And the farm share is picking up the pace. This past Thursday I was supposed to meet my sister-in-law at the farm since I didn't know how easy it was going to be with my hand all incapacitated. (The pins are in and I seem to be doing well, yay!) She got stuck in some horrendous traffic so I picked up the whole share:
2 pumpkins, 3 heads of bok choi, 1 head of lettuce, 1 bowl of arugula, 1 large eggplant, 1 bowl of kale, 3 small zucchinis, 2 buttercup squashes, 1 delicata squash, 2 small broccoli crowns, 12 jalapenos, 1 pt. beans (yellow and purple), 3 sunflowers, 14 slicing tomatoes, 2 heirloom tomatoes, 1/2 pt. of cherry tomatoes, and 2 half-peck bags of apples (one for each of us).
Today I'm taking as much to them as I can. We've eaten the zucchini, lettuce, some of the arugula, half the broccoli, and 2 tomatoes. I've frozen the rest of the heirloom and regular tomatoes, stockpiling them in the freezer until I can process them more easily (when my hand is better) - so far I have 3 gallon bags of tomatoes; one or 2 more ought to be enough!
This morning, with assistance from my husband, I roasted the pumpkins in the oven for 90 minutes at 400 degrees and then scraped the pumpkin into my brand new Kitchenaid stand mixer. I added cinnamon and nutmeg at the correct proportions to make pumpkin bread with the results and came up with 2 pints of spiced pumpkin plus another cup (not enough to can...of course). What I discovered is that it would be easier and better to use the food mill but, since it's hard for me right now to assemble/disassemble the mill, the mixer will have to do.
The 2 pints of pumpkin are currently being processed in the pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure for 55 minutes.
My fridge and freezer and backed up with projects - in addition to the tomatoes, I now have a peck of apples, the base for another batch of beef and barley soup, 1 qt. blackberries, 1 pt. each of black and white mulberries, and 2 bananas. Add to that the grapes my sister-in-law froze which she harvested from her back yard and I have a lot to do!
You're mighty busy for an injured woman! Me, I just sit around and whine about my cast and the fact that my right hand is useless for anything intelligent (eg chopping, scraping, removing things from the oven!).
ReplyDeleteDon't work too hard!
Yeah, well, I at least have 3 fingers free...but I did ask hubby to do the slicing/scooping/lifting today.
ReplyDeleteOh, mine are all "free", but it's the pesky bar between the thumb and the rest of the fingers that make movement so awkward. That and anything that involves twisting the hand off-plane. Did that make sense? yer the doctor-y type ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, absolutely. I just have an ACE wrap between the thumb and fingers. And I can rotate at the wrist a little, since it's my finger that needs to stay still, not the wrist. That being said, I am getting pretty good at using a mouse with my left hand...
ReplyDeleteI used the leftover pumpkin to make a pumpkin custard. MMMMMMM!
ReplyDelete