Still alive in a December garden

Walking around the yard today I'm impressed and surprised at what is still edible. Parsley, rosemary, thyme, and sage would still be useable, if I hadn't used it all already. Lettuce, chard, celery, carrots, and beets are all doing just fine inside a hoop house. Cabbage and brussels would be too if I had found the time and space for them in July or August. Thus is just a note to myself that it would be worth it next year. All this despite several 25 degree nights.

25 degrees

It's our hardest frost yet and everything, including the lettuce, is still looking good in the hoops. Even the kale (unprotected) is still fine.

The endive and cabbage left out of hoops, might have survived the frost if it had not gotten completely chomped, probably by rabbits, right down to the stalk.

Strawberry sorbet

Note to self: make more next year! I can't remember exactly how, but I think it was just mashed strawberries, some sugar, maybe some lime juice, and here's the kicker: mint. Ohhhhhhhh... It's so divine. It's been in the freezer for 4 months and it's like summer is back.

Apple butter

I am so ready for bed, but I know I'll be happy I did this.

Applesauce

So, like I said, I think I'm writing a food blog now. My friend Karl and I planned a big saucing day and he brought at least 2 bushels from a local farm. I think he also became addicted to the peeler/corer/spiral cutter my friend Emma lent us. Ignoring whether or not I could keep up, or even whether or not we had enough pots to hold the apples, he plowed through the entire collection. The majority were winesaps, but we also had ginger gold, yellow delicious, and jonagold. I think winesap and jonagold are our leading apple varieties at this point.

Two crock pots and two of our largest pots on the stove, and this is probably only half the apples.

Here's one half, of my half, canned and ready for storage. I made a batch with some of my frozen raspberries.  (I LOVE this stuff.) But I also canned some plain. Some of these jars were canned with the new Tattler lids. These are BPA-free plastic canning lids that are reuseable - two awesome points in their favor. It was my first try and they worked great. Now I'm going down to finish canning all the apple butter. I'm ready to be done.

Apple dumplings

I fear this garden blog is going to turn into a cooking blog. It's apple season and my husband is really into apple dumplings. Had to share.

Herbed salt

My latest favorite way to store summer flavor...herbed salt. This batch has thyme and sage, the last was rosemary and sage. Think veggies tossed with olive oil and herbed salt and roasted, or patting a chicken with the tasty salt, or on scrambled eggs, or, popcorn?

I followed a recipe from the Splendid Kitchen: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/splendid-table/recipes/homemade_tuscan_or_other_herb_salt.html

You wish you could put your nose over this bowl right now. And I wish I'd thought of this before my herbs' last days.