Gordon's Living Site

Whole Pickles

I'm trying to make some pickles a little like those big, huge ones you can buy at the movie theater. This probably isn't it. But, it's going to come out well. I modified a pickling spice I found on the internet and ended up making waaaay too much. The extra will go into the frig and I'll be be making more pickles using it soon.

• Enough fresh cucumbers for six quart jars
• 8 c vinegar
• 12 c water
• 1 T salt for each quart jar
• 1/4 c pickling spice per jar

Pickling spice

• 1 T ground mustard
• 2 T ground allspice
• 3 tsp coriander
• 4 whole cloves, grind with mortar and pestle
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled

combine pickling spice ingredients and add to 3 cups vinegar and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Take 1/4 c of this and add to each jar. Refrigerate remainder. Like I said, this is enough to last awhile.

Bring vinegar/water to a near boil and fill each quart jar to within 1 inch of top. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Here goes another one. Found the original recipe on Recipezaar. It had a 5 star rating based on 60 reviews. That's darn good. Of course, I can't leave well enough alone so I modified it anyway. I'd had my cukes soaking overnight and this called for a different soak. Didn't want to do it again, so I skipped their step. Otherwise, I'm not far off from their recipe. Here's how it's done.

• Lots of homegrown cucumbers. This recipe made 15 pints.
• 4 c water
• 4 c white vinegar
• 4 c sugar
• 1 T turmeric
• 2 tsp celery seed
• 2 tsp dried mustard

Rinse cukes and let drain. Slice lengthwise and pack into quart and pint jars.

Combine water, vinegar, sugar, turmeric, celery seed and mustard. Bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes. Stir and make sure there are no chunks of spices floating around.

Pour liquid over cukes in jars. Wipe glass lip and put on your jar lids (that have been boiled, of course). Place in large pot, cover with water and boil for 10 minutes.

Store for about 3 weeks to allow flavors to mature.

Forever Crisp Dill Pickles - first ones of the season

I can't believe it's been February since I last got around to making a post. Spring has been so busy I fell behind in the garden. I did a lot of mulching earlier this week so it is beginning to look better, but I don't think I'll get the production I was hoping for. More on that later. Here's the pickle recipe I found on cooks.com. They are I modified it slightly.

• about 4 lbs cucumbers
• 2 cloves homegrown garlic in each of 12 pint jars
• 1/8 tsp dill in each jar
• good pinch of freshly cracked black peppercorns per jar
• 1 small slice of homegrown jalepeno pepper per jar
• 5 c water
• 5 c apple cider vinegar
• 5 T salt

Soak fresh cucumbers in lightly salted water overnight. Rinse, pat dry and slice lengthwise. Those that were too long to fit into pint jars were cut to length and the all parts packed into jars.

Boil water, vinegar and salt. Pour over cucumbers in the jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Let for three weeks before opening and enjoying.

Happy New Year's Planting

First day of the new year and the garden is under way. No sense in putting things off, huh? I planted 2 bunches of white onions and 2 bunches of red onions. I also planted about 60 cloves of garlic. I missed ordering in time again this year, so these are the run-of-the-mill store bought garlic. Next year, maybe I'll plant a variety of garlics. Have you noticed that even the gourmet recipes only call for garlic as if there was only one kind? Territorial Seed offers 30 varieties but they only ship them late September to late October.

I'm also trying something else this year. Did you ever get a chance to chew sugar cane when you were a kid? I have fond memories of Dad buying a stalk and we'd sit on the back of the pickup and cut off chunks to chew. Horaney's Feed Store has some stalks this year for $1 each, first time I've seen any in years. Doesn't seem to be as sweet and easy to chew as I remember. Anyway, I cut up and planted 8 of the nodes. I'm hoping they turn out well.

It's garden planning time!

