regular lid, you need to remember to burp it either daily or a few times a day to let the fermenting gases escape.

Let it sit on your counter for about 3 days and then put a regular lid on it and move it to your refrigerator.

That’s it. It just doesn’t get any easier.

Another thing you’ll notice with this recipe is there is no sugar. I suppose you could use sugar if you wanted to in place of the honey or maple syrup. I wouldn’t know why, but you could if you wanted to.

You can adjust these spices to whatever taste you like. You could even add a touch of hot sauce if that’s something you might like. The possibilities of the different tastes you could come up with are endless.

So there you have it, really easy homemade catsup. I hope you give it a try. I know I’ll not be buying it from the store anymore. You may decide the same thing.

If you find you want to make your own catsup, let me know in the comments below how it turns out. If you change up the recipe, I’d love to hear how. I’d love it if you would post pictures of what you make.

Be sure to subscribe to get something new in your inbox every week. Canning season is coming up, I have a new dehydrator and I have several new recipes I’m itching to make, you won’t want to miss what’s coming.

Until next time-

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

August 6, 2019June 14, 2021

The Virtues of Lemon Balm

Lemon Balm is one of the easiest plants you’ll ever grow with a bonus of the awesome lemony smell. It’s the Balm! (Yeah, that was a bad one I know, but I couldn’t resist).

Lemon balm tea blend. — Lemon balm and lavender tea blend.

The plant itself and the essential oil have many uses and all of them are enjoyable.

Lemon balm tea has a soothing, mild taste that I love. Because of this, I add lemon balm to a lot of my tea blends. Don’t miss my article on making your own homemade herbal teas here.

Another good way to enjoy the taste of lemon balm is to crush the leaves up, which releases the essential oils, then add them to your ice water. This gives the water an ever so slight lemon flavor that’s really good, plus you get the benefits of the herb too.

A little Lemon Balm history.

This herb dates back to the ancient Romans and Greeks, with one of its first recorded uses being a wine infused liniment.

The Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541) believed that Lemon Balm was the “Elixir of Life” and that it would increase strength and lengthen life.

The botanical name for Lemon Balm is Melissa Officinalis.

The word Melissa comes from the Greek word for honeybee. Lemon balm was given this name because bees love this plant.

“Melissai” was the name for a group of nymphs in ancient times, known as the nymphs of honey bees. They were credited with the discovery and use of honey and were believed to be able to morph into bees.

Lemon balm was traditionally used to uplift the spirits and used in spells to heal broken hearts and attract romantic love. It was said to balance feelings and emotions.

Ancient texts recount folk medicine practices using lemon balm tea as a support for heart health, and to promote healthy skin. It was common practice to use lemon balm externally or internally for it’s relaxing effects.

Today, many of its uses are the same.

Just running your hands through the plant and inhaling that scent will make any day more relaxing.

If you’re just looking at it, it looks like any mint plant. But run your hand through it and you’ll know the difference immediately.

Some of Lemon Balm’s relaxing qualities.

Once known as an herbal cure all, Lemon Balm supports the body in several different ways.

It’s most known for it’s relaxing properties. It’s used to help reduce stress, anxiety and depression because of its uplifting, yet calming tendencies.

Lemon balm and lavender tea. — A cup of lemon balm and lavender tea.

It’ll help reduce anxiety and promote sleep when insomnia is an issue.

Of course, this virtue is also going to help the support the body in reducing all the effects of anxiety and stress like headaches and nervous stomach issues.

The vasodilating properties, properties that allow the relaxing of blood vessels, allows for good blood flow. Another reason it’s good for headaches and migraines. Constricted blood vessels are usually the root cause for throbbing headaches.

Some of Lemon Balm’s “anti” properties.

Lemon Balm has a lot of “anti” properties.

It’s known as a mild anti-spasmodic helping to reduce muscle spasms. This includes things like leg or stomach muscles as well as bronchial tubes where asthma is an issue.

It’s anti-viral properties are good for helping to heal or prevent cold sores, among other things. And it’s considered an anti-oxidant, helping to prevent free-radicals from floating around in your body.

Now, this isn’t to say that Lemon Balm is going to cure any of these issues. But what it does say is that it may lessen the affect of these issues in duration and intensity.

A few unusual uses I ran across.

One thing I found, that I HAVE to try is making jelly. I’m not sure why, but this is something I wouldn’t have thought of.

It sounds awesome. And after trying dandelion jelly, this is something I have to try. I also read you could use it as a substitute for lemon in jams and jellies. This would be for the flavor only as there is no citrus acid in Lemon Balm. I haven’t done this either, but I’m sure I will now.

It was used to polish furniture in Europe. I’m sure this was a long time ago. But, can you just imagine how good your house would smell? Not sure how they did that, but it might be worth a try just because it would smell so good. I can see making a tea from it and using it as an ingredient in a cleaner or freshener.

