A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Ground up the first two dried pepper batches! It started out as fine powder, but as the day went on and the humidity increased and it got clumpy. So I left a paper towel on top and will wait for the humidity to drop before putting in a jar. But it tastes wonderful. I put some in the center of a 'Potatoes Anna' dish tonight, really delicious. Hard to imagine that dehydrated food could taste so rich!

Finally got the big sunchoke bed planted with DS & DD's help. Because I didn't plant them like a complete dork, as I did last year, it was much easier. They don't need to be very deep, 4 inches. Got in 4 mega rows and it occurred to me afterward I may have lost my marbles planting this much, since I planted only 2 - 4 plants of each variety this spring and have them coming out of my ears. I must have planted 2 dozen in each row...in fact I'm scratching my head about where I'll plant the other 2 varieties remaining since I learned this year they don't share well with others and need to be alone.

Anyway. The red sunchokes! 'Skorospelka' & 'Ruby Treasure'. Nice thing about these ones is they can be peeled so easily. So far I haven't really felt the need to peel them, but that could change the more I eat them.

The wall huggers -

And miracle of miracles, the last (regular) tomatoes got whizzed tonight in the food processor for seeds! That's all she wrote for those!Grateful....and exhausted with saving tomato seeds. I saved so much there are boxes upon boxes of seed sheets piled up to the rafters in the living room. It has been years since I saved this much. I hope I've learned my lesson with excessive spring enthusiasm!

Adios!

The carrot research continues; 'Gigante Flakkee' also known as 'Vita Longa', and 'Long Flacoro' lives up to its name. I think it comes from Italy, and I got it from an Italian seed company but some sources say France. Whatever the case, very nice carrot! The only one bigger is 'Manpukuji'.

Next to a Nantes Coreless-

 

[heirloomgal]

I enjoy this account so much, my inner fact geek enjoys her knowledge and the accent only adds to the experience!

https://www.instagram.com/learn.the.latin.garden/?e=ab42c7ee-dbb6-47b2-8725-3c590d6f83d4&g=5

 

[heirloomgal]

Almost filled up my first XL leaf bag tonight with pea & bean shells!

Took me a little bit to find my stride, but once I got going all the copper bottomed thrills showed up. I've probably said it many times at this point, but the rejoicing that comes with savouring the year end seed harvest never gets old. And neither does the feeling of it being nothing short of a miracle, especially when you begin with the tiniest smidgen of seeds and somehow... now you have a heap! Rarity heightens the sensation.

Yet another year to be reminded that there are always surprises; the one that turned out to be shockingly productive, the one that has an extra pretty seedcoat pattern or is more deep blue than you imagined it would be. The seed pods that turned out to look like big bugs. A delicious swirl of experimentation and curiosity.

 

[ducks4you]

Just a thought:
Have you considered just storing the dehydrated peppers in a sealed jar and grinding them up as needed?
I only ask bc even in a drought WE are super humid here and I would lose the powder if I did it that way.
I has discovered that the longer the peppers sit in the jar, the hotter they become.
Love, regardless!!

 

[heirloomgal]

Just a thought:
Have you considered just storing the dehydrated peppers in a sealed jar and grinding them up as needed?
I only ask bc even in a drought WE are super humid here and I would lose the powder if I did it that way.
I has discovered that the longer the peppers sit in the jar, the hotter they become.
Love, regardless!!

I didn't even think of that!

 

[heirloomgal]

Made an easy supper tonight with 'garden dregs' which turned out to be very good, so I thought I'd post here. A healthy supper using end of season produce, which might need to get used up before perishing if it hasn't been canned or dried or frozen.

A handful of leeks
6 potatoes
4 big carrots
1 onion
4 Jerusalem artichokes
A bit of chopped cauliflower (anything in the fridge that needs to be used really)
Some mushrooms

Chop it all in chunks, sprinkle with salt, pepper, basil and oregano & a generous helping of olive oil. Spread on parchment on a big cookie sheet, then cover with another layer of parchment then foil. Bake at 350 - 375 for about an hour. Tastes better cooked more slowly.

While that's baking, throw into a saucepan another handful of leeks with the green tops (chopped finely) with some butter. Sautee a few minutes then add about 8 tomatoes that are sitting on your counter needing to be used, chop them into chunks and simmer with the leeks. Add the magic ingredient for this meal - a few ripped mint leaves. Trust me, this works really well. Libyan friends taught me that addition. Cover and cook until the veggies in the oven are soft, you have do add water to the tomatoes occasionally to keep it thick but soupy.

