FARM GIRL'S CORNER - More cabbage comin' atcha, with a side trip into sauerkraut

Hi again its me, farm Girl! Did you order your fall seeds and plants yet? Well let me remind you again, because it may be almost too late - and in some northern zones is already to late - to order your cabbages.

There are so many reasons to grow a fall crop of cabbages, not the least of which is that these vegetables do better in general growing into cool weather rather than out of it and as a result tend to be heavier, more uniform and many say tastier than their spring counterparts.

This fine example, as our pals at Baker Seed's* remind us, can be made into excellent slaw, and kraut as well.

Ray Kukkee of Incoming BYTES knows something about first rate Sauerkraut and is going to share his excellent recipe with us. (This recipe cannot be found on Unnatural Foods, because there is nothing unnatural about it. So pay attention!)


*Baker seeds, over 1400 heirloom seed varieties!

Do you like sauerkraut?

You'll love this recipe. It's easy and produces an excellent product with a minimum of problems. Even a small half-batch (ten lb. ) with time and some patience will make about 3-4 quarts of tasty sauerkraut!

Cleanliness is absolutely essential. This is a fermented food product and does present opportunities for contamination if adequate care is not taken. . Bacteria convert vegetable sugars into acid, which provides the unique flavour and acts as a preservative. The more care taken in making it, the better it seems to turn out!

For a full 20 lb batch of sauerkraut you will need:

• 20 lbs. of freshly shredded*cabbage
• 12 Tablespoons coarse **pickling salt.

• A sharp knife or kraut cutter.
• A 5-gallon container. A ceramic or stone crock is ideal, but a glass jar or other suitable container like a clean, food-grade 5 gallon pail will suffice. Do NOT use plastic bags or containers that are not food-grade plastic. * See the precautionary note below on zinc-coated (galvanized) metal containers.
• Jars & lids for storage or suitable for canning (preserving).

Special Notes: Cabbage, Salt and Containers

1. *Fresh cabbage usually has more juice and will make a better product without the necessity of adding brine. Cabbage species considered to be "fall storage" may be preferred for this process because of the solid, juicy nature of those cabbage heads right out of the garden,-- but try a batch with earlier summer cabbage too! Red cabbage does ferment well, but results in a less attractive product than white cabbage.
2. **Iodized table salt is NOT suitable for this process. Iodine can destroy the bacterial ferment. Use only non-iodized pickling salt. Also, Do NOT use more than 12 tablespoons of salt for a 20 lb. batch. More is not better. Excess salt can hinder, and too much salt may prevent fermentation entirely.

3. CAUTION: Carefully AVOID using galvanized metal containers. Sauerkraut is acidic in nature and release zinc, which can be toxic.

Procedure:

