Green Beans

The wonderful thing about being back in the Northwest again is that I can grow a lot of fruits and vegetables right in my own backyard.  The Territorial Seed Co. Blue Lake Pole Beans have done exceptional in my garden this year. I have already picked 20 pounds and they are still producing. I have jarred the beans, so I may enjoy them year round. Here's how:


Pick your beans when they are about the diameter of a pencil, but you cannot yet detect the individual beans inside the pods. The Blue Lake variety will be about 6-7 inches long.

                                                    Wash the beans in cool water.

Trim the ends, remove the string that runs down the outside

 of the beans, and break into 2-inch pieces.

Pack beans tightly into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. If desired, add 1 tsp. salt to each quart.

Ladle boiling water over beans leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove the air bubbles. Adjust the two-piece cap. Hand tighten the ring and place in your PRESSURE canner.

                      Process quarts for 25 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a pressure canner.

 

 

Once the processing period is complete, turn off the heat. Allow the canner to cool naturally. Do not remove the weight until the canner has depressurized and returned to zero pressure. Once it is at zero you may remove the weight. Let the canner cool for at least 10 minutes before removing the lid. Then wait another 10 minutes before removing the jars and placing them on a towel on the counter.

Crafternoon

Star Lake Ward Relief Society Meeting  Tuesday October 15, 2013 5-9pm
Orders and money are due by September 29, 2013. Sign up sheets will be at church. Money will be given to Sara Miller or placed in the sign up sheet binder.
Please bring your favorite fall treat (and the recipe) to share.

 Burlap Wreath- Free Tutorial (bring own supplies) (One 14" Styrofoam wreath, 2 yards burlap (any color-Hobby Lobby has a good selection) cut into 4"x4" squares for quick assembly, 90-100 quilting pins, Any desired embellishments(fabric will be available to make flowers)

 Prophet Frame- $6    Paint colors vary, picture included

 

 Pop Can Ornaments- Free limit 2 (bring own pop cans)

I Spy Bag- $6.50

Fabric choices for I Spy Bag

 

 Spooky Banner- $1

Family Blocks- $5     Bring 4 photos size 3x3.

 Chalk board-$3

 Holiday Frame-$3    Paint colors and printables vary (all are Christmas related)

Peaches

Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches
Peaches come from a can they were put there by a man woman. :)

You don't have to move to the country in order to eat a lot of peaches. And they don't have to come from a can in a factory downtown either. If you preserve them correctly you can eat peaches everyday.

Alright, enough with The Presidents of the United States and onto canning peaches.

                                         Blanch the peaches in boiling water for 20-30 sec.

                                              Immediately place them in an ice water bath

  To remove the skin I cup the peach in my hands and twist in opposite directions. The skin just falls off. Other suggestions are to use a rag to do the same thing. That might give you a better grip.

Cut the peaches in half and remove the pit. If you made sure to get cling free, or freestone peaches this task is simple.

Soak the peaches in a lemon juice/water bath to prevent browning.

Make a light syrup (5 1/2 cups of water and 1 1/4 cups sugar) and keep the syrup hot, but not boiling.

Pack peaches cavity side down into hot jars leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Ladle hot syrup over peaches leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove the air bubbles. Wipe the rim of your jar clean. Adjust the two-piece caps and place in your boiling water canner.

                                                       Process quarts for 20 minutes.

                                                               mmmmm peaches!!

Regrowing Green Onions

I had heard that green onions, even from the grocery store, will continue to grow once you have harvested the main stem. I decided to put it to the test.

 I purchased these green onions from Winco and used them for our dinner. Normally, I would compost this, thinking it was waste.

 This time I put it in a dish of water. Daily I replaced the old water with fresh water. Within 3 days I noticed that the green onion was GROWING.

                            After a few cuttings from the "new" green onion I put it in a pot of miracle grow soil. That made it really happy.  I have since moved the green onions into my herb garden. The same bundle I bought from Winco has been growing new harvestable green onions for 3 months now.

                                                   It also works with romaine lettuce.

