Today's harvest

This is how much chard, and you're doing what with it?

Reply to
Billy
Loading thread data ...

Here are the results of today's harvest from my garden. That is 1/2 of the chard in a 21 quart canner and the collards are in a 16" colander. Now I have to get busy and start getting the stuff ready to freeze or pickle (beets.)

formatting link

Reply to
The Cook

If you don't mind. It sounds like you're pasteurizing and canning, and then putting the chard in the freezer. Couldn't you just blanche it (3 - 6 min) and put it into freezer bags?

Reply to
Billy

\ Since 1/2 of the chard we picked this morning fit in a 21 quart canner, the total amount of chard was 42 quarts. By the time is blanched I have about 24 cups going into the freezer. There is about

8 or so cups that will be sauteed with onion and garlic tonight.
Reply to
The Cook

The chard was in the boiling water bath canner while I was processing the rest of it since that is the largest container I have and it wouldn't all fit in the sink. It was not being cooked in it.

I blanched it in small quantities for 2 minutes, chilled it and bagged it in FoodSaver bags. It is now in the freezer and I will seal the bags when it is frozen (or when one of us remembers it is there.) Now time to do the 20 quarts of collards. Can't decide whether I want to preserve the beet greens or not.

Reply to
The Cook

Thanks

Reply to
Billy

Not to be thought a slacker, yesterday I harvested a chard (3/4 was used as an accompaniment to our dinner, the other 1/4 used in salad). Two lettuces replaced the chard in the garden. This morning I picked two strawberries and shared with my significant other. Five anise came out of the germinator. Yesterday I finished planting 26 Dent corn and

6 Mammoth sunflowers. Temps are cooling here and I covered the peanuts with a clear plastic hood so they would stay warm.

I am still in awe of how early the tomatoes have started to bloom.

Reply to
Billy

Whoa, Hoss....this confuses me, this replacement thing. Did you harvest the whole chard plant, root and all?

Speaking of greens, have you tried Mizuna? It is receiving 100% in this household, even Lovey, who has a , uhhh, very sensitive palate and lots of taste buds, has given it the thumbs up. It is very prolific.

Reply to
Charlie

Root and all. It was from a mesclun salad mix that included chard. I need the room for my regular lettuce. I already have a designated area for the chard.

Strangly, I have a packet of mizuna but I haven't sprouted it yet. But then the summer is young.

How's thing goin' out in the "Skunk Works"? Yo plants jumpin' up and givin' you a minstrel show? Anything lookin' different?

Whoa, have I got a book for you. "Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply" by Vandana Shiva. Sound like anybody you know? I've only finished the introduction and this lady is already going for the groin.

formatting link
I'm only halfway through, "In Defense of Food", which the library gave me two weeks to read. But "Stolen Harvest" has stolen my heart:o)

Reply to
Billy

OK....I assumed you know what you are about, but just wanted to be sure.

Well now, get that stuff in the ground. It gets down to business quickly and produces abundantly. It is great fresh and and sauteed.

I've been watching it closely and I am beginning to see some vibrant color and growth. Wishful thinking perhaps? You have your brewer up and running?

I've a batch ready to go and I'll start another immediately. I've started adding 2 TBSP magnesium sulfate to each batch, along with a blender full of pureed dandelion and shepherds purse or whatever good stuff is growing, and rainwater. Added 1 cup of alfalfa meal and/or pellets to the brew bucket.

I finally made it to the feed store and got fifty lbs. of dried molasses. Ten bucks, much cheaper than using store bought blackstrap.

Alfalfa meal and alafalfa pellets......ten bucks per fifty lb bag.

I've several cans of mackeral waiting in the wings....this one should be fun.

I made a big mistake yesterday. I dosed the lettuce patch with tea and fish sauce. Later in the day, I was wandering the garden and nibbling stuff. Wasn't thinking about what I had supplemented and had to do some serious spitting when I ate some lettuce. Fish juice tastes like about like you would expect.

Heh heh.....of course.

Ain't she wonderful? Sigh.....off to Borders.....again. Thanks......I guess.

Dammit Billy......'tweenst Left Coast Bill and Right Coast Bill, I am gonna go broke buyin' books. This education stuff is expensive! ;-)

Charlie, who greatly values the following passage, but often falls way short of the ideal.

"Well, it's always a mystery, because you don't know why you get depleted or recharged. But, this much I know. I do not allow myself to be overcome by hopelessness, no matter how tough the situation. I believe that if you just do your little bit without thinking of the bigness of what you stand against, if you turn to the enlargement of your own capacities, just that in itself creates new potential."

"And I've learned from the Bhagavad Gita and other teachings of our culture to detach myself from the results of what I do, because those are not in my hands. The context is not in your control, but your commitment is yours to make, and you can make the deepest commitment with a total detachment about where it will take you. You want it to lead to a better world, and you shape your actions and take full responsibility for them, but then you have detachment. And that combination of deep passion and deep detachment allows me always to take on the next challenge because I don't cripple myself, I don't tie myself in knots. I function like a free being. I think getting that freedom is a social duty because I think we owe it to each other not to burden each other with prescription and demands. I think what we owe each other is a celebration of life and to replace fear and hopelessness with fearlessness and joy."

~~Vandana Shiva

Reply to
Charlie

sometime in the recent past Billy posted this:

Do you use raw chard in your salad and is it just the leaf or stalk too? Never considered eating it raw. Funny the ruts one can get into.

Reply to
Wilson

Chard is the only green we grow down here in SW Louisiana as it is the only one I actually enjoy eating. We use just the leaf in salads but when we cook it we use stalk and all. Sometimes we just graze on it as we go through the garden.

Reply to
George Shirley

Although my grandfather always seemed to have chard in his garden, we never ate the leaves - always just boiled the stalks and had them with a white sauce with butter. Thanks

Reply to
Wilson

Yeah, raw. I just use the small leaves for salads. The chard came in a mesculn salad seed mix and took over part of my salad garden during the winter. Now I want the space back as I already have a patch of chard. Typically, when I cook chard, I do the stems first for about two minutes and then add the sliced leaves. I do this no matter whether I'm blanching the chard (6 - 8 min. max.) or sautéing it with olive oil and garlic (until wilted).

Reply to
Billy

She sounds like a cross between Saint Molly and I.F. Stone.

It's not the destination, it's the journey that counts. It's not the goal but the process that is important.

Reply to
Billy

formatting link
a video of John Perkins (Confessions of an Economic Hit Man), Part 1 The first of a three part speech given to the Veterans For Peace National Convention, Seattle, WA in August 2006.

Reply to
Billy

(big snip)

ok, so I'm a chard virgin....what does it taste like? how does it compare to lettuce? Spinach? something else?

curious, Kathi

Reply to
Kathi Jones

Beets.

Reply to
Billy

Tastes like a very mild spinach to me Kathi. I like it much better than collards, mustard, or spinach.

Reply to
George Shirley

snips.....

This week we harvested some leaf lettuce and a few tomatoes and peppers. It's been a very cool spring here this year.

Reply to
Katey Didd

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.