"all things cranberry" and a little gripe going on

good afternoon lovely friends!!!!!          I hope that your day has been spectacular, where ever you may be on this big beautiful globe!!!         we finally had a little bit of rain this afternoon.         it's been over a month since we've had any, so even though it was a little, a little is better than nothing.         but we have been having some really beautiful and nice days here lately.         it's been a very nice fall so far y'all.     I hope it is for y'all too.       

I continue to pray for all those that have been devastated by hurricane Helene up in the Appalachian mountains and the latest one to hit Florida.          we sure haven't been hearing much about either of them on the news as of late.        if it weren't for the "can do" attitude of the people in Appalachian Mountains, nothing would have been done!!!        but they are getting the work done without much interference from the govt, and that's good all day long.        keeping the political hands away is always better anyway.        neighbors are not going to take advantage of the people where as the govt always does.        if a hammer costs 10 dollars at ace hardware, someone has a buddy that has a buddy that has a buddy in politics and that same said hammer will cost $10,000.         so, if you can keep govt people out if, do it.         and I'm mighty proud of the folks in the Appalachians with their "can do, will do" attitudes.         I keep praying for them daily, as they continue to find lost loved ones.     it's so heart breaking.         

and besides, we all know that it's more important for the news media to spend all their time focusing on the wicked evil people that are running for president, than it is to keep a focus on a part of this country that has been devastated, voters, no less.          how can you tell if a politician is lying?          when you see the news media is there with a microphone stuck in their mouth.          if their lips are moving, they're lying.              I can't believe that what's running for president is the best that this country has to offer!!!!         if it is, then this country is a lost cause.          I can't believe that the people, voters, in this country would actually vote for either one of them!!!         but what do ya do when these wicked, evil perverts is all we have to vote for?        oh well, I digress.          I've done what I can do and that's vote, and I'll leave the outcome in God's hands.         I've prayed about and prayed about it.         I've prayed and voted and the rest is in God's hands.         God help us all.   

well, my favorite time of the year finally rolled around.           the stores got stocked with cranberries, fresh cranberries.         yay!!!     woop woop!!!    happy dance!!!!       woohoo!!!!!          yes, I've got some cranberries dehydrated.          and I thought I would do an "all things cranberry" blog post.        I kept checking the stores and finally they showed up.          I never seen them at kroger, but I seen the price and they was gonna be over $3 for a 12 oz bag.        nope, not gonna happen.          I finally seen the wal mart app said they were in stock and we went , sure enough they had them!!           so, I got 10 bags, yup 10 bags.           I sliced in half 6 1/2bags and the other 3 1/2 bags, I pureed.        the pictures below will help explain what I done with them.            

this is what a bag of my cranberries weighed.      361 grams is what my scale showed.       the bag shows 340 grams.       there was a few bad ones in each bag, but I didn't weigh them before I put them on the dehydrator after they were sliced.       with picking out the bad ones, it probably was down to 340 grams. 

this is my method for slicing each cranberry.  I wash them well and drain them.   put them on my large cookie sheet with a small cutting board and start cutting.   I can fill my 6 tray weston in about an hour with 3 bags.

this is the rotten ones from 3 bags.

a close up of the cranberries after dehydrating.

this is the weight of a 12 oz bag, previously weighing 361 grams on the scale.  the bag said it was 340 grams, but I did take out several bad ones, after dehydrating it's now weighing 41 grams.

this was just a few hours after I had poured the puree into the trays.

this is the trays that I done the pureed cranberries in.      to puree them add no more than 1/2 cup of water toa 12 oz bag.      the water will have to be dehydrated out, the less the better.

This is showing a mix of my cranberries.        a jar with halves, a jar with blenderized cranberries and a jar with powder.

This is what 10 bags of cranberries looks like.

