Potatoes, Peas, Carrots & Onions

I had asked Duane to bring me more potatoes from the Farmer's Market.  I had bought 50 lbs. two weeks before, dehydrated some and canned the rest.  I really like the canned cubed potatoes for convenience, and as a bag of potatoes from the store will go bad before I use them all, it makes sense to have them in jars in the pantry where they will last a long time.

This box of potatoes I wanted to can a little differently.  I am particularly fond of both beef and chicken stew over homemade biscuits.  So I wanted to can the vegetables together in the same jar for this use.  It is kind of my version of convenience food.  Open a jar of canned vegetables, another of canned beef or chicken cubes, toss in a little tomato and some homemade gravy mix and by the time the biscuits come out of the oven, the stew is ready.

Before Duane and Becky left my place on Saturday, Duane asked me if I wanted him to go to the grocery and pick up the carrots, peas and onions that I planned to can along with the potatoes.  I figured that he and Becky had already done way more than enough for me, bringing me all the goodies from the Farmer's Market, so I said that I would take care of that Monday.  His reply was, "Mom, would you rather spend Monday on the bus going to the store and hauling your groceries up the stairs by yourself, or would you rather have us do it so you can work on these vegetables!"  And because I am not a completely stupid woman, I handed him my grocery list.

I peeled and cubed some of the potatoes, peeled and sliced carrots and heated two large bags of frozen peas.  Then I layered the veggies in quart jars and processed them in my pressure canner.  I got 28 quarts of stew mix veggies, with a little bit of carrots and potatoes left over, which I bagged up and popped into the freezer.

I had planned to add chunks of onion in each jar as well, but on thinking it over, decided that the onion would probably turn to mush in the pressure canner.  So I peeled the 10 lbs. of onions, sliced them thin, crying like a baby the whole time, and filled my dehydrators with the sliced onions.  This is what 10 lbs. of onions looks like in my big 9-quart stainless steel bowl.

That amount of onions filled all seventeen dehydrator trays.

I put them on the table in my bedroom and shut the door.  I like the smell of onions, but I am not too sure that my neighbors do, although I have done this many times without anybody complaining about the smell.  But an open window near the dehydrators and the closed door help to contain the onion odor.  I let the dehydrators run all afternoon and overnight, as I like the taste when the onions caramelize a bit while drying.

This is what 10 lbs. of dehydrated onions looks like, in my 2-quart bowl.

If I want raw onion in a dish, this is not going to work, but for any kind of cooking, I just toss in a handful and they rehydrate really well.

I still have probably two-thirds of the 50 lb. box of potatoes left and I will dehydrate them later.  Right now there are 5 big bags of apples, right around 60 lbs. of them, waiting for me.

I really do love the Farmer's Market!  Duane says that he won't take me there next year unless he has a pickup and a hand truck.  I wonder why he said that.

Cranberry Sauce

Yesterday Duane and Becky went back to the Farmer's Market in St. Paul.  They brought me goodies.  Lots of them.

One of the goodies was a box of cranberries.  I had seen the cranberries when I went with them two weeks ago, but didn't buy any then as I had already filled the trunk and back seat of Duane's car with produce.  When I first saw the box they brought me, it ran through my mind that it was awfully small.  But when I measured out the berries from the box, I found that it held the equivalent of 15 bags of cranberries from the grocery.  At less than half the price of store berries.  And they were beautiful berries.  There wasn't a bad one in the whole lot.

So yesterday afternoon I made cranberry sauce.  Forty-two half pint jars of cranberry sauce.

Duane and Becky were still at my place when the first batch came off the stove, ready to go into the jars, and after a taste test, they pronounced it wonderful.

I think I will just sit here and admire these lovely jars for a while before moving on to the next project that involves 50 lbs. of potatoes, some carrots, peas and onions.

Gotta love the Farmer's Market.  And those who are willing to shop and haul and carry for me.  Thank you.

Farmer's Market - It's a Good Thing

I had never been to a big Farmer's Market.  There is a small one locally, but the last time I went past where it is set up, there were probably no more than six or seven booths.  This past Saturday I got to go to a BIG Farmer's Market.  It was so much fun!

Duane and Becky picked me up early on Saturday morning and we went to downtown St. Paul.  The market takes up one city block.  There are more varieties of fruits and vegetables than I knew existed.  And flowers.  And honey.  And handmade soap.  And so much more that I can't remember it all.

We walked through and looked everything over and then went back and made our purchases.  I was afraid that I would do some serious damage to my budget if I wasn't careful, but the prices were good and I was more than pleased with what I bought.  I am not good at negotiating prices with vendors, but Becky is, so I left that part to her, and she did well for me.

We found a bushel of tomatoes at a good price, so into the trunk of the car they went.  Then there was 50 lbs of potatoes for much less than I have seen them at the grocery store, and way more fresh, just perfect for dehydrating, so those, too got hauled to the car.  There were bags of mixed apples that were really reasonable, so I took home three big bags for pie filling and dehydrating.  I needed green peppers for a relish I want to make, and I got a big bag full for only $6.  The last thing we found was cabbage.  Now, we aren't talking about your puny little grocery store heads of cabbage.  We're talking big, honkin' heads of cabbage, at only $2 each.  I bought six heads.  Becky and I had all we could do to each carry a bag of three heads.  There is some seriously good cabbage slaw that I like to can and some Chow Chow relish, and the rest will be dehydrated.  It is so good in soups. homemade chow mien and the like.  I chopped up one head today to get it ready for the dehydrator, and it filled two and a half gallon zip bags!

