Finally! The Last of the Pumpkins

Having battled out of control pumpkin vines all summer, I’m glad to report that the last of the pumpkin harvest is finally complete. It rained so much that several rotted on the ground, they’ve been tossed into the compost bin from which I expect next year’s greedy vines will take off. I’d planted an heirloom variety of pie-size pumpkins, not realizing that everywhere there was a leaf there would root a whole new vine. Thus the minimal planting of only 4 vines ended up literally everywhere! It grew over the mints and into the brick pathway. It grew through the roses and tried to cover the grapes. It grew out into the 3rd goal disc golf fairway and down the hill towards the bottomland drop-off. I was literally lopping off new vines daily just to keep some control (and some of my other crops)! Since the compost bin is on the fairway side of the garden, I’m going to go ahead and let the pumpkins have it next year.

Now, processing pumpkins – even pie-size pumpkins of 5 pounds or less – is an arduous task taking lots of time and energy. I spread it out over a couple of weeks, once haviing brought them inside when the temperature dropped to freezing. Once frost is upon them they go fast. Protected from frost in a dry, cool basement or root cellar, they’ll keep for months. So while it’s possible to avoid all that processing by spreadiing it out over the entire winter one pumpkin at a time, pumpkin simply doesn’t last long enough around this homestead to justify not doing it all at once well before the holiday season. I’ve got grandkids who can each eat an entire pie at a single sitting, and grown relatives who fully expect their pumpkin/hickory nut bread along with the fudge and cookies in December (my standard Christmas gifting). One thing you never want to do is find yourself processing a pumpkin at the same time you’re baking cookies/bread and making fudge. You’ll end up not sleeping for days…

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Concocting a Winter Vita-Tonic

Today it is officially Autumn, my personal favorite season (for the colors and smells and crisp, clear air). Unfortunately, this year it’s been so cool and wet that we basically had no summer. The tomatoes turned black and died, pumpkins are rotting in the field, weeds have taken over and it’s been weeks since we’ve seen the sun.

But now is the time to prepare for winter, beyond just putting up the harvest. We managed to get the H1N1 flu right after school started, but the immune-strengthening tea I’d previously gathered and dried worked quite well to keep it relatively mild. Was only abed for a day, which is less than with any other flu I’ve ever had. It does seem to go straight to bronchi and lungs, though, so I’m glad I was prepared. I’d encourage everyone to either gather and dry the recipe’s herbs now, or get some from a local (and organic) supplier and have it ready to brew. It tastes good enough to drink hot or cold just for fun, and certainly won’t hurt you if you do!

The winter comes with its own issues for keeping yourself healthy. There’s a dramatic lack of sunshine – thus a shortage of vitamin D – and cold weather’s general ill effects on a healthy immune system. There’s also a notable lack of fresh foods (at least, those not from some South American country you’d rather avoid), and a steady diet of grains and processed or preserved foods will often come up short on nutrients that would help keep your family going. Thus as soon as it stops raining cats and dogs here on the ’stead, I’m planning to gather and process the ingredients for a winter tonic packed with goodies. Only four ingredients (you can always add more, of course), and some local organic apple cider vinegar.

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Home Dried Pumpkin Crackers

My grandson would eat pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie every day of his life if he had his d’ruthers, so here’s the recipe for the pumpkin crackers I’m making now in my newfound food drying frenzy. From a crop of mini-pumpkins that took over three whole terraces of the garden (I only planted 4!) before I started cutting them back so I could get to the compost bin and tomatoes.

3 cups pumpkin puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ground mixed acorns and pumpkin seeds
* [can add flax and/or sesame seeds as desired, whole, toasted]
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground nutmeg

Now, 3 cups of pumpkin puree is about what you get out of a single mini pumpkin. If you’re growing giants, good luck (you can eat pumpkin bread and pie every day for a year from just one of those). Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds into a colander, quarter and put into an oven roasting pan with about an inch of water. Bake at 350º until soft. While the oven’s on, roast the cleaned and rinsed seeds on a baking sheet, stirring every 5 minutes to roast evenly (don’t burn). The pumpkin will be done in about 30-40 minutes.

