Monday, October 17, 2016

Finalizing the Garden Produce

I enjoyed our conversation last week inspired by my Purposeful post.Your purposeful living inspired me to expand my own efforts, seeking new, challenging, and exciting things to try. Thank you.

The weather lady promised wind for today, and boy was she right. With the leaves still clingy to the trees benches, their tenure there is fragile and limited as the wind whips the branches about.  The warm glow a Autumn gives such a comforting feeling. I watched "The Kitchen on the Food Network Saturday. The hosts were cooking all sorts of fall foods rich with pumpkin and spices, all good fall comfort foods. My Weight Watcher's weekly handout has a great butternut squash soup, which I plan to make. We have an EZ-GO load of squash. I'll take some to my friend recovering from extensive back surgery.

Speaking of cooking. I had a few comments, too, about my Kitchen Aid mixer attachment. It looks like this:




You will find this handy gadget on Amazon, among other places.  Believe me, it has been a life safer for my old wrist and fingers that don't hold on to things like they used to.

The garden is finished, finally. Yesterday I froze the last of the harvest.


As I have written before, our tomatoes were awful. These are the last of the best. Jen grew them from seed, She used Martha Stewart organic seeds, with great success. The sets that we purchased just did not perform, so she has been designated our tomato starter. The Head Gardener will hand down all of his growing paraphernalia to her so that expand her grow production. 

I pureed the tomatoes in my blender to make a lumpy liquid that I froze until I get time to make more salsa. Next I tackled the peppers, jalapeño  and Anaheim. Our bell peppers failed early in the season. 


First, the peppers get a nice cold bath. They sat on the patio for a couple days, so the cold water helped to crisp them up again. I sorted out the jalapeño  from the Anaheims then placed them zip-lock bags to freeze. Quite a harvest of peppers this year. I was wondering if we needed to plant peppers next year? Of course we will. I will make jalapeño pepper jelly and salsa later. I must remember to use my food grade, latex-free gloves and a protective mask when I chop the peppers. The peppers emit very strong, noxious fumes, so protective gear is a necessity.




We began planting the 100 daffodil bulbs  arrived  few weeks ago from White Flower Farms. Fifteen down; 85 to go. Jen is coming over tomorrow to help plant more. I may end up giving some away. But really can a garden ever have too many daffodils? I think not.


And so I leave you with Veteran's Prize, that last rose of the season. While we haven't had a hard freeze yet,  the roses have stopped blooming. What a lovely one this is. 

Linking with Maggie at Normandy Life for Mosaic Monday. 

Join the fun.

Now I am off to update Ann's Dollhouse Dreams blog. I always enjoy seeing your there, too.

11 comments:

  1. That could almost be a velvet rose so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dealing with your own produce is quite time consuming isn't it - but then in the depths of winter when you start using all that you have frozen or bottled you can experience summer again. My roses have stopped blooming too, although I did notice one or two buds, so maybe we'll get a late show before the frosts.

    One thing I hate about gardening is planting bulbs, it's not so bad if you use containers, but planting them in the soil is a real pain - good luck with yours. Although as you say you can't have enough daffodils, I look forward to seeing the results next spring.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ann, I have to do tomato puree as well because they are all ripe and have bad spots. The rose looks so velvety. Thanks for sharing. Sylvia D.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful rose! I still have to plant bulbs here, too. It's a bit of a chore, but always worth it when the first sharp leaves begin poking out of the ground, and then the flowers that last quite a long time bloom to bring colour to a winter world.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just look at all those jalapenos, love the shot of them being washed, wish I could taste your spicy salsa.
    Too many daffs, I don't think so!

    ReplyDelete
  6. First of all, I love your new header.
    Lovely photos of your garden produce. Your tomato puree looks very good, much thicker than ours. Hmmmm.
    Have a great week ahead!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ahhhh, you have got a Kitchenaid! That's still high on my wish list, but unfortunately I don't have the space for it. Your last red rose of the season looks beautiful!

    Have fun preparing for Halloween!

    Madelief x

    ReplyDelete
  8. OOPS! that reminds me I have bulbs to plant! Thanks for showing the attachment, that is one we do not have, may be a Christmas present for Mr. How nice to have all those garden goodies.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Pepper jelly and salsa I have never made. I have grown one paprika plant in my greenhouse which is about nonsense for when I cross the road there are huge heated glasshouses where they grow big paprikas.
    When I saw your 100 daffodils I thought of the 100 daffodils I planted last week on the grave of my father.
    Your last red rose is beautiful, real velvet!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello Ann, the rose is beautiful. The kitchenaid gadget is cool. I can not imagine planting all those bulbs, but it will look great when they all bloom. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!

    ReplyDelete
  11. No, you never have too many daffodils! I got a big box of tulips in the mail, and some daffs and crocus that I picked up at Costco, so I've got my work cut out for me.

    ReplyDelete

Back in the Swing of Things

 Well, hello friends. My only post for the year was in March when I declared, "I'm Back." I really didn't go any place; I ...