Canning Green Beans

That was my big idea. To can some beans. At this time of year we begin to be as up to our ears in beans as we are in zucchini. Last year I froze a bunch of our blanched green beans and we ended up not really using a bunch because they were kind of.... not great. I mean really, we live in the Salinas Valley aka The Salad Bowl of the World. Eating other than fresh is a foreign concept in many ways, but in my quest to be more SELF SUFFICIENT I keep trying for ways we can grow and store most of what we will eat. Freezing green beans isn't the way. And now I know niether is canning! I started with fresh-from-the-garden green beans in their prime. I decided to go with the raw pack, room temperature water method which is: Pack trimmed beans into jars, add desired seasonings (I used a bay leaf and minimal good sea salt and a sprinkle of ground black pepper), add water and really leave an inch of air at the top. Trust me. Process, following your pressure cooker's specifications, for 35 minutes. Results?

Pretty but YUCKY. I figure they will make great finger food for my baby once he is old enough to eat. Yup, they are THAT consistency.

I'll take mine fresh off the vine anytime. Have you ever had them tossed in olive oil and salt and pepper then bbq-ed? I want it just the way I want it or I don't want it at all. If you are the same, please don't attempt canning your beans. Or tell me how you do it. I'm flexible! My next adventure: Pickled Dilly Beans. I'll let you know how they turn out!

(as a funny aside, my husband says this picture looks very aquatic and I can't help but agree!)

Growing like zucchini!

Our boy is 4 months old now, and 16.5 pounds. He measures up with this giant zucchini from our garden.
Growing!

Happy Sunday

Canning and Vulnerability

There is nothing like knowing new people are checking out my blog to make me feel like a total dork for some reason. Please tell me it's not just me? Not that there is anything wrong with dorks..... I remember, years ago, hearing the phrase "dorks rule the world." It was said with such fire and fondness (and in the moment, such marksmanship... oh youth) that it seared a permanent spot in/on my brain and is something I am forever grateful to have heard. Pass it on. Green, red, gold: Green Zebra, San Marzano, Taxi tomatoes

Anyway... I have a few photos and a really cool finding although it may not be a new finding for anyone else I'm feeling like a genius for it. But then I also think I must be a genius every time I misplace my keys since geniuses, in case you didn't know it, are known to be absentminded. Hence the term: Absentminded genius. You knew that was coming, right?

This is only my second year of canning tomatoes (thank you Marlyn for the inspiration last year!), so I have had to buy canned tomato sauce this year. I know, I know. We don't really use a ton of it, but when we have I have saved the jars to use for food storage and hopeful canning. Today I went to use them and while a regular mouth canning lid fit just fine, the typical screw band didn't fit at all as it has completely different threads (which my construction husband pointed out to me when I said WTF is wrong with this F-ing thing?? in frustration and you know we wonder where our 3 year old gets it... jeeeeesh). So this typical jar of sauce:
With this typical lid:

Is usable! I put the canning lid on the clean surface of a filled jar and then firmly screwed the original lid (above) down over it, then processed it and PRESTO! It worked! I had to really carefully unscrew the lid because it does catch the canning top a bit, but it worked perfectly. I should add this is for water-bath processing only, I haven't looked into how they might hold up in a pressure canner.

Ohhhh Summmmmmer. Oh summer. o-summer!
Damn I love summer.
I LOVE summer tomatoes.

These are a Thursday night harvest. The bottom basket is full of San Marzano which, as we speak, are sitting in jars popping away to let me know they have sealed well. (such a beautiful sound!)


We have been making lots and lots of Balsamic Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with our tomatoes as well. If you have never made it you really need to try it. It is a simple recipe so splurge on great ingredients.
Here is what I do:
Chop tomatoes into bite-sized pieces, if using cherry tomatoes I like to cut in half so they don't explode in the mouth. Plus, cut tomatoes pick up flavor better than whole. Chop up fresh (also called Buffalo for some reason) mozzarella. Mince a bunch of fresh basil. Toss all those into a big bowl and dose with a good amount of balsamic vinegar, a splash or two of olive oil, a sprinkle of good quality salt (please, no iodized) and a sprinkle of pepper. Toss around, let sit for a few minutes but not too long.... AND VOILA!

How cute is this?

This baby gourd will grow to be big and strong and holler out, loud and proud as my sister-in-law in Kentucky would say, the names we carved in them. We have some surprises in store for our family and friends :) Shhhhhh!

A dose of sweetness

Really there is nothing more sweet or tender than the time following the birth of a new life. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to really understand that. It seems the same with chickens. The mamas are so busy defending their new babies that they don't take time to relax. I sometimes wonder if the flurry of the few months of new human babies isn't so far off from chickens! This Buff Orpington mama hatched her first clutch just a few days ago and I was fortunate enough to be standing right next to the brooding box when I heard the first peeps. I ran in to get the camera and managed this one single shot of a puffed-out mama and a newborn chick. She ended up hatching all 6 of her clutch within a day's work.

First Egg (and a lucky button)

That's the smallest first egg we've had yet. So cute!

Tomatoes..... a Saturday morning harvest.

Harvestus Interuptus

Ah children. Sweet, sweet children. I love my children I love my children I love my children snap! Oh hi. Oops got lost in my latest mantra to remind myself of things important to me.

