I had a really busy Sunday, beginning with the NOFA conference at UMass at 8:00 AM. My good friend, Dan, came along to help with the toting of all my preservation equipment. I was mighty glad he was there. The room I was assigned to was on the 8th floor and I had a lot of stuff. even with a wagon there was no way I could have done it alone. I also rather underestimated my audience. I thought I would have maybe 10-15 people at that time of the morning. It was more like 80 although I didn’t count. I thought it went pretty well although Dan had to go searching for a copy machine as I had nowhere near enough handouts. I enjoy the training but next time I think I’ll request a later time.
When I got home I tackled the greenhouse. I find this happens a lot. I think I don’t have the time or energy to finish a big project but once I take that first step, the rest just happens. I figured I might just pull out some of the seedy greens to give to the chickens but I ended up pulling out everything, fertilizing and planting the bed with our fall and winter greens selection. We like a mixture of braising greens, small, leaf lettuces and spinach. I put in a cut and come broccoli as an experiment. The point of the greenhouse is not to provide us with a daily salad but rather to give us some fresh green stuff when our bodies are craving it. I would rather one nice salad or braised greens each week than a pitiful bagged salad each day. I have found that I can also get some good greens by planting beets or turnips for their tops. If I had the space I would make a self-watering container filled with turnips and keep it in the kitchen.
Supper was one of those meals that started out as “let’s toss everything together see what we get” meals and turned out fabulous. I had a big bag of tomatoes left over from the day before. They were such lovely colors. I had purple, yellow, red and orange with some cheese and basil mixed in. I boiled up a pound of spaghetti and sauteed the tomatoes with olive oil, white wine, black olives, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, more basil and a huge bulb of garlic. We had a green salad and a loaf of homemade bread. I’m glad I used a pound of pasta as there are leftovers for lunch today.
The salad was wonderful thanks to Maggie’s dressing. She tossed sugar, vinegar, olive oil and salt in the blender and whizzed it around for a minute. What a difference fresh dressing makes. No GMO’s, no emulsifiers, no corn syrup and no plastic bottle.
August 15, 2011 at 7:41 am
So wish I lived closer so I could attend one of your classes!! Supper sounds wonderful
August 15, 2011 at 8:42 am
yum! I’ve never been really good at making dressings, but I hope to try more.
August 16, 2011 at 11:11 am
Our Oregon summer has been so gloomy that no one has had a tomato ripen yet. The plants are loaded though, so I’m still hopeful.
August 17, 2011 at 6:06 am
Hi Kathy,
Another question for you and your readers. I recently ordered an Excalibur dehydrator and have my first batch in it right now. I started with some blueberries, which admittedly are only listed as “fair” for dehydrating in the Excalibur book. I prepared the berries as the book suggested, dunking them in boiling water for about 20 seconds before putting them in the dehydrator. The book suggests the berries will take 11 to 13 hours to dry in my area (central NH). They have now been in for 22 hours with no indication they’ll be done soon. It has been VERY wet here the last couple of days, so I’m sure that’s a contributing factor. But…am I doing something wrong?
More generally with the dehydrator, the book suggests drying most fruits at 135F and most veggies at 125F. This is my first year gardening and I’m not getting quantities that would allow me to fill it up and run it most efficiently – e.g., I’ve only got a tray and a half of blueberries in it right now. Is there any reason I can’t do some veggies and some fruits together at one of the two temperatures?
Thanks for your advice!
-Alison
August 17, 2011 at 7:59 am
Alison,
Congrats on the Excalibur…I’m having lots of fun with mine this year. My other book (Dehydrator Bible by Jennifer MacKenzie)says to dry them 18-22 hours at 130 but I don’t do anything over 125. The weather will make a difference in drying your blueberries. From my research, you have to check the skins on the blueberries, which is what you did, or you have to pierce the skin with a toothpick or one of those little corn-on-the-cob forks. It’s tedious but should even out your drying time. Don’t forget to check out the videos on Kathy’s blog Preserving abundance and the videos at dehyrate2store.
Good luck!
August 18, 2011 at 5:41 am
Thanks thriftymomma. I went back and pierced some of the skins that hadn’t split with the “checking.” But it’s now been almost 48 hours (though I turned the temp down over night). Many, but still not all, of the berries are now dry.
Another question about the Excalibur. It is quite noisy – like a bathroom fan. Is your unit that noisy, too?
Thanks,
Alison
August 18, 2011 at 6:05 am
Mine is very noisy but it seems to be a steady, loud hum that I get used to after a while.
August 19, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Hi Kathy,
At the NOFA conference perhaps you noticed the wagon rides being offered by Blue Star Equiculture! I am a member of this non-profit organization, and our mutual friend Eileen suggested I contact you. BSE is a draft horse sanctuary and retirement facility, and also a horse powered organic farm. Our goals are to educate the community about working horses, small farming, and getting back in touch with the natural world in the hopes of providing an alternative to the disastrous direction in which the world has been growing. At the NOFA conference we received a donation/business deal that left us with the horse drawn farming equipment we have been waiting for, and this spring we are going to start plowing our fields and will essentially begin the next phase of the project, which is headed towards self sufficiency. Would you be interested in talking with us about self sufficiency, food preservation, and farming in western mass? I wasn’t sure what the best way to contact you was, but I invite you to stop by the farm or send me an email at ahburke4@gmail.com. We are located in Palmer, and our website is http://www.equiculture.org. Thanks for your time, and this is an amazing blog! I can’t wait to go check out your book!
Anna Burke