Ripe and Unripe Tomatoes and a Harvest

Besides watching a seed burst out of fertile soil, or that seedling grow into a producing plant, my next favorite part is when it is finally time to pick ripe fruit and veggies. Oh, and cutting herbs like parsley and mint, or hmmm... lettuce.

Here are a few pictures of one of my harvests.  Feast your eyes!

This is the inside of my fridge after a very busy day of harvesting.  Weslee doesn't like watermelon or cantaloupe but I managed to grow a few sugar baby watermelons, a few crenshaw muskmelons (cantaloupes), and a few golden watermelons. Loving the radishes too (ready to slice and pickle!). 


Just a quick harvest before the first frost. just a quick harvest before a freeze. Notice the yellow pear tomatoes, orange slicer, and small eggplant. PLUS - our pride and joy, besides the several small orange carrots, we managed to grow 2 atomic red carrots (top of plate) and some cremey-white carrots (just under the red carrots). We also pulled up 2 tiny sweet potatoes, and two small red-bunching onions - very potent!




This is a colander of green (unripe) tomatoes I picked just after a first frost. The plants survived (barely) under two blankets and a big piece of plastic. It was too much work to try to save the plants, and I didn't have room to bring the pots inside. So I picked these to dehydrate then grind into powder. Green tomato powder is added to my all-vegg powder, and also kept separately to add depth to soups and stews. It's not very tasty by itself, and I haven't yet experimented with making green tomato preserves.


Colorful Tomatoes

One of my favorite things to grow is tomatoes.  Seeing a big bush or tall vine with colorful fruit beckoning ...  is there anything better?

I have to be careful of the acid in tomatoes but over the years, I found a few varieties that my stomach doesn't hate. The ones that seem to do well are: Yellow Pears, Kellogg's Breakfast Orange, and a tiny currant tomatoes that I can't find the name of anywhere!!

The following are a few of my favorite pics of my growing tomatoes:



Black Cherry Tomatoes and a red slicer.
I accidentally planted 2 different varieties
in one pot. Both did well.

























This is a pic of one of my harvests.  Squash,
peppers, cucumber, eggplant
and, of course,, tomatoes. Yum!!














This is a tray filled with sliced yellow
mamas, yellow pears and small red
roma tomatoes











.



My first dehydrator was a cheap round one but it worked.  I love my new Excelsior though!

This tray of tomatoes dried about 6-8 hours until mostly dried and barely pliable. Bagged with a dessicant package added, then placed the baggies in a tightly sealed mason jar.

Living in a small apartment with a small patio (as opposed to when I had the farmette in Colorado), I had to make some adjustments. Most of my gardening is done in pots. Does it matter? Only in regards to quantity ... but not quality.  I can still have a plant of each of my favorite low-acid tomatoes and as long as I take care of them, they will produce enough to save for the coming months AND provide some for fresh eating too.

How many of you grow tomatoes on your patio?




Buying Healthy Dehydrated Fruits and Veggies



It's late in the year to begin gardening, at least in the northern Hemisphere. Sometimes, a shortcut is necessary while biding your time. So while you pore over your gardening catalogs, choosing which berry bushes or fruit trees to plant, you might consider adding the following to your stores:

I found http://www.justtomatoes.com/ (NOW: https://www.shopkarensnaturals.com/  when my then baby was beginning to eat solid foods. He tried all kinds, and he expressed a preference to jarred food. Vehemently. A friend mentioned the dried mixed vegetables she'd found at a local health food store, so I picked up a small tub. Liked what I saw: no added ingredients other than the fruit or veggie. Not even sulfur! After Weslee saw me eating the mixture of dried corn, carrots, peas and tomatoes, he dug right in.
We pretty much placed a regular order for Weslee of soynuts (they don't do those any more, or freeze-dried tofu), peas, blackberries, blueberries and mango. I haven't seen the blackberries in a while, but they have added a whole line of powdered fruit that I use in smoothies and refrigerator-oats (peach, banana, etc).