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A Delicious, Immune-Strengthening Herbal Tea

Concerns about how the fall and winter are going to be shaping up with the “Novel H1N1″ version of swine/avian/1918 human flu is going to turn out. It’s already full-fledged pandemic, is less deadly so far outside of Mexico than originally feared, but is unstoppable and there is no effective vaccine on the horizon. It could do an instant replay of the 1918 pandemic, from which the human DNA elements of this novel strain are derived, meaning it will incubate as not-too-deadly all summer, then come back when the seasons turn to wipe out tens of millions.

That’s not guaranteed, of course. It could as easily piddle out and mutate itself into something not even infectious. Yet so far, that isn’t apparent either. I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry, so I’ve gone looking for the most effective natural ingredients for an immune-booster with likely antiviral properties that will also make a good day-drink just because it tastes good and is good for you generally. For regular cold viruses, bronchial/lung inflammations, sore throats, coughs, fevers, chills, etc. High in vitamins and minerals and antioxidants, plus some indications of anti-tumor agents.

Now, medicinal claims for natural herbs and such are strictly illegal per the FDA these days, so take it all with a grain of salt. Yet at the same time, many traditional herbal remedies have been and are being studied because they do appear to be effective. Many modern medicines are based upon traditional herbal remedies, even if they’re just the alkaloids artificially synthesized. First thing I did was go Googling for herbal “antivirals.”

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The Every-Six-Month Soap Job

Awhile back I wrote about making your own soaps, and how much fun that can be even though it’s a lot of work. Besides, who are we dedicated homesteaders if we’re not people who actually enjoy working around our homesteads and doing for ourselves? It’s officially late October now, which means I’ve got a different soap job to do at my homestead.

I do this soap job every spring and fall, mostly just because I can. Besides, it saves my hard-strapped household of four adult-sized humans about $120 every six months on a single necessary household item, even after the not too high costs of ingredients and processing. Since some of the ingredients are also used to make bathroom and kitchen scouring powders, good ant and mouse repellants, and insect sting/burn/rash treatment, I figure the savings to the homestead overall for a year is pretty close to $300.00. That’s nothing to sneeze at, even though my labor is donated free!

This soap job is all about getting our clothes clean. Yes, I do way too much laundry – I still think my daughter and grandson pull clothes out of the drawers or off the shelves and toss them into the dirty clothes hamper if it’s not what they want to wear today instead of refolding and putting them back where they belong. They were gone out of state all of August and September and I didn’t wash more than three loads a week for just hubby and I. But I can’t seem to catch them at it, so I just do the washing (and the drying, and the folding, and the putting away…). It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it!

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When the Fruit Salad Ripens

The long summer drought finally ended last week with a full 12 inches from tropical storm Fay’s leftovers that sat stubbornly right overhead for three days. Pears are falling fast from the granny tree next to the driveway, being mashed into pulp every time a vehicle comes or goes and smelling so sweet it’s drawing flocks of turkeys and herds of deer. The fruit is hard and will dent the car if we park there, but I’ve a plastic helmet to protect my head for gathering. Which I’ve just gotta get busy doing before the bears show up.

Between the Granny pear and the house are the grapes, concords and muscadines quickly ripening but not quite sweet enough yet to justify harvest. That will come in mid-September, I’ll make jam, compote and wine (usually ends up as wine vinegar) this year, the basalmic from last year’s harvest is still aging.

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Fun With Heirloom Tomatoes

Now that I’m over that nasty bout with salmonella-laced foreign tomatoes, I must say I’m delighted that my own heirlooms are finally turning red in the garden, providing the sweetest, meatiest, most desirable fruit/veggie on the planet. Since the FDA rescinded its warnings due to the sudden availability all over America of actual locally-grown tomatoes, we can talk about what to do with all that juicy incoming bounty.

