What did you do to prep today?

[joy50]

Today I deciced to do something new(for me) with my dehydrator. Fruit leather. I have alot of canned and frozen fruit I needed to do something with so I made several flavors of leathers, strawberry /banana, pear/pineapple, banana/pineapple, blueberry/banana and nectarine. I'll seal them and put them in my preps, should be a nice treat for the grandkids when times get harder.

[ChristieAcres]

Hey joy50, looks like I ought to check in with you before I make my first fruit leather! Yummy :)

I set aside time, after Church, and before our dinner guests arrived, to plant a 5' X 20' raised bed. In that, I planted two kinds of spinach, mixture of lettuces, dill, Broccoli Raab, and a few herbs, hand-watered that bed, then my "desolate garden" area. It has been interesting to see which plants are flourishing there and which aren't. So far, the Comfreys are growing in leaps & bounds, looks like I may actually get some pumpkins (Sugar variety), all 3 Thornless Blackberry vines are happy, and just a few of the potato plants are flourishing. This was my experimental area, to see which plants grew well in native soil, with only composted manure & Comfrey fertilizer. Right now, canning Rhubarb.

Dinner? King Salmon, Lingcod, Hood Canal Shrimp (seafood cooked over Alder), homegrown potatoes, Chives, Garlic Aoli (from my homegrown Garlic), steamed Scarlet Runner Beans, and dessert was Blackberry Cobbler. Yes, everything turned out great! Also, everyone got plenty to eat, too.

I have my Excalibur Dehydrator book on top of my E Dehydrator, my Water Bath Canner was cleaned, heating on the stove, and all my jars are now organized. My kitchen is now set up for canning/dehydrating, our 2nd kitchen table is dedicated to this purpose. I have a long narrow table, that is up against my kitchen wall. That is utilized when I need more counter space. This means, I am ready to do a lot more preserving every day!

[joy50]

I just have a small area with my dehydrator on it I have to use my kitchen table to use for prep ( it's always full of fruit or veggies to prep). This morning DDIL and I are going to an elderly neighbor of her parents, to see if she'll let us pick some pears from her trees (she's offered before) They may be too ripe by now but thought we would try.

[Wiskey Reb]

Took honey yesterday. Tonight taking care of dried goldenrod and horsetail.

[CVORNurse]

I just have a small area with my dehydrator on it I have to use my kitchen table to use for prep ( it's always full of fruit or veggies to prep). This morning DDIL and I are going to an elderly neighbor of her parents, to see if she'll let us pick some pears from her trees (she's offered before) They may be too ripe by now but thought we would try.

Ohh, over ripe? Pear butter! I cooked a batch overnight in the crockpot with the lid propped half off. Mine holds 20 cups filled to the top and I cooked it down to 9 and a half cups. Added about half a cup honey and some sprinkles of nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, and a cinnamon stick. Oh, and I added 1/4 c lemon juice because some of the recipes on the internet said to, others said it would be ok without. Better safe than sorry.

[joy50]

Ohh, over ripe? Pear butter! I cooked a batch overnight in the crockpot with the lid propped half off. Mine holds 20 cups filled to the top and I cooked it down to 9 and a half cups. Added about half a cup honey and some sprinkles of nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice, and a cinnamon stick. Oh, and I added 1/4 c lemon juice because some of the recipes on the internet said to, others said it would be ok without. Better safe than sorry.

Sounds delish We went to the womans house, she was very kind and was happy to let us have as many as we wanted ,only one problem... they were still hard! A friend gave me some Asian pears (brownish, round) they were ripe in August. These are your typical pear shape, green. Would have thought all pears in our area would be over ripe by now. Do you know if they'll ripen after they have been picked? If not any suggestions on what I can do with them? Thanks!

[CVORNurse]

Sounds delish We went to the womans house, she was very kind and was happy to let us have as many as we wanted ,only one problem... they were still hard! A friend gave me some Asian pears (brownish, round) they were ripe in August. These are your typical pear shape, green. Would have thought all pears in our area would be over ripe by now. Do you know if they'll ripen after they have been picked? If not any suggestions on what I can do with them? Thanks!

The ones I did up had been siting for a week because DH and DD picked them kinda on the green side. Last weekend I turned the ripe ones into pear jam. So perhaps if you let them sit a few days they will ripen and soften some. If not, I think you could still use them, just probably have to add more sugar to cut the tartness.

[joy50]

The ones I did up had been siting for a week because DH and DD picked them kinda on the green side. Last weekend I turned the ripe ones into pear jam. So perhaps if you let them sit a few days they will ripen and soften some. If not, I think you could still use them, just probably have to add more sugar to cut the tartness.

I'll wait to see if they'll ripen. I still have apples to dehydrate, or maybe I'll make apple sauce. Thanks again!