Tomato Hunting

After we went apple picking @ my brother's suburban backyard we headed downtown to the Rochester Public Market in search of deal on canning tomatoes. No deal to be had as the tomato harvest wasn't yet in full swing, but we did get a deal on bananas & peaches.

While there we partake of good food @ Juan & Maria's Empanada stand.

Unique food offerings for all tastes.

The other white meat - Rabbit. Health & Harmony Natural Foods stand was doing a brisk trade.

Really enjoyed getting to know the owner & his son. Bought a few pounds of Redmond Real Salt.

Community garden a few blocks from public market in the Marketview Heights neighborhood.

A great spot without shade. I have garden envy.

~~ pelenaka ~~
Good day spent with a good friend

As American as

When my Mommie saw this photo she remarked," Usted tiene un selector de América Apple ".

No Mommie I have a good friend who happens to be an American read white, that picks apples.

This is my brother's Apple tree next to his house in a very upper middle class neighborhood far far away from where I live.

I won't dell on the fact that he has a corner lot with an ungodly amount of Sunshine on a daily basis.

My brother grows mostly lawn and a few shrubs besides this fruit tree.

This will be the last harvest from this Granny Smith (?) tree. The inner core is rotten & as of last week a good sized limb broke off. It really isn't very stable. The Americana shouldn't be up there.

Later this fall hubby will stop by with his chainsaw and our daughters. I have a few years to convince my suburbanite brother to go in on a pig with me. Then we can smoke us some hams.

Between the two of us we picked about 7 bushels of organic Apples.

I keept about 4, bbgf got the rest since it was her ride that we used to go pick.

Thank you to the person who planted this tree in the early 1970's. I have enjoyed the last 4 harvests.

You have provided me with Mint Apple jelly, Apple Butter, Applesauce, Pie Filling, and have been a contributor to our homemade cider. I unlike my brother will miss you.

Prepping on my electric stove @ 0148 raining pitchforks & paino stools

It took myself & two daughters along with a hand cranked apple peeler to work up a bushel of apples into pie filling. 100% organic never been cared for apples have allot of blemishes that need to be cut out. I believe a bushel should give me over 15 quarts of pie filling. I'll know tomorrow after service when I plan to can this batch up. Used tapioca instead of clear gel or cornstarch.

Look like cocktail franks huh?

Nothing goes to waste. Apple cores are being dehydrated for rabbit treats later this Winter.

I plan on bartering my fresh baked Apple pies made with organic apples this Winter.

~~ pelenaka ~~ 

 

Ain't No Sunshine

Blame lack of Sunshine as the primary reason behind my poor harvest this garden season.

So far I have gotten 7 quarts of stewed Tomatoes, a handful of deformed curly -q Cukes, about a dozen fair sized Zucchini and Summer squash. Peach trees had a small harvest made even smaller due to flying rats. We were robbed in both broad daylight and rhythmic calm of an inner city night. In years past playing children and hours spent in the garden posted our sent as a deterrent. Or it could be that this upcoming Winter will be a hard one. 

Early afternoon on the back half of thirtyfivebyninety.

Notice the shadows in both the foreground and the right side of the tomato plant against the trellis.

Total amount of direct sunshine in this part of the garden is > 3 hours.

Raised bed just to the right of the beds pictured above.

Same day, same time, same lack of direct sunshine.

Cantaloupe growing on trellis along with Roma toms, and a volunteer Sunflower.

Sunflower is a direct descendant of hybrid Mammoths that I planted 9 years ago. Sunflower fence along the white picket in the background. Tallest is over 18 feet high.

Interesting to note that this year is the year that all the heads were numerous but very small.

Enjoyed by Finches.

Shadows, shadows, shadows.

Too many cool nights and rainy days.

Neighbor's 100 plus year old Maple tree shaped like a broccoli stalk.

2 years ago paid out $350 to have it trimmed with moderate results. Upside was that no limbs fell on our 81 year old dilapidated garage these past few Winters.

Notice the moss on both the roof's of our garage & the neighbor's home.

Tree top right hand corner is city owned planted in the hell strip.

Yeah it's that tall that it's shadow reaches my backyard.

As much as I petition for removal neighbor petitions against.

One of two directions I can grow - don't put in a garden next year devoting efforts to foraging & gleaning, find a way to increase sunlight with artificial methods, kill neighbor's trees.

Plural because I didn't photograph the Walnut tree that blocks all early morning sunshine.That tree is located just behind my greenhouse on a vacant lot. A lot that gets 9 hours of glorious sunshine.

5 years ago DH attempted to barter lawn care for use of the lot for container gardening but the owner wasn't interested. Should have cut it down 10 years ago when it was only 15 feet high.

Lost opportunities suck.

Yeah I'm gonna need a really good alibi.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Donner Party Dead

Here's a pic of why I haven't been posting on the topic of homestead gardening, and in turn preserving the harvest. This years garden bounty has been poor, pathetic & pitiful.
In short if we only had what we grew this season to survive on then we'd be dead.
Donner party dead.

Nursery Stock Roma Paste Tomatoes Summer 2010

Last year I started my canning tomatoes from seed, San Marzano an Italian paste variety. They were to say the least all that and a whole lot more until the blight hit.
The quantity of this year's crop is nothing compared to 2008 plum tomatoes. While the average size of the plum tomatoes are slightly smaller than previous years, the number of plums per plant this growing season is drastically less.