Gardening is a year 'round activity. Here we are almost New Year's Day and what could be a better time to plan for another year of renewal than to get online and order the next seasons garden seeds? In preparation for the apocalyptic end of the Mayan calendar in just 1089 days, I am buying pure seed strains, no hybrids. Hybrids don't breed true so you can't be sure what you'll get if you try to save them. My garden is only 24X32 feet at the moment. Last season it started to spread into flower beds around the house. I plan a small addition of about 16X16, but Christmas kind of blew the budget (we're talking practice apocalypse here!). Here's a list of seeds I just ordered this morn:

I ordered lots of seed from Territorial Seed Company in Cottage Grove, Oregon last year and was very happy with what I got. They stock lots of heirloom varieties and pure strain varieties. Here's the selection for this year:

• Apollo broccoli produces prolific side shoots for a long season
• Cool Breeze cucumbers for slicing or sweet pickles
• Baltimore carrot, a sweet carrot about 1 inch by 6 inches, I'm planting this in a sandy spot I've had difficulty with in the past. Too shady and dry so I'm getting desperate.
• Merida carrot can be planted in the spring or fall. I may split the seed and try some both seasons.
• Simpson Elite Lettuce, a slow bolting lettuce variety that should extend into the summer.
• Italienischer Lettuce, a variety that gives my spell checker fits, can be sown spring to fall.
• Purple Viking potatoes, are unique looking - purple! The last time I grew potatoes, I had to fight the fire ants for them. For some reason, this last year we had almost no fire ants, I didn't have to poison them once. Maybe, I'll be lucky again in '10.
• Purple tomatillo is another unique variety. I've been experimenting with salsas lately, and tomatillos are often used in salsa. Forgot to put my last 1/2 dozen in the salsa I made last night, but it's not a requirement. Last season's tomatillo produced a lot of blooms and very small tomatillos, but very few survived to mature. Better luck this year, maybe.
• Ancho Magnifico peppers are another requirement for the garden. don't recall if this is the same variety as last year, but the ancho peppers produced huge quantities of pepper. As these things go, they are a rather mild pepper, only 1-2000 on the Scoville scale. This compares with jalepeno at 2500-8000.
• Anaheim College 64 peppers sound really smart! A new variety for me, but these peppers likewise yield great. They range from 500-2500 on the Scoville scale, so they add a little more bite than ancho.
• Ascent peppers are new, too. They are a small red Thai pepper. According to this source, they run about 50-100,000 on the Scoville scale. I've grown similar varieties, so I should have lots to give away (hope it's legal).

I'm ordering seeds from another company in Randolph, WI. I've not ordered from Vermont Bean Seed Company before and haven't a clue why they are in Wisconsin, but I'm giving them a try. They have a good selection of varieties going far beyond just beans. I'm trying to spread my business around a bit since a lot of small companies have gone out of business the last few years. I've nothing against Park or Burpee, but the small companies are much better at stocking heirloom varieties or pure strain varieties rather than hybrids. The loss of the small companies means the loss of a lot of varieties and a loss of genetic diversity.

• Hurricane Bush beans are said to be good for canning and freezing. I did a lot of that last summer and hopefully this will produce well this year.
• Florida Butter Speckled Lima beans are a mouthful, aren't they? These are really "speckled butter beans" but who in the north could figure that out? Butter beans are good any way you make them, and they are a good, hardy southern plant.
• Spacemiser Hybrid Squash. OK, I did order one hybrid, but their description sounded so good. Last years squash were humongous plants with a so-so production. I missed some of the squash until they were way to big to pick because I couldn't find them under the plant. The spacemiser name caught my eye on this one. 
• Holy Mole peppers are another pepper I fell in love with last summer. This is another hybrid, but it seems hard to find a pure variety. Reported to be around 700 on the Scoville scale, it is a rather mild pepper. I haven't tried to make mole sauce yet, but it has worked well for me in salsas and soups.

Only one more set to go! Totally Tomato is also located in Randolph, WI. Now I realize why their online order site looks just like Vermont Seed Company. Wonder why I had to pay two shipping charges? Hmmmm. Lots of tomato varieties, but they also have a lot of peppers and several other garden seeds. Another first time purchase for me.

• Box Car Willie tomato, has a unique name. Wonder who comes up with these? Supposed to grow to 10-16 oz. Last years tomatoes didn't can very well and seemed to have too much juice and not enough pulp. Could've been the way I did it, but I'll find out this year because this variety is supposed to be a good canner.
• Climbing Trip-L-Crop tomato is another tongue twister. This is supposed to produce 3-4 bushels per plant! And the plants are supposed to grow up to 25 ft! I may be overrun.

