Cabbage finished for 2023

The Beefsteak tomatoes weren't actually. They were a mystery variety of cherry tomatoes. 

The Straight Eight cucumbers didn't produce well despite being worked hard by some very dedicated little bumblebees. 

The Great Stuff peppers have been slow to get going, but there are peppers growing. 

Sugar Baby watermelon? There is ONE growing. 

Cantaloupe? Nary a one, again, not the fault of the dedicated bumblebees.

Butternut squash? Growing, baby. Looking good. 

Cabbage? Holy crap! My garden spot can grow some cabbage!!!

It's a good thing we like cabbage. The last batch of cabbage came out of the freeze drier this morning, and I'm glad to be done. The weather tomorrow looks to be cooler, so tomorrow I'll clean out the cabbage patch and turn over the soil.

Another lesson learned this year is to better stagger planting the cabbage. We had too many heads mature at the same time this year. We can only consume so much Cole Slaw before we begin to let it go to waste, which is not why I garden. 

I've learned a lot about cabbage this summer. Now I need to apply that to next year, when the time comes.

The Lady of The Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, gardening, Harvest Right freeze dryer, home food preservation, rural living, country lifestyle, cabbage, a writer's life, KC Kendricks 

Love, love, love lemons!

The spousal unit does not share my love of lemons. I can get away with adding a bit of lemon to different dishes, but there is a dearth of lovely lemon goodies in the freezer.  

No lemon cookies, no lemon cake, no lemon muffins, no lemon curd for scones, no lemon lush for dessert. It's a sad thing. 

But there is hope! I bought a cheap bag of lemons and ran them through the freeze dryer! 

It was a simple exercise. I sliced the lemons on the mandolin, saving the odd end peels for zest. The run took about seventeen hours, and I put the lemons in two quart jars and vacuumed sealed them, one with an oxygen absorber for longer storage, and one without for more immediate use. The odd peels are vacuumed sealed in a pint jar at the moment. Come the weekend, and daylight, I'll run them the chopper to make zest and put that in an even smaller jar to use. 

This coming summer, I'll have lemon slices to add to water along with a slice of ginger and a spring of mint for a very refreshing summer treat. Planning ahead and having those things you frequently use on hand in the panty is the whole point behind all my "prepping." What I didn't know is that it would end up being such fun!

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Leftover soup? Freeze dried it!

Have you noticed how people love to spout statistics at you like you're to blame for whatever it is they're talking about? Me, too. And this is NOT that. It's about not wasting the grocery budget, not feeding the world on the 20% of food gone bad the average household tosses out each year. 

The food that goes bad in my fridge will not feed the world. It won't feed anyone, especially me because that fuzzy stuff growing on it is a deal-breaker, in my opinion. 

But, I digress...

Several years ago the spousal unit and I pledged to make a concerted and serious effort to plan our meals in such a way that we didn't throw as much food on the compost pile. We eased into it by deliberating cooking more to make enough for two meals and then freezing one. That will always work for us, but there are some things that do not freeze well, such as bean soup. Bean soup turns to mush when thawed. 

Now the question is will it be mush when reconstituted after being freeze-dried? It may be a while before we find out. As this was leftover bean soup, it was perfect for the experiment to find out. 

Along with the bean soup, I did several trays of eggs. My complaint about the eggs is that the Mylar bags that came with the Harvest Right freeze dryer are large enough to hold two dozen freeze-dried eggs. I need to get smaller bags as there are only two of us in the household. It will be a while until we dip into that pouch, and I think the solution will be to transfer the eggs to a Mason jar once the bag is opened. I can then vacuum seal the jar. 

We have a new "normal" when it comes to the foods available to us. The grocery stores, even Walmart's grocery, now lack the variety we've become accustomed to. We'll be fine because we have a new way of thinking, and more importantly acting on the steps necessary to have food security. 

I never thought there would come a day when I worried not about being able to purchase food items, but actually finding food items to purchase. It's been a sobering two years. 

We remain thankful for the position we're in. We've worked hard all our lives, worked hard to live debt-free, and we can do things like purchase a freeze dryer and work to secure our future. 

Nothing is ever easy, nor is it free. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Harvest Right Freeze Dryer - up and running

Good idea? Bad idea? 

Money well spent? Waste of money? 

For better or for foolishness, our Harvest Right freeze dryer has arrived and is set up in my basement laundry room. This is not where it's going to live on a permanent basis. It's going on a sturdy cart fitted with an extra piece of countertop from the outdoor kitchen project. I need my counter space for folding clean clothes. 

