First frost is coming! The harvest is on!

Last night I awoke at midnight and had to put blankets on my bed because I was shivering.  You know it's a cold night when the cats try to get under the covers with you.  So this morning feels like fall again and the air has that great crispiness and freshness.  I love the seasons here.  And having no heat in the upstairs of the house feels like I'm living in 1880 when this house was built!

So, I worked all day yesterday.  I pulled the turnips from their patch next to the workshop and scrubbed them clean.  I had to freeze them because they had some bug damage and wouldn't store well.  So they got chopped up, blanched and frozen.  If you haven't had mashed turnips, you must try them.  They taste like butter.  I can't guarantee the store bought ones will taste like much, but they are one of the easiest things to grow.  The turnips greens are my favorite.   

I harvested all my winter squashes too.  Sometimes if the skins aren't tough enough a little frost will damage the skin and then they'll start to rot.  I left my butternut squash on the vines well beyond their ripe stage so they will be good for the long winter.  It isn't good enough just being ripe, they have to be cured.  That means the skins turn thicker and tough so it makes it's own seal, you might say.  That keeps bacteria from decaying the squash.  I ended up with 11 butternut squash, which means 22 meals or 33 side dishes for meals.  I let my patty pan summer squash ripen into winter squash and I have 25 or 30 of those.  I also have a weird hybrid squash that "volunteered" in my garden and of course I just let it grow.  I thought, if nothing else they would be good fall decorations because they are white and egg shaped.  I was afraid they'd be tasteless like a gourd, so last night I cooked one.  It resembles a spagetti squash in texture but is just a bit lighter.  It has most of the flavor, just a little more bland.  But when I have no food, it will do in a pinch.  I never planted spagetti squash though.  That's the thing.  Isn't nature great?

With frost coming I had to pick all my orange peppers.  Peppers can be seeded and frozen whole.  You don't even have to blanch them.  Then the basil.  I removed the leaves and flowers and wrapped them in small bunches inside pieces of parchment and stuck them in freezer bags.  The rest of the herbs in the garden should survive a frost.  

I'm trying to use everything and not waste a thing, so as I was blanching the turnip greens and then the turnips, I lifted the vegetables out of the boiling water and used the water over and over.  All those vitamins should be kept!  So, I threw my basil stems in and simmered them awhile.  Then later, I blanched a few summer squash for the freezer.  A few other things and I ended up with some pretty passable vegetable broth that I can freeze or make soup with.  Soup freezes really well too.

So for the next few days, I'll be working on weening myself off the "standard american diet" foods that I'm eating now, so that my new diet isn't so shocking.  I'll let you know how that's working out.

Thanks for reading!