Saturday Chores

Well today was the official day to clean up the patio garden. 

Out with the old, and cleaning up for the new!

It took me a while, but I cleaned most of it up. Dumping the old soil from most of the pots and saving it in a black garbage bag with some compost should provide a good mix with the new soil next year.  Some pots I left with the soil in and will decide if I will reuse it next season.

Patio Garden Summer 2012

Fall 2012 Clean-up

Patio Garden Summer 2012

Fall 2012 Clean-up

Pots lined up near house, ready for the 2013 Planting Season to begin

Ready to go for Planting 2012

When I was outside cleaning up the patio, I noticed the color and size of my Mums was especially lucious this year...the above picture (at the far end of the pots) doesn't do them justice so I took a close up below....

Purple Mums 2012

The plant boxes on the front porch still look nice from Summer, as well as the small mums that I recently planted behind them.

Front Door Summer pots & Fall pots behind

My New Toys

On Thursday my new toys arrived from Amazon. I was so excited to see UPS pull up at work, knowing that all the items I ordered would be on the truck.  I had him put everything in my trunk...but then I had to wait until I got home to peruse all the merchandise.  

1.  Nesco American Harvest FD-61WHC Snackmaster Express Food Dehydrator All-In-One Kit with Jerky Gun

Nesco American Harvest Dehydrator

Small booklet that came with Dehydrator is very helpful

Something that I forgot to mention earlier was the 2 reasons I selected this Dehydrator to start out with.
A.   The reviews on Amazon were consistently the best I had seen after searching many dehydrators.
B.   The Nesco says it is MADE IN AMERICA (but the fan/heater mechanism is made in China)

Confirmation that I slected the right brand:
When reading the booklet when I first opened the box, I had questions. I saw in the booklet that Nesco has a Customer Service 800#, so I placed a call. The woman in customer service was extremely nice and helpful PLUS I could understand every word she said!  Even when I called back with more questions, speaking with a different Customer Service person, she was equally nice and helpful. I would highly recommend buying American!!!

2.  The Dehydrator Bible by Jennifer McKenzie, Jay Nutt, & Don Mercer

 

3. Back to Basics Apple & Potato Peeler

Before I got home a very nice friend had called me at work and asked if I liked sweet potatoes. Of course I said yes, and he said he would be over before I left work to bring me some.  To my surprise, he had a case of potatoes for me. I couldn't believe that on the very day my items came from Amazon, that I now had an abundance of vegetables to put up and use my new toys. 

Remaining Sweet Potatoes to be Dehydrated tomorrow

As soon as I got home, I opened all the items, and began reading the instructions and getting my game plan for how I was going to tackle those sweet potatoes the next day. So Friday morning I got to work on them. Unfortunately due to the irregularity of sweet potatoes, the  potato peeler wasn't much help, so I had to peel and slice them by hand. I got about 1/3 of them done, and in the dehydrator for the next 12+ hours. We also had a couple whole sweet potatoes for dinner that night and they were yummy!

My Electric Meat Slicer sure came in handy with those Potatoes

I have several resources for my recipes and instructions for my processes now. The Dehydrator came with a little booklet, I have what I copied online and now with The Dehydrator Bible I have plenty to decide from.  I documented all the preparations and started a journal. 

I also pulled out a lean cut of a small sirloin steak that I had in the freezer and decided to cut it into strips and marinate it to try out making Beef Jerky. There is an abundance of Jerky seasoning recipes online and in the books that I now have.  I set that in the refrigerator over night and decided that once the Sweet Potatoes were ready I could put the Jerky in the Dehydrator and give that a whirl for 8 hours.

The Potatoes came out fine, I bagged them in zip-lock style freezer bags and threw them in the freezer since I don't have a vacuum sealer yet. That is next on my list.  Amazon or perhaps Wal-Mart?  I will let you know...