That's the total that I ordered this morn, $85.95 worth. Forgot the okra, but I can probably pick it up at the feed store. Almost waited too late last year and had to buy overpriced organically grown seed, but at least I got some. And they did produce well.

I've just bought four onion sets, two sets of red and two sets of white. I also bought garlic at the grocery store. I'll have to remember and order garlic much earlier next year as the companies only ship them in September and October. Getting them online will let me experiment with several varieties instead of the single variety at the grocer.

Anyone else out there garden? I can't imagine not having one any more.

Cold, Wet, Miserable Weather - NOT

Many of us wake up on a morn like this and think how wet, cold and miserable it is. About 40 degrees and raining. That may be true if you wanted to go to the park. I went out a little bit ago to do some chores and started reminiscing about this kind of winter weather when I was growing up. I've been recreating a bit of that environment in my yard the past few years. I have chickens, a garden, a nice lawn and a greenhouse.

I fed and watered my chickens, something they seem to be utterly oblivious to. Chickens have very simple programming consisting of just two questions: Can I eat it? Will it eat me? My generosity in continuing to feed them while not getting many eggs in return seems to completely escape their notice. Chickens haven't changed that much since I was growing up, I guess. I had chickens two times before I could drive. There had been an old four room sharecroppers house about 60 yards from ours and next to it was a small barn with some chicken wire around it. The house was gone and my dad helped me fix up the little barn for chickens. I could just see myself as a future Bo Pilgrim. I did get a few eggs after a while. My dreams of expansion hit the cold hard reality of a hungry skunk one night, though.

My second attempt was a little more successful. Dad and I built a small chicken house out back and I put up a generous sized chicken pen around it. I guess it never really took off since I can't even remember what happened to the chickens I had in it. I do remember using the chicken house for target practice with my dad's 12-gauge shotgun one day. Dad wasn't real pleased with that.

I had some leftover rice from last night that I spread into the garden. The chickens are allowed to run free in the winter so they can scratch up weed seeds and bugs. They really like anything I throw out for them. I have about twenty chickens right now. Some are about two years old, and some are just babies I bought as day-olds about six weeks ago. Buying chicks in late fall must not be the best of ideas. I started with 26 Banties of different breeds. Eleven of them have died one at a time. They dont' seem to get sick, they just slow down and quit working like a toy with a dead battery. Before long, I should be able to tell which ones are roosters and then I can fire up that George Foreman rotisserie!

Speaking of gardening, I started growing onions and radishes as a kid. Had a simple little cultivator with a plow that fit behind a wheel that I could push. I didn't like onions or radishes, but they were easy to grow. As I got older, my garden grew bigger and more complex. I used to go out and build huge piles of compost consisting of waste hay and fresh manure. I built some when it was cold enough to snow. Loved it even if it was freezing. It always amazed me that you could put a pile together on a freezing cold day and within 24 hours, you'd see steam rising from hot spots in it. Compost piles can reach 160 degrees inside and ti doesn't take long for them to do so. My current compost heap is heavy on dry leaves and doesn't have the nitrogen it need to really start cooking. I don't have a ready manure source and I couldn't get enough green grass to add to it. It will still rot and make a good mulch, but it will take a lot longer than those old ones I built.

Back to the story about my gardens. By the time I finished high school, I had a tiller and built a couple of neat gardens. One was roughly 30 by 30 feet and the other much larger. I followed a philosophy about gardening I hold to this day: rules are made to be broken. Actually, that's a good philosophy about life, but that's a future blog. I could put lots of mulch in the garden and grow tons of tomatoes, beans, you name it. Keep doing that and the soil keeps improving, too. 

My current garden is about 20 by 32 feet. Since I'm out of school for Christmas break, I'll be getting a dump truck load of dirt and expanding it some more. This year, I put up around 70 pints of tomatoes, 20 or so of beans, some peppers (they worked better last year) and bunches of okra. Froze some of all these, too. I'm still using frozen onion and garlic that I grew last winter. It's really a pleasure to be able to cook a meal and say you added some homegrown ingredients to it.