We don't rehydrate any of these so we're sure to drink lots of water.

It's really difficult to calculate serving size but we consider a serving to be a small "Dixie cup" of the fruit and peas, or one tablespoon of fruit powder.

Makes me feel good ... well, better ... about his health.
 
If you don't have enough bushes, trees and other plants to satisfy your fruit needs, you should check out their site. It's not as good as growing it yourself, but will do in a pinch.

Recipe for Instant Italian Pasta

An instant homemade healthy MRE (meal ready to eat) recipe

All ingredients are dehydrated.

2 tbsp ground beef bits
2 tbsp orzo or tiny dehydrated pasta
1 tbsp tomato powder
1 tbsp sweet bell pepper dices
1 tsp onion dices
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Mix well. Place in a half-pint jar and tightly seal. Store away from light and moisture.

Directions:
When ready to eat, rehydrate with 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups of very hot / boiling water in a bowl with a cover. Let sit for 10-20 minutes.

You could also add the water then microwave for a couple of minutes.

= = = = = =

Please comment with pix and how it turned out for you.

Instant Homemade MREs

Calling all people who dehydrate...

...or people who backpack and camp...

...or preppers...

As part of my 'Preppers Project' book series, I am working on a book of recipes using shelf-stable ingredients.  These are actual meals in a pint or half pint jar... from breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and even snacks. They all use dehydrated or otherwise shelf-stable ingredients, then are placed in a jar and stored until ready to use.

Hopefully, I can post lots over the next few weeks. Test the recipes, then post your pix and comments.

Thanks!

Pickled Radishes

RADISHES ... some people like them, and others don't.
  • High in potassium ... a diuretic
  • Can provide up to 1/3 of daily Vit C required
  • Considered an antioxidant that is good for the liver
  • Small amount of protein
  • Not a or of calories; has some sugar
  • Natural source of Vit B6, magnesium, calcium and even zinc!

Radishes are super easy to grow (remember that scene in "Gone With the Wind" when starving Scarlett gobbles the radishes right in the garden?).

They have a quick harvest time ... some as quickly as a month!  You can scatter seeds in a small area and as they grow, thin them out for small tender sweet treats, making room for others to get bigger for preservation.

And always leave some to mature to make seeds for next year's crop.

Since this root vegetable is so healthy, consider preserving them for a rainy day.

Here's a quick recipe that I hope you give a shot at.

Ingredients:
18-20 medium/average sized radishes
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbl sugar, granulated
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm or hot water

Instructions:
  1. Slice the radishes as thinly as possible. A mandolin works well here, but be careful of your fingers!
  2. Place the sliced radishes in a canning jar or bowl.
  3. Combine the vinegar and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well to dissolve the salt and sugar.
  4. Pour over the sliced radishes and let sit for an hour. After that hour, store in the fridge for up to three weeks, or water-bath can like any other pickle.
If you like variety, try adding different spices to the pickling liquid.

Let me know how you liked these.



Who has Power?

Warning! 

Gonna get on my soapbox for a moment.



Visit this link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0RDTZML-7wDuyS-9VoZWNZLWMcFEvsjXG0JfDjchvEIgZY6X61T10n6bc&v=1l5354hYmtk

This (above) video makes me angry to realize (yeah, duh!) that the rich and powerful 2% so firmly controls everything about the rest of us. We (98%) are nothing more than slaves in a degrading global society....given a little freedom so we won't notice we don't really have any freedom.

Sure I have a little power...enough to control how long I can sleep, or how I respond to situations, but we have minimal or no power to control things like medications, homeschooling, how to best provide for my family, whether I can have a pet in my home, and who makes the clothes I wear (and where they are made).

Governments and employers watch and listen to us via phone, computers, etc, even incorporating drones. We now live our lives under a photo-scope (microscope with everyone capturing pictures and vids of anything anywhere and anytime).

If we take a moment to really THINK about our lives, we come to the realization that we have much less power than we think we do.

Twilight Zone...ish.

Ok. Done.