Incredients and Tools Needed
1. 7-Canning jars ( Mason, Kerr or Ball) in good condition
2. New canning jar lids (you can use old screw-on rings, but must have new lids)
3. Canning & Pickling salt
4. Deep pan to heat tomatoes to loosen skin
5. Large bowl to put ice water in
6. Small pot with water to boil lids in
7. Large pan with boiling water to be added to each quart jar after it is filled with tomatoes
8. Steam canner to hold at least 7 jars
9. Small parring knives
10. Bread pans to catch skins and keep work area clean
11. Ripe tomatoes. DO NOT TRY TO CAN GREEN TOMATOES OR THE GREEN PARTS OF RIPE TOMATOES!
12. Sieve to lift tomates in and out of hot water
Process
Wash tomatoes and bottles. Start large pan of water to heat for tomatoe skin loosening.
Fill large bowl with cold water and put ice in it.
Put washed bottles in the oven at 150 to 200 degrees for 15 minutes minimum to sterilize and to keep warm until you are ready for them.
Put the cleaned rings in the oven with the bottles to sterilize.
Put the new lids in the pan of water, and start heating until it boils, then simmer until used.
When the water is beginning to boil in the large pot (very light boil), put enough tomatoes to fill a quart jar in the hot water and set the timer for 4 minutes.
After four minutes take the tomatoes out of the hot water and put in the ice water.
Start immediately to peel the skins off the tomatoes. They should slide off easily.
Cut into fourths and put in the quart jar until full.
Press down gently and fill the void with another tomato.
Put a teaspoon of canning salt on top of the tomatoes.
Fill the jar with hot water to within 1/4 inch of the top of the jar.
Loosen the air bubbles in the jar by thrusting a table knife along the inside edges of the jar.
Clean the top of the jar with a clean cloth.
Put the lid on.
Put the cap on and firmly tighten.
Put the jar into the steamer.
Continue the process until you have 7 jars in the steamer
Turn on the heat under the steamer.
When it starts to steam, set the timer for 45 minutes to cook.
When done, turn off the heat and let cool down.
When cool, carefully set the jars on a towel on the counter for 12 hours.
Label jars with a date they were canned.
Admire and post on your own blog site.
Move to your food storage area for future use!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Corn Seed
This is a video of how to teach you to harvest corn seed.
HHEF purchased seed from Southern Exposure Seed Co. Jan 2010
BUHL: Heirloom seed prior to 1940. From Sandhill Preservation Center via Southern Exposure Seed company member BW White 1981
81 days.
yellow with 6'-7' stalks bear 2 ears of amazingly uniform sweet yellow corn of superior quality. You'll have to fight off the racoons to enjoy it.
HHEF purchased seed from Southern Exposure Seed Co. Jan 2010
BUHL: Heirloom seed prior to 1940. From Sandhill Preservation Center via Southern Exposure Seed company member BW White 1981
81 days.
yellow with 6'-7' stalks bear 2 ears of amazingly uniform sweet yellow corn of superior quality. You'll have to fight off the racoons to enjoy it.
Friday, July 17, 2009
SOIL
SOIL
The single most important thing to a garden is what is below the surface of the ground. But soil may be the thing least understood by the urban gardener. Soil is made up of varying sizes of mineral and organic particles mixed with quantities of air and water. The mineral elements come from weathered rocks from the earth’s surface, the organic matter from decayed plant and animals. Soil normally refers to what is naturally found at the surface and is what is usually used by the urban gardener as the growing medium.
Soil Texture: The size of the mineral particles in soil creates its texture and defines its type. The three basic types of particles (in order of increasing size) are CLAY, SILT and SAND.
CLAY is the smallest soil element. Typically particles are so small that most of them are not visible under a microscope. CLAY can be rolled into long "worms" if moistened and rolled in your hand. Clay particles have a tendency to pack together becoming very dense, shutting out water and air especially if the particles are plate-like and more horizontal in structure. This type clay creates compacted hardpan hostile to root growth. This type clay is typical in the vicinity of the Haws Haven Experimental Farm and is what we call "caliche".
SILT is minerals in size between that of clay and sand.
SAND is the largest particle size. Moisten the soil and rub some between your thumb and fingers. Sand is harsh and gritty and will scarcely hold together. Clay can be squeezed into a firm shape. Silt can be somewhat gritty, but will more or less hold together when moist. A 100% SAND soil allows for air to penetrate, but has poor water retention qualities.
LOAM is the term for a soil that is approximately 10 to 20 percent clay, 25 to 70 percent silt and 20 to 65 percent sand. Soils with this type structure are best for a garden especially if it contains substantial amounts of humus (partly decomposed organic material).
DETERMINE SOIL TYPE Fill a quart jar about 2/3 full of water. Add a tablespoon of powdered laundry detergent as a dispersing agent to break up the chunks. Obtain a sample of soil from the area of the root zone by discarding the top two inches and taking the sample from 2 to 8 inches down. Break up the soil as best you can and leave on a clean surface in the sun to dry thoroughly. Add soil to the jar, screw on the lid and shake it vigorously. Then let the soil settle. The heaviest sand particles sink to the bottom in a few seconds. The silt layer takes a few minutes and the clay particles may not settle out over several days or even weeks. Measure the settled out layers to get a fairly accurate estimate of the texture composition.