This is what 20 bags of cranberries look like.

and even as I type, I have 7 more bags in the fridge that I need to get done.           I'll puree them and dehydrate them that way.           I found out that the pureed ones really do make fantastic powder.        the half pieces do too, but I'll use some of the half pieces in baking and stuff like that.         so while I'll always dehydrate half pieces, I'll also dehydrate some pureed cranberries too.          I'm hoping when this last 7 bags done, that it will be enough to last me till next october.      we'll see.       hahaha       

I use cranberry powder in my breakfast every morning.          it's also good to put in my homemade greek yogurt.          and, and, and............just for fun, it's delicious to put in white almond bark and make a cranberry candy.          oh yeah!!!!!!   now were talkin' some goooooood stuff up in here y'all!!!!        cranberry slices also good to put in pancakes or waffles.           when the slices are used, they have to be rehydrated with water.         so what I'll do is take the amt of cranberries I want, say 1/4 cup and pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over them and let rehydrate.        sometimes I'll the rehydrate over night in the fridge.         if I'm going to use the right away, I'll let them sit for at least 30 minutes.          then they are ready to use.

another thing that I enjoy about dehydrating cranberries, is that it usually comes about during the times when the weather is mild, so it doesn't just run the utility bill right thru the roof.       so while it's been mild, I've been trying to take advantage of that.

I encourage anyone to dehydrate.       my rule of thumb is this: "cracker crisp, rock hard, bone dry"!    that's it.          if it doesn't meet that criteria, it will mold.         if you've lost hard work to mold, you do better.         you learn to do better.         or you will lose more hard work.         just recently someone asked me about how I get powder so fine and they shared a pic of what theirs looked like.        my suggestion was that she had not gotten her produce as dry as it should be.         she said she had lost some to mold.        so if you do dehydrate and you don't know what it's supposed to be like, write my criteria down.       "cracker crisp, rock hard, bone dry!!"           anything less than this will result in mold.        a lot of books and manuals will tell you dehydrate for so long, 5 or 6 hours.         that results in loss.          you dehydrate for as long as it takes to get it to meet my criteria.         maybe 24 to 48 to even 96 hours!!!!          if you're not willing to put the time in, then just don't do it at all.        but if you put the time in you won't lose anything to mold.         

another thing is temperature.           LOW and SLOW         lower your temperature!!!!           all manuals and books have WAY too high temps recommendations.           anyone that knows anything about produce at all knows that starches and sugars will turn dark when the temps are too high.        I love for my produce to look like it did when it was fresh, color wise.         with too high temps, every thing turns dark or black and you don't know what you're looking at.         so if you want dark or black produce, use the recommended temps.          but if you want beautiful colors, set your temp to 110*F or less.         110*F will keep most of my produce beautiful.        

something else that a lot of people do is dip everything in lemon juice!!!!          if you want everything to taste like lemon, go for it.          but I don't.         if I want something to taste lemon, I'll add lemon to the dish.         plus, if lemon was so good about keeping stuff from turning dark, then lemons wouldn't turn dark when they are dehydrated.         if I see pics of other peoples dehydrated produce their citrus is always dark.       so I don't buy the fact that citrus keeps everything from turning dark.  

well, this about all I have for now.       if I think of any more dehydrating goodies, I'll share them.       I hope everyone has a wonderful night of rest.   and I pray that we all wake up to a wonderful new month.        and that we are refreshed and ready to get into it.        just remember that God provided a way for us to be in right relationship with Him thru the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.         if you don't know Jesus, why not?          now is the time.         He's waiting for you.       be blessed y'all, hugs and love, patty

What I've learned about Container gardening and other non-essential...

