I hereby claim victory for the second year in a row to be the first person in the FeDibblety household to catch a falling leaf. Of course, there wasn’t really much competition.
Wednesday I canned salsa. This will be the 4th or 5th time I have done it, though the first time all on my own. Previously I always had the guiding hand of my mother right next to me, with her years of canning wisdom. I first started canning salsa in grad school, and Clare joined me and my mom once or twice. I ended up calling my mom 3 or 4 times with clarification questions, which she happily answered. I harvested about 15 or 20 medium size tomatoes over the weekend, probably 2/3 lemon boy, and the rest better boy and celebrity. On Tuesday I stopped by the Bloomington Farmer’s market on my way home, and got a box of jalapeños, a box of poblano peppers, and some green peppers. Then I stopped in at the new Bloomingfood’s next door on 6th, and got 3 bunches of cilantro, and some chipotle pepper powder.
I had to go to Indy Wednesday morning for work, so I planned to do the canning Wednesday afternoon. After talking with my mom on Tuesday about the recipe we had used, I thought I might need some more tomatoes. I don’t think I would have gotten enough tomatoes ripe all at once from our own garden to make salsa (at least not 14 pints). On my way home from Indy, I stopped at the hardware store in Cloverdale and bought a jar lifter, and then I stopped at a little farm which had a little vegetable stand selling tomatoes for $0.50 per pound. I bought 6 pounds, and put my $3 in their little lock box.
I started the process around 3:30. The first step is to scald the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or so, then place them in ice water. This makes it easy to remove the skin. Then I chopped up the tomatoes, removing any bad spots, and placed them in a colander to let some of the juices drip out. I ended up with just about 6 quarts of chopped tomatoes, which is what our recipe called for. I chopped about 5 or 6 green peppers, 2 large onions, 1 bunch of cilantro, and 5 or 6 jalapeños and poblanos. The whole chopping process took almost 3 hours, most of which was spent on the tomatoes. I put all the ingredients in an 8 quart stock pot, which was filled to the brim, and started heating it up. I also added 2 tablespoons of salt, 3/4 cup of white vinegar, 1 tablespoon of cumin and coriander, and 1 tablespoon of chipotle pepper powder. Even though I drained the tomatoes, it was still very juicy, so I ladled off about 2 or 3 cups of liquid, then added one large can of tomato paste (12 oz.). Once it was hot, I ladled the salsa into pint jars. My basic canner fits 7 pint jars (or quart). I put them in for about 30 minutes, and had some dinner while I was waiting (and called my mom again). Once the 30 minutes was up, I quickly removed the first batch, and had the second batch in within about 15 minutes. I heard a few of the lids popping while I was preparing the second batch, indicating that they had sealed. I was done by about 8:10, except for doing dishes, which took another half hour.
On Thursday when I got home from work, I checked the jars by pressing down on the lids. Three of them popped up after pushing down on them, indicating they had not sealed. I put those in the refrigerator, and will have to eat them within a month or so. I tested one jar last night, and it was quite tasty. It was not quite as spicy as when I had tested it on Wednesday. I think the additional cooking made it a bit milder. It turned out fairly thick and chunky, and I would give it a medium heat rating.
p.s. thanks to my mom for her advice, and to Dorene Grekowicz, for some of the canning supplies.
It is starting to be harvest time in Indiana. What an exciting time. All the work sprouting seeds starting in February, planting in May, occasionally weeding and watering — it is starting to pay off. I have gotten several cherry tomatoes in the last couple weeks, and in the last week or so the big tomatoes are really starting to come in. I have been enjoying the cherry tomatoes all by themselves, and I have been making the big tomatoes into my favorite simple salad. Slice the tomatoes. Sprinkle some fresh chopped basil over them (plenty of basil in the garden too), and then pour a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar over them, and a little salt and fresh ground pepper. Very tasty.
