hi I'm Erin the end of garden season is evident we've had snow and freezing
temps much of this last week now is the time of the year that we work hard to
wrap up the gardens and get them ready for winter I spent yesterday in the
kitchen chopping and slicing and canning pickling and freezing let's preserve the
harvest on our wyoming life
it's been a great Market Garden year for us it started out a little slow with the
delay of finishing the new high tunnel and the planting of the crops in the
high tunnel but all in all I'm super happy with everything that we've grown
and produced this season the large Market Garden produced more
veggies than it ever has in fact both outdoor gardens did great we could use a
few more pie pumpkins but that was one of the only crops that didn't produce as
well as we had hoped I am happy to report that we did get a tomato harvest
this year and also some peppers last Saturday after market I pulled the
tomato plants and harvested around 500 pounds of tomatoes now they're all green
and we haven't been able to eat or sell any tomatoes but I can work with green
tomatoes they will turn red over the next month or so and then we can make
some salsa salsa has been desperately missed from our booth at market this
summer I've encountered a problem that is not something that I have to
typically deal with I have peppers that have been picked and onions and I need
to make salsa but with no red tomatoes in sight I need to keep my onions and
peppers from spoiling while we wait for the tomatoes to ripen this week at
market we had quite a bit of Colorado left over and that didn't sell so I want
to repurpose that into something else for the winter months and we also have
an abundance of radishes succession planting of the radishes went well I
harvested all of our second planting and the third planting is just about ready
and the fourth planting should be ready in about a month there has been a lot of
radishes this year with the recent cold weather I am happy to spend the day
working inside the kitchen radishes are first on the to-do list pickled radishes
sound like they will be delicious on sandwiches this winter after scouring
the internet for pickling recipes a refrigerator pickle sounds like the best
way to go there's a link in the description box to all of the recipes
that I use to stems and roots need chopped-off a good
washing follows a fruit processor with the slicing blade makes quick work of
slicing the radishes a mandolin could also be used but they freaked me out and
I always feel like I'm gonna slice off my hand so I'll stick with the food
processor it does make a bit of a mess and the slices aren't necessarily as
pretty as using a mandolin but fingers are left intact the brine is made using
vinegar water sugar salt and spices spices are where you can customize the
flavor of your pickle flake mustard seeds I had more about want a garlic ly
kick and you can add that into as long as you leave your vinegar water salt and
sugar ratios alone you can play with the flavors quite a bit the radishes are
packed into deli containers and a hot brine is added I've also added a couple
of jalapeno slices to a few containers for a little extra kick let's go on and
the radishes will head to the refrigerator after cooling for about an
hour Holly Robbie leftovers need a new
purpose in life once again pickling saves the harvest Holly Robbie is an
interesting vegetable that most people aren't familiar with I always say they
are kind of like a cabbage and a radish and a broccoli he had a baby they are
crispy and a little bit sweet they are excellent if you eat them raw or cooked
you can even eat the Greens leaves need removed and the outer layer needs peeled
and they are sliced into sticks the sticks are then packed into pint jars
another brine has made over on the stove and this time the spices are added
directly to the jars instead of into the brine the hot brine is labeled into the
jars and a lid in a ring are applied these Colorado pickles will be processed
in a hot water bath today
after processing is done they are carefully removed from the boiling water
and placed on a cooling rack now that the pickling is done we can
move on to freezing the peppers and onions for salsa years ago I bought this
chopper thing off the internet it is amazing it makes quick work of lots of
veggies and and makes salsa making a breeze plus all the onions and peppers
and updates the same size which is a test that I would never be able to
accomplish on my own was just a knife some prep work is still needed before
the Dicer can be used onions are cut into slices and then it's super simple
to place the slices into the chopper and press down on the lid until the onions
go through the blade sometimes the wood needs a good whack not enough thicker
slices but on small onion slices it's easy to just push it down these onions
are destined for the freezer they are placed in a freezer bag and labeled and
dated I'm planning on making a lot of salsa so the gallon bags will get filled
up if I was saving this batch of onions for a family I would measure out much
smaller portions from making meals with this winter it's same drill for the
peppers we have five kinds of peppers this year bells sweet bananas jalapenos
poblanos and super chilies are all chopped and placed in bags everything is
labeled laid flat and then placed in the freezer in the shop with some hamburger
yesterday it was a long day at work but I am always happy when there are garden
veggies and jars and containers ready to be used this winter having the peppers
and onions chopped already will make salsa making a breeze once we get ripe
tomatoes the pickled items will get sold at farmer's market except for a few jars
that will get kept home for us this Saturday is our last market day of the
summer season it has been a great year but I'm ready for a break we have about
a month off before our winter market season starts in November I've got lots
of root veggies still in the garden so the next few weeks will be spent
cleaning up the gardens and I'm sure more canning pickling and freeze
we'll be happening also I hope your pantry and freezer are full of your hard
work I've included links in the description for the recipes that I've
used today and for a chopper that is similar to the one that I've used make
sure that you read up on safe Canyon practices and make sure to have fun
pickling and canning and customizing your favorite pickle recipe make is a
new video for you on Sunday and I want to thank you for watching and joining me
as we explore the ranch life and escape the ordinary on our wyoming life