We got the medium-sized unit and as the photo attests, it's still rather large and takes up a fair amount of space. It was simple to set up and get running - a real relief since I was on my own to do it. Cousin Dave helped get it into the house, but I needed to read the manual before I hooked it up. The manual is clearly written, and it helped to watch the YouTube video produced by Harvest Right. 

Our system has the Premiere pump, and it does run quietly. We can't hear it run and the master bedroom is directly above the laundry room. Not a problem.

So far I've only done small batches of fruit, but I'm pretty comfortable with the machine and feel ready to move on to bigger projects. Nothing I'm doing to learn the operation of the unit will be a financial loss if I mess it up. I'm excited to move on to meal projects, concentrating on those things that can't be pressure canned such as pasta and rice meals. 

Will the machine actually ever pay for itself? I'm not sure. We'll have to do a lot of freeze-drying to recoup $3,000. Is recouping the money the goal? Not really. I think the real benefit of the freeze dryer will be in the convenience of having different foods safely stored and at my fingertips. 

We've all experienced issues caused by the breakdown of our supply chain. Twice now our local grocery has not had milk. I have powdered milk in the pantry, but along with the store not having milk, there was no cream or half-and-half for our coffee. If I can freeze dry half-and-half so that all we need do is drop a pellet into our cup, that would be good. 

There are more than supply chain issues to consider. At this point in time, we have enough income to keep up with inflation. That could change at any moment. Having food stores on hand could make the difference between eating and not eating. It's something we worry about as we get older. What if we can't get to a store? Getting older is all about new worries and taking steps to avoid issues. 

Some of the fruits I've processed are strawberries, mango, raspberries, and dark cherries. That freed up freezer space for two half-gallons of milk. Tomorrow's project is freeze-drying bananas and apples and possibly trying a small amount of half-and-half. I have silicone molds that look to be a good size for creamer pellets. It should be interesting. I'll keep you posted.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

Harvest Right Freeze Dryer

Three thousand dollars is a lot of money. I didn't spend that much on my first three cars, added together. But the times do change and the future isn't creeping up on us these days. It's coming at us fast to slap us in the face. 

It's become very clear to me that maintaining my country lifestyle has become a lot more complicated. Heck, maintaining any semblance to a "lifestyle" is a lot harder these days. I dragged the man of the manor along on a grocery run today. His takeaway on the experience was, "where's the Gatorade?" That wasn't precisely the point I wanted to drive home with him, but it's close. 

The Gatorade isn't at our house. The last time I got him Gatorade, he told me we didn't need to buy it two cases or sleeves at a time. Ha! Now he has none. The price of Doritos chips has gone from $2.50 a bag to $3.48. We now have no Doritos to go along with his Cool Blue. 

He didn't comment on some of the empty shelves, but I know he took it all in. I've been telling him for months, but him seeing it for himself was better. 

After the groceries were stowed, I sat down at my computer and did something I wasn't sure I should do - I ordered a Harvest Right freeze dryer. Yep. They are pretty pricey. 

I've enjoyed home canning this year, and I plan to continue. The freeze dryer isn't to take the place of canning and/or dehydrating. It's to begin having a long-term pantry. Freeze-dried items properly stored can last up to twenty years. I see a definite advantage to having the ability to expand my pantry, which expands our ability to eat healthier. Nothing will take the place of canned apple pie filling, but having apple slices with no extra added sugar to munch on will be a definite plus. Freeze-dried blueberries and raspberries are little candies. Canned potatoes get starchy while freeze-dried do not. This purchase will round out my home preservation plan. 

And so now I have a little work to do. I need to rearrange a few things in the basement and create a workstation for the new equipment. I'm pretty sure this will lead to at least one trash bag full of things I no longer use making its way out of the house. We do tend to hoard things when we have space, but we've kept things like an old showerhead. Why? Because we could, which is not a good reason. 

The freeze dryer won't ship until January. Harvest Right is shipping five to seven weeks out at this point, so I put down a deposit to get the sale price and will pay the balance at a time to try to have it shipped after Christmas when shipping may be less hectic. That gives me plenty of time to clean out and rearrange downstairs. One of the upsides is I'll be doing the rearranging on my own with no help from Himself, so it will be done my way to suit me.

Is a freeze dryer worth an outlay of $3,000? I guess I'll find out in the new year. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)