Stock Your Pantry with Homegrown Peppers

Back to those peppers taking over my refrigerator...last night I managed to get the first batch of pepper relish made and canned some up. I still have bowls of peppers in the fridge and plenty yet out in the garden...but it's a start!

Pepper relish has plenty of vinegar in it, so it's not mandatory that you have to process the jars, but, if you want to store them for a long period without refrigeration it's a good idea to go ahead and water-bath process for about 10 min.

There are lots of different ways to make relishes with peppers. My mom makes a highly blended pear/pepper relish that is to die for. So you can be creative about mixing other ingredients. I kept this one pretty straightforward.

Lots of peppers (mild, hot..and one habanero! You can mix whatever peppers you like)
A few cloves garlic (I'm not crazy about onions, but they are what most people use)
1 Tablespoon of sea salt
2 1/2 cups organic apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar.
2 cups organic sugar (less if you want a not-so-sweet relish)

• Food process or hand chop (with gloves!!) the peppers. Remove seeds.
• Place peppers, garlic (or onions) and salt in a 6 quart pot. Cover with boiling water and let sit for 10 min.
• Sterilize your canning jars in the canner with water boiling (you don't have to process your jars if you're just going to keep them in the fridge, but you should still sterilize the jars or run through dishwasher first)
• Strain water off peppers and place back in 6 quart pot. Add vinegar and sugar to peppers and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 20 min.
• Pack pepper relish into sterilized jars. Pack down to press air bubbles out. Wipe lip of jar clean with dishtowel. Place lid on jar and secure ring, not tightly, onto jar.
• Place jars into water bath canner and process for about 10 min. Start counting processing time when water comes back to a boil.
• Or, just fill jars and place in the fridge. Again, the relish will last a long time in the fridge even without canning.

So tasty!

So, have I told you guys I'm going to Peru in December? Well, I am! My best friend Kimberly and I are going to trek around in the Amazon jungle near Iquitos, Peru for a couple of weeks. We will be staying and studying with some native shamans. Very exciting.

This is where we will be...

This is where we'll swim...and hope the piranhas don't eat our toes..lol

I (not Kimberly, lol) will be looking for these...and some bigger ones!

And these...awwww

And of course studying all sorts of fabulous plants...

Can't wait to go...but for now I have to be satisfied with the ache in my arms from the 5 shots I got to day...owwwww. Still a couple more to go. My poor, poor guns! At least they gave me cute band aids, lol.

I'll keep you guys posted and hope to have some wonderful photos to share upon my return.

I ask you this: How is one supposed to get their day properly started when the newly opened, non-expired half 'n half comes out in a chunky smelly blob??? Ewwwwww. How can I drink my wonderful Illy espresso (albeit decaf) without a little cream? It's criminal. SIGH. GOOD Morning...LOL.

Plant Your Garlic Cloves Now

I planted a few varieties of garlic yesterday. The entire month of October is prime garlic planting time. Purchase culinary garlic bulbs for planting (preferably not from the grocery store-often they are treated to prevent sprouting). You'll usually find varieties of Softneck, Hardneck and Elephant garlic. The Softnecks are better adapted to warmer climates. Hardnecks will have a hard shoot that emerges from the middle of the bulb. They often have a more strong, hot flavor. Elephant garlic produces huge bulbs but a milder flavor. Split the bulb up into the separate cloves. You can peel the tunic off the clove if you want to but you don't have to. Plant each clove about two-inches deep and each clove several inches apart. Choose a sunny spot with rich well draining soil. I plant mine in raised beds. Fall is the best time to plant garlic as it needs a cool period to develop a root system, before it begins to put on heavy bulb growth with the return of warm temperatures.

The following spring, leaves and scapes (flower shoots) will emerge and grow through spring. Fertilize your garlic with an organic veggie/herb food in early spring, just as the leaves begin to emerge. When it turns hot plants will bolt (flower) usually late-spring early-summer. After bulbs have bolted, you'll wait to harvest them until the lower leaves have started to turn yellow and die off. Once you've harvested your garlic, you'll need to let it cure (dry down) for a couple of weeks. Don't cut off the foliage or roots. Set them in a shady dry spot, perhaps a shed, where they can dry. After the foliage/roots are completely dry, then you can trim them if you want to and store. You can save a few of your garlic bulbs to re-plant the following fall, or eat it all and buy new ones!

I laughed out loud the other evening when I stepped into the coop and saw poor Einstein..what with all this rain, and the fact she can't seem to drink water without putting her entire head in the container...she's a hot mess! Now that's a bad hair day. Poor gal. LOL.

Aren't these grand? Just picked from my garden, French wax beans called Roc D' Or. You can get organic seeds from Seeds of Change. These are a crisp bean with a buttery flavor. Plants don't take up much space with a max height of about 15"-20". I direct seeded these into the garden for fall harvest back at the end of August/early September. In our area of zone 8 you can plant beans in early spring, around the end of March, June and again in mid- August through early September. I find this last crop to usually be the easiest.

These plants will continue to produce until it gets cold. All the while, these helpful legumes are enriching the soil with Nitrogen they fix themselves from the atmosphere. A nice bonus for the next crop you plant in that spot. What beats free fertilizer? Ok, a few things, but hey, in the vegetable garden you take the free fertilizer! Mmmm, can't wait to eat these...

I planted a small container of this Passiflora violacea 'Lavender Lady' in the middle of summer. It took off like gangbusters and has spread about twenty feet...along the chain link fence, up the hackberry, you name it! In the photo, it is commingling with some blackberries. It's covered in blooms right now which a welcome sight in the dreary rainy weather we've been having. I'll post some photos of the sky vine in bloom tomorrow.

Beautiful Blue and Green Eggs

We got a full dozen eggs last week and another three today. Lovely blue, sage green and pure white eggs. They are a beautiful sight on the kitchen table. I believe that either 3 or 4 out of the 5 hens are laying right now. Einstein of course, who is laying the smaller white eggs, Eunis, who is laying green eggs, and Honkers who I believe is laying the blue eggs.

It's possible that Pecker is also laying and if so I think she is also contributing green eggs. Phyllis may be the last hold out. She is quite the individual. We didn't have to buy eggs at the grocery store today...how nice! I just bought a unique ceramic bowl this weekend at an antique store in Mineola to display the eggs. It's a lovely pale blue color. I'll shoot a photo of it with our lovely eggs next time.

PC: Leslie F. Halleck