Wild in the Backyard March 31, 2014

I don’t live in the country by any means, but I do live on the edge of town, with a patch of woods behind the house and a nature preserve a few miles down the road. I have visits from Blue Jays, Doves, Painted Buntings, Black Birds, Cardinals, a family of raccoons, and most recently a rooster. I’m not sure where the rooster came from, but I love it when he comes running by. He looks just like a jogger, his head back and chest out. I wish I could get a video of it.

 

While I working on the patio a few days ago, I looked up to find one of the raccoons and the rooster, a couple of feet apart, scratching at the ground, scavenging fallen bird seed. It was entertaining to watch them dance around each other, the raccoon would get spooked and dash into the woods, then slowly creep back out. The rooster on the other hand, didn’t seem to pay much attention to the raccoon. He pecked away, only racing past the raccoon once after he’d had his fill.

 

I love never knowing what I will see when I look out the back window. It keeps life interesting and fresh.

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Not Quite Sun-Dried But… June 17, 2013

Last summer I made salsa with my bounty of Roma tomatoes. This year, the Romas aren’t doing so well. I went with one Roma and one Heirloom plant this year and it seems like there must be something wrong with the soil where I had the Roma because the Heirloom is giant and has tons of fruit. I have to fight the raccoons for the Heriloom tomatoes, even pulling them before they are fully ripe.

My tomato thief

I do still have more than I can eat alone though, so I decided to try something new. I cut up all of the nice, ripe Romas I had in the fridge and laid them out on dehydrating racks. The book said it would take about 10 hours for them to be completely dry, but I had several stubborn slices that took closer to 18 hours. It’s amazing how a dozen or so tomatoes now fit into a quart size jar.

One Day in the Garden

The process was incredibly easy, just dip the tomato in boiling water for a minute to loosen the skin, peel, slice and place on the rack. It probably took me 30 minutes to do this, then I plugged in the dehydrator and went on about my day. I will most likely do this again in a few days when more of my Heirlooms are ripe. Hopefully the larger slices will fill more jars. I’m looking forward to not exactly sun-dried, but dried none the less, tomatoes in my cooking the rest of the year.

My first dried tomatoes

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