goooooooood morning beautiful friends!!!!           I pray that where ever you are this morning, that it's a most spectacularly beautiful day.         it sure is in my neck of the woods.         I don't know what we have planned for today yet, but if it involves being outside, then it will be a good day.          every time I look out, I see more and more leaves falling and the woods are getting thinner and thinner and the noise from the train gets closer and closer just from the lack of foliage on the trees.          we'll quickly get used to it and not pay it any attention.           this weekend is the weekend that we fall back an hour.       it's about time for me to get back that I hour I lost this spring when we sprang forward an hour.          I don't know about anyone else, but I wish they would leave the time alone!!!       back in the day, it probably was useful, but not any more.         just an old tradition that needs to be buried as far as I'm concerned.          but then again, what do I know?          "they" don't ask me for my opine, so I'll voice it here and maybe some of the big shot big whigs will read it and say, "why didn't I think of that?"      you know what, I'd even let them think it was their idea, if they would just do it.         hahahaha          ok y'all, I put it out there, when it happens, you'll know who was responsible for it.         hahahaha          oh well, on can hope.       

I know one thing that will make me very happy and that's for this election to be over.          how can you tell if a politician is lying?          when they're talking!!!!!!          I've never heard as many lies spewing forth from all parties.         it's not just one,  but all.          a decent human being with morals and integrity doesn't run for political office any more.         it's not even the lesser of the 2 evils anymore.      because they are both evil and wicked.           I'll say one thing, I used to think that women could have a place in politics.         I don't think that anymore.          I've got a gut full of some of the wives of former presidents that despise this country and have done everything they can to undermine this country from within.        they should all, former presidents and their wives, be brought up on treason.         but that will never happen.         the good ol boy and now girl system is so entrenched in this country that there will never be any way of getting rid of it.      I just wait for God to exact revenge, and He will.        I don't know who will win the vote, but I can assure you of one thing, that it will be a LOSS for this country, who ever does walk away with the vote.       I don't know what will happen in the days after the election, but I don't think it will be a shining moment in our history.       those days are gone.        

the fighting taking place all over the planet are the things that just may usher in the return of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and all I can say is "come quickly Lord Jesus!!!"        be ready or get ready for the coming of our Lord!!!         it will happen in the blink of an eye.       if you don't know Him as your Lord and Savior, NOW is the time.       there will never be a better time than now.        so ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins right now and and accept Him as Lord and Savior of your life and start walking with Him and letting Him guide your steps, thoughts, actions and live for Him till He comes to claim His own.

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I keep  up with some  gardening groups on fb.         I like to  learn and even help out some, when possible.       so,  I just thought I would share some of the things I've learned about container gardening and a lot of other non-essential, useless stuff.        hahahaha     

one  of the things that I see people doing that are new to gardening is putting way too many seeds in their seed starter  trays.          when the seeds come up, if you can't see the soil, there's way too many seeds.      they will struggle to even survive.       they will fight for root space.      then when and if they get big enough to even think about transplanting, there is way too many roots to even pull apart.        all plants have had their roots damaged before they even hit the soil.

another thing is not filling their  containers to the top with soil.       I use  only container soil or potting soil in my  containers and above  ground raised beds.       the wrong soil is just as bad as not enough soil.         fill those pots to within an inch of the top with soil and watch the depth as you water.         watering will help/cause the soil to settle, which will also lower the depth of the soil.       you want the roots to have plenty of soil, below the roots and above the roots.       if you see a lot of settling, then top that container off with more container soil.    

container soil and potting soil contains peat and other things that help retain moisture.        they also have a certain amt of fertilizers in them.         fertilizers is what a lot of people will come to blows over.  hahaha      verbal blows anyway.         hahaha           grow up people, it's just fancy cow poop or blenderized fish guts or dehydrated animal blood.        at any rate, use what you like and are satisfied with, but use a good fertilizer.          there are chemical fertilizers too, and if you want to use those, use them.         I'm not about shaming anyone for what they have or what they can afford.        use what you have and don't worry about it.         I always ask God protect me from any purposeful harm created by man.        I always ask God to help my garden grow in spite of my ignorance.          after all, He is the Master Gardener.       

what I will shame people for is making fun of new people who are trying to learn how to garden.         if you can't be helpful, take your keyboard warrior attitude somewhere else.         if I was admin of some of the gardening groups, the first time I seen someone laugh at another person for asking a question, I would delete, block and ban that person from ever being a member again.         that's one thing that wouldn't happen if I was an admin.           if you laughed at someone trying to learn, you'd be gone, as quick as my fingers could get you gone.

