latest posts – Page 19 – Planet B Gardens

plum jam

Plum trees turned out enough plums in this first season to make three pints and one quart of jam. Here is a bowl of the pitted bounty: The trees yielded 6 cups of fruit once I pitted the plums. I added 1.25 cups of water, 4 cups of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of powdered pectin to the mix, plus a teaspoon of citric acid to up the tartness. Then set it on the stove to boil. While boiling the fruit, I boiled the jars and lids. When the fruit was boiled down to the right thickness, I jarred those babies and put them in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

September 18, 2014

guessing the plum type

So far we don’t know what kind of plums these are. They start ripening looking kind of pink, then reddish purple, and end ripening with a reddish gold skin. The flesh of the ripe fruit is yellowish green. It’s a freestone. About the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly oval. Tastes mid-sweet with a bit of tart. Any ideas about the type of plum we have here?

plums picked & ready

The scraggly plum trees that came with the property did pretty well — considering they’ve had no care in a long time. Enough plums to make a small jar of preserves, plus a few for eating fresh….

young buck

He’s a handsome one…

storable food favorites

Garage pantry and storage area is finally set up at Plant B, so now I have a good spot to put backup food supplies. Especially out here in the rurals, you never know how long you might be snowed in, have access to town cut off because a river decided to overflow its banks, or have to make do at home for some other unplanned reason. Best to be prepared. My list has been tested and refined over the last seven or eight years. What’s on and what’s off the list boils down to answering: Edibility: Will we really eat that? Perishability: How long will it last at room temperature? Versatility: How many ways

September 10, 2014

plums, so close

How ripe do I let this one get before picking? Pick too soon, ripens on the kitchen counter without reaching the full beauty of its sweetness. Pick too late, and the birds gorge. Dilemma.

deer raspberry

Look closely. I swear this deer is blowing a raspberry at me…

ready for bottling

Last year I got on a fermentation kick. One of the successful fermentation experiments was making my own wine. I started with a wine kit so I could get the feel of the process. You can search for kits online – so far I’ve tried the kits made by Vintner’s Reserve and have been happy with their Chardonnay, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc. The all-in cost ends up being $2-$2.50 per bottle after you invest in the initial supplies. The wine is drinkable in 2-4 months, and about the same quality you’d expect in a $10-$15 per bottle wine from your local supermarket. The initial investment ran me a little under

September 2, 2014

easy crunchy crust bread

Homemade chewy, moist bread with a crunchy crust is something I attempted for years. I’ve tried a variety of bread bibles, baking stones, clay cloches, brotforms, multiple gadgets and techniques to make the kind of bread I was aiming for. Turns out, the very easiest technique I tried ended up creating exactly the kind of bread I wanted. Here’s the skinny: Step 1 – Mix the dough The dough has only four ingredients: 3 cups bread flour, 1.5 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. yeast (I use Saf Instant), and 1.5 cups water. Put the ingredients, in order, in a 2- or 4-quart mixing bowl. Mix ’em together. The dough will look shaggy when completely mixed.

August 31, 2014

wild turkey crossing

Looks like mama turkeys have been busy this summer. I counted 14 poults — there could have been more. Cool thing about wild turkeys is they roost high in the trees at night. They look way too big and ungainly to fly up there and perch successfully while they’re on the ground. When they take off, though, they’re majestic.