As August has come to an end, it is the time to prepare a batch chow-chow relish with the harvest of red and green bell peppers and along with plenty of green tomatoes from the garden to form two important ingredients of chow-chow relish. It enhances curly mustard, collards, spinach, and Siberian kale as well as hot dogs, burgers, sloppy Joes and meat loaf. For a bit of heat you can add Texas Pete to chow-chow.
The recipe for chow-chow is simple and includes red and green bell sweet peppers, green tomatoes, diced cabbage, diced onions, salt, sugar, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and pickling spices. Dice up ten red and green sweet bell peppers, 40 green tomatoes diced, ten large unions diced, three cabbages diced. Run through the blender in grate mode. Pour grated ingredients in a canner and stir in a full cup of salt. Cover and let them set overnight. Next morning, drain the vegetables and rinse salt from them in a colander. Return vegetables to the canner. In a large pot, add five cups of apple cider vinegar, one cup light brown sugar, two cups white sugar, one container of pickling spices, one cup water, two teaspoons black pepper, four teaspoons salt, half cup of catsup. Boil for ten minutes. Pour into vegetables and boil for half hour. Pack into sterilized pint jars, seal, and process in a hot water bath canner for 15 minutes.
Records of all the fogs of August
As we end August we hope you have been keeping a record of the density of the fogs each morning. Keep the data in a safe place so you can compare the fogs with the types and amounts of snowfalls we experience this winter. Remember, light fogs represent light snows down to a trace or a dusting. Medium snows are represented by a fog of medium density. Heavy fogs represent heavy and “snowman” snows. In the Garden Plot for Saturday, Oct. 5, we will report the density of the daily fogs in August. Take note of the fact that fog density can differ in just a mile from each other in some locations but regardless, they can still be within the density range to serve the purpose in predicting snow.
Curtain call for purple top turnips
Unlike many cool weather vegetables that can be planted from now into the end of September, turnips should be in the ground because they are a root crop. Turnips require a longer growing season to produce healthy fist-sized turnips. Sow them a bit deeper than other cool weather vegetables. Prepare a furrow about four inches deep and apply a layer of peat moss in the bottom of the furrow and sow the seeds on top of the peat moss. Add a layer of Black Kow composted cow manure on top of the seeds and then add Garden-Tone organic vegetable food and top with more peat moss before hilling up soil on each side of the furrow. The peat moss and Black Kow will add texture, moisture retention, and extra nutrients that will help in the production of hefty sized turnips over a long growing season. After turnips sprout, thin them out, and side-dress with Garden.-Tone organic vegetable food every 15 days. Use the water wand in shower mode when there is no rain in the forecast.
Making a Spanish rice meat loaf
There are many recipes for meat loaf and what makes this one special are the olives and rice. This meat loaf has flavor and moisture. You will need one pound of ground round or chuck, one eight-ounce can of tomato sauce 16 large pimento stuffed olives (sliced) one envelope Lipton beefy onion soup mix, one cup of Minute Rice (cooked and drained), two beaten eggs, half teaspoon salt, half teaspoon pepper, and one tablespoon A-1 sauce. Mix ground meat with one third cup of the tomato sauce. Mix all other ingredients except the remaining tomato sauce. Spread into a 13x9x2 inch baking dish or pan sprayed with Pam baking spray. Spread remaining tomato sauce mixed with eight chopped stuffed olives on top of the the loaf. Bake at 350 for one and a quarter hours.
As August ends, colorful sunsets begin
As the month comes to an end, the sun sets a minute sooner each evening. This means that the sunsets get a little brighter and more colorful each late summer evening. Each summer evening the horizon will blend with hues of purple, red, yellow, orange, and pink mixed with a background of Carolina blue. God shows his majesty in the radiance of colors in the western sky in the pre-autumn sunsets. They are just preview of the upcoming season of autumn 2024.
Changing summer annuals to autumn colors
The annuals of the summer porch and deck are slowly fading and this paves the way to replace them with the newly arriving annuals of autumn such as pansies, mums, ornamental kale, and cabbage and the queen of perennials — diantus. You can begin the change from the annuals of summer to the annuals of autumn by recycling the potting medium in the containers. Remove the summer annuals and place the old medium in the wheelbarrow and chop and hoe it to a fine texture. Add peat moss to the old mixture and several scoops of Flower-Tone. Add a 50% mixture of new potting medium such as Miracle-Gro flower potting medium or Sta-Green flower mixture. Dampen the recycled medium and set out the colorful autumn annuals.
When the green turns to gold
This is the season of transition as the green leaves of summer begin to change slowly to a mix of gold, red, orange, tan and pink. The humidity has lowered and a signal that the season of summer is winding down. It is a comfortable time of a slow change, not hot enough to break into a sweat, but not cool enough for a coat. There is a hint of yellow in the maple and a tint of red in the dogwoods. The first of the leaves are now reaching the ground. There is relief in the cool of the evenings, but also a bittersweet feeling when we realize summer is slowly fading into the sunset.
Plenty of apples at produce markets
The apple harvest has begun and baskets of red, yellow, pink, and green apples are adorning produce markets, fruit stands, and supermarkets. You can purchase them by the bushel, peck, or pound. Later as the apple season progresses, the best of all the apples will arrive from New York state. That state has a climate that produces tart, mellow, and sweet varieties such as McIntosh, Jonathan, Red winesap, Rome, Jona-Gold, Jona-Mac, and Granny Smith. Washington state may produce the most apples, but New York state has the best.
Time to set out cabbage, collards, and broccoli
September is almost here. The soil will begin to turn cooler and so will the nights. Broccoli and cabbage as well as collard plants can be set out during the month. They will thrive in the cool soil and the nip in the air at night. Most hardwares and garden centers or nurseries have plenty of cool weather plants in six-packs. Select those that have blue-green stems, no yellow leaves, and make sure all six plants in the pack are straight up and healthy. Set the plants about 18 to 24 inches apart. Add a layer of peat moss to bottom of the furrow and a layer of Plant-Tone organic vegetable food before hilling up soil on each side of the furrow. Feed every 15 days with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food and keep the food hilled up on both sides of row.
Hoe hoe hoedown
“Circling Around.” Judge: “What is your occupation?” Prisoner: “I don’t have one. I just circulate around from one place to another.” Judge: “Clerk, Please note this man is to be jailed and out of circulation for 60 days!”
“The truth really hurts.” This pastor always used this phrase when something bad happened, “It might have been worse.” One day a friend said unto him, “I have something to tell you and you won’t be able to use your favorite phrase. I dreamed last night I died and went to hell.” The pastor said, “It could have been worse.” The friend said, “Man alive, how could it have been worse?” The pastor said, “It could have been true!”
“So true.” People do not usually reject the BIble because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.
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