Canning, Pickling, and Dehydrating!

[Baymule]

If you don't make him some sauerkraut he may go out and start counting goats... justsayin. Hmmm I wonder if counting goats would have the same effect as counting sheep...

OH NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! don't count the goats!

 

[Mike CHS]

We froze a bunch of squash yesterday almost out of self defense since it seems we have it in every meal for awhile. We only planted 4 hills but we could have gotten by with one the way it is going. I'm not griping though since in South Carolina we had given up on squash because of the squash vine borer.

We dehydrated and froze around a half bushel of peaches. We didn't leave much fruit on our trees but it is peach season around here and we have several nice orchards.

I have a new favorite in dehydrated peaches in the Georgia Belle white peach. They are super tender and have to be handled gently but man are they super sweet.

This picture has nothing to do with canning but shows a good tip that may help some in getting tomatoes ready to plant that will get canned later. We are getting ready to plant our fall tomato crop from seeds we started last month. We like to lay them flat in a trench when planting but occasionally break some turning them up in the trench. The solution is to lay them on their sides the day before you plan to plant and they will turn up on their own.

 

[Latestarter]

OK... I have no green thumb at all. Why do you plant them on their sides? in a trench? I've never seen or heard of anyone doing that. You're doing it, so it must have proven beneficial to you in some manner...

 

[Hens and Roos]

we ran out of time to put a garden in this year but a friend gave us some beets

 

[babsbag]

Tomatoes will form roots all along the stem so you either plant them deep or lay them on their sides. The more roots the healthier the plant.

 

[Rescuechick76]

Since I am a bit newer here on BYH, I wanted to ask and see how many others here are into canning, pickling, or dehydrating food. Many of my family members used to can, but I finally got into hot water bath canning this year. It's been a great experience, and it is so rewarding to be able to use all the things that you've made. Now that we finally have chickens, I just made a dozen spicey pickled eggs last night for my husband as well.

We have jalapeños, pepper sauce, blueberry jam, and tabasco sauce canned. I dehydrated this year's habaneros and have them in a shakes to season food with. And late season okra we didn't cook is now bagged and in the freezer.

(I have to take a moment to stop and laugh as two hens play "Queen of the Hill" and try to get as high as they can over one another, fluffing up and trying to see who is boss)

I would really like to talk to anyone who stores up their foods like this, because I've learned what I have by asking questions and talking to experienced folks. Please share what you've put up this year, any tips or tricks, and just have a good chat. BYH and BYC both have been great groups of people, and I thank you for all the kindness here!

I am a canning freak!!
I've done lots of different things. Jams, jellies, pickles, sauces, pie fillings, veggies, soups, stews, chilis,salsas...I love trying new things and I love being able to make meals that we can just open up and serve. I'm definitely not an expert, but if you have questions I'd be glad to help if I can.
*I just realized this post is from 2015 :/
Sorry

 

[Mike CHS]

Babs hit it. About half of those tomatoes were cuttings and the rest were started from seed. I use a good bed of mulch so shallow rooting works good for me. This is my 1st season planting in Tennessee and our 1st batch of tomatoes did so good that we will keep doing it that way.

 

[babsbag]

@Rescuechick76 That's when the thread was started but I revived it a few weeks ago when looking for a sweet pickle recipe so you're good.

I received my fermentation crock and the produce stand owner says the cukes should be ready soon. He got a late start this year as he had pneumonia. We have a super long growing season...no frost usually until Nov so he is running late but still in business. I just planted corn last week so he isn't the only one running late.

 

[babsbag]

@Mike CHS I never thought of growing tomatoes from cuttings. My plants will usually produce right up to our first frost in Nov. Did yours stop producing?

 

[Mike CHS]

Babs- mine are still producing but since we were starting our garden at the same time we were moving in, we didn't put in nearly enough to be able to can what we want for the season. It has taken me this long to turn a rock infested hill into a decent planting bed.

I like to get a bunch of green tomatoes harvested before the first frost plus there will now be enough plants to get us what we want for canning. We put the first bunch in a bed that was less than ideal but all we had at the time we moved into our place. As I'm building more beds, we are getting more into what will be our permanent beds. To top it off, the temp tomato bed is where one of the main pasture gates needs to be placed.

I said something quite awhile back about getting everything set up until I figured out it wasn't going to work the way I needed it to be.