Waning Harvest

First, let me thank you for your concern and prayers.  My hand is  healing and I'm able to type again, no more ' one finger dar,  ' so I'm Baaaaack!  

Let's begin where we left off...harvesting the garden.

We have already made a first batch of Saurkraut a few weeks ago.

 These 7 cabbages weighed in at a total of 66.75 lbs. of bounty.  This 10 pounder was one of the smaller ones, but prettier :).  I think it would have taken a blue ribbon at the fair.

 Five of the seven were used in the second batch of kraut, filling a 6 gallon Redwing Crock and half a 5 gallon bucket.

I could not believe I could only get 3 heads in an average laundry basket as I cleaned them.  They were huge and heavy.

 Once again, we are handing down tradition, teaching one of the Grandsons how to ' stomp.'  Grandpa told him to wash his feet so he Did think he was going to be ' stomping ' the old fashioned way.  We love his curiosity and desire to learn.

 This sure juiced up nice.  It looks like it's going to be another stellar  ' kraut ' performance.

 We've been very happy with the cabbage growth this year.  It has produced some large, solid, jjjjuicy heads.

 The first batch yielded 23 pints.  One did not seal so is in the fridg for first use, and another was sent home with a neighbor, when he said, " Oh, I see you're making saurkraut. "  Of course, I gave him a taste.

 The onions have been drying off in the garage on an iron grate.  Bill picked the ones in his garden ( those with the greens on them yet ) a bit too soon, but they were beginning to spoil with the damp ground.  

 We spent some time today, rubbing the outer dirt and skins off, cutting the dried tops off, and bagging them.  What you see here is about 45-50 lbs. of beautiful yellow onions.

 The onions will hang in the garage until it freezes.  It will give them time to dry a bit more, and loose some of their strong smell.

Some of these are so strong, they make your eyes water just walking past them, but they sure are tasty.

 How about these for some collassal veggies!

The tomatoes are ripening beautifully.  They are so large, firm and not a blemish.  I love a tomato slice that is big enough to cover a slice of bread, or my hand.  Now, that's a tomato!

 This celery that came directly out of my very own garden is amazing.  It stands tall in my high-backed patio chair, just to show you how well it grew.  

I grow the celery with a 2-liter pop bottle around it with the top and bottom cut off.  It keeps the stalk clean from the dirt splashing up on it during rains.  The bottle also keeps the stalk from toppling over during growth, and keeps the ribs lighter.

The flavor is more intense, so I mainly use mine in soups, stews and as flavoring in salsas and relish.  Personally, I don't mind an intense flavor, so Ants On A Log, ( peanut butter topped with raisins on a celery rib ), suits me fine.

Thanks for stopping by and staying a bit interested.  It makes my day.  I love reading your entries in return.  It's amazing what we learn from one another.  What a wonderful thing.

BlessYourHeart