It was also tossed on the floors, in the old days, to help freshen rooms. Can’t say I blame them. I’m guessing you needed a lot of smell good to cover all the other everyday odors of yesteryear.

Pollination is another thing lemon balm is good for.

A bunch of lemon balm. — A bunch of lemon balm

We read earlier how bees are really attracted to it. So plant it near where you need lots of pollinators, like a veggie garden or a flower garden.

BUT BEWARE–It is part of the mint family, so make sure you plant it in a container. As great as it is, it literally grows like a weed. So unless you have plenty of space for this plant to grow, you’ll want to contain it or it’ll take over everything.

I hope you found something useful and enjoyable here. Let me know if you’ve used lemon balm before. If you have, how did you use it? What did you think? Did you like it?

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe. There will be more herbal information coming in the future. Information for learning about the herbs and how to use them and to build your own personalized tea blends.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time –

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

Disclaimer

The article above is written using my research and how I’ve seen this herb work for me. It is for informational purposes only.
As I said above, every person is different. So just like anything else, herbs will react differently from person to person. What works for one, will not necessarily work for another, or it will work to different degrees. So don’t relay just on what one person says. Try each herb in small amounts and give it time to work or give your body time to react. Make sure it’s doing what you want it to do. Also remember that herbs are not like modern medicine. It’s not an instant result. Some times it just takes time and for other herbs it takes several doses (or several cups of tea) before you will notice anything.
If you have any medical conditions, always check with your doctor before using herbs as a medicine.
Drinking herbal tea for the enjoyment of it, is generally no big deal, unless you have an allergy. But if you are attempting to get some kind of bodily reaction from it, you should do your own research. The FDA hasn’t approved any of these statements regarding the use of herbs as medicine. So it’s up to you as to how and when you use an herb(s) for a specific purpose.

July 30, 2019July 29, 2019

Second Garden Update – Things Are Really Getting Big

Wow! This garden has a ton of tomatoes, but most are still green, some peppers, radishes, a few okra so far, and a hand full of yard long beans.

Sunny garden plot plants — My garden looking more to the east

The garden is growing and I’m a happy camper. Here’s a look at what the garden looks like now. You can see the differences in this post, my last garden update.

Sunny garden plot — My garden looking more to the north.

Let’s start with the tomatoes.

Pink brandywine tomato plant. — One of the Pink Brandywine tomato plant.

I have 7 pink brandywines, 1 mortgage lifter and 1 large cherry tomato and the roma in the compost pile.

The pink brandywines are late blooming, but they’re slowly catching up. There’s plenty of tomatoes starting, but they’re small and still green. They seem to be about a month behind where they should be, but they’re getting there, so it’s okay.

In due time I’ll be canning and/or drying tomatoes. More on making sauces and paste from dehydrated tomatoes later.

The mortgage lifter has a TON of tomatoes on it. They’re not getting near as big as they’re supposed to before blushing and turning red. But what they lack in size, they’re making up for in quantity.

Tomato plant full of tomatoes — Mortgage Lifter tomato plant

There are so many of them, the plant is covered.

The big cherry tomato isn’t over doing it, but it’s doing okay. Those are being real slow to turn too.

Cherry tomato plant with green tomatoes.

I’m getting 1-2 small tomatoes a day. So far that works. I’m just eating them as they come in almost.

Now the Peppers.

The peppers have made a come back. We had some really HOT weather in the last few weeks. Maybe that was it.

The peppers that were scrawny have begun to fill out and get more leaves.

Banana Peppers. — One of my 3 Banana peppers.

I have 2 plants that are producing really well now. I have several peppers on both of those plants.

Red Pepper with a bad spot. Maybe sunburned?

Then I have the 1 actual red pepper. It looks like it didn’t like the sun on it’s west side. Maybe sunburned?

The other plants have a lot of blooms on them and looks like they will explode here soon. I guess time will tell.

We’re really liking the banana peppers and I have 3 of those so I really hope they keep going.

The yellow pepper has blooms but I’ve not seen a baby on it yet. And then I have 1 more red pepper with a ton of peppers on it.

The 2 big ones are still green though, so I’m being patient.

Then we have the radishes.

You can see we’ve been picking the radishes.

Those are big and we’ve been using them like roasted potatoes. They’re so good that way, I just can’t get over that.

These radishes are really big. I’ve tried them raw a few times and I just really don’t like them that way. They have such a big bite, it’s just too much for me.

But when they’re roasted, they are just so good. A spicy potato is what it comes out like, we love them that way.

I have a ton more seeds for these, but I’m anxious to try different kinds next year.

The okra

The okra plants are so pretty. I’d grow them just to look at, if nothing else. I’ve only gotten 2 okra so far, but there are a few more coming on.

I’ve heard these were usually early to bloom. I haven’t seen that, but I attribute that to the rain and earlier temperatures. There are a lot of blooms just coming on.

