fall harvest

Boy...between school starting and all those veggies coming in, September just flew by.

We got Caleb off to college in Massachusetts, and the rest of us started school here. My goal this year is not to get too bogged down correcting homework to have a life. So far, I think I'm doing well in that regard.

This past month, we have been smoking pork from a pig we bought at the 4H auction. (I think there is a learning curve there...how do you smoke everything thoroughly without it getting all dried out?) We have been trying to clear space at the farm to plant blackberry bushes later this fall or next spring. And, of course, we have been trying to keep up with the harvest of veggies at the farm and in Broomall.

Although the cukes and tomatoes are pretty much done (stupid tomato blight), there's always basil (for pesto!) coming in. Also a few pumpkins, carrots, summer squash...but the best harvests this year have been beans and peppers. I have picked upwards of 13 pounds of green, wax, and purple beans and frozen about half of them. Gave away a bunch, and ate most of the rest raw. Most of us prefer them raw.

Things I have discovered about growing beans:

• bunnies love bean sprouts, so bean plants must be covered with netting or chicken wire.
• it is much easier to see wax and purple beans than green ones on the plants, but green ones taste marginally better.
• pole beans are much cleaner than bush beans when you pick them -- no dirt or slug damage.
• purple beans turn green when you blanch them (actually, I learned this one 20 years ago!)
• blemishes on purple beans are hard to see until after they're blanched.

Things I have discovered about growing peppers:

• purple peppers aren't worth it. the color is interesting, but it's just on the surface, not through-and-through. plus, they tend to be thin walled and bitter.
  
• cherry peppers ripen quickly, so you can start harvesting early on.
• one cherry pepper plant and one jalapeno pepper plant are generally enough hot peppers for a normal family. hot peppers are pretty prolific. plus, pests tend to leave them alone.
  
• pepper plants need to be caged just like tomatoes -- they get pretty tall and the branches get heavy (I learned this one 20 years ago, too!)

Kind of wish I had weighed the peppers as I picked them, too. We got some real beauties. One of my goals for the garden each year is to get enough good peppers to have pepper steak and stuffed peppers at least once during growing season. We did! I actually took pictures...

So a friend of mine has a blog -- www.girlymama.com, a really amazing blog -- I don't know how she does it. She actually gets sponsors and has giveaways. Wow. This month, she's giving away a Paula Deen cookbook (signed!) if you submit a recipe for comfort food. Well, stuffed peppers certainly is a comfort food (to me anyway), so I think I'll just put the recipe in this space and see what comes of it. Who knows? I may not win the cookbook, but someone may actually read this blog someday and decide to make my mom's stuffed peppers...

Mom's Stuffed Peppers

4 large peppers, various colors
1 cup Minute Rice
1 pound lean ground beef
2 T oil
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 onion, minced
1 16-oz. can tomato sauce

Cut tops off peppers to make a large opening. Remove seeds from peppers and lids. Arrange in a deep pot just large enough to hold them upright. Mix together rice, meat, oil, eggs, salt, pepper, onion, and 1/4 - 1/3 c. tomato sauce. Spoon into peppers loosely. Replace lids and use a toothpick or two to hold the lids in place. Cover (almost) with water and remaining tomato sauce. Cover; bring to boil and then simmer on low for 2 hours. Serves 4.

Can also be assembled in the morning and cooked in a crock pot.