Tag: Tomato Sauce

188-It’s Tomato Time!

Hello!

Yes, it is that time of year for all things tomato. There is nothing quite like a fresh from the garden, sun warmed tomato. Our tomatoes are at peak ripeness and production as we record this episode. We are eating fresh sliced tomatoes and Caprese-style salads at almost every meal.

Of course, we are also preserving tomato products for winter use. Sauce, salsa, Bloody Mary mix and enchilada sauce as well as dehydrating some for “sun-dried” tomatoes.

As usual, we are thinking ahead to how we can continue to improve and reinvent our business. You will be seeing new short courses in the future, teaching our methods on specific topics. If you have questions you would like to see answered in this way, shoot us an email, text or hit us up on social media.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for the following important dates:

September 3-4, 2021-Mercantile closed for Labor Day

September 11, 2021-Kwiksilver Karaoke in the Crib

October 9, 2021-Fall Festival featuring music by the Luna Halos

Until next time,

Donna, Julia and the Felines

 

185-Learning Skills

Hello friends!

On this episode of our podcast we discuss all the things we are doing this time of year. It is super busy with harvest, Mercantile sales, our delivery route and preserving food for winter.

We also talk a bit about how Julia learned some of her building skills from her father, way back in childhood.

Don’t forget about our upcoming events: Kwiksilver Karaoke on September 11, 2021 and our Fall Festival featuring music by the Luna Halos on October 9, 2021. Both are sure to be a great time.

But don’t wait for an event to come to the Farm! The Mercantile is open every Friday and Saturday from 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM (with the exception of Labor Day weekend) through the season.

Until next time,

Donna, Julia and the Felines

P.S. Follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) or on email. (You will get a free ebook for signing up for email.)

139-Old Time Skills Are In Vogue Again

This year, 2020 has been like no other.

We have operated with a mindset of modern homesteading for a number of years. For us, modern homesteading means to practice as many of the skills of our ancestors as possible while still using modern conveniences.

For example, even though most of the bread we eat is made right here at home, often it is a bread machine doing the work.

Through this pandemic, others are beginning to embrace these same skills. We support their efforts. Their new skills however are impacting our practice of self-sufficiency. There have been waves of flour shortages, yeast shortages, and now it is canning lids and freezer bags.

Now we are reaching into our skill of flexibility and finding work arounds.

In this episode you will also hear us discuss the benefits of our Gert’s Garden Turmeric balm. This is a story of personal experience with this product. If you would like to get your own, you can order online or request when you visit the farm on Fridays.

Gert’s Garden Balm

Thanks for listening.

Until next time…

Donna, Julia and the Felines

What I Did With the Tomatoes

Last week I posted about using up the last of the home grown garden tomatoes. As part of the final garden tasks for the year, the plants were removed and the last green tomatoes harvested. These slowly ripen in the garage allowing us the opportunity to have fresh, local tomatoes through a winter freeze.

Attempting to cram too many tasks into a day left me with limited time to do something with the tomatoes. So I resorted to a tried and true, relatively quick method of using up a random quantity.

Placing the tomatoes in a colander in the sink, I poured boiling water over them then rinsed in cold water. This made peeling easier. The next step was to squeeze out the seeds, quarter and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkled with my favorite Tuscan Sunset Herb blend from Penzey’s and drizzled with olive oil, these baked at 350º convection for about 45 minutes.

The baked tomatoes were dumped into a stock pot and blended with an immersion blender. (If you do not have one of these awesome kitchen gadgets, you need one. Stop reading right now and order on Amazon. Several inexpensive models are available and it is worth it.) Back to the tomato sauce: season to taste with salt and pepper, then keep warm while making the rest of the meal.

This is a super versatile sauce, but sometimes there is nothing like simple spaghetti noodles with this fresh sauce topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese. I added a quick salad and cheesy bread. Simple, satisfying and fresh.

This meal did not use up all of the sauce; what is left will make a tasty lasagna several days later. I will layer wide noodles with sauce, mozzarella and ricotta. Lasagna always makes enough for leftovers and is even better the second time around in my opinion.

At the end of this round of sauce, which took less than an hour of active time, we will have at least three meals. Not bad for November tomatoes.

I still intend to get out the Julia Child cookbooks, but when you run out of time during the day and just need to get something quick on the table; fix an old favorite and don’t apologize.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Plus if you are coming to the Mercantile on Saturday, order pies and scones by 5:00 PM on Thursday. The Mercantile will be open every Saturday through December 21, 2019 with special hours on Black Friday.