[Mrs Bee]

I have pickled so many gherkins and cucumber that I could feed the street for a  year.

I have 14 jars of piccalilli, four carrier bags of beans, 2 of cucumbers, 1 of courgettes, a carrier bag of apples in the dining room keeping another bag of cucumbers company and the second fridge is full of plums.


I managed to defrost 2 of the 3 freezers after my son's 30th BBQ party that good old mum threw and cooked for, and made an inventory, so know what is in there at last.  I now have 1/2 a freezer empty to work with.

I have 25lb of blackberries, 5 bags of broad beans and the same of French beans and a couple of bags of plums in the freezer, along with oodles of Seville oranges, this years goosgogs, jostaberries and blackcurrants.

I picked up a tray of peaches for £2.50 and have peach chutney, pickled peaches and peaches in brandy in the  preserves cupboard.

I am only getting a day out of the kitchen tomorrow  'cos I am out with stall at an event.

And on top of it all I have a wonky ankle so I am doing all this flamingo style on one leg.

Note to self must go to cash and carry for more mustard, turmeric and vinegar. We really need a little icon of an exhausted cook.

[Ma Lowe]

.......... and a partridge in a pear tree 

Blimey you lot have worn me out just reading what you got. I can't remember all I have but it's along the lines of others. Will be looking for freezer space soon 

[Mrs Bee]

Trust me, I have worn myself out.

I am being bullied by all the produce sitting in bags looking at me.

Have told OH that he is on no account to let the gherkins grow bigger than 3 and a half inches ever again.

I am going to have to buy some more jars.

[surbie100]

Do you season the courgettes before they go in the dehydrator? How thick are your slices? My first lot shrivelled up a lot.

Currently I am dealing with the raspberry mountain: dehydrator going and a vat of jam boiling too. Dehydrated raspberries are just amazing -- winter porridge springs to  mind there 

2-3mm thick, same as Lardman, and 12ish hours at 50C. Am v envious of the raspberries, I don't have any.

Lardman, a twist of cajun sounds brilliant.

[New shoot]

Busy morning here again 

I found some dried beetroot and the remnants of the dried tomato skin powder from last year, while stashing some jars from this year    Beetroot and tomato soup now made and on stand by for lunch. 

The tomato skin powder is fab    You dry what usually goes straight in the compost, then put it through the food processer and it adds so much flavour to things.  Its a great thickener as well, so you aren't messing around with flour and butter trying to thicken soups or stews 

The dehydrator is currently doing more french beans and tomato skins and I have just finished a massive batch of tomato sauce.  There were so many tomatoes, the big stock pot had to come out to hold them all.  Now just got to find some freezer space to stash it 

[Annen]

The tomato skin powder is fab    You dry what usually goes straight in the compost, then put it through the food processer and it adds so much flavour to things.  Its a great thickener as well, so you aren't messing around with flour and butter trying to thicken soups or stews 

That's a good idea!  Sadly I don't think I have enough tomatoes this year for some reason.

[LotuSeed]

Most definitely . Everyday I'm getting fresh tomatoes, tomatillos, blackberries, and red and gold raspberries (which are working on their second flush of the season!) Freezers are filled to capacity with strawberries, blueberries, red, gold and black raspberries, peaches, tomatoes and tomatillos as well. My pride and joy though has to be my "root cellar" or basement pantry. The shelves are stocked with strawberry, sweet cherry, raspberry and red gooseberry jams, 24 quarts of peaches in light syrup, pint and a half jars of blue lake green beans, several dozen quarts of tomato sauce, quarts and pints of applesauce-from plain to strawberry, peach and raspberry flavoured, several pints of sweet corn and salsa verde and 50 quarts of cubed potatoes. So yes, the good life effect has definitely taken hold. I find that I turn into such a grocery store snob about this time of year and find it fascinating how infrequently I go to the grocery store for "fresh produce" lol. 

[Yorkie]

That's amazing, LotuSeed! Where do you grow all that stuff? Do you have a good sized garden?

[LotuSeed]

That's amazing, LotuSeed! Where do you grow all that stuff? Do you have a good sized garden?

It certainly seems like it's a good size when I'm weeding on a hot summer day, but it isn't really all that big. I have tomatoes, tomatillos, green beans, hot peppers, parsley, basil and strawberries distributed among several raised beds. I grow the raspberries, blackberries and blueberries along the fence line as edible landscaping and then I squeeze whatever else I can in wherever I have room for it. I'm sure the neighbours thought me mad for putting up a wigwam for cucumbers smack in the middle of the lawn 

 I pressure canned the green beans when I had collected enough and when the plants slowed down production toward the end of July I pulled them up and sowed more. The new bushes have just started flowering   My yellow pear and Costoluto Genovese toms will keep getting added to the freezer/but not to be used in sauce/ that's for my Roma, Amish paste, San  Marzano, dad's yellow sunsets and oxhearts.  My red and yellow raspberries are fruiting again this season so I'll be making jam with those once they're done doing their thing.  I planted garlic last fall and red onions this spring. When the were done they were replaced with more tomato plants.

