Zucchini candy

   I made zucchini candy last week and it was a hit at home & work here is how you can do it. You can finally use that giant zucchini you didn't know what to do with!

You take big zucchini and peel and seed it, cut the rest into strips about an inch wide and 2 or 3 inches long about 1/4 inch thick. Other sizes work but these did best. Then pour 2 packets of koolaid (generic is fine) with 2 1/2 cups sugar & 3 cups water  over your zucchini and 3 cups of water (I added more because my pot was full of zucchini and it was fine) bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes until zucchini is translucent and filled with color ( I did purple and it was ugly) attain off koolaid (you can use the same juice for another batch) put in the dehydrator over night and you don't want them crunchy, more gummy worm like. I put a half cup sugar and a teaspoon of citric acid in the grinder until it was fine and when the candy came out I tossed it in the mixture. It makes it like candy but also stops it from sticking together.

Beans!

They are ready and I am canning. The beans I grew this year were both green and yellow and they look so lovely in their jars!

They have onions, baby potatoes I grew in buckets and bins from kitchen scraps and a small piece of bacon in each jar. We have already eaten 2 jars and my finicky husband loves them!

I just can't wait to can more as they ripen. Monday I will get to the next batch.

They are perfect with a jar of pork loin or chicken breast I have canned. It's a quick, easy meal that takes a minute to prepare!!!

The Lazy Gardener.

   I probably should have called this blog "THE LAZY GARDENER" I am a lazy gardener, I am always trying to find shortcuts and examples that prove gardening is for everyone even limited mobility and young.

    I always feel my garden motivates me. But I've noticed this year I spend far less time at it than I did last year, which made me glad I went smaller, but it makes it more difficult to "get lost" in my happy place.

    I have about 50 tomato plants and beans, beets, lettuce, herbs, peppers, stubborn cucumbers, squash, grapes carrots etc but they don't need me for much, they just do what they do. 

   It's that time of the season where you just wait.

   I keep looking out expecting to see signs my garden needs me, but it is doing ok on its own for the most part, especially after the recent pruning. 

   Last week I went out and pruned my tomatoes, I was plagued with nasty yellow leaves and spots that looked like early blight. I also sprayed them with Daconil which really helped. 

   I know a lot of people don't believe in pruning but I always seem to do it no matter how I promise myself I won't. 

   I never suggest others do what I do or the way I do because I figure you will eventually find your own way. I don't sucker my plants as most "old style" gardeners do, that is a tried and true, totally acceptable method, I just don't.

   If you find something that works in your garden I am confident you will continue it. That's how people find their own way of doing things in their gardens.  

   I am always looking for simplicity and a way to make it more effortless because as my arthritis progresses and I become less able with age to do certain thing I know I won't love gardening any less.              

   When I'm able to retire from employment I want to still be able to do this thing I love. So I spend time now finding ways to simplify and make it easier. It's not all laziness, it's actually planing for the future! Because just because I like gardening doesn't mean I like back aches! 

Sometimes things work out.

   Our family mad a trip about to pick fresh blueberries if you weeks ago, and I canned several pints of blueberries, and blueberry pie filling. It turned out that my blueberry pie filling was actually blueberry syrup. And even though it wasn't what I planned, it was completely useful and delicious! And will not be going to waste. (Truth be told I make loads more pancakes than pies and it's so much more likely to be used this way.)

Dehydrator liners on the cheap!

I wanted to share this: you can buy these plastic canvas sheets at your local hobby store for about $.49 each and they come in various sizes, gauges, and colors. They make excellent non stick, liners for your dehydrator and go straight in the dishwasher. They stop the loss of products that shrink and fall through the trays.

Blueberry picking and canning.

   I ordered a new canner and it arrived all shiny and ready to make the world, or at least my kitchen a better place.

Since my garden hadn't given up any goods yet I had to find something to can!

   My family went to a blueberry farm this week and picked 12 pounds if blueberries in about a half hour (well I was at it 45 minutes because I looked down and realized the basket was lacking because I somehow ate a goodly portion of them! So I took a few extra minutes to make up my share!) 

   It ended up costing $35 dollars for all the berries. Which I have only used about half of so far. 

   We started with this:

And ended up with 18 jars in the canner:

I made blueberry/peach pie filling and canned blueberries and grape and blueberry juice. ( the plain white grape juice was just icky and watery but the mixed one with blueberries was pretty tasty.

   I love the new canner and will be canning the remaining berries tomorrow.

Bucket potatoes from kitchen scraps.

   I have heard so many people say you can't grow potatoes from store bought potatoes because. They spray sprout inhibitor on them, which I really thought had to be wrong because those little suckers sprout in my kitchen before I can use a whole bag typically!

   So I threw some in a few buckets and bins I had and didn't put any effort into them at all. I didn't water or fertilize them but since most of the green was gone on them I decided to see how they did today. I have one bin that still has green on it so I will leave it until August, like you are supposed to.

   It's not really an impressive harvest until you consider I never spent any money or time on these. They were just going to be trash or compost.

These are going to be paired with green beans and canned. (If they last that long because I love baby potatoes!)