Processing tomatoes for preservation (or just for making dinner) is a messy job. That’s why I planted varieties this year that are known more for their usable inner ‘meat’ than their juice and seeds. Plus it’s been a bit dry this season, so too much water definitely isn’t their issue. When it comes time to do the processing, you may wish to do what I do and use the back deck grill instead of the kitchen stove to boil those large amounts of water. No air conditioning here, it’s usually not necessary and is a total waste of ‘trons. But when you’ve got big pots of water boiling in the kitchen for long periods of time, even the most mellow of summer mountain weather can quickly become unbearable.

Here are the basic prep steps for processing fresh tomatoes:

1. Wash all your tomatoes in running cold water. Even if you never use pesticides or pepper spray on them, washing is always a good idea (unless you’re eating tomatoes while out there picking them).

2. Put tomatoes in rapidly boiling water for 10-20 seconds, until you see the skin split. Remove quickly and put them in cold water (I fill up the sink with cold water ahead of time). This stops the cooking and further loosens the skins.

3. Cut the parboiled tomatoes in half and cut out the stem-end core, pull off the skins. Then quarter, squeeze out the seeds, seed membranes and juice into a compost container or bowl (from which you can later extract seeds to save and juice to drink).

4. Put the peeled and seeded tomato quarters (or pieces, if you chop further) into a colander or sieve to drain more moisture. I usually sprinkle salt on them at this point, it helps to get the moisture out.

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How NOT to Be Poisoned By Your Food

As we homesteaders begin to rake in the summer produce (while planning for yet more), it may be time for some good advice on how to make sure that the produce you’re buying at the grocery store, at the farmer’s market, and off that farmer’s truck by the side of the road fully safe for your family to eat in this age of imported food, bad farming practices and bacterial contamination.

I am presuming that homesteaders know enough about the critters in the soil (and compost) to be regular produce-washers and cooks who know how long to cook a hamburger or egg so as to preclude any possibility of e.coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella poisoning. But with recent news of e.coli contamination of fresh produce – everything from “pre-wahed” lettuce and spinach and scallions to tomatoes – it’s good to review the basics.

Most of us who can our own produce as well as cook our own food also know that contamination like Salmonella and e.coli can be easily transferred from one food to another if we’re not very careful with the cleanliness of our working areas, cutting boards and utensils, and equipment. Sure, we can kill the critters with high enough heat and processing times, but as a semi-vegetarian, who wants to eat dead bugs either?

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The Most Refreshing Summer Tea

During the very hottest portion of the year I get really very sick of lemonade and regular old iced tea. Worse, I find that I can’t actually drink iced tea after noon if it’s been brewed honestly because it has even more caffeine than coffee. Plus, I live in the south where “regular iced tea” comes complete with about a full cup of white sugar per glass. I don’t like my drinks to be sugary, but I get pretty sick of plain old water too, despite having the Planet’s Best Mountain Spring Water right here in the tap.

So I make some cool summer teas from the first plants in the garden and the last to die out in fall – the mints. In fact, cool summer teas are the #1 thing to do with all those exotic mints – like apple mint, pineapple mint, chocolate mint and lemon mint (as well as good ol’ peppermint). To these I like to add a bit of rose hips, just for the tart flavor and excess vitamin C. I harvest those when they turn red in the fall, then freeze them in a jar for later use.

Now, the very name of the mints tells you all you need to know about the specific taste undertones you get out of them. I like to make my tea fresh, as making it of dried herbs requires less material and no simmering (I use the dry for hot wintertime tea). So in the following recipe, use your mint of choice!

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More Home Made Condiments

Walnut Ketchup and BBQ Sauce/Marinade

I have no nut trees on my property other than the oaks from which I get acorns in the fall, and hickory nuts that you need a hammer and rock to crack. But my son-in-law has four walnut trees on his property, from which I collect sacks of walnuts both in the summer (when they’re green) and in the fall (after they’ve fallen).

So in case you’ve a source for green walnuts, I thought I’d offer a recipe for walnut ketchup that can’t be beat!

Walnut Ketchup
About 100 immature walnuts, shelled and crushed
2 quarts cider or malt vinegar
1/2 cup kosher (non-iodized) salt (can substitute 2/3 cup dark soy sauce)

Put these ingredients into a crock and cover, stir it daily for 8 days. Sieve out the liquid and put into a large pot with…

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