Growing Organic
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A blog for those with a passion for organic gardening, homesteading, and food preservation.
Growing Organic
2d ago
This artisan loaf recipe and technique allows you to make 4 one pound loaves. You can double it or half it. Best of all the dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 14 days allowing you to bake a fresh loaf when you need to.
This free form loaf is call the French boule (boule means ball). It is easy to handle and reliable when baked without kneading. A gluten cloak takes the place of kneading.
Recipe:
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbs granulated yeast or 2 packets
1 1/2 Tbs kosher or other coarse salt
6 1/2 c unsifted, unbalanced, all purpose w ..read more
Growing Organic
2w ago
This sweet relish is a family favorite! There are so many ways to use it. We add it to tuna with mayo for sandwiches or to scoop up with a cracker. I'm going to share a macaroni salad using this sweet relish that is a family favorite. You can put it on hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, or as an appetizer on crackers and cheese.
Some important info when pickling:
Use stainless steel pots and utensils
Only use canning salt not table salt
Use distilled water for the brine
Recipe (Ball Blue Book)
Yield 8 half pint jars or 4 pints. I double t ..read more
Growing Organic
1M ago
When it comes to salsa some like it hot and some not! This salsa is a happy medium. This is a water bath canned salsa from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. This is an awesome book to add to your collection if you are looking for fresh innovative ways to add to your pantry. After sharing the recipe, I will share a fun way to use this salsa. The Huevos Rancheros meal is also from the book I mentioned.
Be sure to start with fresh homegrown paste tomatoes. You can use different varieties and colors. Paste tomatoes are less juicy with fewer ..read more
Growing Organic
1M ago
Each garden season is unique with variations in how crops perform, when they mature, if they germinate and numerous others factors. As I harvest and plan out how I'm going preserve my harvests I always have my standard favorites and I always enjoy trying something new.
Having a Harvest Right freeze dryer has expanded my options. So one of the things I have wanted to do with freeze drying is prepare meals, appetizers, or side dishes for a quick and easy meal with limited prep.
So today in the freeze dryer, I have 3 different side dishes: Swiss Green Bean Bake,&n ..read more
Growing Organic
2M ago
Cherve is French for goat cheese. If you have access to goat milk goat cheese is easy to make. It is a soft spreadable cheese unique in flavor being somewhat tart and tangy. A variety of herbs, fruits, and and even honey can be added giving endless options for your palate. Chèvre can be spread on crackers, bagels, and and topped with your choice of jams or jellies. There are lots of recipes using this delicious cheese.
Chèvre is lower in fat and higher in potassium and vitamin A than cheeses made from cow's milk making it a healthy option. The follow ..read more
Growing Organic
3M ago
The peak of summer brings a juicy, delicious and abundant harvest of blackberries. Blackberries can be preserved in so many ways. They are easy to freeze, freeze dry, or can be made into jams, jellies, compotes, preserves, and so much more.
Canning blackberry syrup is another option. Syrups are so delicious on pancakes, waffles, and crepes. Syrups can also be used on ice cream, to flavor home made yogurt and popsicles. Add a splash of syrup and a few fresh berries into a lemonade for blackberry lemonade. You will definitely want a few jars of black ..read more
Growing Organic
3M ago
Summer harvests are the best! Lots of fresh, nutritious produce to eat plus plenty to preserve for those long winters to get you through til next harvest. Green beans are not only an easy crop to grow there are numerous options to preserve them. They can be frozen, freeze dried, pressure canned, and even dehydrated. Every year I like to pressure can green beans in a variety of ways.
Mushroom green beans is sure to be one of your family favorites. The recipe is from "The all New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving." When canning always use ..read more
Growing Organic
3M ago
If you are fortune to have a long enough season you can grow 3 seasons of veggies: spring, summer, and fall. The idea of a fall garden is often overlooked. The fall garden gives you a season of cool season crops with many added benefits. Weed, pest, and disease pressure are much less in the fall. The weather is perfect for gardening. Cool season crops that mature on cool fall evenings and nights taste so much better than those that mature in early summer. The cooler weather sweetens up crops you may not normally enjoy.
So what are the to ..read more
Growing Organic
3M ago
Heat scorch on elderberry. Located on the side that faces West.
While our typical summer temperatures are in the 90's, there are those sizzling summer temperatures that reach into the 100's. When you have consecutive high temperatures, your plants may suffer from heat stress. So how does How does heat effect your garden?
Heat stress is defined as, "a period in which temperatures are hot enough for a sufficient period of time to cause irreversible damage to plant function or development." It's not just high day time temperatures that can cause proble ..read more
Growing Organic
4M ago
Absolutely one of the creepiest pests that can invade your gardens or orchards are earwigs. Earwigs are omnivores with a diverse diet including insects such as aphids or caterpillars, organic matter, fruits, blossoms, vegetable leaves and fruit. In some instances earwigs are actually considered beneficial; however they can congregate and feed in large numbers causing extensive damage. The very creepy claspers or pinchers in the rear of their body are used for defense and to hold prey.
Earwig feeding leaves ragged leaves with a random feeding patte ..read more