Sally's GF3 thread

[Sally PB]

I picked about half of a 5-gallon bucket of tomatoes. Some are not quite ripe, but I wanted to get them before the groundhog does.

This is from last year.

Oh, my! What a lovely tomato that will be! It's far enough along to ripen on the counter.

I'd like to prescribe lead pills for Mr. Groundhog, but Hubby will proscribe them.

 

[pertnear09]

I picked about half of a 5-gallon bucket of tomatoes. Some are not quite ripe, but I wanted to get them before the groundhog does.

This is from last year.
View attachment 3602725
Oh, my! What a lovely tomato that will be! It's far enough along to ripen on the counter.
View attachment 3602727
I'd like to prescribe lead pills for Mr. Groundhog, but Hubby will proscribe them.

And the Lord gave us tomatoes. He wasn't fooling around in this case.

 

[Iluveggers]

Still waiting for the first semi-ripe tomato….

 

[Sally PB]

Subtitle:

WAH!!!!

Sliced it with the shovel! Only one I hit like that out of 56 heads, so not too bad. Still, that's a 25 gram clove of garlic!

It's going in the spaghetti sauce tomorrow.

 

[Sally PB]

I couldn't bare to see that sad looking mouth staring at me on the counter. (Do mouths stare? No, but oh well; sometimes my words just fall on the page and die.) I cut out the ruined part of the clove, minced up the rest, and had it in my stir fried rice for breakfast.

I didn't grow the rice. But the eggs, garlic, onion, and tomato are home grown, or laid. Part of the tastiness of a meal is going in the general direction of the grocery store.

 

[Sally PB]

Speaking of rice...

Costco was totally out of brown rice yesterday. I asked, and the checkout guy said it is hard to come by right now. I might have to buy a bag of white rice to have on hand, just in case.

Or just see if the 17ish pounds I have last until it's back on the shelf.

When we built our pantry in the mudroom, I filled it with the dry goods I had in totes in the basement. The totes keep the mice out of the food, since we can't keep the mice out of the basement. I was a bit surprised at how much was there. Out of sight, out of mind, and if I'm at Costco, shouldn't I get another bag/box of this, because I'm here, and I don't know how much is stored in the basement?

I wrote the day/month on the packages when I put them in the totes. I should have written the month/year instead. We won't run out of oatmeal for quite some time.

 

[Sally PB]

Canning season has begun! 5 quarts are in the canner. 45 more to go.

I am so glad to be able to can my own tomatoes, and do a load, or even a partial load, as they ripen. It's so much easier on the feet and legs than having to can 14-21 quarts in one day, because they're out in the mudroom, and need to be done before they get too ripe, or split.

When the habaneros and jalapenos are ready, I'll be canning hubby's salsa. When that's done, I'll make green salsa for me and use up tomatoes that otherwise would go to waste, as we'll have tomatoes long after there is time to ripen them. I ran out of green salsa last February, so going to make a lot more this year.

I definitely need to make it with a bit more zing. More garlic, for sure, and a little bit more heat.

Speaking of garlic, I weighed the heads of garlic. They're all in a pillow case, and en masse, they weigh 8.4 pounds. Take off some for the center stalk, and I'd guess I have at least 7 pounds. The ones I've used are mild tasting. I'm thinking of ordering another variety that has a bit more bite.

Sow True Seed has a few hardneck varieties still in stock. German White Hardneck is the only one that says anything about moderately spicy flavor.

My other usual source is sold out of garlic, so German White it is. Half a pound, will ship the end of October.

 

[aart]

My other usual source is sold out of garlic, so German White it is. Half a pound, will ship the end of October.

When I was scouting garlic seed prices, to price my own, I found that many sources sold out by June.
Better pick your variety and get it ordered now....if you can.

 

[Sally PB]

When I was scouting garlic seed prices, to price my own, I found that many sources sold out by June.
Better pick your variety and get it ordered now....if you can.

Yeah! I just ordered some. I would have liked a larger selection. I didn't even consider ordering any, but since mine is on the mild side, I thought I'd get a different variety to try.

I'm wondering if mine is milder this year because it grew so large...? X amount of flavor per head, and it got spread out in more/bigger cloves?

 

[saysfaa]

...When we built our pantry in the mudroom,...

Pictures of pantry?

And/or what you did and would do differently, please.

I'm still in the planning stage. And clearing enough space to built pantry shelves.

Hm, heads up - totes aren't as mouse proof as one might think. My mother used them for that reason too. Tried to.