Ducks ALIVE in 2025!

We have mostly gone to paste and freezing in recent years. Mortar and pestle used for both dry and fresh.


Updated link for the spice outfit noted in the 12 year old post .
LINK

Today I went through the tomatoes I picked a few days ago. Family Wants tomatoes to eat, but doesn't Always eat them, and I don't want them to rot, So...I harvested from my meager tomato patch and I have them dehydrating. One of my Marconi Sweet Peppers looked like it might be past it soon, so I gave it it's one tray on top.
I harvested 4 more okra--4/15 harvested this weekend--and I had to start a 3rd quart freezer bag. Good news bc I need 4 quarts for the Thanksgiving turkey. Remember, my DD inadvertently--just tap the seeds out on the east side of the cistern, which I had prepped right before my surgery--and she planted them mid July, and I got 15, maybe 16 surviving plants that are fruiting now.

Serrano peppers and the jar will be gifted to my good friends who started the Salsa Parties with me. They love hot peppers, but I don't think they planted any this year.
The dehydrated tomatoes go to my middle DD. She hasn't grown that many tomatoes, has been hot water bath canning this year, and I think will go for a deeper container like my 100 gal leaky horse trough next year. HER raised bed containers are only about 14 inches deep, better for salad vegetables like lettuces and onions and radishes, or even cabbage.

While I wait for my new dishwasher--October 15th--I am missing the top of the old one, which has been an extra countertop for me. I pulled up a round table from the basement for party staging--even got a compliment for doing so from youngest DD!
I have another old table that is full of old inherited glassware. There's a winter project, to box up in wine boxes and label the glassware and store in the fuel room in the basement, steal the table for my south facing 2nd story window. I just ordered that Arp Certified Organic Rosemary and I can keep it going there, along with the pot of basil, now outside, and see about getting more herbs growing there. I think I can overwinter catproof them with some cheap metal garden edging that I have...
NEXT year I reclaim my herb garden and I will plant the rosemary there.

Picked up my Lowe's order, which included an attachment to the hot water faucet that the new dishwasher needs to operate. DOES fit, but there is an aerator?...not sure what to do with it, but I will put that issue off until early next week.
Finished dehydrating tomatoes and added the one dehydrated Sweet Marconi pepper to a new jar. As I recall thte sweet peppers lose their punch in about one year, the hot peppers get Hotter, and last year's dehydrated tomatoes still smell great.
Gotta label, but they do look a lot alike. I was surprised at how the tomatoes filled almost a quart and a pint's worth.

ducks4you said:

Picked up my Lowe's order, which included an attachment to the hot water faucet that the new dishwasher needs to operate. DOES fit, but there is an aerator?...not sure what to do with it, but I will put that issue off until early next week.
Finished dehydrating tomatoes and added the one dehydrated Sweet Marconi pepper to a new jar. As I recall thte sweet peppers lose their punch in about one year, the hot peppers get Hotter, and last year's dehydrated tomatoes still smell great.
Gotta label, but they do look a lot alike. I was surprised at how the tomatoes filled almost a quart and a pint's worth.View attachment 78222

Click to expand...

Beautiful work! It's so satisfying seeing preserved foods that you bottled yourself!

@Dahlia, Thanks!
Dehydrating is less work than hot water bath canning. Recipes work differently. I think Eldest DD (Chef) needs to learn to rehydrate the tomatoes to use them.
Funny, I Finally read the raised lettering on the squatty jar: Bath & Body Works

SALSA #14: The Usual Suspects
I made too many beans, so I had to pressure can 6 quarts of leftovers this morning, now cooling. DH has his marching orders--work on you baked bean recipe!
I started them middle of the night, Thursday and woke up to a bulging crock pot of beans. I moved them over to the smaller crock pot, now both emptied and cleaned after sink soaking. Here is also the prep beans and pulverized tomatoes and chili sauce for today's party. I WILL be busy for the next few days.

Good party, BUT, we had an argument about burning the pile. After 6 weeks of practically NO RAIN and the beans in the field hadn't been harvested, I made the executive decision of No. DH was a little miffed. DD's burned the witch in my fire pit in the front of the barn, QUITE safe unless there were high winds, no such thing.
Still, Great chili. I had 6 quarts left mostly bc without the bonfire people left early.
One Great thing--best friends brought their 13yo son, who might as well be 23--very sociable and sweet and jumped to help me with mowing down and around the fire pit that I hadn't intended to use. He wants to help around the property. Gotta work out details, but I would like to hire him, $20/cash on weekends, starting in November to get my barn in order. He is also horse crazy and he listens.
He and his dad visited on the porch with DH and me for 90 minutes--mom had to take his younger brother home, not feeling well, much earlier-- we both liked the Witches' Brew Pumpkin.

Still had a lot of Sangria, which has probably lost most of it's alcohol, but I have been drinking on it all day.
This morning DD's treated their gaming guests and us to coffee, waffles and bacon--very tasty.
I couldn't find blueberry syrup anywhere but Cracker Barrel.
Chili had all of my ripe Marconi Sweet peppers, used up the 2024 dehydrated jalapeños and quarts of tomatoes.
Early yesterday morning I pulverized the 4 quarts of tomatoes and poured contents back in the jars, measured off 4 quarts of softened beans and used my old coffee bean grinder to turn the jalapeños to powder. I probably could have used a little bit more, but everybody loved it.
When we went to DD's house I brought them a quart of chili, sour cream and shredded cheese. I figured that they wanted to lounge in their jim jams all day and do pretty much nothing.
We planned out our meals for the week and will have more chili for dinner tomorrow.
I drove out my tow wagon and brought in my "were porch chairs" Now party chairs that will be stored in my she shed, formally Carriage House.,) and brought in the picket pins that we used to tie the puppies in their harnesses to attend the party.
Last night they.were.zonked.out.
Usually you talk to them and they will put their heads up. Nope. Too tired.

Good party, but we didn't burn the pile. They Finally harvested the beans to the west of us. We are going to have a Saturday burn/feed in a few weeks with out neighbors, S.'s, who originated the party with us.
Youngest DD helped me put away everything in the North pasture last weekend--she had Monday off.
I harvested tomatoes for our last BLT meal. DH and I will have some for lunch today, since I made extra bacon.
Anything he doesn't eat will, again, be dehydrated.
Middle DD used some of the dehydrated tomatoes and made a lovely marinara sauce out of them, with bourbon, and she sending me the recipe, and I think I will use mine for experimenting tomato sauces this winter. I still have over 40 quarts of tomatoes downstairs in the pantry for dinners, so we're good.
Growing the now 16 okra plants was a good idea. I almost have 4 quart bags full. I used to like the idea of the burgandy okra, but this year Those are the ones that are growing long and tough, the green ones, not so much.
If you harvest okra, you can prefer the biggest pods that are soft. You can tell immediately when you cut into one if it's tough. This also confirms that I don't need to grow any more than 20 okra plants next year, since they will start producing and keep going the rest of the season. I plan to grow them along the south side of the cement cistern cover where I can harvest standing on the cement. One year I grew them there and they got over 8 ft tall.