September 26, 2009: The Season Begins to Wind Down

I haven't been very active in the garden this week, as I'm still a bit under the weather. I was well on my way to getting over the flu bug, when I relapsed and ended up with a nasty sinus infection. Needless to say, there's been very little gardening or cooking.

I did cook that beautiful parsnip I dug the other day. I sliced it and fried it in butter, with a pinch of sugar, until it was golden and caramelized. Mr. H won't eat parsnips, but Otto (the boy dog) and I ate the whole thing. It was delicious! We had to hide from Annie. Since she has a bit of a weight problem, I didn't think butter fried parsnips would be very good for her.


The 12 ounce parsnip


I've had a pile of Royal Burgundy beans drying out on the patio for a couple of weeks. These are the ones I planted for my neighbor. I had asked her to leave a few pods on the vines for next year's seeds, and she was getting anxious to get them pulled out, so I just piled them on the park bench and let them dry.


It didn't look like many once I got the pods pulled from the vines.


But there were actually quite a few beans in the pods.


To be exact, there were 440 beans in the pods! That should be plenty for me and Just Jenn next spring. This is my first year of seed saving, so I hope they are all OK!


As much as I didn't feel like cooking, the tomatoes were screaming at me to do something. The easiest thing to do was toss them all in a pot, heat them up, puree them in the food processor, sieve out the seeds and peelings, then put them back in the pot and make tomato sauce. I put three cups of thick sauce in the freezer from this batch of tomatoes.


I'm forcing myself to start putting my garden to bed for the winter. It's difficult for me to tear out something that is still productive, but I'll be leaving for Arizona in three short weeks. I picked the cucumbers and pulled all the vines. It was such a good year for them, I have many jars of pickles and relish, and Mr. H still has a bunch of them in the refrigerator for his salads.


I pulled the cherry tomato from the corner of the patio. It was one that didn't have a lot of flavor and really, I don't need more tomatoes! Once this area is cleaned up, I'll be planting those strawberries that are in the red cups. I think they will be a nice edible ground cover . The buckets in the background got scrubbed and stored in the shed, those tomato cages stacked in a corner for next year.


Daughter Amy came over tonight, so I talked her into taking home a basket of bell peppers. There were more than five pounds in this picking, and a lot more still in the garden. She loves peppers, as does my son Scott, so I'll make sure he gets a basket full of them too. Amy is going to make stuffed peppers in the crockpot, so I gave her a jar of my sweet chili sauce to pour over them. I think the sauce will compliment the flavor of the peppers, meat and rice.


19 comments:

  1. I noticed you haven’t posted much on your blog and wondered if you were ok. Then I saw a comment you made on another blog I was reading. Sorry you had to suffer a sinus infection on top of being sick. I hope you are feeling better.

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  2. Hello again :) I loved this post, it was a wonderful 'quick tour' of your yummy garden! I was wondering if you had a recipe for stuffed peppers (capsicums on my side of the world haha) in the slow cooker? I never thought of doing them in there and it sounds very appealing!
    I hope this yukky feeling that has been keeping you a bit flat goes away soon!!

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  3. Gee can you be my mother? I want baskets of peppers and your chili sauce too :>

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  4. That picture with Annie and Otto in it made me smile. Your team of garden helpers.

    Those bell peppers are beautiful. You really have had a stupendous year for peppers and tomatoes - the volume and quality are superior.

    My parsnips will stay in the ground all winter - dug up only when I need them. I assume you will dig all of your harvest up and then store them for later use. Do you use sand or sawdust to layer them in for storage?

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  5. Rachel, I'm wondering if this is ever going away! It is really bothering my right ear and affecting my equilibrium, not to mention I have to carry paper towels with me (Kleenexes are for sissies!), which makes gardening interesting to say the least! In other words, I'm just not getting a lot done.

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    Marrissa, I don't have a recipe for the crockpot peppers. Amy works all day and likes to fill the crockpot before she leaves, so I suggested she try it. I googled "crock pot stuffed peppers" and a lot of recipes came up. But she and I decided to use my porcupine meatball recipe as the stuffing (she's going to add some shredded cheese) and to pour the sweet chili sauce (which doesn't contain chili) over the top and cook it on low all day. It's going to be an experiment, but I'll let you know if it turns out absolutely delicious!