• Sanitize all equipment including the fermenting container.
• Finished quantity required is 20 lbs of fresh shredded cabbage, so allow extra weight to allow for defective leaves, waste and core removal
• Remove all damaged outer leaves and the stem. *watch for insects!
• Rinse cabbage in cold water, cut the heads in quarters, removing stem and cores.
• Shred or cut the cabbage uniformly --about the thickness of a quarter. Uniformity is necessary for an even, high-quality ferment.
• Work in 5 lb. portions. Place 5 lbs of shredded cabbage in your fermenting container and add 3 tablespoons of salt, sprinkling it evenly. Mix the salt into the cabbage and pack it firmly using a masher, clean hands, or a suitable kitchen tool until the salt begins to draw juice from the cabbage. The cabbage will change in appearance as juices are drawn from it.
• Continue adding the rest of the cabbage in 5 lb. layers, adding salt, mixing and compacting each layer.
• Finally, mix, press and compact all of the cabbage uniformly and thoroughly, and press down until it is covered with it's own juice.
• Install a suitably-sized food grade plastic or ceramic dinner- plate and a suitable *weight which will fit neatly inside the ferment vessel and press all of the cabbage beneath the liquid. Wipe down the walls of the mixing vessel carefully with a clean cloth, removing any bits of cabbage.
• (*Use a heavy food-grade plastic bag full of water, suitable container filled with clean water for a weight, or even bricks in a plastic bag. I use a 1-gallon food-grade plastic ice cream container with it's own lid, filled with salt brine).
• If there is inadequate liquid to cover the cabbage with an inch or more of it's own juices, it will be necessary to add brine to the ferment. Use 1-1/2 tablespoons of salt to a quart of water. Add only as much brine as you need to cover the cabbage properly.
• Cover the vessel with a clean cotton cloth tied or otherwise secured to keep out dust, moulds and insects.
• Note: Keep the ferment at room temperature 70-75F; if it is cold, the batch will either ferment very slowly (perhaps take 6 weeks! ) or if below 60F, not at all. Remember that the longer a ferment takes, the greater the opportunity for contamination and spoilage. Equally, being too warm at 80F+ almost guarantees soft, poor quality, or spoiled sauerkraut.
• Inspect your ferment in about a week. If the ferment is progressing properly, it should show bubbles around the edges of the liquid and will have a typical fermenting bouquet. Check carefully for any moulds developing around the edges and remove if observed. Remove and clean the weight if necessary, and wipe down the interior walls of the vessel to a clean state with a clean cloth dampened in salt brine as necessary.
• Keep the fermenting vessel at a stable room temperature for three to four weeks. Do not eat sauerkraut before the ferment is completed!
• Bubbling will cease when the ferment is finished.
• Your new batch of properly-fermented sauerkraut should NOT be slimy, smell bad, or look moldy or darkly discoloured. Cabbage properly fermented will typically have a pale 'translucent' look. The taste should be sharply acidic and fresh, typical of excellent sauerkraut. 

Sauerkraut can be cooked, preserved, or eaten as is when the ferment is completed, but aging it for a couple of additional weeks can improve the flavour. If you decide to age your sauerkraut in the ferment container, inspect it regularly and remove any moulds quickly for the highest quality product.

To Store or Preserve your sauerkraut, pack it into clean sterilized jars. Ensure there is enough juice in the jars to cover the fermented cabbage. Sauerkraut will keep for several months if stored in a refrigerator.

To can sauerkraut, fill clean, sterilized jars and remove air bubbles. Top up with juice, allowing a half inch of head space, and install lids reasonably finger-tight. Process pint jars in a boiling water bath for ten minutes and quart jars for 15 minutes. Properly preserved sauerkraut will keep for several years. Enjoy!

**Credits: The original salt/cabbage proportions and cautions used in this recipe may be credited to the Ohio State University Extension Fact sheet on Human Nutrition HYG 5342-97 . The salt ratio is critical for a balanced recipe that ferments completely in the shortest possible time to minimize the opportunity for spoilage.

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Thanks, Raymond! We intend to try this delicious kraut project as soon as we harvest our Megatons! As always, thanks for visiting Farm Girl's Corner!

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Farm Girl's note: Pictured above is the only acceptable method for "smothering ones wiener with kraut". The grotesque and morally reprehensible visual pun which a besotted Uncle Mac inflicts on us all during the Super Bowl Game each year is not. I know that he's beyond befuddlement by the fourth quarter and is already calling the winning quarterback "Bart" even if the Packer's are not playing, but there are things one does not do, and which moreover, do not ever need to be done.

Worse, after we have all admired his wit he flips the kraut back in the warming pan.

Lead photo courtesy of April May Maple who retains all rights:

Lead photo model: April May Maple

Baker Seeds

Incoming BYTES

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - Urgent PSA

Farm Girl here! Let's cut to the chase!

In the wake of a distressing episode that occurred over the week end on location at the "digs" (if you will) of an East Pennsylvania gardener who shall remain nameless, and on behalf of Uncle Mac's Garden Shed, I would like to clarify a few points on the subject of dibbles, and dibblery in general.

To wit:

Acceptable dibbling devices

These are dibbles, and any and all may be profitably employed to pierce the soil so as to better plant seeds, roots, rhizomes, tubers, bulbs, sets and
plants.





















