Posted in Farm, Farming, growing your own vegetables, Pumpkin Patch, tagged corn plants, farm, farm in autumn, garden, gardening, growing pumpkins, pumpkin patch, sunset sky, tomato plants on September 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The temperature dropped 30 degrees in one day and it feels like autumn is on under way. The corn is turning a deep purple and the pumpkins are turning a brilliant orange. The sky is littered with gray clouds and a soft rain is falling. Time to bust out the crock-pot and make some warm meals. Chili is on the way tonight, made with fresh tomatoes, green peppers and onions from the farm. Best of all, football starts tomorrow and I can’t wait.
Posted in Farm, growing tomatoes, growing your own vegetables, Organic Gardening, Organic Vegetable Gardening, Pumpkin Patch, tagged corn field, farm, garden, gardening, gardening tips, pickle recpie, tomato plants on August 28, 2011| 1 Comment »
Posted in growing tomatoes, Organic Tomatoes, tagged canning tomatoes, farm, gardening, step by step instuctions to making tomato sauce, tomato plants on August 14, 2011| 17 Comments »
Ready to make some tomato sauce? Click on any of the thumbnail to see a larger version of that picture. First, pick some ripe tomatoes. Have them guarded by a big dog to protect from rabbits, then wash and quarter the tomatoes.
Next throw em in a pot (not aluminum) and mash em up a bit and place on medium heat on the stove. Bring to a rolling boil. I don’t add anything to the tomatoes. I like a blank slate to use the sauce for chili or pasta or anything else. Feel free to toss in some basil or garlic to make the sauce to your likings.
Cook the tomatoes down by a third. Look for the ring on the pot and guess. Place a Food Mill on top of another pot and turn the handle clockwise. This removes the skin and a lot of seeds.
Here’s a better look at the food mill (also called a sieve). Take the strained sauce back to the stove and reduce again about a third. Use a funnel and fill cans to 1/2 inch from top . Place cans in boiling water with an inch of water above the cans and boil for 30-45 minutes.
Enjoy!
Posted in Farm, Farming, growing tomatoes, Organic Gardening, Organic Tomatoes, tagged canning, garden, gardening, gardening tips, tomato plants, tomato sauce on August 12, 2011| 1 Comment »
Tomato sauce making will commence this weekend. I’ll post pics and directions on how we do it. I like to just cook down the fruit and not add anything to it. No basil, no garlic nuthin’. This way it’s a blank chalkboard for later use in the winter. I can use the sauce for chili or marinara or anything else. I do add a touch of lemon juice to keep the color of the sauce bright red but this doesn’t add any flavor to the sauce. The Thai and Jalapeno peppers will be frozen for winter, some will make it into fresh salsa but most will be frozen or dried out for later. Have a great Friday everyone!
Posted in Farming, growing pumpkins, growing tomatoes, Organic Vegetable Gardening, Pumpkin Patch, tagged corn field, farm, gardening, growing pumpkins, tomato plants on August 7, 2011| 6 Comments »
The garden is bursting with life and the tomatoes are finally staring to ripen. Which means, it’s time to can. My Dad found me a pressure canner at a garage sale yesterday for $8. What a deal. New they run close to $90. I’ve been canning the “old fashioned” way by putting cans in a huge pot of boiling water that takes forever but with the new canner, it takes just minutes and only an inch of water and it doesn’t turn the kitchen into a sauna in August. Thanks Dad!
Stay tuned, I’ll post a “How To Can” article with step-by-step instructions later this week. If you have any questions, send them to me now.
Posted in Farm, Farming, growing pumpkins, growing tomatoes, growing your own vegetables, Organic Gardening, Organic Peppers, Organic Tomatoes, Organic Vegetable Gardening, Pumpkin Patch, tagged corn, corn field, corn plants, deer, farm, garden, gardening, Grow your own pumpkins, growing pumpkins, How to Grow Pumpkins, pumpkin patch, step by step instructions to pumpkin growing, tomato plants, watering tomatoes on July 30, 2011| 5 Comments »
Dave got the fence patched up where the deer were braking in to feast on the watermelons, pumpkins and corn. An ear popped up today as well and I grabbed a picture of a dragonfly on the corn. Did you know that a dragonfly’s life span is just 24 hours? I also snapped a couple shots of the rabbit I must take down in order to save my crop. god, I hate rabbits and deer.