I said yesterday on a post that gardeners used to be some of the best people on the planet.          I still believe that for the most part, many are.            but what we have today, is people that wanna be funny and hurt people and make fun of people.         some of these days they will be with their kind, burning in the pits of hell.          if you make fun of someone trying to learn, you'll do absolutely anything for a laugh.         remember that when judgement day comes.

something that I've learned is that you don't have to replace your soil each year like some people suggests, all you have to do is amend really well.         that's where my "black kow" comes in handy.        I keep several bags of it and when I start on a new pot, container or off the ground raised bed, I'll drag a bag out and use it.            earthworm castings are also really good to use.           when I get ready to drop a transplant in a hole, I'll make the hole then I'll put about a tablespoon of earthworm castings in the hole then the put plant into hole and cover it with soil.         that will really give the newly planted seedling a great start.     

another thing, when we grow in pots, containers and above the ground garden beds, seeds are something to take into consideration.          I always always always always look for bush type of everything.        and then I look to see if I can find an adult height of the plant.         I always opt for anything that's on the shorter side.         just so I don't have to deal with a lot of sprawl.        I'll plant my green beans pretty thick because they will help support each other and not fall over so bad.         I also have some poles that I can stick in my pots and clip my plants to, to help them grow upward instead of falling out of the container. 

if you can  keep everything  growing upward, it will  help a lot with keeping down some of the soil borne diseases and diseases that are caused by humidity.          it also helps you find some of the bugs easier.          I keep my clips handy in the garden shed and I'll get a pocket full and just put them on as I see that something has taken a growth spurt.       

as well as bush type, I look for specific wording, like dwarf, tom thumb, mini, patio, container friendly, deck friendly, micro mini and I'm sure I've missed some key words.           but get used to looking on the seed pkts for those those types of wordings and you'll quickly see what I mean.         when I get carrots and root veggies, I also look for varieties that say they are shorter or smaller, so that I don't have to worry about having really deep pots and containers for everything.     

I look for shorter corn and bush type okra too.         even smaller sized eggplants.         what I do actively keep looking for is the perfect place to order seeds from that have done all the hard work for me.         it gets to be such a daunting task to try to find all these smaller, shorter types of garden produce.        I wish it was all in one place.         a place that's specifically for container gardeners.         I keep praying for that.        haven't found it yet, but hopefully it will appear someday. 

I've also learned that it's near impossible to keep squirrels out of your garden.          notice I said near impossible.         but I seem to have found the perfect thing to do just that.         guess what it is?         go ahead and guess.           are you ready for the answer?           well, here it is------plastic forks, lots of plastic forks!!!           it's worked this year.          it may never work again, but I've got 2000 forks to use in my containers.           some of my containers have at least 15 to 20 forks.        with tines up of course and the handles stuck in the pots in such a way that the tines are pointed up and out.           I put them in the soil at a slight slant with the tines pointing upward.          it's working too.            something else I done was take long skewers, 3 feet long, and tie some strips of holographic plastic to them and it's reflective.          it blows in the breeze and that's enough to keep the birds out of my containers.         so between the forks and holographic plastic strips, as of right now, I'm not having squirrels and birds in my planters.         just praying it stays that way.         hahaha.

this is a few pictures of my some of my containers with the forks in the pots.        once I got these in the pots, I went back and added that many more in each pot.         I didn't leave a space large enough for a squirrel or bird to climb up in or land in.        and you can also see the long skewers and holographic strips tied to them.          these 2 things have worked this summer.         the forks will be reusable and the skewers to tie the holographic strips to will be reusable also.         I'm all over reusing what I already have.         hahaha

that's not a lot of info, but hopefully it's enough to help get someone started that's interested in container gardening.