Equally acceptable

 This is a Sharpie permanent marker, a fine writing and labeling product which may, when the reservoir of ink which makes this instrument so valuable in its original capacity becomes exhausted, be used to great effect as a dibbling tool. You can dibble yourself blue in the face with a Sharpie, and we bid you God speed. It is particularly useful for the pre-dibbling of onion plant holes.

It is here displayed next to the nearly identical "Shoupie" marker which can, in a pinch, be employed as a dibble as well.




NOT A GARDENING TOOL!

This however is Mr. Rob Dibble, enormously talented and well respected former major league baseball player who is not, repeat not to be mistaken for a gardening implement under any set of circumstances! We have no intention of detailing the unfortunate events of the preceding 48 hours which, as they did not happen here, are still mercifully vague. But this sort of thing should never occur.

There is enough stress in the world today without dibbling malfunctions!














Well a word to the wise should be sufficient so at this point...what's that, Uncle Mac? Oh put that away that isn't a Sharpie! I know a Sharpie when I see one! I graduated Texas A & M and don't you forget it!

Where was I? Oh yeah, mind your dibbles and as always, thanks for checking out Farm Girls Corner!



       

AUNT AGNES WITH AN UPDATE - First crop!

Hi! Aunt Agnes here with a veggie update! Ah woulda put it on Farm Girl's Corner but she changed her password and forgot to tell me. Well we hauled in the first crop today and Ah'm so gosh durn proud Ah'm crowin'! Cock-a-doodle doo! Well hell any cock will do but that's not why Ah'm here!

Now would yew jist lookit this! And it were a' right tasty too!

These radishes, now have a lot more vitamins, minerals and even Omega-3 than most people know about. You can learn all abot the good things radishes do for you, right HERE!

That's all I wanted to show all y'all tonight but I'll be back as soon as somethin' interestin' happens! Now Ah gotta go watch wrasslin' on the cable box.

(Face it some o' y'all didn't really think we was gardeners, didja?)

See y'all next time!





UNCLE MAC'S FOOTNOTE:

Or rather, no she won't. We received enough comments and e-mail after Aggy stepped in when Farm Girl was away to know this is a non-starter, and we have a plan.

It gets darker than pitch outside at night when there is no moon, and you have to move around by instinct more or less. Next new moon we're gonna fill old Aggie up with home brew and Leatherfaces' special chili, and for desert give her chocolate cake with chocolate ex-lax icing.

Then me and Leatherpuss will go out and move the out house about 8 feet further down the path.

Should wrap things up nicely!

Thanks for stopping by, even if it was only for this!

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - Parsnips, and dibblery on the cheap.

It's Me! Farm Girl!



IMPROVISED DIBBLING DEVICE

 Hi! Farm Girl here with not so much of a "Corner", per se, but more of an observation. Do not throw that Sharpie away when it finally runs out of ink! The gray end makes an excellent dibble for everything from seeds to onion plants. And of course you are recycling for your own direct benefit, and saving the planet and leaving a tiny carbon footprint and all that happy horse crap. Just thought you'd like to know!









YUCH!



And now it's time to air a grievance, if I might! I was going through the seeds today to see what we'd be planting and you know what I found? PARSNIP SEEDS!  Who does that old fool Mac think is gonna be taking care of those proud beauties? Not me! He's lucky I help him "compress the hay" now and then! It can take 35 days for these things to sprout, and when they do, what do you have? Parsnips! I mean just LOOK at these things! What's next? Salsify? 










BLEAH!

 They look soooo much better cooked, do they not? I wouldn't feed these to Leatherface! Well maybe him come to think
but nobody else.











Well this has been nice hasn't it? Remember, save those Sharpies, and thanks for stopping by Farm Girl's Corner!

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - Goin' fishin'

Hi! Farm Girl here! Usually I help Uncle Mac around the Garden and in the shed and stuff but today he tossed down his last swig of Irish Breakfast Coffee and bellowed: "Farm Girl! I've a mind to dunk my dobber!"

Well after we established that this dunkery would take place at the reservoir and not in the haystack we got our tackle together and went fishin'. Mac likes me to go fishin' with him, he says I'm his favorite l'il hooker, the sexist swine!

Man that springtime water is C-c-cold if you know what I mean!