Last weekend there was also quite a bit of good stuff at the Spencer Farmer’s market. I bought some eggplant, peppers, and heirloom tomatoes from the Harrimans. I know that I have my own tomatoes, but I thought that the heirloom tomatoes looked really interesting. One big one that I got was called Kellogg’s breakfast. I can’t remember the name of the other one. I also traded some bread starter with Joanna Sparks for some of her goodies, which included parsley, garlic, and pearl onions.
I finished out my weekend of harvesting with some harvesting in the wild. Volya, one of the grad students in my lab is an avid mushroom hunter. We went mushroom hunting in the Charles Dean Wilderness, just south of Lake Monroe. It is part of the Hoosier National Forest. He showed me which mushrooms are okay to eat and which are not. We mostly collected chanterelles, and boy did we get a bunch! We spent several hours hunting, though we took a little break to take a swim in Lake Monroe, which was quite a bit warmer than the pond on Twin Springs.
After getting home, I washed the chanterelles and then boiled them for 10 minutes like Volya told me to. I then decided to add them into a risotto, with onions, garlic, butter beans, fresh tomatoes and basil, and vegetable stock (and a splash of dry vermouth). It turned out pretty tasty.
Well, we don’t have any cotton in our garden, so I can’t make any comment as to whether it is high or not, but our garden is doing well, and I have definitely been enjoying summer this week. On Wednesday, I took some time in the afternoon to do some work, which included getting the flat tire off the riding lawn mower so I could take it in to the tire store. It turns out I needed a socket to get it off, so I had to take a trip to Pell’s first. I got the needed socket, and picked up some 2×2s at the lumber yard to make the remaining 6 tomato stakes, and some 6″ corrugated pipe for my ditch project. After I cut and pounded in the remaining tomato stakes, I savored the first ripe cherry tomato of the season. There appear to be many more waiting. Then I picked the first ripe hot peppers — we planted anaheims and yellow banana peppers. I used those in the burritos I made for dinner, which were very tasty. But before that, I decided to finally take a swim in the pond. I never got around to it last summer, and I decided that I ought to do it before this summer is over as well. It was very refreshing on a hot summer day. It was also quite cold, as my in-laws had promised. I didn’t venture too far out, but I did put my head under water.
On Thursday I got a tube put in the flat tire for $15, and did some mowing after work. It felt really great to leave work at 5, since I have been working late the last several weeks. And Friday, I went to the see the new Batman movie at the drive-in. I had never been to a drive-in before, and I never got around to it last summer, even though it is only a few miles from our house. And for once in a blue moon, they were playing a movie that interested me. And speaking of blue moons, not long after enjoying a marvelous sunset at the drive-in, which drenched the corn-filled horizon in dark red light, there appeared a big, beautiful full moon.
Three weeks ago we had some major flooding in Spencer. Hundreds of people in town were forced to evacuate their homes, and some might have to rebuild completely. Fortunately, we were not affected quite as much, since we are not so close to the White River, and Dave and Ellen made the prudent choice of building on higher ground. Nevertheless, our creek did flood a lot, and there is still a lot of cleanup to be done in the yard. (I posted pictures of the flood and aftermath in our albums).
Today I finally got around to cutting up the tree that had fallen during the flood, and a couple other ones that fell yesterday during another storm. I briefly contemplated putting the wood onto the wood rack, but then decided not to, since I knew it was not very good wood. (I’m not sure what kind, but I am guessing either willow, sycamore, or tulip poplar). Instead, I decided to stack the wood up near the bonfire pit, and use it for bonfires. I am very glad I made this decision, since as I started stacking it, I realized that carpenter ants were thoroughly enjoying the wood. I decided to snap a few pictures while I could. I have to say that I found them pretty fascinating to watch.
To be honest, I first thought that they were termites, but after a little investigation on Wikipedia, I quickly determined that they are carpenter ants. I also learned that carpenter ants like moist wood, and since this tree was partially in the creek, I am sure they liked it very much. I am a little curious whether they will stay there now that I have stacked it up, and it won’t be so wet.