I wasn't able to successfully move the plant out into the garden, but I did get 2 cuttings off of each one. It didn't grow as tall or as thick as it originally was when I bought it, but I consider it a win that I didn't have to buy additional lettuce as often.

Plums (Italian Prunes)

A wonderful lady in my church let me pick plums from her tree. My parents had the same type of plum tree in our backyard growing up. I was so excited to be able to have a little bit of my childhood back :)

I picked a 5 gal bucket with the help of the kids.

                                                           I washed them in cool water.

                                                        I cut them in half and removed the pit.

                       I gave them a quick dip in a lemon juice/water bath to help prevent browning.

                                         Then I laid them all pretty like in my dehydrator.

                                                                       Hello gorgeous

With the dehydrator set on 135 degrees and roughly 10 hours later

I had perfectly dried, yet still pliable, plums.

 

 

SilverFire Stove Group Buy

This order is replacing our Stove Tec Rocket stove order.
Unfortunately, Stove Tec was unable to fill our order for rocket stoves after a month of waiting.

Fortunately, we found SilverFire and they are able to fill our order.
We are giving another 2 weeks for anyone else who would like to buy a stove. The order deadline is July 25. Money will be due by Aug 1st. Checks will be made payable to "Josi Rust".
Here is the break down on prices.

The new early August shipment has 5 new material cost design upgrades from the original beta test models they sold out of.  The new upgrades are included in the new Survivor stove price list.  The changes include:

1.  Perlite powder insulation upgrade to a higher quality full blanket rock mineral insulation (eliminates Perlite dust on stove). 

2.  Pem nuts embedded in Stove body wall, now customers will install handles to prevent denting by rough domestic carrier handling (FedEx, UPS, etc...).

3.  Thermal plate in bottom of stove, to reduce temperature under stove.

4.  New 5 prong pot supports on cast iron top, from current 4.

5.  Fuel Gauge added to stove door, to remind folks only small diameter fuel required and provides a second option to open stove door easier.

Here are a few reviews:
Survivor
Survivor
Hunter
Scout

HERE is a comparison between Stovetec and Silverfire

To sign up please email your name, phone number, type of stove, and how many. 

For those of you in Oregon contact Josi at tinkctr@hotmail.com

For those of you in Washington contact Jeri at jericolburn@gmail.com  
WE WILL CONTACT YOU WHEN SIGN UPS ARE COMPLETE TO LET YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THE STOVE WILL BE.
SIGN UP DEADLINE JULY 25
PAYMENT DEADLINE AUGUST 1

SilverFire Clean Cooking Products
Showroom / Warehouse
777 Washington Street
Eugene, Oregon 97401
USA
Sales:  541 222 9212 Pacific Time Zone
Warehouse:  541 485 7114 Pacific Time Zone
Hours:  Monday - Saturday 10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
sales@silverfire.us

 

Group buy on Pears

FRESH BARTLETT PEAR ORDER 2013

I am doing a pear order from Big Mac “ThePearGuy”.

The pears are from Medford, Oregon pear orchards. There is a sweet crop this year.

Delivery will be mid-August to early September.

Pears will be delivered within 24-48 hours of picking and can be refrigerated or ripened.

Anyone is welcome to order as long as you are able to pick them up at my house in Kent, send this to your neighbors & friends.

We will have a week’s notice before delivery.

FAQ- Check out www.ThePearGuy.com

Pears come in 40 lb boxes for $25 per box, only 62.5¢ per lb
(If I have to deliver the boxes to you the price goes up to $26/box and a requirement that a minimum of 50 boxes be delivered to that area.)

MONEY AND ORDERS ARE DUE BY AUGUST 1, 2013

By ordering pears you are responsible for reading your email and keeping informed of the date for pick up and any changes that may occur. If you are not able to pick up your pears you must find someone else to pick them up for you. The pears won’t last long in a hot garage.  

Please email your name, phone number, city or ward,  and how many boxes you want.

email jericolburn@gmail.com I will then reply with my address so you can drop off cash, mail a check, or money order payable to 'Jeri Colburn'. I will hold all the checks until the pears are delivered, then I will write one big check to 'The Pear Guy'.
For your convenience I can now take payment via paypal to the email jericolburn@gmail.com