Digging potatoes

This weekend it wil be time to dig up all of the potatoes and onions. If you recall, we planted red, white, and blue potatoes this year, as is our patriotic duty.

The blue potatoes are visually striking, but somewhat starchy in the flavor department. I will experiment and discover their best use. I have a suspicion that mashed blue potatoes will be delicious, but look very odd. The white fingerling potatoes are already out of the ground and I really need to roast a few of them in a bit of duck fat one of these days.

Also this weekend, I am planning on brewing up my annual batch of Pumpkinhead Ale. This is one of my beers that has a devoted following, so you pumpkin beer fans will be happy to hear that it is on the way.

Lots and lots of rain last weekend has split most of my tomatoes, so into cans they will go. I am still binging on BLTs whenever possible and even found a local stand that still has fresh sweet corn. I am determined to enjoy the fruits of summer as long as they hold out.

Stopped by the local "coffee club" at the Boltonville gas station this morning and Tom from the feed mill had a line on a butcher hog for us. He didn't have the number so I have to stop by there tomorrow for the contact information. It will be good to have a freezer full of pork again, even if it isn't from our farm.

Buy local!
Doug

Canning season has begun

We started preserving some of the harvest last weekend. I am trying something different with the tomatoes this year, I basically made a gigantic pot of chili without the meat and canned it up in quart jars. My idea was that since chili always tastes better the next day, this is like getting a big head start. I should be able to simply brown up some stew meat and pour my premade chili mix over it and be ready to chow down in less than an hour. We'll see how it works.

We also made a big batch of raisins in the dehydrator. They are really good, but it takes a long time, almost 36 hours. Next up is making homemade grape juice and canning it with Grandma Jones' recipe.

Signs of autumn are beginning to appear, a few leaves turning and cool evenings. I'm looking forward to deer hunting in November already, looks like I will get to hunt opening weekend for a change, thanks to not having to butcher turkeys. I'm also planning on bowhunting for deer at our place since it appears we now have enough of a local population to support it. (And because they ate my pea vines!)