This little nearly 4 month old is the easy charmer. I just can't bend over great because he's not a fan of it but really, I can get around that no problem and my butt thanks me for it. The 3 year old? Oh the 3 year old.... love him love him love him love him love him love him snap! Whoops, sorry about that. I'm so easily distracted these days! Just thought I'd post this for any other gardening mamas out there who don't find every day to be a bounty of gardening bliss with their brood. It's a challenge sometimes, ya know? One I obviously don't shrink away from. I'll take this life. I'll take it and I'll have a damn good time with it! Except for some days.... and on those days harvests and everything else will just have to be left undone.

Coming home

Persimmon, Taxi, and Green Zebra tomatoes

Nothing like returning to loads of ripe tomatoes and a thriving garden! My mom watered for me while we were gone and everything looks fabulous! (Thanks mom!) Do you ever wonder if your garden waits for you to turn your back so it can go through a wild growth spurt while you aren't looking? ha! Seems that way to me sometimes. I have some canning to do!

Packing up and heading out

Can it be Labor Day Weekend already??? This summer has been so.... odd. It feels as if the past few weeks were the REAL weeks of summer. I'm hoping for a nice Indian Summer to hit, and what good timing that would be for us! Having our second child at the end of May threw our garden for a loop. Literally. Planting and maintaing a garden was harder than I expected it to be with a newborn and a 3 year old to tend to. When our first son was born it was a mere hiccup in the garden. So, lesson here is babies aren't that hard (I know I know, some of them really are!) but the 3 year olds ARE! (I know, I know, some of them aren't).

We've had so many moments of beauty mixed in with the so many moments of helllllllllll.

Which brings me to this: Our first camping trip away as a family! OH I am thrilled! Nearly an entire week all together. We will have a hammock. It will be glorious.

Packing sucks. And makes me realize I will miss my garden so much. It just kicked in it seems. The tomatoes, the love, the basil, the... the.. the.. all of it. A WEEK? Seems so long. But I'll be with my human family so the garden family must wait. Also makes me realize what a value I put on breakfast! Pancake mix, creamy wheat, oatmeal, dozens of eggs, honey, vanilla, cream, sauteed leeks and sausage. I'm packing for breakfast! We're eating the rest of the meals at our venue: Strawberry Music Festival!

Happy end of summer to everyone and may months of incredible Indian Summer be in your future. For those of you ready for fall: Kiss my grits! Oh wait, the birds ate all our corn this year!

xo

Still

In the garden

I was out in the garden with the camera a couple days ago. Here is what's going on in our garden right now.

I'm amazed when I stand back and see how green everything is. It has been a foggy and cold summer here most of the time which has aided in this I'm sure. But standing back makes me realize I really didn't suck as bad as I thought at the garden scene this summer!

The children's garden never took off and I didn't have the body to care for it so we ended up with a whole lotta sunflowers and volunteer amaranth with a few zinnias thrown in. It looked much better last year!

This was my new big idea: The canopy garden. Most of the seeds were eaten by birds, but the morning glories have really taken off and had it not been so foggy when I took this photo they'd all be open. Colven (my 3 year old) really enjoys being in here. Next year I need to reinforce the netting and use something other than hemp twine. I'm thinking some kind of open mesh fencing.
These Flying Saucer morning glories are gorgeous, this photo doesn't do them justice!

Peppers! Our jalapenos are doing terrific. The plants aren't the biggest we've had, but they are LOADED with peppers. My husband tried one last night and proclaimed they have great flavor and the perfect amount of spice. I tried really hard not to water them too much. Over-watering dilutes the heat in spicy peppers.

Every garden should have a gourd vine. This year I planted Corsicans, they will make a wide base bowl shape. The baby fruits are so fuzzy and soft. Even the big leaves are soft and fuzzy. The vines send out huge, long tendrils to grab onto things. It's really fun for kids to watch because they grow so fast. These vines have tons of baby gourds on them. I'm excited to see what happens.

When I was filling this old hot tub up with soil a friend of ours offered old organic mix from.. umm... an indoor garden (remember we are in California wink wink). Funny thing happened: A mysterious plant sprouted and grew. I confess I let it grow until it sexed haha. It was male. I shouldn't have let it grow though, and not for the reason you might think! It shaded out the Moon&Stars watermelon so now it's just this puny little thing I doubt will bear fruit. The first year aspargus is looking fabulous! And look! We finally got some potatoes in the ground. And they are sprouting! You should have seen the state of the seed potatoes when they went in. They had been sitting in their box in the dirt since spring. They looked like shriveled little deadies.

Nopales!

Kentucky Wonder bean vines with a mesclun salad mix, corn and volunteer purslane.

The Black Beauty zucchini got a late start so it is still robust and big and strong at the end of August, amazing! Newly planted (and protected from birds) are beets, scallions, Monet's Garden Mesclun mix and All American parsnips.


A tradition in our garden is a giant pumpkin vine. This is the first baby!

I had to include these photos of the amaranth. It is beyond gorgeous.


Look how long this is!

Tomatoes are slowly ripening

The first cover crop of buckwheat is already ready for tilling and re-seeding!

I also managed to seed some Purple Queen bush beans, Giant Musselburg leeks, and Southern Giant Curled mustard greens. The photo was just of an empty looking wet bed though! :)