About 10 minutes before serving add a can of chickpeas to the stewing tomatoes, and salt & pepper. The last of the expiring parsley plants outside add a nice layer of flavor at this stage, and brighten the dish. I serve the veggies on a plate with a side of cottage cheese, and the chickpea tomatoes in a little bowl on the plate so it can added on top of the veggies as desired, and enjoyed separately as well.

Then make your kids clean everything up and put away any leftovers.

 

[flowerbug]

... Add the magic ingredient for this meal - a few ripped mint leaves. Trust me, this works really well. Libyan friends taught me that addition.

yes, this is right out of middle eastern cuisine. very good eats. all of it.

as for cleanup. nobody here except us chickens...

 

[heirloomgal]

Update with the longkeeper affairs.

One of the quirky things about this season has been the longkeeper surprises. I did grow one row dedicated to that type, but others by happy surprise showed up elsewhere unexpectedly. One of them was the mini-dwarf 'Fat Frog'. This is all the more surprising because I grew it in the greenhouse. I made a point to pick none of the fruits through the summer, after I saw that they had some serious holding time on the plant. Even now, nearly all the tomatoes are on a plate in the carport. 'Yellow Submarine' the cherry tomato was also quite longkeeping, probably owing to its super low juice content.

And then conversely, my 'Ruby Treasure' longkeeper beefsteak tomatoes seem to already be on a downward trajectory. This is really surprising to me because they were so rock hard and green when I picked them not that long ago; I felt like they would take a least a month or 2 to soften. But no, I had a sandwich with one this weekend and it was as soft and ripe as a summer beefsteak. For a storage tomato, it's shelf life is remarkably short. That said, the texture is still divine, not spongey at all. Flavor was a bit weak to me, but still garden fresh. I find the tomatoes almost look shellaced. A weird one for sure.

Between episodes of bean and pea shelling I've been de-seeding cardboard flats of of peppers. I've accumulated so much pepper material I'm now asking around who wants some. I've had the dehydrator going for a week, it's still full, I've been cooking them as much as I possibly can. Tomorrow it'll be spaghetti with pepper sauce featuring a few tomatoes. But I am peppered out. I really should enjoy the experience, this may never happen to me again!

Some of the varieties I've gotten done - - -

Odessa Market

Blushing Beauty, who never did blush.

Chervena Chuska (it's sweet even if it doesn't look it).

Red Belgium

Peace Bell

Lunchbox Red. This one took one whole evening to do, 6 little plants produced so many peppers. I grew Lunchbox Orange a couple years ago and must say I liked that one better. While this one certainly had more fruits per plant, they were smaller. I liked the bigger fruits. Despite looking hot, it's totally sweet.

Nomad

 

[heirloomgal]

I gambled in a huge way re-planting the mere 30 seeds I collected from the 'Ho Lan Dao' pea starts I got at Rona's. In hindsight it was a risk I shouldn't have taken because nobody sells those seeds that I know of in CA. But, I may yet get lucky and have the plants make it to maturity. The pods are quite a ways a long, and I haven't put the planter in the greenhouse yet. That should do it. Got my fingers crossed cause I really want these seeds!

Second year growing kale in the front yard and again it has gotten really big. I cannot count how many people have walked up the driveway to say 'wow, your broccoli is doing good isn't it!' For some reason I find this hysterically funny; I suppose it's the fact that vegetables are so far back on the shelf in the average northerner diet. Sometimes I just agree, and other times some unruly force possesses me to admit it's 'kale' which usually causes the person to get a blank look, lol. Without exception this causes a moment of silence. If I'm really in a giddy mood, I then offer for them to take some if they'd like. Squirming usually ensues! I did send 2 huge plants to an Italian neighbour today (the lady who sent me the comfrey) and she was quite happy, so I guess it does have some fans. She puts pieces in the dehydrator and likes them that way.

This is the stage of labour I've arrived at with the Manpukuji carrots...tiny drawback to the big ones. Otherwise the tips break off down there.

Osaka cabbages

 

[flowerbug]

if you bring that pea plant into the greenhouse those seeds should be developed enough, but i'd also keep an eye on them for animal predation even in the greenhouse as once those pods start to get softer then it means that some could be picked and brought inside for finish drying to make sure those seeds aren't lost. even 30 seeds can be plenty. good luck!

at times with beans and peas i'm getting to just a few seeds and hoping to still be able to grow them again. i have one pea that i think i got one or two pods from it this year. the pods are sitting there waiting for me to get back to them. at least they are inside here.