I have many blog posts just waiting to be written, the last few months have been hard and strange and I am just starting to feel a little like myself again, although I think I have been forever altered, hopefully for the better.
We had our first snow of the season here on Quail Run Farm, we feel snug and cozy inside the warm farm house, as we prepare for Christmas and work on a few indoor projects.
At the first of the season I was gifted two jalapeño plants.
We aren’t really pepper people, but I figured it would hurt to grow some, and maybe I would get enough to make salsa or chili sauce. I then bought some regular bell peppers, just in case I could pull the salsa thing off.
Well it didn’t really work, I never got enough tomatoes the same time I got peppers to make it worth whipping up a batch of salsa, when I bottle things I go big, or go home. If I can’t make a lot, it just isn’t worth it to me.
However, that isn’t always the case for a few specialty items, things I wouldn’t want to have dozens and dozens of jars. Pepper jelly is one of those specialty items. I love pepper jelly, but we don’t eat jars at a time, a dozen lasts us well over a year, so a dozen is what I make.
I mixed two recipes from the Ball Canning Books. I didn’t make a true jelly, because I was way to lazy that day to let the pulp drip for hours to make a clear juice, it is more of a pepper jam.
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I cut and seeded my peppers, using about a two to one ratio, more bell peppers than jalapeño, while I like the kick jalapeños give, I don’t like it to be too hot. 
Pretty green juice, the peppers all ground up ready to add to the cooking pot, along with sugar and pectin. It looks so pretty and green, but has a little bite if you breath too deeply. 
(this is what happens if you get distracted by homeschooling the kiddos and the sugar mixture boils over. I will say, a glass flat top stove makes cleaning up a mess like that a breeze) 
Pepper Jelly (jam) all bottled up and ready for cheese and crackers this winter.
Drying is one of the oldest forms of food preservation.
At the beginning of our tomato season, when things finally started to pick up and the tomatoes came trickling in faster than we could eat them, Lou and I decided the best thing to do would be to dry them.
We didn’t have quite enough to can anything and a few jars of dried tomatoes are nice to have around, they can be added to soups, stews, pastas, stir fries, or eaten as is.
Lou with one of her first baskets of tomatoes, she is my tomato girl and has taken care of these plants from the very start when she planted the seeds.
Striped Cavern heirloom tomato.
The inside of the Striped Cavern. See all the open space, thus the name “cavern”. It doesn’t make for a good saucing tomato, being that there is little flesh, but it has a wonderful taste, very mild and low acid. It was my best producing heirloom this year.
Another pretty yellow heirloom, “Dr. Wyche’s Yellow”. It too is a low acid tomato that is great for eating. I wouldn’t can it, being low acid it would either need to be pressure canned or there would have to be added vinegar. Isn’t that flesh beautiful.
The only prep involved in drying tomatoes is washing and cutting.
Simple and free. 
I used my dehydrator, and it took about a day.
A dehydrator isn’t necessary, an oven on a low setting can be used, or they can be dried in the sun.
I dry them nice and crispy. If too much moisture is left in the tomatoes the will go moldy, and since I want them for long term storage I need them very dry.
They will be stored in glass jars in the pantry. 
This winter they will add pretty color and great flavor to hearty vegetable soups and stews.
I am so very thankful for the bounty we have received throughout they year and the ability to store and use it later to feel our family.
Cutting the comb off the frames
Little fingers (Boo I believe) picking honey comb to eat
More cutting, loving the honey rolling off the frames
Little Monkey, her fingers in the way wanting a sweet treat
Golden honey comb
ready to strain
Golden goodness dripping from the filter
Filling the jars
Pints of our own honey. We only harvested 4 pints this year, but we are happy with our first year with our one little hive.
Zucchini
A gardener’s delight,
the gift that keeps giving
and giving
and giving
right up until the first hard frost.
Zucchini is one of those beautiful vegetables that seems to grow despite the blackest of black thumbs, it gives prolifically for a long time, making it one of the best vegetables to grow for fresh summer eating.
There are many recipes out there for fresh zucchini, from skillet dinners to baked goods, but today I am going to talk about preserving zucchini. Zucchini is a delicate vegetable, being that its flesh turns soft quickly when cooked, making canning and pickling a little challenging. However it dries and freezes beautifully.
Zucchini is very simple to dry, if you don’t have a dehydrator, a warm oven or a couple sunny afternoons will do. The method is as simple as slicing thin and sprinkling with salt (if you want). Some recipes call for oil to be added, while added oil is good for a very crispy, flavorful zucchini chip, it doesn’t work well for long term storage, as the oil will go rancid quickly. 
It only took one day in my dehydrator, it always amazes me how much produce shrinks in the dehydrator. 
The dried zucchini will be stored in glass jars in my pantry to be used later in soups, stews and sauces. 