Just another Day on the Farm

So we covered soft fruit, and hard fruits and their many uses, which means that today’s subject fits in perfectly.. Vinegar’s. Malt (made of Barley  Wine (Red or White) Apple Cider, Fruit Vinegar’s , Rice, and a number of other kinds I have never used in different cultures.. then come flavored vinegar’s, now this is something I do make an use at home, as its a great way to dress things up.

Vinegar is an acidic liquid produced from the fermentation of ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient, acetic acid (ethanoic acid). It also may come in a diluted form. pH of table vinegar ranges from 2.4 to 3.4(higher if diluted). The acetic acid concentration typically ranges from 4% to 8% by volume for table vinegar^[2] and up to 18% for pickling.

I really liked the write up about making homemade vinegars on this site  but the basic’s are all over the web, still I will give the one that I have done.. its way to dead simple..

I trade with a farmer down the road that makes his own homemade apple cider and I add some apple Cider with mother from Braggs, and put it into one of my crocks, cover with cheese cloth so air can pass though but keeps everything else out, and I let it do its thing, its ready in about four to six weeks.. then I bottle it up and I’m done for the year..

Last year I made a number of different flavored vinegars and really enjoyed them, this year I am going to try my hand a some different homemade fruit vinegars.

So do you make your own vinegar? if so what kind? What is your favorite kind for salads? Do you ever make herbal or citrus Vinegars?

Breakfast-Eggs/Bread

Lunch-Leftover Pasta

Supper- Pork Roast-Hambuger Steaks, Mashed Potato with carrots

Drinks Water, Tea

Even if you only have a small backyard, you can have some kind or kinds of Hard Fruits, they now sell draft fruiting tree’s that get no more then eight to ten feet in height.

Crabapples, Apple, Pear, Peach, Plums, Sweet and Sour Cherries all grace my ever growing orchard, in the bush area, there are Saskatoons, Elderberries, Black Chokeberries and High Bush Cranberries.

While I adore the sweet eating and canning fruits, like the Pears, Peaches and the Cherries, The sauces made by the plums are wonderful with my different meats, and as dipping sauces but the real hard workers of the group is without a doubt the crabapples and the apples.

The apples can keep till Jan if kept right and they dry beautfully an with the correct hand powered turn machine, making apple sauce has never been so easy, they help make apple Juice (a powerhouse for health), Apple Cider, and of more value to me, Apple Cider Vinager. They are used to fill out many old fashion recipes in terms of both bulks and free pectin.

But for flavor and pectin my crabapples win hands down, I love the amazing flavor that comes with adding in crabapple to many, many things. I keep small bags of frozen crabapple juice that can be used thoughtout the winter.

As a added bonus, you will have lots of fruit tree trimmings for smoking your own meats, peaple pay top dollar in the stores for fruit wood chips to smoke with, when you have your own tree’s, its free for your own use and plans.

So what is your favorite Hard Fruit, and do you have fruit tree’s in your yard.

Breakfast-Eggs and Breads

Lunch-DH-Pastie, FG-Pasta

Supper-Pasta with Greens, onion, and a diced chicken breast with a milk sauce.

Extra’s -cranberry lemon cookies

Drinks-Water, Tea

Soft Fruits are so simple and yet so important to anyone that wants to grow even a little of their own food, alot of them are also on the top ten list of the best foods for us to eat and the worst in how much they are sprayed before they get to those supermarkets.

Strawberries, Rasberries, Blueberries, Huckleberries, Black Berries, Currents, GooseBerries and the list goes on and on..  These wonderful plants can be grown with ease with a little bit of work and planning in regards to location and planning, they do tend to require some pruning to get them to perform at their best but unlike hard fruit tree’s which can take years to grow to the point of a good yearly harvest, you can plant and often get your first taste later that year.

Many of these plants will produce their own babies, which can then be transplanted out and you will have a way to grow and grow those patches with no money cost out, just time and land. Even if they don’t sucker all on their own, half the time, you can take your trimming, stick them in the pot in the ground and just water and wait, you will be so surprised at how many of them will root up and can be planted out.

If you plant out different kinds, you will be eating fresh picked sunkissed soft fruit from early spring till the last late frost, with a bit of care and the odd time of covering with sheet to help keep the frost off, we were still picking the last handfulls of our rasberries until the first of Nov last year.

Then comes the fact that in the middle of winter, there is nothing quite like that burst of fresh fruit flavor coming in jams, Jellies, muffins, on top of yogurts, or fruit compot, or any other way you like it.. it can be frozen,  its one of the most popular things that can, or mock can, almost everyone even if they don’t can, has made strawberries or rashberries freezer jam.

You can’t easily take your fruit tree’s with you when you move, but you can bring a number of your soft fruits in bare root form with you from place to place if you know ahead of time that you are planning on moving.

When it comes to give away from other gardening folks, soft fruits are one of the ones that is easy to ask for, in the average yard, once you run out of room, you can give it to someone else or it goes to the compost pile and gardeners or at least the ones I know, would raither give them away.

What is your favorite soft fruit? My answer is clear by the photo I picked for this post..a superfood but just yummy.

Breakfast: Bread and Egg Salad

Lunch; Greens with cheese and bread

Supper; Potato’s with cheese and toppings.

Extras; One cookie,

Drinks, Water, Tea and Hot Chocolate.