What’s Next?

As fall approaches I am continuing to harvest the last of my bounty. We had an early frost here in rural WI so I picked the rest of the tomatoes, eggplants, jalepeno and poblano peppers. Even though the vegetables were smaller than I would have liked because of the frost, some vegetables are better than no vegetables. There were so many that I made 2 more pans of eggplant parmesan, canned 3 more quarts of tomato sauce, 5 more pints of pesto, froze 5 freezer bags of pumpkin puree in two cup amounts, and am making a vegetable quiche this weekend. Next week I am canning giardiniera because I eat it on almost everything! Since I have so many spicy peppers and always have the other ingredients in my pantry because Michal Simon says “every good dish starts with an onion, carrots and celery” and of course olives (martinis anyone?).

OK, but what I am going in my gardens? Every year I procrastinate taking out my garden and putting it to bed. It always makes me a little sad because it is kind of like saying goodbye to a good friend. But spring is my favorite season because it seems like the world is waking up from a long slumber. This year I am procrastinating a little more than usual. Since I have canned so many wonderful things this year I am going to make “From The Heart” gift baskets for family and friends (you know who you are) for Christmas. This is a Gundrum tradition and so I am going to include these goodies too.

How am I procrastinating this year? This week I started my sauerkraut. A big shout out to Uncle Tony (again!) for his continued patience and knowledge. If he was unwilling to help me & because his sauerkraut (Aunt Jeanne helps him of course) isn’t so gosh darn delicious and I know this because he gives me quart every Christmas. But if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have embarked upon this canning adventure. It needs some extra canning equipment (a kraut cutter - you can cut it my hand - my neighbor does, but I have no patience for this, and a large crock). Santa brought me these last Christmas.

But it takes five weeks to ferment the cabbage, so I bought 1/2 bushel of different kinds of apples to make applesauce (I do this every year) and apple pie filling to use as ice cream topping and to make my Elmhurst Best Gardening Partner in Crime’s Apple Pie. Of course, I needed to buy a new canning ingredient, Clear Jel. There is a canning shortage because the world is turning upside down with Covid-19 so people are creating Victory Gardens, expanding their gardens, and trying to become more self-sufficient. This has caused all canning products to become almost impossible to find so I had to buy Clear Jel online. And, of course, I will be making more pumpkin puree.

But over the next two weeks I will continue to put my garden to bed. I put all the vegetable plants & the vegetables that were destroyed by the frost onto my compost pile. I don’t use the tomato plants because of the inevitable blight or the eggplants because of the insecticide I used to eradicate the flea beetle infestation on the eggplants. I probably could compost them, but my Gardening Partner said “better safe than sorry because you don’t want to worry about it”. I was hoping she would say that! After everything has been removed we are going to fertilize and then a little bit later we will add my homemade compost. We will do it now so that everything mingles together naturally and will improve the soil as it rains and the snow melts so that the soil is even better next year.

But I am doing other wonderful & exciting things in my garden this month! Because the Victory Garden doesn’t have a water source, every time I drove past it I brought about 25 gallons of water with me. While my biceps liked it, this task became a hassle but yet I didn’t want to lose any of my “babies” because of lack of water. My tomato bed does not have a water source either. So my always supportive husband offered to build me a FISH garden (that’s the name of our old house) enclosed with a double wide door for me to bring in my wheelbarrows of compost which will be surrounded by chicken wire to keep out the deer and other critters. We are also going to install a well. Lastly, he is going to build me a 3-bin open air contained compost system with doors in each bin so I can easily spade it and then put it into my wheelbarrow. Of course I will still use my compost tumbler. I will write more blog posts about these endeavors as they occur with pictures and maybe even some videos (if I can figure out how to do that). It might be time to consult with my daughter, Abby again, and her boyfriend, the never-ending computer whiz. They both have an abundance of patience with me.

Until then, I wish you all a wonderful fall. In between putting your gardens to bed, I hope you enjoy the crisp air, sunshine, fall colors and good friends even if you have to social distance with them or participate in Zoom calls. Please eat at restaurants offering outdoor dining or eat take-out to help support these mom & pop establishments. Don’t forget to generously tip them because they have less business and so the wait-staff is making less money. And of course, purchase as many vegetables as you can from farmer’s markets and outdoor vendors. Try to visit some roadside stands too because the vegetables are probably harvested the day before and you can learn so much from these hobby farmers! While there, purchase some vegetables you don’t normally buy and make some new dishes for dinner.

Lastly, I wish you & your family peace in this turbulent time as the world continues to turn upside down. And don’t forget to vote to make your voice heard. Thanks for reading and for all your wonderful comments and suggestions about my blog; I have implemented a lot of them. Talk to you all soon!

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Three-Bin Composter

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Eggplants and Peppers