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...

Food Dehydration

I found some interesting websites that of course led me to other sites.  I am so excited!  I have been wanting to learn more about food preservation, and how to extend the life of my garden.  I have so much to learn.

I came across a website called Dehydrate2Store which has videos as well as printed "how to" information on dehydration, and recipes. It is for the beginner as well as the seasoned food dehydrator. It made it all look so simple. It is a free website with a newsletter which you can sign up to receive via email.  I printed off a lot of material which they have on their website as well as pdf docs to download and save. This is a great little site...I recommend it for the beginner.

The next step was to research food dehydration further, including books, equipment, packaging, and utensils for usage and safe handling. 

Here is what I found:  

The Dehydrator Bible:

The comprehensive handbook for dehydrating foods at home. Dehydrating is one of the most effective ways to preserve food for maximum nutrition at very low cost. Sales of dehydrators are soaring as many cooks reject the suspect ingredients in commercially prepared foods. Dehydrating with the recipes in this book is one way to control all ingredients and please the whole family.Recipes for dried ingredients include herbs and seasonings, fruits, fruit leathers, vegetables and beef jerky. These nutritious ingredients are included in 400 delicious recipes. 

Food Dehydrator by Nesco  

• All-in-one kit has a top mounted fanEasily dries fruit, vegetables and jerky quickly and evenly
• Comes with 5 trays and jerky gun
• Includes fruit roll sheet; recipe guide
• Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging 

Fall Planning

It's time to prepare for a fall garden in my small greenhouse.  I let things go by the first of August because it became too hot and difficult to maintain. Everything was harvested and the watering became very costly.  I lost my Brussel sprouts for some reason they never reached maturity and began to blossom...sighs

Now I am ready to plan my Winter Greenhouse.

These are the Vegetables that I will be planting:
 

Spinach is a favorite for salads and savory baked meals alike. Spinach won't survive the harsh winters of the Northeast, but will tough it out through the seasons in the rest of the U.S.

Carrots survive larger containers by keeping warm deep in the soil. Carrots are great raw or roasted or even grated into sweet treats like carrot cake and muffins.

Harvesting & Failures

I am learning so much this year. What works in containers in South Carolina and what doesn't work as well.  We are having an unusually HOT summer earlier than normal. 

Lesson 1

The Sweet Corn in the pots did not fare well. It started out growing well, then once it got about 1/3 the grown size it started to turn brown and became deformed. 

Stunted & Deformed Cord

 The corn in the raised bed aside the porch in a shadier place is growing well. Next year all corn will be over there and not in a container.

 Lesson 2

The Pole beans need more room to climb than what I strung up around the containers. I have purchased a flexible trellis for next year to use near the back side of the house. This will be used for the Pole beans as well as Cucumbers.

Lesson 3

The Tomatoes need to be in a shadier place. Morning sun with mixed afternoon sun is enough in South Carolina.

Lesson 4

Stagger the seeding of the Zucchini and Summer Squash so it doesn't all come at once.

Lesson 5

Lettuce & Spinach seems to be a Spring crop. Start earlier & stagger.

Lesson 6
The Brussel Sprouts need deeper containers.

Lesson 7
Move garden to other side of the patio where it will receive less afternoon sun.

I plan to start my plants in the greenhouse in February, and plant as early as March 1st depending on the weather and frost dates. I can keep them on the screened porch before I plant outside.

As of think of more lessons that I have learned I will post them.

Huge, Beautiful & Tasty Red Peppers

Back From Ohio

Hello Everyone...You haven't heard from me in a week because I was back home visiting friends. I took my 84 year old mother back to Ohio to see her dear friend who was celebrating her 86th birthday. All the ladies were in their 80s, so it was quite a site of white hair and rollater walkers lined up. While I was there we were able to visit several friends and relatives. She had not been back in nearly 20 years, and it's been quite a while for me as well. 

While I was gone I left my garden in the care of my husband. Just asking him to water and tend to harvesting. I know he wasn't thrilled about that, but he seems to have kept up with it. The days are getting hotter, so it's necessary to water twice daily. Luckily it rained a few times, including last night, so that helped tremendously.  

I was especially worried about my tomatoes and sweet corn. I am hoping that we will have an ample supply for the 4th of July next week, and be able to have our first harvest of sweet corn when our son is here visiting.

Here is what I found when I came home today:

Brussel Sprouts on the patio

the Patio Garden Spot

looking at the patio garden

the tomatoes needed support

tomatoes ripening

purple Hydrangeas still in bloom when I got back

the corn in the raised bed needed support

Almost all the peppers are turning RED!

A few pictures of the friends we visited back home.

 

What Today Brings

Today is Father's Day.  My husband and I went to church and out to lunch to celebrate. Our son called him later in the day.  Later, I worked in the garden for a short time. There really isn't much to do now, except harvest my "crops". This is what is so nice about container gardening. There are very few weeds or insects. So far all that I have treated are the Brussel Sprouts for the Aphids / Flea Beetles. Once I saw the leaves had tiny holes in them I was pretty sure it was some kind of insect, so I looked it up in Edward Smith's book that I had purchased on container gardening, then it was fairly easy to select an insecticide which covered these lil "buggers", and it looks like it did the trick.

Today I harvested 2 zucchini and 1 yellow summer squash. I have tomatoes that will be ready tomorrow along with my first red pepper.  Not quite sure what I am going to do with that right now since my husband doesn't like peppers, but I was thinking about a stuffed pepper with a ground turkey  mixture. I may have to peruse the internet for a tasty recipe.  

In addition to Edward Smith's book on container gardening, I have been using resources from Clemson University Extension, which has proved very helpful.  Today I was surfing information on some of the new vegetables that I plan to add to my garden in 2013 and ran across The University of Arkansas Extension service and was quite impressed. They have an entire page of pdf publications they have written, and a series on Vegetables. There is a pdf on each vegetable which can be saved and printed.  Check it out!

Lettuce is about finished to I planted a summer squash.

More starts of Supper Squash

More starts of Summer Squash

Watching My Garden Grow

I have been harvesting a lot this week. More tomatoes, zucchinis, yellow squash and green beans...they are all so tasty and fresh!  I am so anxious for the corn to be ripe....my mouth is watering!  The Yellow Pear Tomatoes will be ripening soon as well. 

Oh look at my corn, its doubled in size since last week

The Peppers are finally turning RED

New Squash and Zucchini started

More tomatoes