What I don't have room to grow I get from a pick-your-own farm about 50 minutes away from here. While I planted over a 100 strawberry plants two seasons ago, they have given me very little fruit, so at the start of the season I picked 60lbs of strawberries at the farm.
I don't have fruit trees, so when the sweet cherries ripened I gathered 20lbs of dark red deliciousness.  Then my five blueberry bushes decided to give me only a dozen fruit in total, lol, So I picked 13lbs of them at the farm. Never had a gooseberry in my life until early this summer so of course I had to get those. I picked 8lbs in total and came away looking like the loser in a cat fight! OUCH.

When potatoes were ready to be dug, I collected 50lbs and processed (washed,peeled, cut and pressure canned) them all in three days time. Before I knew it, peaches started ripening around the middle of July and I waited until a specific variety was ready and picked 60lbs of those. Later I went back and got 23 more pounds of another variety because, well, you can never have enough peaches!
And while I am able to grow a decent amount of toms I usually freeze the ones I grow, as they ripen, and use them in dishes during the winter. I like to make pasta sauce but that requires loads and loads of maters so I get those from the farm too. Last year I processed I think 120lbs of them.  This year I plan to do the same so I still have 80lbs more to pick.

It may sound like a lot of time, money and effort but,,, I have fun doing it, it costs much less than buying at the grocery store and is waaaaaay more healthy.

Sorry for blathering on so!
Cheers

[Mrs Bee]

Wow, and I thought we were doing well.

How lucky are you being able to pick peaches.  I have to get mine from the wholesale market in London.

Do you have a large family to eat all that produce.

Now there are only 2 of us at home we are not getting through all the produce, which is why I sell preserves.

After going through my larder I have found several jars of brandied peaches, and pickled peaches and pears from last year that we haven't eaten.

[snowdrops]

Hi there Lotuseed, I'm amazed by that dedication to preserving. Will potatoes not store unbottled in your cellar?

[LotuSeed]

Wow, and I thought we were doing well.

How lucky are you being able to pick peaches.  I have to get mine from the wholesale market in London.

Do you have a large family to eat all that produce.

Now there are only 2 of us at home we are not getting through all the produce, which is why I sell preserves.

After going through my larder I have found several jars of brandied peaches, and pickled peaches and pears from last year that we haven't eaten.

I love being able to pick fresh peaches, but I always end up really itchy afterwards LOL.
There are only two of us for the most part, but I do like to share my jams with friends and family. (It's all low-sugar and it often gets eaten straight out of the jar. Needless to say it goes fast.) 
There are a few things leftover from last canning season but that is usually stuff I decided I wasn't too keen on only after I had made it, i.e. the blueberry applesauce 

Snowdrops
I've never tried storing potatoes in the cellar in their natural state, but part of me thinks that with my luck they'd all end up rotting. I know it's a common practice to just store them in burlap sacks but the thought of having to clean, peel, chop and prepare potatoes before every use is too much work for me in the middle of winter. It was a lot easier for me to do all of that now during the summer while I actually have the energy for it. Now all I have to do is open a jar, rinse em and stick em in whatever dish I'm making.

Another reason why I canned them was so that my husband could use them when I don't feel like cooking. I think if I handed him a potato to prepare he'd look at me sideways. Lol. Definitely not culinarily inclined. HA!

[tosca100]

One of our biggest pleasures this hot and humid summer has been sitting in the little pool eating warm, sweet and juicy white fleshed peaches straight from the tree. Far too nice to bottle though we will do next year if we have enough. There were a lot more than last year and we also got some fruit from the larger yellow fleshed peach tree which we allowed to re-grow after the previous owners cut it down to the ground for six years.

The shelves in the cellar are groaning under the weight of bottles of fruit and veg, sauces, jams and pickles, chutneys and compots. Loads of squash, onions, garlic and a freezer full of veg. The only things we will need to buy are potatoes and flour for bread, meat for OH and all the usual bits and pieces for baking. Oh, and if the ladies do what they did last year and stop laying for months I will need eggs, which I really detest buying and will not eat as eggs, only in baking.

Just love what we are doing here.

[LotuSeed]

Tosca100 that sounds absolutely lovely 

[Growster...]

That's incredible, LotuSeed! I love the idea of a root cellar!

My sister-in-law lives in Richmond VA, and she found it impossible to grow runner beans - even with UK seed!

Do you have any luck with these?