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well that's about it for today.   have a blessed day in the name of Jesus.       thanks for hanging out with me for a few minutes.          hugs and love, patty

Dehydrating stevia and lots of peppers

good afternoon lovely friends!!!!            the sun is shining brightly here in my neck of the woods and I'm thankful for it.            I know as of late, a lot of people are hurting from the hurricanes that have ripped thru the Southern US and the Appalachian Mountains.           lots of death and destruction has taken place and my heart breaks for them all.             I pray that God will help the survivors.        I pray that this country will step up and help these good people.           please continue to pray for these people and the areas that has been devastated.            it will be a very long recovery period.           years and years for most.  

it's just about that time to wrap up the summer garden and put it to bed for the long season.           oh how it breaks my heart.             I have enjoyed this garden season.           and I love doing things that people have said it can't work or it won't work.            if you want to see this old person get into a tizzy, just tell me that something can't be done, and I'll prove you wrong or right, one of the other.        but when it comes to gardening, I'll probably prove you wrong, but you'll never know it.           unless you find it out by accident.           hahahaha            """if you can't be an encourager, keep ya yap shut."""        hahaha              """but if ya say it to me, I'll prove ya wrong every time!!!"""           hahaha

just wanted to share what I'm up to over the last few weeks and a little bit about why I do what I do sometimes.             I've had a lot on my dehydrators the last few weeks, so this is just a touch of what I've been up to.              but I need to share why I do what I do.

the first pic is my harvest from sept 24th.           the pic second pic is everything I got on the dehydrator sept 25th.         I stripped the stevia leaves from the stems yesterday and got a good 2 quarts.    I just popped them in the fridge till this morning.        I got them layered on 3 of the trays.          they are on the bottom of my upward forced air dehydrator.             I didn't want my stevia getting hot pepper infused into it. although that might be an idea......hummmm.                  hahaha

so that leaves me with all these peppers. my goal is to be able to keep each pepper separate and all their seeds respectively separate too.       I done some experimenting a few years ago and this is something that I found out.        not only does dehydrating at 110*F keep my produce from turning gray or black, but it also doesn't damage any of the viable seeds in the produce.             I was in an online group, and  I asked if anyone had ever planted a seed from a dehydrated pepper.          I was quickly jumped on, cussed up one side and down the other for EVEN ASKING that question.          well, that was all the dogged determination I needed to find out for myself what can be done.         and I'm happy to report that I did find out.

do not ever plan on next years garden coming from dehydrated seeds.          that's NOT what I'm saying at all.            but I am saying, that if you've dehydrated your seeds at 110*F and if the seeds are viable to begin with, even before dehydrating, guess what?            they're still viable.         they will grow a pepper plant.             but, that's only if the seed was viable to begin with.

when I was told that it was impossible and that I was stirring a pot, well, that didn't sit well with me.      I'm not a pot stirrer!!!!!           but that was all I needed to set out and prove it one way or the other.       I have a small greenhouse on my deck.          I've started hundreds of seeds in it over the years.          it gets up to 125 degrees easily and my thermometer doesn't go any higher, so it probably gets hotter.           but seeds will germinate in the heat of that greenhouse.           now, I try not to let it get that hot during the day when I'm trying to sprout seeds, but sometimes it might get that hot before I get the door opened.

that particular spring I dug around and found seeds in the bottom of my pepper jar that I had dehydrated the fall before.           I put them in my seed trays.        nothing.           I done a couple more, making sure I got seeds that looked like they were viable.        nothing.

as soon as I got peppers that was ready to come off the plant later in the summer when they started changing color, I was picking different types of peppers and that's when my experimenting started.

