White Tomato Jelly

I made white tomato jelly today.

This was truly an experiment!

White tomatoes from my garden.

The variety is called White Tomesol.

I removed the cores and used the food processor

to blend them into a smooth liquid.

Then I simmered them overnight.

The next morning....this is what it looked like.

I put the liquidy cooked down tomatoes into

a few layers of cheese cloth.

White tomato juice.

Yes! It's really tomato juice!

White tomato guts after the juice was squeezed out.

Then I made an infusion with chile, a garlic clove, oregano and basil.

I poured boiling water over the spice mixture.

After 20 mins. I strained the spices through a cheese cloth.

Then I made the mistake of tasting it.

Whoa! Hot!

After I found my taste buds cowering underneath the fridge, the adventure continued.
~

I added 4 cups tomato juice to 1/2 cup vinegar in a large stockpot.

Then I added 1 tsp salt.

Next 1 pkg No-sugar-needed pectin.

And one 1/2 cup spice infusion.

Bring to a boil.

Add 2 cups sugar and return to a boil, stirring continuously.

Pour jelly into jars and process for 10 mins in a boiling water bath.

Yum - white tomato jelly with feta, savory and red tomato wedges.



From vine to jar.

~
This jelly is so tasty!
It is pure tomato flavor with a sweet and spicy tang.

The Tomato Walls and Me

This is me with my giant tomato walls.

Sorry there are a lot of pictures! :P

I'm kinda proud of them.

I picked one of these striped German's and it was 2 1/2 lbs!

Tucking a branch back into the wall.

They are as tall as my house!

The power of chicken poo!

Cucumber wall.

It's tall too!

Bloody Wattles or How To Make New Friends

Today, when I visited my girls, Mr. Cocky, the rooster, had taken his harem into the grove.

So, for once, I didn't have to worry about a covert flogging.

He loves to hide in with the hens, sneak up on me from behind, and then do a jump and scratch attack.

*@#$!% Rooster!

I closed the gate on the run, so he couldn't sneak in.

Have I mentioned that he is very sneaky?!?

The Ladies were so happy to see me!

Two days this week I have found Lavender free ranging with Carol's chickens out on the grass.

Who knows what Lavender gets up to with those wild Ladies.

She can be a pretty bad influence on well behaved chickens.

~

I closed the gate and opened the wire fencing, that separates my girl's run from Carol's chickens run.

I did this for two reasons:

1. So I could clean the run without having to clean around my Ladies.

2. So the girls could interact with a few of Carol's hens that were in the big run.

~

And the result?

Butter made friends with one of the chunky white girls.

They checked out the dust bath area together and talked chicken.

A skinny red head tried to jump Zela.

Zela and the red chicken fought.

Zela ultimately won and the red girl ran away, but Zela ended up with a bloody wattle.

My poor baby!

She got an extra bunch of cuddles from me and I kissed her boo boo.

Lavender decided she wanted to lay an egg, so she sat in the dog crate....wait! then she ran out...then she ran back in...then she ran into the run....back in to lay an egg...

Pixie ventured out into the big run, ate some food, decided she didn't like how one of the white girls was looking at her, so she jumped the white chicken!

A chicken 3x bigger than her!

Then the white chicken, Mrs. Dirtyback, pecked her and Pixie ran underneath Mrs. Dirtyback.

She got caught underneath her and for a few seconds was hilariously caught with her head sticking underneath Mrs. Dirtyback's rump and her tail wiggling in Mrs. Dirtyback's face.

Once Pixie freed herself, Mrs. Dirtyback pecked her in the comb and I intervened.

~

My Girls were scooped back up into the small run.

Home Sweet Home.

Sort of.

Garden Then and Now

What a difference a few warm months can make in the garden!

This is a before and after tour.

Before:

My veg. garden last spring with newly placed raised beds.

Now: Veggies galore!
Squash and tomato explosion.

Before:

Another view of the veg. garden.

Now:

Same view.....well, a little different!

Before:

View of the veg. garden before it was planted.

After this pic we had another 6 inches

of snow.

Now:

Same view.

Squash, tomatoes, ect.

Then:

Overall view of garden from the

East to the West.

Now:

Same view.

What a change!

Then:

Flower garden with raspberries in the back.

Now:

Whoa!

Flower garden and raspberries

gone crazy!

Then:

Flower garden.

Then:

View of garden from my porch.

Now:

Garden jungle.

Now:

There is a pond somewhere in there.

Then:

Flower garden with newly placed raised beds.

Now:

Same garden beds.

But where are they?

Then:

Pond.

One of my first efforts with the pond.

I moved it (and re-dug it 6 times).

And it grew to 10x its original size.

Those poor phlox in the foreground were

moved over and over again.

But they are blooming now!

Now:

Pond.

With flowers!

Tuesday's Harvest

A few pictures of Tuesday's harvest.

The tomatoes were canned into 2 kinds of soup.

The red /pink tomatoes were cooked down

and then I made Vegetable soup.

The white/yellow tomatoes were cooked down

and then I made Curried Potato soup.

All of the broccoli was added to the curried potato soup.

And I didn't find a single caterpillar in the broccoli.

The summer squash was shredded and turned into yummy patties.

The 4 giant squash went to my girls.
Thank goodness for chickens!

The small cucumbers were eaten

and the too big ones went to my girls and Carol's chickens.

Her chickens can eat a cucumber in seconds flat!

The eggplants were roasted and

frozen.

Some of the chiles were used in

the curried potato soup.

And most of the beans were too

tough to eat.

I should have picked them sooner.

So, I sifted through them and

picked out the tender ones to give to Carol

in exchange for some eggs she gave me on Monday.

A good trade back!

I gave her a little bit of everything peppers,

beans, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, ect.

A Few Flowers

Here are a few flowers from my garden.

Squash blossom and a bee.

Zinnia

Morning Glory

Summer Squash Patties

These are so good!

You have to make them.

I didn't think I would like them, but I've eaten about 10 now!

They are crisp on the outside, moist in the center and sweet and salty.

You can eat them out of hand like a cookie or add a sauce and eat them with a fork.

Mix together :

3 cups summer squash or zucchini

(I'm partial to the "Butterstick" variety)

1 cup shredded cheese

2 eggs beaten

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

pinch pepper

Place batter in 1/4 cup patties on a grease cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 min. or until the

patties are toasty brown.

Yum!