Green Pepper, Thai Hot Pepper, Zucchini and tomatoes
I found a ton of pumpkins popping up. I was worried that they wouldn’t be pollinated but after my last post I noticed lots of bees, dragonflies, ants and other insects doing the pollination job. Thanks for the help Mother Nature.
I’m trying a new format with this post. Wordepress has made it a pain in the ass to post pics and text and make it look decent. So, please take a moment to click on the thumbnail pic to see it.
Posted in Farm, growing tomatoes, growing your own vegetables, Organic Gardening, Organic Peppers, Organic Tomatoes, tagged cucumber planting, garden, gardening, Horse, pink sky faarm, tomato plants on July 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Zoey meets Cory. She never saw a horse before. We were visiting my Uncle’s farm in Chardon. Cory licked Z and the little bub had no idea what to do.
Just counting down the days till the tomatoes turn ripe and red. It can’t happen soon enough.
We’ve been pickin’ peppers but the cabbage has a bit more time to bake in the sun.
The sunset was just gorgeous this evening. Mainly because the temperature dropped 25 degrees to a cool 74 after it rained.
Here’s a fun little video of the alpacas at my Uncle’s farm. Maybe we’ll get a couple for here. They’re really funny creatures. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz7hnOCSlZ0
Posted in Farm, Farming, Growing Fresh Herbs, Growing Herbs, growing pumpkins, growing tomatoes, Organic Gardening, Organic Peppers, Organic Tomatoes, Organic Vegetable Gardening, tagged brocoli plants, corn field, cucumber planting, gardening, growing cucumbers, herb garden, rabbits, tomato plants on July 21, 2011| 6 Comments »
Hot, hot day on the farm. It was 95 degrees today and tomorrow it’s gonna be 97 but with a heat index that makes it feel like 110°. That makes it no fun to be in the garden. Add about 80% Humidity to that temp and that equals a very difficult harvest. Luckily Mindy spent a half hour collecting the veggies.
The small grape or (cherry) tomatoes are getting ripe but the other types are still pretty green.
The peppers are starting to really pop! You can see a green pepper and a Thai hot pepper in the above picture along with spinach, lettuce, dill, basil, cucumbers, and grape/cherry tomatoes.
There’s a couple of jack rabbits that are just destroying the garden. They’re taking down broccoli, cucumbers, pumpkins and now I gotta take them out. I think I’ll set some traps this week and relocate the little guys to somewhere else. Far, far away from here.
There’s also a video of Jake chasing one rabbit off here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFnq-U6ppHA
Here’s a couple stills of the varmint.
Posted in Farm, Farming, Growing Fresh Herbs, Growing Herbs, growing tomatoes, growing your own vegetables, Organic Gardening, Organic Peppers, Organic Tomatoes, Organic Vegetable Gardening, tagged corn, corn field, farm, garden, gardening, growing peppers, herb garden, herb planting, organic vegetable growing, peppers, tomato plants, watering tomatoes on July 15, 2011| 3 Comments »
Cherry Tomatoes are turning red the Beefsteaks have a bit longer to ripen.
Supersonic and Romas are popping too
.
Basil and Apples growing on the tree
Cabbage is balling up and dill is looking tasty.
Sweet Corn is growing really fast.
Posted in Farming, Gardening, Gardening, growing tomatoes, growing your own vegetables, Organic Tomatoes, tagged cucumber planting, dusk garden pics, farm, garden tips on tomatoes, gardening, gardening tips, growing cucumbers, pickle recpie, tomato growing tips, tomato plants, watering tomatoes on July 10, 2011| 1 Comment »
Tomato Growing Tip: Water your tomatoes regularly before the leaves appear wilted.
Cucumbers need at least eight hours of sun every day and rich soil. They are frost-sensitive and prefer warm, humid weather to produce a good crop. Cucumbers are 90 percent water, so adequate watering throughout the growing season is vital to get a juicy crop.
There are four types of cucumbers: slicing, pickling, space-savers and the ever-popular burpless cucumber. These are pickling cucumbers. We like them cause they’re smaller, faster growing, delicious raw and make great pickles.
Look out! It’s Santa Crow. I woke up to find this in the rear field. My neighbors put him there to scare away the deer. He’s over 5′ tall and I think he’s doing his job. Jake saw him this morning and was barking like crazy. Aesthetically, it’s a bit of an eye sore but we’ll keep him till we can make something better. Ho! Ho! Ho!
Thank You All for over 1,000 visits in a month! Keep spreading the word about our little farm blog. We greatly appreciate it!
Two Barn Farm 