Frost and Happy Pigs

Oh boy, we had our first heavy frost this morning.  Fall has come on strong and summer already feels like it was a dream.  

During the summer, have you ever looked at the lush, green-leafed trees and thought, "I can't imagine being able to see every branch of that tree?"  Then winter comes, and by the end of winter you look at the skeletal trees and think, "I can't imagine there being so many leaves on that tree that I can't see the branches?"  

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A friend and I cut corn stalks yesterday.  The pigs have one and one-half weeks before they go to the butcher and I have one sack of feed left.  I'd like to get by without buying any more feed.  The friend has a field of older corn that he's letting me have (thank you Jim - for the corn and the help!).  

The pigs don't seem to mind that I'm giving them lots of corn stalks with the starchy corn cobs still on them, mushy tomatoes, baseball bat-sized squashes, and tree dropped apples.

They ate so much yesterday that they actually got full (I didn't imagine that could happen) and they didn't finish what I gave them!

That is one contented pig face!

Don't forget to Hop on over to Homestead Revival!

Corn Relish

 A week or so ago, I used some of my own corn - which grew amazingly well! - to make corn relish.  It was so pleasing to use all my own garden's vegetables in the recipe.  

The recipe I chose comes from my ultimate favorite vegetable cook book, "The Practical Produce Cookbook: How to Plant, Pick, Prepare, and Preserve Produce."

I've written about this book before and it's really my "go-to" book for cooking and preserving vegetables.  It's just loaded with information about just about every vegetable you could think of (even celeriac and salsify!) and it gives planting instructions; recipes for soups, salads and sandwiches, side and main dishes, and baked goods; and canning and freezing instructions.  I like that the recipes are uncomplicated and easy to follow.   

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Corn Relish

~from The Practical Produce Cookbook  

16 to 20 ears fresh corn

2 c. chopped onions

1 c. chopped sweet green peppers

3/4 c. chopped sweet red peppers

1-1/2 c. sugar

1 qt. vinegar

2 T. dry mustard

1 T. mustard seed

2 T. canning salt

Cut corn from ears but do not scrape.  Measure 2 to 2-1/2 qt. cut corn.  Combine corn with onions and remaining ingredients in a kettle.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.  Pack into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.  Cover and put lids on.  Process in boiling water canner for 20 minutes.  Yields 6 to 7 pints.  

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The corn is husked and cut and the cobs go to the pigs who (with their incredibly sharp teeth and strong jaws) grind up the whole thing like a soft marshmallow!  The husks go into the compost pile.  

The finished product!

Corn relish goes great with seafood and chicken!

Watch "Food Matters" Online For Free Oct. 2-8

Go to Food Matters to register for the free screening.  

And be sure to hop over to Homestead Revival for the Monday barn hop.  You'll find lots of links to other interesting blogs!

Two Great Events In Potter County, PA This Weekend!

We have two great events going on this weekend here in Potter County.  One is the annual Falling Leaves Festival.  This annual small town festival includes rides for the kiddies, pumpkin painting, vendors, live music, a parade, and much more!  

Fitzgerald's Family Farm Farmer's Market stand will be set up at the Falling Leaves Festival for my regular Saturday hours of 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.  We're the stand with the blue roof.  This is the very last Farmer's Market Saturday of the year.  Please stop by and say hello! 

The second big event is in Austin, PA - about 15 miles from Coudersport.  Austin has a fantastic museum, the E.O Austin Home, that you won't want to miss!  

On September 30, 1911, poor construction, coupled with torrential rain, resulted in the Austin dam's collapse. At least 78 people perished in the tragedy. News of the flood quickly spread worldwide. It was the second worst flood disaster in Pennsylvania’s history, and sixth worst dam failure in U.S. history. 

The tragedy sparked new legislation to improve dam safety, and the Austin Dam was placed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The lessons of the delicate balance between mankind and nature, as well as corporate responsibility, are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago. (from www.austin2011.com)

For more information about the Austin Flood Centennial times and events go to:  

Austin Flood Centennial

Sweet Pepper Harvest

My family LOVES sweet peppers - particularly red sweet peppers.  I had a pretty decent crop.  These are some of the ones that didn't get blossom end rot - I didn't even know peppers could get blossom end rot!  They're in the tomato family so it certainly makes sense.  I think I'll never ever stop learning!  This batch has been washed, sliced, and frozen.

Sweet Relish and "No Right To Eat or Produce Food"

Yesterday, I teased the very last of the cucumbers (just a few) from the high tunnel to make a batch of sweet relish.  I love homemade relish.  As I cook it, it's one of those foods whose smell makes my mouth water.  The flavor of homemade relish is like the difference between a store-bought tomato and a home-grown tomato.  You can't describe how it's different, but the flavor is so much more ... there.  Yum!

I love growing my own food.  I love that the food I'm feeding my family is more nutritionally dense then what I would buy at the store.  And the food I grow is, I feel, safer than what I buy at the store.  

But my right to eat and produce food seems to be under attack.

In Wisconsin, during a raw milk trial (the sale of raw milk has been targeted in sting operations leading to court cases) a judge said that, "Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume foods of their choice."  Walter at Sugar Mountain Farm, writes about it here.

In a previous post, Walter writes about the attack on small American farmers seen in the movie Farmageddon: The Unseen War On American Family Farms.  

I have to wonder if someday I'll be on a back alley selling my freshly grown - in dirt - carrots like they're  contraband?

To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves.

 ~Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

"I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural."

- Thomas Jefferson

Winter Squash Harvest 2011

The past few weeks have been a frenzy of harvesting and putting up vegetables before the first hard frost hits. 

 We've had one light frost already!  

This week we harvested all the winter squash out of my summer and winter squash garden (the summer squash is finished).  

While this looks like a lot of winter squash, it wasn't nearly the harvest I had hoped for.  I think - no, I know - the early summer drought we had cut into yields.  I'm not complaining though.  This section of my garden was dust dry during the drought and I'm happy I pulled anything at all off it!  

We had to get out and harvest everything that was in that section of my gardens because the chickens had figured out how to get in and were having a very good time pecking at everything.  They certainly can put a hurting on some vegetables.  Look at this poor hubbard squash!    

(You can actually see the beak marks!)

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.  For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.  ~Edwin Way Teale