I have yet to see a flower. They get to this bud stage and by the time I go back out to look again, the flower’s gone. That was just from morning to afternoon too.

Sometime this week we’ll fry them up. I really hope we like them, but if not, that’s okay. There’s plenty of family that like them.

The cantaloupe and pumpkins are coming along nicely.

We’ve had a major issue with squash bugs. I’ve sprayed neem oil, but that doesn’t get rid of them completely. I know you have to keep respraying, and I’ve tried to keep up with it.

I’ve learned to use a strong hose and cold water too. They really hate that.

They haven’t killed the plant yet. I’m kind of surprised how well it’s doing. It is time to spray again though. The thing about an organic spray is that it has to be done often.

We counted about 7 pumpkins, so far. Not sure what I’ll do with all of those. Most of them are pretty small, so I could probably cook several of them myself for pies, muffins and breads.

My daughter-in-law likes to make pumpkin soup and my grand-daughter loves it. Maybe she’ll like a couple.

I also saw I have several cantaloupe now too!!! That excites me. I love cantaloupe and this one was so good a few years ago. I’m dying to see what it will be like.

Hopefully they stagger themselves just right. One a week. Wouldn’t that be great.

The Chinese Yard Long Beans are beginning to come on.

I’ve picked a handful of these so far. I’ve been told you’re not supposed to boil these like you do regular beans. Just blanch them and then sautee or stir fry them.

We’ll I had to be different and try something new. I recently bought myself a fermenting kit. So I am making Dilly Beans.

I found a recipe using these kind of beans, with the Dilly Beans recipe, so I had to give it a try.

I’ve never tried pickled beans and it sounded good. We’ll see.

Out of the 7 plants we have, only a couple look like they are really growing well. I have one plant that has grown up the trellis and then started crawling sideways at the top.

Another one is almost to the top of the trellis and the rest are still pretty short. They’re almost all producing or have produced, so not sure what’s up there.

We’ll see if I want to keep growing these. I’m just not real sure about them yet.

The corn and carrots are still growing.

Both of these have a ways to go yet.

The corn has tassels on top now, so that was encouraging. They’re growing well too. Not sure how much longer that will take.

The carrots are growing well too. But they usually take a good amount of time, so I’m in no hurry to pick those either.

I’ve got a notebook I used when we planted everything that tells how many days to maturity and then I put dates to them all.

None of those dates have worked out this year. Everything is really late where maturity is concerned. So I’m not putting much stock into any of those dates.

I still want to plant a fall garden so I’ll have to go by the frost and maturity dates in getting that planted. I just hope the fall garden isn’t as late at producing as the spring and summer one or I’ll not get much.

I really believe that the 30 inches of rain we got and the really cool temps had a lot to do with what’s happening with my garden now.

I guess next year I’ll have something to compare to and we’ll see.

A random broccoli plant is still growing.

This plant has been here since the beginning, but it has barely been doing anything.

In the last several weeks, this thing has been going nuts, except there’s no broccoli head. But it sure does look pretty.

I hope you enjoy watching the garden grow as much as I do. We get a handful of things most days, and I’m happy with that, for now.

I’m learning something new every day is what’s most important to me right now. As long as I’m get anything out of the garden this year, I’m happy.

Next year will be another learning experience and will be even better. I hope.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to subscribe, if you haven’t already.

Until next time –

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

July 10, 2019July 10, 2019

We had a visitor in the garden last night.

As a rule we go outside and check the garden every night, just looking at plants, checking on any veggies that might be ready to harvest and to water if it’s necessary.

Last night we found this guy in the tomato patch. It’s the dreaded tomato horned worm. Now, that’s just not cool, at all.

Horned worm on a tomato leaf — Horned worm

So far we’ve only found 2 of these guys, but they were plump little dudes. It’s amazing how fast they can eat a tomato plant down to the nubs.

We’ve began searching for them regularly now. With any luck we won’t find anymore.

You gotta know where to look to find these horned worms.

Be sure to check your tomatoes regularly. They’re really hard to see. Their color matches the plant color perfectly and they are always on the underneath side of a leaf.

I find them by looking for where they’ve eaten. You can see here where he had eaten the end of the stem. Those sort of stick out to me.

I found the exact type of same eaten off stem right next to the last one I found.

When I was a kid, part of my summer garden chores at home was to pick off tomato worms, and I did it well. Dad would give me an old tin can and put about an inch of gas in it.

Then I’d use a stick and knock the worms off into the gas. We always had chickens and I’ve often wondered since, why he just didn’t feed them to the chickens.

We’ve heard that you they glow when you search for them at night with a black light. We’ve decided that’s something we’re going to have to try. That would certainly make finding them much easier.

How do you get rid of tomato horned worms? Let me know in the comments below. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would like to hear your answer to that one.

Until next time – Health, Wealth & Blessing ~ Tracey