Category: Garden uses

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11/05/2023 saffron harvest

I’m holding a small clear quilted jam jar filled with 24 bright red threads of saffron
Today we found there were eight flowers in the backyard saffron, which at three threads each gave us 24 saffron threads! Now they sit in a jar in the plant window, with a loose lid to protect from cat ideas. This lets them dry out a bit before they join the spice cabinet. Very few bulbs are blooming so far, which I suspect is because I divided them extensively this spring. Probably next year we’ll have a lot!
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10/30/2023 last peppers

The last peppers of the season piled on the gray ceramic kitchen table. There are long curly skinny yellow corbaci, big red bell, green bells, and brown-purple bells, and two little triangular apple peppers.
Before the hard freeze I cut down all the pepper plants (plus a few stray and unfortunately sized okra) and put them in the garage. The next day when I had time, I sorted and weighed them. we got a good last bunch of all our pepper varieties for this year! Paula notes of the sweet peppers, the apple peppers were sweetest when both red and green. The California wonder bell and chocolate bell were both more bitter when young/green. The Chef likes the thin and easy to cut corbaci peppers.
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10/30/2023 basil units

The Chef wields a pesto-laden giant whisk above the food safe five gallon bucket.
The pesto settled overnight and needed the giant whisk.
Three stacks of several plastic clear containers of pesto, totalling 11 containers.
Half of pesto prepared for freezer.
A view into the now half empty big bucket of pesto with the ladle and whisk
The last half of pesto.
The big freezer full of containers. Many are pesto.
Freezer full of pesto.
The Chef stored the pesto in a five gallon bucket before dishing it out to freeze next day. 30 pounds is almost two Grams or definitely over three Tuqus!