But today I'm here to tell you all about the "Silver Bullet" spin casting spinner, a spinning lure that is all flash and glitter. For light spin fishing rigs this lure weighs just over 1/4 ounce. It will catch damn near all North American game fish, at one time or another and is equally adept at snagging brush, bushes, submerged logs and your own ear, if you are not careful.

And speaking of ears, ladies, what if it's not a fish you are lookin' to reel in, but a fisherman? Then you need the earring corollary to the silver bullet spinning, lure, a set of silver hooker earrings! They look just like the silver bullet lure (because that's what they are) and fisherman cannot resist them. Before you know it, they'll be nibbling your neck, just to get closer to those earrings!

The only difference are the red protective balls on the hooks, to save you from slicing your carotids open like Jack-the Ripper dicing a Whitechapel tart. Make no mistake, these balls are important. If its balls you are after, you'll need these.

What Mac? My marketing sucks? Sell your own lures and earrings then!

Now where was I? Oh yes! I know where you can purchase, dirt cheap, both the lures and the earrings, and that would be, right HERE!

And that's it for now, as always, thank you for visiting Farm Girls Corner!

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - Talkin' tomatoes

Howdy I'm Farm Girls Aunt Agnes from Texas! Farm Girl is in Minnesota for a little while doin' research on Vikings so I thought I'd stop by and help Uncle Mac while she's gone. Farm girl is always helping Mac all over the place and I figured, heck, I can help that old fool t'il he's bow-legged but he doesn't seem interested. "Guzzle all the beer you want, don't touch my whiskey, don't frighten the animals and stay out of my way." is what he said, a bit rudely it seemed to me. Well his loss...

Farm Girl intended to talk about termaters and she left what she had to say writ down, so I'll let 'er git to it, as it were.

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Tomatoes are the prime bragging crop in most home vegetable gardens and that's true here at the Shed as well. While its pretty easy to grow tomatoes generally, it can be a little more complicated to grow a really large crop of juicy tomatoes with at least a few "take me to the Fair" giants among them.

A good deal of the important work can be done during fall clean up, leaving you with less to do in spring.

Tomatoes love to send their roots deep and wide and its to the gardeners advantage to help them do so. One way is to decide which beds will be holding tomatoes the following season and actually dig them out, more than a shovel's length, perhaps two feet deep or more if you have the inclination, (or perhaps a couple of teen aged sons who want something from you).

Take the opportunity to replace the boards to the raised bed if they are deteriorating, perhaps with two by ten lumber this time instead of two by six, or better still with the semi logs you split yourself which can be any size you wish. (to find out how easy this actually is, look HERE.)

Then fill the bed back up with a mix of organics and the soil which you removed. Whats good? any left over compost you have should be tossed in. Mac likes to take oak leaves and straw, lay it on top of a patch of lawn grass he let get tall, and then mow the mass slowly, collecting the chopped mix in a catch bag, then laying it out and chopping it again.

This gets mixed in with the returning soil and places potential tomato nutrients with the reach of the worms and microbes who will act upon converting them into a form that tomato plants can best utilize. Mac also likes to sprinkle in some green sand, crushed eggshell and bone meal, but generally avoids boosting nitrogen as the grass and compost will already be providing that, and he will be adding more compost in spring.

Once the bed has been refilled it should appear to be over filled, and that is fine, it will settle over the winter months.

In spring, all we do is add in a bit more compost, sifted, and turn it into the soil - only one spades depth this time. Keep turning the soil ever few days while the weather warms, this suppresses weeds and also exposes all kinds of grubs to the birds, who will happily gobble them up.

We never plant our tomato plants, usually from seeds we've started but sometimes with purchased plants, before May 15th. (We're on the cusp of zones 5 and 6). this gives us warm soil and adequate warm nights, and large "seedlings" to plant. We always plant them with a good part of their stems underground, roots spring forth from the buried stems and help grow an stronger, healthier, ultimately more productive plant.

