Pumpkins Under Pressure

The past two days have been centered around pressure canning pumpkins. A few of my pumpkins were starting to mold, so I decided to hurry and process them. There was plenty to do.

First Jason cut the pumpkins in half for me, since that first cut is the most difficult for me. Next I pulled out all the seeds, boiled and toasted them. About 4 cups worth... And it took a couple hours.

Then I cubed up the rest of the pumpkins and filled my pressure canner about 3/4 full. Pressure cooked them briefly, as I sterilized my quart jars in the dishwasher. Next, I scooped the freshly cooked pumpkin cubes into the clean quart jars and covered with boiling water. 8 Quarts. Then pressure canned them at 12 lbs for 90min. I intended on 10 lbs, but it was hard to regulate. Voila! Woke up the next morning with 7 quarts of pumkin, and one extra in the fridge.

Yesterday I processed the one large pumpkin that was left over. With it I made 8 pints of orange pumpkin butter. Yum! Found the recipe at www.gardenweb.com

See my other Blog, City Homestead Projects for some pumpkin recipes.

Time to Plant Some Greens and Jot Down Ideas

I planted Arugala a few days ago. Sprouts are coming up.

I was tentative to plant greens earlier because of the hot weather and draught conditions.

This will be my second year of having a Fall Garden. Last year I grew simply a 4x4 of mesclun. This year I plan to expand.

I can't wait to get my mesclun seeds in. I ordered them from HarrisSeeds.com. because I was having a hard time finding them locally.

I will be planting other greens and veggies later than recommended, so I will have to see what will happen. Last year I place a window pane over the mesclun to hold in the warmth. I may need to plan for more covers (glass, straw bales, etc...)

I will be collecting my neighborhood fall leaves soon for compost/mulch around my yard. I am planning to begin a front yard herb and flower garden for the Spring. I can't wait to utilise this space.

Jason and I set up a couple rain barrels this summer. I am wondering how they will hold up in the winter. Out Winter is about 3-4 months long, and not extremely cold. Zone 7b.

I had to kill 5 big Black Widow spiders and 2 egg sacs the other day in my garden. Yikes!

I went ahead and mowed over the pumpkin vines to prepare for the fall planting.

Today I pressure canned 8 quarts of pumpkins and still had some leftover to make pumpkin butter. It's been a long day.

I will need to write a post on my summer garden. It did well, and I want to make an overview so I can more clearly improve upon it. I also should do a post on the Fall Garden plan.

Ideas
small pond
honeysuckle perfum
dried herbs (stevia, sage)
blueberries
milk paint living room
start herbs in house.