Little Man was our pumpkin and squash expert this year. His harvest was abundant, we are still eating them into January!
Tomatoes
While 2013 was the year of the beans, it will also be known as the year of the big tomato failure.
Temperatures were just too hot this year, we went from mild and cool spring weather to record breaking heat in a matter of a week. We missed out on the few weeks of temperatures needed to set tomato fruit, therefore the harvest was very slim. Around the end of the season things picked up a bit, but not in the quantities we needed for storage through the winter.
Sadly I had to buy boxes of tomatoes, maybe next year will be better.
(Lou searching for a ripe tomato or two)
Lou was our faithful tomato grower this year, even though it wasn’t the bumper crop we were hoping for she was still very diligent in caring for her tomatoes and when canning time came around she was right there doing her duty.
Seventy quarts later we have our tomatoes for the year. I just can pain stewed tomatoes so I can go quickly, and any other tomato products that are needed throughout the year can be make from them.
Pickles
Sassy was our pickle girl this year.
This spring she carefully planted the pickle patch.
Through the summer she weeded it carefully.
She took note of the first blossoms and waited anxiously for the first baby fruits to appear.
Then as they started to ripen she picked and picked and picked.
Every few days when she had picked enough cucumbers she diligently scrubbed each one, divided up the dill, boiled the brine and made pickles.
Six weeks later we were able to sample the first batches,
and they were a huge success!
Thanks Sassy for growing us a pickle patch and helping to fill our larder!
Dilly Beans
The summer of 2013 will always be known as the year of the “bean” at the farm.
We had tons of beans.
Oodles of beans.
It was such a blessing, we had enough beans to eat fresh and can and enough beans to play around a bit.
This year we tried the Dilly Bean.
Canning Dilly Beans was a lot of fun and really simple, which is a huge plus for me, I just don’t have time to play around with complicated canning recipes.
I have lots of mouths to feed!
The preparation is very simple. Simply wash the beans and cut them to the size of your jars, steam them until they are just tender. That’s it.
In clean, sterilized jars place one dried chili pepper, one clove garlic and one half teaspoon dill seed. Pack the beans tightly in the jars, standing on end.
Bring 2 cups water, 2 cups apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup canning salt to a boil and pour over the beans, leaving about a half inch head space. Screw the lids on tight and flip jars over.
Once the jars have cooled completely, flip them back and check the seal. Store for a few weeks before serving, so the flavors can mix and mature.
Serve cold
Apples and Apples
Apples are one of my favorite fall fruits. I love everything about them, the colors, the flavors, the many varieties. I especially love that every part of the apple can be used in one form or another and lends itself very well to home preserving.
This year we were able to pick many, many bushels of apples from our neighbors orchard. Unfortunately for me, apple harvest was right around the time we lost our Little Angel, so I wasn’t able to do as much as I wanted. However, Dadzoo came to the rescue and while I watched he canned and cut and dried and buttered and froze all our apples. I’ve been so blessed in marriage.
We did sliced apples in a spiced syrup, dried apples, apple butter and apple pie filling. Had I been able I would have added apple jelly and apple vinegar, but it just wasn’t to be this year. 
Right now we have four little apple trees that were planted this summer on the farm, we plan on adding a couple more and someday we won’t have to buy our apples but will have big apple picking parties from our very own trees!
A farm girls dream.