On 7/22/2017 1:53 PM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Sat 22 Jul 2017 05:18:17a, George Shirley told us...
>
>> On 7/21/2017 9:49 PM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>> On Thu 20 Jul 2017 04:45:26a, George Shirley told us...
>>>
>>>> On 7/20/2017 12:38 AM, Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>>>> On Wed 19 Jul 2017 05:49:05a, songbird told us...
>>>>>
>>>>>> 5 quarts small whole pickles with plenty
>>>>>> of dill.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> when i was cleaning them the night before
>>>>>> i popped open a pint from the first batch
>>>>>> that i made on 6/30. they were yummy.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> i mistakenly made a few small batches after
>>>>>> the first which had more salt in them, but
>>>>>> i doubt that will stop me or my bro from
>>>>>> eating them.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> digging garlic today. not too many bulbs
>>>>>> but enough (and if it isn't enough i have
>>>>>> plenty more i can dig up any time out back
>>>>>> in the more wild garden).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> beans are doing well, starting to see plenty
>>>>>> of flowers. have to train some climbers
>>>>>> up the fence instead of runners swarming other
>>>>>> neighboring plants.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> songbird
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I only make "new pickles" with dill and garlic and therefore
>>>>> only make 1 or 2 pints at a time because even when refrigerated
>>>>> they "ripen" too quickly for my taste and the saltiness can
>>>>> become overwhelming. I'm the only one in the house that eats
>>>>> them.
>>>>>
>>>>> The only other pickles I make are bread & butter, and I usually
>>>>> make a dozen pints or so. We don't have a garden, so I must
>>>>> buy all my produce. One source I have usually has fresh Kirby
>>>>> cucumbers.
>>>>>
>>>>> When I can get really nice green beans I make dilly beans, both
>>>>> savory and sweet/spicy versions.
>>>>>
>>>> We have a dozen or so pickles of varied types, mostly older jars
>>>> in the pantry. This year our cucumber crop was a total failure.
>>>> Mold hit them early on as we received a bit more rain than we
>>>> needed at the time. Same with the green beans. Luckily we had a
>>>> very good carrot crop so made dilly carrot sticks.
>>>>
>>>> If Ma Nature screws up things then we introduce her to something
>>>> new. Currently we are staggering around with near 100 degrees
>>>> daily and then a rush of rain. The mocking birds did in the
>>>> sparse crop of figs so no fig jam this year. The kumquat tree
>>>> lost its blooms and, believe it or not, two months later it
>>>> popped up blooms and even more than the ones that were dropped
>>>> in the freeze. Weather here has been strange for the last year,
>>>> we're not used to hard freezes followed by very hot summer.
>>>>
>>>> I don't think we will starve as the pantry closet in my office
>>>> is full of goodies. Dear wife has made a batch of pickled okra
>>>> and sweet peppers, they will sit for at least a month before we
>>>> eat them. If one crop fails we seem to have another crop that is
>>>> humongous.
>>>>
>>>> George
>>>>
>>>
>>> At least you have a well stocked pantry, George, crop failure or
>>> not. It's too bad about the things that didn't work out.
>>>
>>> I made a dozen quarts of Corn and Okra Soup to put in the
>>> freezer, one of my favorite uses of okra. I do love okra
>>> pickles, but so far this year have not made any. As you know, I
>>> have to buy all my produce. The okra I got for the soup was
>>> perfect. I hope the next batch I buy is just as nice and I can
>>> put up a few jars of pickles.
>>>
>>> When I shop tomorrow I may pick up a small amount of okra just
>>> for frying up, to go along with chicken fried steak, fried corn,
>>> and mashd potatoes.
>>>
>>> The Kirbys I can get will do nicely for my bread and butter
>>> pickles, but I'll not get to that for another couple of weeks.
>>>
>>> We've had almost two weeks of nightly rains which is unusual for
>>> Phoenix, but all it does for is water down our brick patio and
>>> our large plants. :-)
>>>
>> Miz Anne handles the garden at her church and has had a humongous
>> gift of okra, cow horn variety, very big around and very long. As
>> our part we put up pickled okra, cut okra frozen, and have fried a
>> few batches. I'm getting tired of okra.
My favorite dish with okra is Cajun style shrimp gumbo, going to make
some next week. Had to buy store bought shrimp but that works too.
>
> SInce I have to buy our produce I always have just the amount I want
> for any given purpose. I always buy fresh okra when I want it for
> any specific purpose. So now I have the soup. And I bought some to
> fry tomorrow. I don't ever bother with canning or freezing it, other
> than in my soup.
>
> I grew up on what I guess you'd call yellow field corn and that's
> what I prefer, but it's almost impossible to find in stores these
> days. I'm really disappointed about that. All I can find is sweet
> corn, usually white. I don't bother. I buy frozen hellow corn
> kernels when I want corn, or on the off chance that I find some at a
> roaside stand.
Don't feel bad about field corn, we grew six acres of corn, white and
yello, 12 inch or longer ears. Cows, the mule, the pigs, and the
chickens got a lot of it but we ate it in the early stages and,
sometimes, the whole family had to stand in line to the only bathroom. <B>
>
>> Our sweet peppers have outdone themselves this year and we have
>> harvested a few large buckets of them so far. Now the heat is
>> starting to slow them down. A few tomatoes are still working but
>> most of everything in the garden is starting to wilt. Might have
>> gotten lucky there as we need to refurbish the artificial "dirt"
>> in the raised beds. I'm looking at rental small cement mixers as
>> we are getting a bit to old to sling a tarp with "dirt" in it. If
>> you garden there are many ways to get things done without breaking
>> our old backs and arms.
>
> It sounds as though you have a glut of sweet peppers. I love
> peppers, but again, I only buy the few that I need. I use them diced
> in chili or sloppy joes, along with red ones. I also make stuffed
> peppers every so ofen. I don't much care for them in in preserved
> way, not even in pickles.
We grow six to ten sweet peppers each season if we can get the right
plants or seeds. I still grow our own plants with a heat pad with the
planting soil in rows of cups in my home office and a sunlight lamp
above it 24/7. We do buy tomato plants, etc. but I like to grow our
heirloom peppers regularly. I can't do any outside gardening anymore as
I can only walk on flat surfaces anymore and the lawn is lumpy. As I age
the partial paralysis seems to get worse. I have a walker too, but
seldom use it. Miz Anne is still almost as spry as when we married in
1960. Her mom lived to be slightly over 100 years old, and her Mom's
close cousin lived to be a 101, several of her aunts, etc. lived over a
hundred. I don't think I want to go out that old, I'm getting more tired
and useless as I age. Thank goodness we lived in three foreign countries
and five US states so we got to see the world while we were young. I
just redid my will and had it covered by our sometime lawyer. I should
have become a lawyer when I look at his bills. Sheesh!