We are growing three varieties of main season, large tomatoes and this one is "Brandywine", a widely available open pollinated type known for its large, flattened fruits and delightful tomato taste. Brandywine is indeterminate and really benefits from staking, the plants grow quite large. As with all the larger tomato types it is a good idea to pinch off the suckers - excess branches - so that most energy goes into growing tomatoes, not greenery. We expect tho pick these starting in mid July.

Like Brandywine, the Old German tomato is an heirloom, open pollinated indeterminate variety, producing large beefsteak style fruits that can run from tradition crimson in color to nearly gold, both inside and out.

We have never tried this variety, here at the Shed but we have heard good things. We'll be taking pictures and keeping everyone advised of their progress throughout the season.

Both of these varieties are widely available, we happened to get our seeds from the Territorial Seed Company.

If there is a knock against either the Brandwine or Old German tomato it is that they are not the most prolific of producers, although we have always found the yield from Brandywine to be more than adequate.

W. Atlee Burpee Seeds proclaims that our final choice, the exclusive Burpee Big Daddy, is a powerhouse producer of 1 lb. fruit. 

This is the only hybrid tomato plant which we are growing this year, and likely the last on ever, as we are moving to a "seed saver" program next season. We simply wanted to see if this much ballyhooed newcomer would live up to its advanced press. As it has been developed from the widely grown "Big Boy" plant we feel that it just might; we have always had great success with Big Boys.

Once the plants are in the ground and established, we weed them scrupulously, and then cover the soil with a 2" thick carpet of sifted compost to retain moisture and keep the soil cool, and also to keep earthworms near the surface doing their wormly duties. (for more on this, go HERE). After they have been growing for a month or so we give them a side dressing of powdered eggshell - calcium- and of Epsom Salt - magnesium. A good dousing with sea food emulsion is also in order, perhaps a week after the side dressing.

Other than that it is simply a case of keeping up with the staking and water supply and waiting for nature to take its course. Stick with us for further updates on the progress of the tomato patch, and as always, thank you for visiting Farm Girls Corner!

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - butternut squash

  

FARM GIRL

Hi! I’m Farm Girl. I help Uncle Mac in the garden and around the shed and things like that. Uncle Mac really likes to get a jump on the growing season but even I was surprised when he called me the other day.

“Farm Girl”, he said, “Git your bony ass over here I’ve a mind to do some plowin’!”

“Oh Mac, you silly man, I told him, we can’t do any plowing it’s the middle of winter!”

But he talked me into it and do you know he was right? We plowed from eleven in the morning until two in the morning the next day; it was amazing. I haven’t participated in a plow fest like that since homecoming night my senior year at Texas A & M! I do not know where the old bastard gets the stamina! Must be all the fresh veggies…

REALLY BIG BUTTERNUT SQUASH

But today on Farm Girls Corner I'm going to tell you about one of the crops that was a huge success in last years garden, "Really Big Hybrid”, a strain of butternut squash. “Really big” well describes this 10 to 15 pound whopper butternut squash, which is not only huge and prolific, it is full of tasty seeds and keeps spectacularly if you just store it in a cool but dry environment.

And it is so easy to grow! Just plant the seeds in well turned, compost rich soil, about an inch deep. Wait a full three weeks after the last frost to plant, these squash abhor cold weather. Allow three feet between each plant and its neighbor; these are vigorous, fast growing vines. They will try to grow outside the garden fence, do not allow it, critters are out there, awaiting their arrival.

MISTER BEAR

When the vines are beginning to flower, hitting them with fish emulsion spray is a terrific idea. (Apply fish oil emulsion only on days when the wind blows toward that neighbor you are not crazy about. It smells awful.) Other than that, they need little in the way of soil additives or fertilizers with the exception of the compost already mentioned.

Do water well when the tiny squash begin to develop and thereafter until harvest, these are thirsty veggies and need water to achieve maximum size and weight.

The seeds for this crop came from the Jung Seed Company, but they do not seem to be carrying the seeds this year. This is unfortunate, these are excellent squash, and the best butternuts we’ve had here in the garden for 40 years. So fire up your search engines, and add these wonderful vegetables to your list, they are worth the search.

And as always, thanks for viewing Farm Girls Corner!