18 Comments

Wow, man! Your intentions and efforts have paid off multi-fold! It was a pleasure to receive some of your early summer bounty and chow on that garden goodness.

I'm thinking that you can keep the cabbages in the ground until late September or at least unless you see warnings for heavy frost. Trust your senses and watch for Nature's signs. You've got this. Keep a couple of fresh heads in the fridge or root cellar, because you never know when you'll get a craving for my famous Spicy Cajun Slaw! (I will email the recipe to you.)

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A few of the summer cabbages have split, but I planted an abundance of storage cabbages, so hopefully they will be good in the ground through September. Spicy slaw, yum.

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Great haul! Are you water-bath canning or fermenting?

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Thanks! Fermenting a few things as a test, but mostly canning.

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We just attended a homesteading expo, and the message was overwhelmingly that fermentation should be the #1 food preservation technique. It was for most of human history. I’m reassessing our stores. ;)

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I was just looking at my copy of on of Sandor Katz's books, thinking about working through it. Though I have tried to ferment radishes and beet greens, which did not work out well at all.

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We've been fermenting for a few years now and have gone through a lot of trial and error. I'll cover it on the Substack sometime soon.

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Eager to hear more.

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Will you dig a root cellar this fall?

That is a beautiful and impressive harvest.

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Thanks! II will build one, but not dig one.

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Daikon radish sauerkraut sounds great. I made "sauerruben" from turnips one year, which was very different and very interesting! (And made me wonder about ruben sammiches. Were they originally topped with turnip kraut? ) Thanks for the citrine 'mater recommendation. Looks like a Sungold improvement.

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Inspiring! Thank you for sharing your success.

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You are welcome and I am glad to hear you are inspired!

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With the type of gardening you've done, will it be necessary to leave some spaces fallow next year?

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Not unless I want produce less. The beds will be rejuvenated with compost. Though I will have to move some plants around.

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Wow you are a canning fool WHD! That’s alot of food. I would be into canning of I had a canning partner! Tomatoes not so good for me...they cause me inflammation...as they are in the nightshade family which are in the ‘inflammatory’ food category. I can do salsa but I’ve noticed red spaghetti sauce flairs up my arthritic joints. 😏

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For the record, my mother does most of the canning. She loves it and I have much gratitude. Sorry to hear of those troubles. Do you have the same issue with potatoes?

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Not as bad for potatoes…but I limit my potato intake as well. I have a thyroid autoimmune ‘condition’ Hashimotos Thyroiditis and I have found through a process of elimination and a consult with a naturopath, that there are certain foods I should stay away from. Almost 99 % of people with Hashimotos are gluten intolerant. I gave up gluten over 12 years ago. I have tried to eat artisanal bread or fresh pasta made with wheat and it wasn’t good. Had stomach issues and very achy joints. There’s plenty of food to eat that is good.

I believe that the wheat grown in the US (even organic) is chemically compromised.

My friends who don’t eat gluten say they have no problem with eating pasta in Italy or Europe, or eating the bread. Numerous GF eating friends have told me this.

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