I'm thinking that Duane will probably think twice before asking me if I want to go to the Farmer's Market again.  He was my pack mule.  As I bought vegetables, he hauled them to the car and then came back for more.  Bless him and Becky for hauling most of it up the stairs to my apartment for me.  By the time they were done, it looked like a garden had exploded in my kitchen.  I didn't take any pictures of my loot, but will when I am done canning and drying.  It will be so nice to have this taste of summer when the snow is blowing this winter.

Thanks again, Duane and Becky.  I had such a good time.  I'm thinking that by the end of this week there may just be a few jars of home canned goodness waiting for you!

Monkey Bars

When I checked my email this morning, I found this video of my grandson, Jacob.  It made my day!

His smile at the end is priceless.
Thanks to his Dad for sharing it with me.  Love it!

Family

Earlier this summer I had a phone call from my youngest son.  He reminded me that my brother, sister and I all had landmark birthdays this year.  We would be 50, 60 and 65 years old, respectively.  And he thought that this should be celebrated.  It had been a very long time since we had all been together.  Life and distance between homes seem to get in the way.  Jobs, children's activities and other obligations make it difficult for all of us to be in the same place at the same time.  My children were determined to overcome these obstacles so they set a date and made plans.

We all met a little over a week ago at David and Staci's home.  I was amazed to see how our family has grown from we three siblings to the crowd that was there!

The grandkids made good use of the pool and managed to splash the grandparents as often as possible.  They swam and ran and played and enjoyed getting to know one another.  They are such fun to be with and watch.

We sat and talked and remembered and compared notes and got caught up on what we had all been doing.  Everyone contributed to the evening meal and if anyone went away hungry, it was their own fault as there was food enough for an army.

The day wouldn't have been complete without our children insisting that we have a picture taken, so we gave in and let them.  I'm glad that they did.  It is nice to look at it and remember such a fun day.

As I think back, it is hard for me to believe that so many years have passed since we were children.  And yet, here we are, with a whole boat load of grandchildren between us.  As a family, we have been blessed.  Thank you, my children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and my brother and sister, for making this a truly memorable day.

Garden Update

David emailed me some more pictures of his garden this past week.  It seems that although we have been complaining about the heat, his plants love it.  So much so that the radishes were becoming overgrown with other plants and had to be pulled.

He said that the wind had sort of flattened some of the tomatoes, but they are doing well in their new tomato cages.  I still have dibs on some cherry tomatoes!

The corn along side the back of the house - that same corn that I said would never grow in that spot - has made a liar out of me.  I'm thinking that if you listen really closely, you can probably hear it grow - it has grown that fast.  It hasn't set on ears yet, but I expect at the rate it is growing, it will soon.

And then there is the gratuitous cute grandkid picture!  Can't leave that one out.

I think the kids are enjoying the garden as much as their dad is.  And I am glad to see David's family growing some of their own food.  It is so much better than store-bought.  I hope his garden gives them as much pleasure and mine did for so many years.

Gardens

Last evening David called and told me to check my email.  He had sent me pictures of his gardening efforts.  I think they look pretty darned good.

He has sweet corn growing along side the fence in back of his house.  When he planted corn there last year, I laughed at him because I thought the corn would never amount to anything in that location.  I wound up eating some crow, as he had enough to use in canning salsa, as many meals of corn on the cob as his family wanted and he even had enough to freeze.

This spring he put in this raised bed garden in his back yard.  I am impressed at how well everything is growing.  He has a couple of different kinds of tomatoes, some potatoes, onions, peppers and strawberries along with some other things that I can't remember.  I have dibs on some cherry tomatoes.  There is very little on this earth better tasting than homegrown tomatoes.

There are some YouTube channels that I follow, having to do with food preservation and gardening.  One of these has videos by a lady in Virginia, who posts a wealth of information.  One of her videos is about her raised bed garden.  (See her video Here.)  I had not heard about this trend until David told me what he was doing.  Since then I have found that this seems to be a growing trend.  When David told me about all of the plants he has in his garden, he remarked that maybe he had crammed too much in the space, but it seems that this isn't a problem.  He was able to get much more in that space than if everything was planted in rows.  Makes sense to me.

I wonder why more people don't have back yard gardens any more.  I have seen only one vegetable garden in my neighborhood.  With rising prices at the grocery stores, it seems to me that growing your own produce is a really good idea.  I remember as a young girl, looking across all of the back yards in my block, there was not one yard that didn't have a garden.  The only problem with having a garden is that it spoils a person.  Store-bought vegetables just never taste as good as those that are home grown.

And if you don't have a back yard garden, you miss the opportunity of having great memories in later years.  Like sitting in the middle of the tomato patch with your Dad, salt shaker in hand, eating tomatoes off the vine until you just couldn't eat any more.  Memories like that!