Homesteaders

[rancher hicks]

I harvested my first "pear" crop. I let them go too long. They were almost ripe a week ago so I thought they needed a week. I should have given them 3 days. My entire crop was about a dozen pears. They are Ure pears taste great but oh so small. However, I am happy I never thought I would have pears in this area!

Congratulations. I thought pears didn't ripen on the tree. Is that true?

 

[duluthralphie]

Congratulations. I thought pears didn't ripen on the tree. Is that true?

I just found that out.

They were rotting on the tree. I should have picked them a week ago when I tried the first one. I am just happy to have pears.

 

[Raech]

Dad keeps getting upset that they aren't ripening on the tree, instead they are falling off. I have to keep reminding him that they ripen in the crate not on the tree. But we get a great harvest most years. I am in the process of batch 4 for pear butter, it only makes 4 pints so it is slow going. only hace 2.5 more crates to go!!!!

 

[Serenashome]

I canned a honey pear sauce this year. So fabulous. I use it to add to breadcrumbs for stuffed pork chops, as a glaze for ham and pork loin. Last Year I canned honey pears (replaced the sugar in the canned pears recipe with honey. They were a huge hit!

 

[rancher hicks]

I just found that out.

They were rotting on the tree. I should have picked them a week ago when I tried the first one. I am just happy to have pears.

That reminds me my neighbor has a tree. I should check to see how they are. He gave me some one year. I made Pear Vanilla jam.

 

[Beekissed]

Been canning up the garden, mostly tomatoes~salsa and tomato soup this year. Tomorrow will be doing corn all day, though that's not from my garden...we can't grow enough here to meet our needs, so we normally buy some from a local farm stand in addition to our own corn. Will can beans tomorrow as well...just a dab. The beans haven't made real well yet this year but more can grow towards fall. Peaches are ripening....will most likely freeze those.

After that, I'll likely take some jars of chicken from last year and make some pot pie mix with the use of any taters from the garden, other good ingredients, and can that up so as to make it easier to whip up a pot pie. I'm trying to can a little smarter this year, making better use of jar space and trying to can things that will be ready to eat when it comes out of the jar.

Hoping to put together a cold frame this weekend and plant some lettuce, carrots, spinach and other winter crops.

 

[Raech]

Bee kissed, what tomatoe soup recipe do you use? the kids eat alot of grilled cheese and tomato soup in the fall and winter, they just can't get enough of it.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee kissed, what tomatoe soup recipe do you use? the kids eat alot of grilled cheese and tomato soup in the fall and winter, they just can't get enough of it.

This is the basic recipe I used, though I usually tweak things a bit as I go along....this time I added the salt and sugar to taste instead of following the recipe and I also added a few baby carrots to the recipe for added sweetness and thickness. This recipe tastes wonderful, BTW, and I can't get enough of it!

http://www.food.com/recipe/moms-best-tomato-soup-canning-recipe-44058

Will be making another batch of this tomorrow. The first batch was one large stockpot, to the brim, and it yielded 7 qt. and 2 pt.

I just removed stems, seeds, and any bad spots and then zipped all the tomatoes down in the blender, along with the cooked down veggies, then returned that to the pot and let that all simmer together for awhile. I added the salt and sugar at the last, before doing the flour and butter thickener. That too was buzzed together in the blender and then added to the soup...that turned the soup a silky texture that it had lacked up to then. It makes a very pretty jar and the texture and taste is incredible! Can't wait to get this out on a snowy, cold day and eat it with fresh homemade bread.

I'd use real butter instead of margarine if you can possibly do so.

 

[lazy gardener]

to season old cast iron use something like steel wool, etc to scrub off as much of the rust as you can, then coat them down with oil. (I use vegetable oil), then put them in an oven and turn it on to around 400 degrees. Let them heat up and once they reach temperature turn the oven off and let them cool. I will then recoat them with vegetable oil, let it soak overnight and then wipe down. For one with no seasoning left, I might do that a couple of times, then I try to fry something in them the first couple of times I use it. I then leave the oil in the pan overnight and then rinse it with just water, wipe it dry (water is the enemy here) and then rub a very thin coat of oil on the pan and wipe dry. It should be in good shape for you after that. Remember when you wash use little to no soap, rinse well, dry thoroughly and then recoat each time with a thin layer of oil. This will keep it in good shape.

The Lodge store has a great section on care of cast iron.

Started reading at the beginning of this thread. Needed to find the info re: cast iron evidently! I just resurrected my fry pan out of storage. 8". It's not the best quality. I have a hard time seasoning it. Every time I oil it, the oil gets gummy. I'm using vegetable or canola. Is that my problem? I'm not in the habit of oiling after every use, so... maybe that's my issue. My griddle doesn't seem to have the same problem.

Sometimes you run across cast iron that are in pretty bad shape. Rusty and has lot of black, baked on coatings. We would put them in a fire and let the "crud" burn off. Clean them up and they look like new.

I love that idea! I may have an option to poke around in an old farm house kitchen in a few weeks. House being sold, and contents being left behind for new owners to clean out. I'll keep my eyes open for any such finds! I know the old stuff is so much better than newer manufacture.

This is the basic recipe I used, though I usually tweak things a bit as I go along....this time I added the salt and sugar to taste instead of following the recipe and I also added a few baby carrots to the recipe for added sweetness and thickness. This recipe tastes wonderful, BTW, and I can't get enough of it!

http://www.food.com/recipe/moms-best-tomato-soup-canning-recipe-44058

Will be making another batch of this tomorrow. The first batch was one large stockpot, to the brim, and it yielded 7 qt. and 2 pt.

I just removed stems, seeds, and any bad spots and then zipped all the tomatoes down in the blender, along with the cooked down veggies, then returned that to the pot and let that all simmer together for awhile. I added the salt and sugar at the last, before doing the flour and butter thickener. That too was buzzed together in the blender and then added to the soup...that turned the soup a silky texture that it had lacked up to then. It makes a very pretty jar and the texture and taste is incredible! Can't wait to get this out on a snowy, cold day and eat it with fresh homemade bread.

I'd use real butter instead of margarine if you can possibly do so.

I just found this thread, hello, friends, new and old! Bee, did you peel your tomatoes? I'm hoping to get enough tomatoes to try that soup. I picked my first semi ripe tomatoes yesterday. Getting some cherry tomatoes.

 

[Beekissed]

Started reading at the beginning of this thread. Needed to find the info re: cast iron evidently! I just resurrected my fry pan out of storage. 8". It's not the best quality. I have a hard time seasoning it. Every time I oil it, the oil gets gummy. I'm using vegetable or canola. Is that my problem? I'm not in the habit of oiling after every use, so... maybe that's my issue. My griddle doesn't seem to have the same problem.
I love that idea! I may have an option to poke around in an old farm house kitchen in a few weeks. House being sold, and contents being left behind for new owners to clean out. I'll keep my eyes open for any such finds! I know the old stuff is so much better than newer manufacture.

I just found this thread, hello, friends, new and old! Bee, did you peel your tomatoes? I'm hoping to get enough tomatoes to try that soup. I picked my first semi ripe tomatoes yesterday. Getting some cherry tomatoes.

Hey, LG!!! I didn't peel the tomatoes as I have a Ninja blender that pretty much turns everything into a sauce. I hate to lose the skins if I can help it...lot of nutrition there.

That gummy on the skillet is just part of the seasoning process...baking that into the skillet helps harden that up. Layers and layers of that will eventually bake into a nice seasoning. Sometimes it depends on the quality of the cast iron too and a low quality cast iron may be hard to season properly as well.