Free Apples!

The other day while taking my wife to work I noticed something unusual. There was an Apple tree hanging out over the sidewalk between the Autozone and a small shopping center. So, I checked it out. The tree was growing at the edge of the sidewalk, wind-fall fruit was on the ground and smashed in the street. I picked a great big bag for home. This got me to thinking. Once upon a time (about 30 yrs) this whole area was farmland. Where there is one tree there has to be more. i started looking around, a little closer. About 3 blocks away I found 2 more trees. They are in a vacant lot all overgrown with tall grass and weeds. The branches are just loaded with apples. All together I got close to 40 #'s of Free apples. My wife was jumping up and down. She loves apples. Especially dried apples. This gave me a reason to unpack another new toy.

We bought this little gem last winter from Cabela's and had yet to try it out. Right away I was impressed. It has a temperature control that is easy to read and set. We ran it all night dried out some of our find.

Canning has begun

I posted last week that we started to can. I canned up a Frozen smoked ham that we bought post-christmas that has been taking up a large part of my freezer. That yielded twelve 1/2 pints and a little for the Freezer. Using Cucumbers from the Garden I made my first batch of Pickles! They are Yummy!  This past weekend I soaked 2#'s of Pinto beans and 1# of Kidney beans overnight. I then cooked them for a hour in a pot of water. Using my new Presto Canner (Which I just Love) I canned up 4 qts of beans.

I plan to make chili and soups and can those too.

Garden update for August 26, 2010

Its been a rough year here in Missouri. The god awful heat pretty much killed the garden this year. As I said I did get some Potatoes, an onion or two, some lettuce, a few beans, Beets, and enough Cucumbers to make ONE batch of Pickles. Everything else just Died. Personally, I think one of my neighbors had a hand in Killing the Tomatoes and the squash. I can't prove it though, and my landlord could care less. I'm luck he didn't weed wack it all!

This is all that is left of the Cucumber vines. They are still producing, if only a tiny bit.

In this space I had all of the Tubs and pots, down at the end was the squash and Tomatoes. I emptied out all the containers and dumped the soil/compost in the raised bed at the end. I'll work in some more compost and organic material this fall. It just wasn't a good year for us. Some possible solutions for next year include:

• A better watering solution
• Less diversity
• Growing more herbs
• Cucumbers worked well, maybe more of those

Urban Farms: America Begins Rapid Descent into an Agrarian Society

Beyond Back Yard Sustainability

Started Canning

We got out the Pressure canner and started doing some Canning.  I had a 9# ham that we got in an After Christmas sale for like .15 cents a pound. It has been taking up a good sized part of my Freezer. I chopped it up and canned it in 1/2 Pint jars. Everything worked out fairly well. The only mistake/do over that I will do next time is chop the ham rather than chunk the ham. Live and learn. I canned up 13 jars of Pickles this morning. Tonight (after they cool) I will find out if it worked.

As a garden Update, its too hot. Everything but the Beets and the Cucumbers is dead. Missouri in August is just Brutal.