Thursday 17 September 2020

Thursday, September 17, 2020

 My garden has ghosts at one end. It is supposed to be very cold tonight, so I've brought out the old sheets that I keep for just this purpose and have draped them over my tomatoes, closing them up here and there with clothespins. They are all tucked in, in case of frost.

After work, I picked all of my ripe / semi ripe tomatoes, pulled the rest of my beets, and dug up some of my potatoes (I doubt it would be a super hard frost already), and then did the ghost maneuver. I threw a few starting-to-rot tomatoes to the hens who ran and attacked them.


Here are the tomatoes I picked the day before:


Today there was a giant tomato! Daughter took the picture for me. We often talk about something being "as big as your head". Excuse my dirty-from-the- garden hands in the next picture. Trust me, at work, I use hand sanitizer ALL DAY LONG.




Do you remember my accidental/mystery acorn squash in my compost pile? Here is the final result!


Right now, on a school night, I'm making another batch of my mom's chili sauce. It is very simple and we sampled a bit with sausages last night. It was the way I remember it. Here is the recipe if you want to ever give it a try.

Maureen's Chili Sauce (small batch)

9 tomatoes (skinned and roughly cut up)

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp salt

1/2 cup vinegar (just white vinegar is fine)

2 cups white sugar

1/4 tsp allspice

1 tsp cinnamon

Put all ingredients into a large heavy-based pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and let it gently boil down for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours (it will reduce to about half and thicken slightly and turn a bit darker). Stir fairly often so it doesn't scorch and stick to the pan.

Process in boiling water bath for about 15 to 20 minutes. Makes about 6 pint jars.

34 comments:

  1. Wowzers not that’s a tomato 🍅!

    Hey you have livestock hands. Many a day I went into the clinic and looked down at my nails and rolled my eyes. Washing hands doesn’t necessarily remove nail bed dirt.

    I will get some tomatoes at a farmers market and give that sauce a whirl!

    Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Ha ha, do 9 chickens count as livestock?

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    2. Absolutely. Unless they are dead then it is dead stock

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  2. I've covered the zucchini but let the tomatoes go.

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  3. Your green thumb continues to impress me! And when you say you work in the garden after work, wow!

    I'm loving the tomatoes given to me by neighbors. I'm just skinning them, cooking them up, and pureeing to use in recipes over the winter.

    Keep up the great work. And be proud of those dirty hands!!

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    1. I will likely do the same to the last of my tomatoes that don't get made into pasta sauce.

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  4. Are there any chillies in the chiilie sauce?

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely none, so I'm not sure why it is even called chili sauce.

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  5. Those are terrific tomatoes. All ours came from the greengrocer this year. I've just made stuffed tomatoes again

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  6. We are getting some giant tomatoes too but not as big as yours. I am boiling, skinning and using tomatoes in place of tinned to use some of them up.

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    1. Many of these were a type of beefsteak tomato, which are generally bigger. Yes, there's lots of dropping into boiling water and then skinning going on.

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    2. Our giant ones are beefsteak too but still not as big as yours. My chooks also get any not fit for us and they love them.

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  7. wow, that is one outstanding tomato crop! Mine was pathetic this year. As was the entire garden, and I'm not sure why. Might need to fortify the soil this winter.

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  8. You have had a bumper crop of tomatoes. Your feather girls certainly get lots of treats - the happy hens. We had frost warnings but I let my tender annuals be protect by the big trees hovering over the patio. I bet nature's dirt is an anti something to all that chemical, but needed & necessary, hand santizer. Happy weekend. ... Mary-Lou =^[..]^=

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  9. That is one very big tomato! Tomorrow I'm going to dig up our beetroots and see if there is enough to make a chocolate and beetroot cake. Last of the season.

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  10. Wow!
    I wish I had some of those tomatoes!
    I love a tomato sandwich on fresh bread!
    Have a lovely weekend.

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  11. Wow! Now that's the biggest tomato I've ever seen in my life. Too bad they don't have contests, like they do for pumpkins! Loved the photo of you holding it, too. It's nice to see you! That's quite the garden haul and I feel like such a slacker! Me? I'm off to the farm market today and hoping they still have tomatoes so I can make more. I definitely want to make that chili sauce. It sounds just fabulous!

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  12. I want to try that sauce, sounds delicious. And I have some tomatoes that need to be done up somehow. Thanks, Jenn. The monster tomato is a beauty--do you know what variety it is?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it was either Big Beef Hybrid or Mortgage Lifter, both from McKenzie seeds.

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  13. Wow, that tomato is huge! We had a light frost last night and I had been thinking about pulling some of the annuals, but the forecast for the next week is quite nice so I'll probably put it off a little longer. It does mean I need to water the containers though.

    Take care and stay well!

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  14. Awesome harvest! That's good looking, hard earned dirt. The best kind! Your chili sauce sounds delicious. Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.

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  15. 2 cups of sugar - is that right? It seems an awful lot.

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  16. You had a wonderful garden this summer. That's so good.

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  17. Those tomatoes are beautiful!! And that Big Boy!!! I've made two batches of a sauce very similar to yours...its very good. Frost has arrived here, and some sunny days, so time to get things ready for winter.

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  18. That is one huge tomato! It really is almost as big as your head. The biggest tomato from our garden this summer weighed 9 ounces. Yours probably weighs a pound, or more. That is a cute picture. of you, and the tomato.

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  19. I am mad-jealous! How marvelous to have such lovely toms !

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  20. Good luck with your garden. Congratulations on the giant tomato. The chili sauce sounds interesting. Looks like a wonderful harvest.

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  21. Wow! Those tomatoes are gorgeous. The Mister and I stopped at a farm stand one the road and we picked up some tomatoes. When we got home, one had a sticker from the grocery store. Hope you have a wonderful week and the kids are good to you at school!

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  22. That is some tomato! Your crops look good and I think I'm going to try one or two of your recipes with my red hot chillies!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, but actually the chili sauce recipe doesn't really even use any hot chili peppers at all. It's a strange name for a food in that it is not hot in flavour at all, more sweet / savoury.

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