I knew I had been dehydrating at 135*F.            so I loaded a few peppers and dropped the temp to 125*F.             as soon as they were dehydrated, I got another batch going at 120*F.         as soon as they were dehydrated I done another batch at 115*F.          and the last batch I done was at 110*F.          then I took a few seeds from each temperature that I had dehydrated and started the process of trying to see what, if anything would grow.

just a couple of seeds from each temp and marked my trays well.          from that experiment, the only thing that sprouted and grew was from the 110*F and the 115*F dehydrated peppers.         both seeds that I planted from the 110*F pepper jar came up.           1 seed from the 115*F pepper jar came up.        none of the rest of them came up.

the next year, I done basically the same thing.        and for the last 2 or 3 years, I've been dehydrating everything at 110*f for these reasons that I have mentioned.            for beautiful colors of my produce and viable pepper seeds.

like I said, do not count on a garden from dehydrated seeds.        but if someone gives you some pepper that you love, that's been dehydrated, ask them at what temp they dehydrated.         you just may be able to grow a pepper from one of the seeds.           once I figured that out, now, when I give someone some dehydrated peppers, I always tell them that if they like the peppers, try to grow a pepper from a seed, because most of them will be viable.

now, back to the pictures.          I wanted to keep all the peppers and their seeds separate from the others.      so I got to digging around and found these little parchment tart cups.           I took the liners from my trays and flattened these out just a little bit and then as I sliced my peppers, I put them in the little tart cups.          they turned out to be perfect for what I was wanting to do.         when I got done with cutting one variety, I washed the cutting board, my knife and my gloves I used to chop up those hot little buggers.          so I think this will be a good way to help keep all the peppers and seeds separate.

each year I always grow 1 or 2 peppers from each variety that I have dehydrated.          just to keep proving to myself that I done something that someone told me was impossible to do and then commenced to cuss me.

this probably isn't something for everyone to try.          but if you have an experimental attitude, you may want to try the same thing.            my philosophy is "something is better than nothing". and if seeds ever get hard to come by, then for a while, I'll have seeds of some of my favorite peppers to grow.

experimenting with seeds is not a bad thing.        if it was, I would not, under any circumstances suggest anyone try it and I would not have done it myself.           I want to always be safe in my kitchen and garden and I would never make a suggestion that could knowingly harm someone in any way.         if anything, I'll strongly discourage anyone from doing something potentially harmful.

having said all that, I'll even encourage you to save seeds from anything hybrid. when you can't get seeds, "something is be better than nothing."         just don't buy into the traditional "NO, you can't do that!!!"          guess what, can't never did do anything but discourage those around it.            so try to save seeds from anything you can get your hands on.             hybrid or heirloom, a seed is a seed and will produce something.             you know my drill by now, "something is better than nothing!!!"

now you know the rest of the story.         hahaha          I hope if you don't grow something, this may be the encouragement you need to grow something.             you don't have to big garden.           just a pot with a basil plant in it.             a pot with a tomato plant in it.            a pot with a pepper plant in it.        those are all easy and pretty simple to grow.            try it.         you just may have a green thumb.         I spend some of my best times of worship in the garden, just my plants, myself and God.         God does it all.           I do my part, plant a seed and He does the rest.            to be quite honest, that's actually the rest of the story.           God makes my gardening look like I know what I'm doing.           in reality, I don't, but He is the Master Gardener.      

I hope you learned something here today.           don't take no for an answer if it's not something that can make you or someone else sick.          but planting dehydrated seeds will in no wise make anyone sick, maybe only the one who has a cussing fit and says it won't work.         well, it does work.        we'll just remember to give 'em a big ole southern "well, bless their heart!"          then move on.          hahaha

blessing on you all.            remember that God loves you and that He provided a way for you to be in right relationship with Him thru the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ!!!!            Jesus is the only way to the Father.           so if you don't Jesus today, why not let today be the day that you accept Him as Lord and Savior of your life.           hugs and love to all, patty