One thing I didn't have as a kid was a greenhouse. I wouldn't have known what to do with one then. One of the reasons we bought this house was the 6 by 8 foot glass greenhouse in back. The previous owners had never used it and didn't know if the heater or electricity even worked. Luckily they did. I replaced two panes of glass and I was good to go! I can't say that I've really done much with it. I haven't had a theme like orchids or anything fancy. Mostly, I've just put a variety of plants in it. I've been able to control the enviroment by using thermal mass to moderate the temperature swings in the winter. I have about 20 of those plastic containers that cat litter comes in. Each one holds a gallon and a half of water, so I keep at least 30 gallons of water to serve as thermal mass. Most of them are on the south side so they get a little heat from the sun. Mostly, they help to reduce wide swings in temperature. I throw away the lids, so they help add some humidity to the air, too. About once a week or so, I'll water all the plants and I'll flood the floor with water. This keeps the humidity up and helps to moderate the temperature.

I just gave away a few large plants. I'm reducing the plants I have in there, because I want to start more peppers and tomatoes again this spring. Starting my own from seed allows me to try varieties I'd never find in the local stores. I also want to start my own pansies and other bedding plants. It take about $60 to plant the flower bed on either side of the front sidewalk. Time to use that greenhouse to save some money, huh?

Enough rambling for now. You can tell I love working out in my yard. Can't do much today but blog and maybe start looking at all those garden catalogs I've been saving.

Canned pear preserves

There's been a pear tree in the back yard since we bought this place 10 years ago. I've never done anything with these pears because they are much too hard to eat even though they have a good taste. A friend of mine, Josephine, has been getting some for the last 3 years and making an outstanding pear chutney. that has been the only thing keeping the tree alive up until now. This year, I finally broke down and am making pear preserves. Gazillion recipes on the web but no real "how-to". So, I just took a general impression about the amount of pears and sugar and jumped right in. Let's hope this works well.
INGREDIENTS

• 6 lbs pears after peeling and slicing
• 3 lbs sugar
• 3 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 4 to 5 c water

DIRECTIONS
Peel pears and slice placing into a large bowl with lemon juice. Mix periodically to coat pears. Add sugar and ginger. Bring to a boil and let simmer about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to cook down. Use large spoon to place pears into pint jars and then fill jars with syrup to within 1/2 inch of top. Place into large pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil for 10 minutes to process. Remove to cool and do not disturb overnight.

Catfish King style green tomato relish

I haven't tasted this yet, I want it to age a couple of weeks tfor the flavors to meld together. I ran across a couple of websites that swear this is very close to the taste of the delicious relish served and sold at Catfish King. I did it in individual pint jars, so my flavors will probably differ slightly from one jar to the next, but I'm sure it'll be good. BTW, to date I've canned over 75 pints of tomatoes and 30+ jars of green beans before I did these 8 pints of relish.

INGREDIENTS

16 c green tomatoes, cut in pieces

4 c onions, chopped

2 c jalepenos, chopped

4 c apple cider vinegar (approx.) or enough to fill jars 1/2 inch from top.

1 c salt.

DIRECTIONS

Mix together and divide between jars. Seal. Place in boiling water bath and cover. Bring to rolling boil for about 30 minutes.

Hot water pack tomatoes

My first tomatoes didn't look all that good after pressure canning them, so I decided to use a hot water pack. They look the same. Takes longer and you have to boil more water, so you use more energy to do it this way. But, if you don't have a pressure canner, it works just fine.
DIRECTIONS
Peel and cut up your tomatoes just as you would any other way. Add one tablespoon of lemon juice to each pint jar to up the acidity a bit. Fill to within 1/2 inch of the top with your tomatoes (chopped, whole, pureed, whatever). Put on your lid which was in boiling water and screw down tight. Place in a large enough boiler that you can cover it with about 2 inches of water. Bring to a rolling boil and continue for 40 minutes. Remove all jars from water and let sit to seal.
These won't seal as quickly as those from a pressure canner, so don't worry too much.

A little about canning

I've canned 23 pints of beans and 9 pints of tomatoes so far this season. The beans turned out great. The tomatoes canned well but don't look the best. They floated to the top and left the liquid in the bottom 1/2 of the jar. I looked about the web this morn and found out I should have used a hot water packing procedure rather than pressure canning them. Since they are a high acid food, they don't need to be canned in a pressure canner. Here's a link to the "National Center for Food Preservation": National Center for Food Preservation.