Jude 2

I've canned 112 quarts, and I'm about to go out and pick more!

lol. It's a good year for green beans. God is really blessing our garden this year. A handful didn't seal (so we've been eating quite a few) but I'm getting the hang of it now. It's my first year to can green beans. I think I have about 103 quarts stored up. It's a wonder I'm not dreaming about green beans

I've also frozen squash and zucchini, and canned tomatoes and pickles and made peach preserves, strawberry jam and blackberry jam. (We didn't grow the fruit; I got it from other places)

Any other garden reports? I love to hear how others' gardens are doing.

harvested at least three times now from our two midget cherry trees. a couple cherry pie fillings, some cherry ice cream topping, and mostly just deseeded and frozen as is so that I can use them in smoothies using our "bullet". always on the lookout for over ripe banana's, strawberries, blueberries etc at the grocery store, so I can take them home, and freeze them so they are ready for smoothies. the cherries are a great addition.

Oh yum! I love fresh cherries! You are so blessed to have them right there at your house. We have a cherry tree, but it is still to young to produce for us.

Enjoy those cherries!!!

I have a bumper crop of muscadines. They will be made into jelly just as soon as they are ripe.

Shellie wrote:I have a bumper crop of muscadines. They will be made into jelly just as soon as they are ripe.

I going to show my ignorance here; I don't know what muscadines are? Will you tell me about them?

Tracy,

Muscadines are a very large grape. The skins are sour and the meat is very sweet. You can gently squeeze the grape and the whole round grape pops right out of the skin. I love the skin as well.

They usually grow wild in the woods of states such as Tennessee. However, I have a grape arbor in my back yard. I planted it a few years ago and it produces every year.

Tracy wrote:

Shellie wrote:I have a bumper crop of muscadines. They will be made into jelly just as soon as they are ripe.

I going to show my ignorance here; I don't know what muscadines are? Will you tell me about them?

Girl, where have you been? Muscadines (grape family) are awesome, especially the wild ones. They have a really unique taste when harvested from the wild. I don't really like the market version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_rotundifolia

Musky-dimes!!! Love 'em. Shellie, tell me where you got the vine cutting and how you got yours started, please!

and where do you live? Let me know if you need some help eating all that?

wendy k

When I was growing up we lived off of a dirt road. At the end of this road was a huge muscadine vine. We would harvest bags and bags of these and eat them for weeks. Man I miss them. The road was widened and paved...that ended the vine. I think I'll start looking for another wild source to split a vine off of.

I was able to have my garden again.

I always canned green beans too.

Tracy do you can them in a pressure caner?

I did,

I know how hard you are working when you have

a garden but when you are eating all that this winter

It will taste soooo good . It is worth all that hard work.

Dolfan wrote:

Love 'em. Shellie, tell me where you got the vine cutting and how you got yours started, please!

I just happened upon them one time while shopping in a Lowes store. They only had four (the vines were potted) and I grabbed all four. I've wanted to start more, but I've never been able to find them since.

I do have some seeds that I can send you. However, I sent someone some seeds a couple of years ago and they couldn't get them to sprout. Anyway, if you want me to send you some seeds...let me know.

pastorables wrote:Girl, where have you been?

In the garden and in the kitchen.

We have a couple of grape vines. I know what grapes are! ha.

Aboutthere wrote:Tracy do you can them in a pressure canner?

Yes, I am using a pressure canner. I just came in from picking another heaping 5 gallon bucketful. I'll be breaking beans today!

It is a lot of hard work, but that is the main cost of it; seed doesn't cost much, and it is a way to have lots of cheap, healthy food.

And ibuprophen helps with the pain ha

Can you freeze green beans? If so, do you cook them first?