The relish I started last night turned into a lovely product. I made a double batch and canned 11 cups of relish. DH can’t have sugar, but can have honey. So I substituted 1 cup honey for the cup and a half of sugar. Next time, I may go down to 3/4 cup of honey. It does have salt, but I’m hoping that if he eats a little once in awhile and we aren’t using salt other places, he can get by with it. If he gets swelling in the legs again, I’ll be sharing it with the children instead. If you are interested in the recipe, let me know and I will share. Thank you so much Dar for sharing with me.
Harvest today, included more blueberries, tomatoes, onions, zucchini, basil, and potatoes. The summer produces so much bounty that it keeps me busy. That’s why you see very little creative work then. In the winter, we live off the summer’s bounty and I have more time for the fiber arts. Maybe some of you can send me some photos of your work and I can help you enjoy your creative arts.
Even so I need to use fiber just to stay sane. I thought the month was nearly over, but I just looked at the calendar and I still have most of a week. Maybe I can sneak in another finish this month.
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Dar, one of the readers here, sent me a relish recipe to try. This is as far as I am. Everything is cut and salted and spending the night in the refrigerator. At least when I tackle that tomorrow, it will be half done, so it won’t seem like it is taking so long. I am nearly caught up on the cucumber issue. Next I’ll tackle the zucchini. I can grate that and put it in the freezer to make items during the winter.
Then I crumbled some in the blender for sauce or soup so you could see how that looks.
This is a quart of dried basil. Growing and dehydrating basil takes so little time and is really cost effective.
but progress is slow right now, and there are many small pieces.
The garden also beckons me and there are now 9 trays of cucumbers on the dehydrator. These will be great for sauces, dips, and flavoring. Although there are still many cucumbers to share. I am only making a very few pickles this year, because there are still some from last year. I am also looking for a great relish recipe if anyone has one and is willing to share.
I am delighted with the netting that has finally been installed over the blueberry bushes on the left and in the middle. Grapes on the right were not properly pruned, so will get netting next year. So far in addition to eating about 5# of berries, I have also put 15# in the freezer. For an idea of volume, I can get 5# in a gallon freezer bag and it barely zips. There are many more berries out there and the birds (who got them all last year) lose this year.
In the hoop house starting at the left, the celery, Swiss chard, and walking onions are doing great. At the end, are planted one of the carrots, I think. I don’t remember now which is where. But they were planted today. On the right nearest is watermelon, with no fruits set yet, cantaloupe are next down the line with zucchini at the end.
Another full row of tomatoes, mostly volunteers plus 6 cucumber plants. On the right , the rest of the lettuce which bolted in the heat has become chicken food and lettuce and beets have been replanted. There are a few beets half way down the row, which were too crowded by the lettuce. Winter cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussel sprouts seeds were started today as well.
We saw so many doctors and DH had so many tests that when there was down time, I did more resting than knitting. So only a few rows were added. I’m hoping now that we are home, that can change.