Total of home canned home grown tomatoes to date is drum roll please ... 5 quarts from 19 plants.
5 quarts of stewed tomatoes preserved over two canning sessions.
Did I mention late blight showed up last week in the sunniest corner of my garden ?
I am needless to say down hearted after all the composting & bio char I did in the past two years.

Neighbor's 100 year old Maple a.k.a. Sunblocker pic taken @ 1 p.m.

Apparently there is no substitute, no magic soil formula to replace the required 6 hours of sunshine each day that my city garden lacks.

Plan B - call around to both the barter buddy network & outside sources to score a good rate on canning tomatoes. Prices range from $12 a bushel for U Picks to $25 from a faux Amish furniture store. Green bell peppers range from $10 to $14 half bushel. Also need a small handful of hot peppers and garlic. Lots & lots of garlic.
Goal is to can up at least 30 quarts of stewed tomatoes, 25 pints of salsa (can you ever really have too much salsa on the pantry shelf), and if the price is right 30 quarts of sauce. I have been blessed this season with an abundance of Rosemary, Basil, & Thyme.

Would be too much to ask for a gleaning opp on canning tomatoes preferably plum type.


~~ pelenaka ~~
who has been knocked down a peg by Mother Nature

Removing a window

This pic reminds me of that corny childhood phrase, you'd make a better wall than a window.
This is the latest rehab project on OOH. Gutting the living room or to use 1902 vernacular, the parlor.
We are removing the plaster & lathe, rewiring 4 existing electrical outlets, the 5th will be relocated directly below the main front window to accommodate lighting our Christmas tree. Other than a wreath hung on the front door that is pretty much it for Holiday decorating. Insulated with R-13.



While we have the walls opened up we will run wire up to the second floor. Our bedroom is directly above. It will be nice to have more than the one electrical outlet which is right next to the bedroom door. I look forward to having a bedside lamp and actually using my writing desk instead of the kitchen table.
Also considering wiring the living room for sound even though our 15 year old television can't handle the technology.
This window overlooked the side (only) porch. In the original design this 1900's two story farm house, the porch wasn't enclosed. One of the 1st aspects of the house that I changed was to rework the late 1990's porch remodel. Unfortunately the porch columns were removed and replaced with a bank of storm windows. Interior walls of the porch were finished off with Maple colored paneling. Apparently the previous owners felt they lived in a 1960's ranch house.

I have always wanted a home with a hexagon & bay window complete with a bench. So after wiring for lights and an outlet, insulation, installing bead board to match the original porch ceiling, and a new real outside front door to replace the storm door, we now have a porch/mud room where we can take off our shoes, hang our hats, and stow our packs. It's also a nice place to have a cup of coffee in the morning or in the case of my now teenage daughters a place to say good night to a friend.

Walling up this window also gave us much needed space for a vintage mirror (trash find) and more hat hooks.


Now the living room side needed to go.
Antique moldings were carefully removed to be used in a future project - a built in entertainment center in the corner to the right. Window sashes are in the attic. Slightly wavy glass intact.
And no, no treasures were found behind the lathe or the window jambs.
I couldn't help but think while I was striping away the paint of all the many conversations held though this window in the last 108 years. 
The woman of the house ordering produce from a peddler, declining his offers of new wash tubs. Wishing he would hurry along with her order before his horse drawn wagon leaves ruts in the newly graveled city street.
A young girl quietly speaking with a guy from the neighborhood perched on the arm of her father's chair. Later that father sitting in his chair near the corner silently chaperoning a young couple sitting on the porch rail dreading the flicker of the porch light. The rustle of his evening paper as he pretends to read. A mother of a WW2 sailor praying that the man delivering that Western Union telegram has the wrong house ... asking him to leave.  Or a mother of Vietnam soldier ...

Allot of history in this wall that was once a window.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Keeping the lid on

Sometimes after you have opened a home canned jar it's nice to be able to close it up for storage without using a metal canning ring. Caps are also nice when you have vacuum sealed a dry product such as rice in a glass mason jar and want an extra bit of protection on top of the canning lid. Also helps to keep the canning lid from rusting if you happen to store the vacuum sealed jar in a cellar. Caps are also great for sealing jars for freezer storage.. Beware frozen caps are brittle.

Caps pictured above are; white - Ball brand something like under $4 for 6. I use them on my 1940's glass canister jars for counter storage since white matches my decor. If I could have found 50's pink well then I'd be a happy June. The bright blue are from Aldis mayo, darker blue from Aldis peanut butter (could be the other way around), red also gotta be from Aldis, dark blue top of pic reads Hellman's Mayo (snagged from an empty jar @ work), yellow rings were in a box of jars I bought @ a tag sale. Love those. Have never seen them for sale retail.

Drop a line if you know where to buy them. I won't since I'm ghetto cheap but it would make me happy to know that they can still be had.

~~ pelenaka ~~

P.S.  10/11/2010 - The head Goat Gal & owner over @ Harper Hill Farm which produce some of the best Goat Milk Soap sent me this link for those plastic screw on lids that have the center cut out. Scroll down almost to the bottom of the page you'll find them.