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    Daphne, sure I can! Can you be my gardener? ;-)

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    KitsapFG, Annie is the gardener, Otto just follows her around. That girl has her nose poked into something all the time. After I took that picture, I dug some holes for the berries...Annie's nose was in every hole, and her paws were helping to dig (dainty little girl digging, nothing aggressive). I hope she doesn't dig the plants back out like she did my spring cabbages and the lilies I had planted by the shed. She's the one who pulled carrots from the garden for her and Otto to eat. She just seems to think it's her duty.

    I am impressed with my peppers. They were just top quality this year, and I got a good supply of colored ones. However, a freeze is imminent. All the peppers must be harvested this week.

    I'm thinking I'll dig half the parsnips and take a box of them to AZ to share with my neighbor, who will gobble them up immediately so they won't have to be stored. I'll leave the rest of them in the ground to see how they hold up.

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  6. My bell peppers too are just now raging in my garden, finally looking like they should... I am definitely going to experiment with crock pot stuffed peppers, sounds wonderful!

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  7. Erin, I think the secret to good crockpot peppers will be to not get too much sauce on them or they will get watery. I'm thinking (if not my chili sauce, undiluted) a large can of tomato sauce with some brown sugar and Worcestershire in it. We also discussed using some mozzerella cheese with canned spaghetti sauce. And extra lean ground beef (or turkey) so there isn't a lot of grease.

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  8. Granny, I hope you get to feeling better soon. I can't believe Arizona is calling already!

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  9. Odd, we're stuffing (Ancho) peppers tonight.

    I hope you really shake this. Getting ready to switch houses while not feeling great has to stink.

    Paper towels, indeed. You are made of sterner stuff than I.

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  10. Stefaneener, the Kleenexes just aren't large enough. My pockets are so stuffed full of paper towels, my hips look like chipmunk cheeks! But my nose is feeling the pain :-(

    Really, I have to shake this before driving a 1200 mile trip.

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  11. If this has turned into a sinus infection, you may need some antibiotics to kick it. Hopefully you will go see a doc if you don't kick this quickly.

    Just worrying after you. ;)

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  12. Sheesh, Kitsap...you sound just like Mr. H and my daughter ;-)

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  13. Granny - I hope you get better soon, as I know it must be difficult to deal with. I don't like kleenexes either, because they just don't provide enough coverage.

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  14. Hope you get back to 100% soon, certainly been lots of bugs going around this year. I too hope my seed saving turns out well this year. I am saving quite a few things and you really don't know what you will end up with.

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  15. EG, I gave in today and bought me some Puffs Plus, 'cause my nose is getting very red and sore. I wish they made them in paper towel size ;-)

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    Me too, Dan. I don't much like being sick, there's a lot of work to be done right now, getting the garden cleaned up and getting read to head south. I've saved seeds from one tomato, one pepper and the purple beans. I'll be saving Kentucky Blue pole beans, too. Hard telling what I'll end up with, but both the parents are good beans.

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  16. Ribbit, how did you get way up there, girl? Your comment just showed up four times in my dashboard, after Dan and EG. I had a heck of a time finding you! You probably thought old granny was ignoring you ;-)

    Yes, it seems like the summer has gne by awfully fast. So much to do, so little time to get it done.

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  17. Oh Granny, so sorry to hear that you're feeling under the weather. Have you tried a sinus rinse? It's really amazing in the way it can make you feel better so much sooner. Otherwise go to the doc!

    BTW I had a great laugh at the thought of where in the WORLD I would plant 220 bean vines in my tiny garden. LOL!

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  18. Jenn, actually I am using a NeilMed irrigator. It took some teeth gritting to get me to try it, I can't stand water in my nose (or even nasal sprays), but I was pleasantly surprised. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be, and certainly gives at least temporary relief.

    Actually, I was only going to send you 200 beans and keep 240 for myself. LOL!!! I don't know where I'd plant that many, either. I'll probably send you about 50-60 of them. I forgot to buy a padded envelope when I went shopping yesterday, but I guess there isn't any hurry as long as you get them by spring!

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  19. You may be winding down there, but you're just in time to come back to AZ where we're just getting revved up!

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