HHEF Soil Test: July 2009
Sample of dirt; crushed; dried; filled gallon jar 2/3 full with water; 1 tablespoon of laundry detergent; added soil until jar full; let set for two days. The soil settled out into three barely visible different size particles. However, there wasn’t a marked difference in the soil texture. When damp, all three layers form “worms” by rolling in your hand.
The soil in the Haws Haven Experimental Farm is very heavy clay with a lot of caliche. When the soil dries out it is VERY hard—like a brick. It is great for making adobe bricks, but not suitable for a great garden. It does not drain well, which is a very important soil characteristic nor does it naturally have nutrient value just by itself. When I first started gardening, I took my shovel, dug one shovel depth, put it to the side and went down one more shovel depth putting the soil on top of the previously dug out soil. The idea was that I was loosening the dirt. Then I would put the rototiller to it. It did leave a very nice consistency of loose dirt for planting. However, I noticed that over time the soil became even more compacted than before and still had poor drainage. These clayey characteristics don’t go away if you put the native soil in a raised grow box.
HHEF seeks to improve the soil by adding sand to decrease the over all percentage of clay and primarily by adding compost and manure. Compost and manure increases the porosity of the soil and add beneficial bacteria and microbes to the soil. The bacteria and microbes tend to make more of the chemicals needed for plant growth available for use by the plant.
The single most important thing to a garden is what is below the surface of the ground. But soil may be the thing least understood by the urban gardener. Soil is made up of varying sizes of mineral and organic particles mixed with quantities of air and water. The mineral elements come from weathered rocks from the earth’s surface, the organic matter from decayed plant and animals. Soil normally refers to what is naturally found at the surface and is what is usually used by the urban gardener as the growing medium.
Soil Texture: The size of the mineral particles in soil creates its texture and defines its type. The three basic types of particles (in order of increasing size) are CLAY, SILT and SAND.
CLAY is the smallest soil element. Typically particles are so small that most of them are not visible under a microscope. CLAY can be rolled into long "worms" if moistened and rolled in your hand. Clay particles have a tendency to pack together becoming very dense, shutting out water and air especially if the particles are plate-like and more horizontal in structure. This type clay creates compacted hardpan hostile to root growth. This type clay is typical in the vicinity of the Haws Haven Experimental Farm and is what we call "caliche".
SILT is minerals in size between that of clay and sand.
SAND is the largest particle size. Moisten the soil and rub some between your thumb and fingers. Sand is harsh and gritty and will scarcely hold together. Clay can be squeezed into a firm shape. Silt can be somewhat gritty, but will more or less hold together when moist. A 100% SAND soil allows for air to penetrate, but has poor water retention qualities.
LOAM is the term for a soil that is approximately 10 to 20 percent clay, 25 to 70 percent silt and 20 to 65 percent sand. Soils with this type structure are best for a garden especially if it contains substantial amounts of humus (partly decomposed organic material).
DETERMINE SOIL TYPE Fill a quart jar about 2/3 full of water. Add a tablespoon of powdered laundry detergent as a dispersing agent to break up the chunks. Obtain a sample of soil from the area of the root zone by discarding the top two inches and taking the sample from 2 to 8 inches down. Break up the soil as best you can and leave on a clean surface in the sun to dry thoroughly. Add soil to the jar, screw on the lid and shake it vigorously. Then let the soil settle. The heaviest sand particles sink to the bottom in a few seconds. The silt layer takes a few minutes and the clay particles may not settle out over several days or even weeks. Measure the settled out layers to get a fairly accurate estimate of the texture composition.
HHEF Soil Test: July 2009
Sample of dirt; crushed; dried; filled gallon jar 2/3 full with water; 1 tablespoon of laundry detergent; added soil until jar full; let set for two days. The soil settled out into three barely visible different size particles. However, there wasn’t a marked difference in the soil texture. When damp, all three layers form “worms” by rolling in your hand.
The soil in the Haws Haven Experimental Farm is very heavy clay with a lot of caliche. When the soil dries out it is VERY hard—like a brick. It is great for making adobe bricks, but not suitable for a great garden. It does not drain well, which is a very important soil characteristic nor does it naturally have nutrient value just by itself. When I first started gardening, I took my shovel, dug one shovel depth, put it to the side and went down one more shovel depth putting the soil on top of the previously dug out soil. The idea was that I was loosening the dirt. Then I would put the rototiller to it. It did leave a very nice consistency of loose dirt for planting. However, I noticed that over time the soil became even more compacted than before and still had poor drainage. These clayey characteristics don’t go away if you put the native soil in a raised grow box.
HHEF seeks to improve the soil by adding sand to decrease the over all percentage of clay and primarily by adding compost and manure. Compost and manure increases the porosity of the soil and add beneficial bacteria and microbes to the soil. The bacteria and microbes tend to make more of the chemicals needed for plant growth available for use by the plant.
Water Melon Tree
My water melon tree has received a lot of attention. I dug a hole and secured a tall pole next to where I had planted a few water melon seeds. I drove nails spaced about 12 inches apart in a serpentine pattern going up the pole. As the water melon grows I am winding the melon onto the pole. It doesn't really do it by itself, but it does have some vine clingers that I wind around the nails. There are a few melons on the pole. Some doubters think the vine will break before the melons ripen. We will see!
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