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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Another day in paradise

Its been another slow day here on the homestead. Got out this afternoon and picked about a half gallon of wild blackberries for jam. Even with all the rain of this season the berries are not as juicy as I was hoping but are still very tasty.
All the onions are now sliced and drying for onion flakes for later use. Not many people know you can get a bushel of onions in a gallon jug, but I know it can be done, I have seen me do it. That is about the amount you will get from a bushel of dried onions. Guess that's why they are rather pricey in the grocery stores. I had several stalks of celery left from stock making at chicken butchering time and decided to slice that and dry it also. Surprisingly celery don't take very long to dry brittle, only a few hours in the dehydrator. Shuck beans I prefer dried in the sun. Just don't care for the green color of ones dried in a food dehydrator. Maybe I'm just too set in my old fashioned ways. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

5 comments:

Gianetta said...

Im not a big fan of onions. I'm from Adams County just across the river from Maysvile. We used to raise tobacco and had a garden that would feed us and most of the neighors. We used to set our tomato plants with the tobacco setter. Now, I'm only growing two tomato plants out in buckets; one's producing nice fruit and the other has had a rotten looking one growing all season. Can't figure it out.

PS Call me MA if you want...loving the farm updates.

Jen said...

Thanks for the info on the onions Stella. I'm going to have to dry some onions sometime. Needa pull the dehydrator outta the closet and give it a whirl. Its is interesting to know that one bushel onions makes one gallon jug. Do you keep at room temp or fridge? Thx, Jen.

stella said...

Hi MA, thanks for visiting. MA I have friends who live in Maysville. I actually deer hunted in that area of Kentucky 3 years ago. We use lots of onions in cooking, not too many in the fresh state tho. Did you ever use one of the hand tobacco setters? One person puts the plant in and the other uses the setter and some one comes after and puts the dirt around the plant. Those things were great for transplanting all kinds of stuff.
My maters are kaput, I got a blight from all the wet weather. But still have lots canned from last year.
stella

stella said...

Hey Jen, thanks for visiting. I usually just put my dried onions in a jug or jar with an air tight lid and store in the pantry at room temp. They are dried so they keep a long long time.
stella

Gianetta said...

I never used a hand setter, just the automated one pulled behind my Papaw's tractor. We had about 3000 lbs of tobacco base but gradually sold it off. Mom and Dad had to move to Georgia in '85 because they both lost their jobs. We kept the farm for renters and finally sold it in '05.

I hated to see it go; I had a lot of good times there. I write about my life on the farm sometimes; the title usually has something about Cherry Fork Road in it which was where I lived.

Maybe my tomato plant got to much water?

Stop by if you get the chance.