ShanHale.com

…since my last update. I know.

Since I’ve been gone, the garden is underway – mostly tomatoes. We’re doing containers on the deck, which is the only part of the yard that gets sun. Not sure how well it will go.

Summer is here, judging by the amount of mosquito bites I have.

Things that have been keeping me busy:
The Survival Podcast. – practical information for living a better life when things get tough, or even if they don’t.

FightMichigan.com – of course.

And, of course, various changes that just creep up on you and happen.

I really need to remember to take more photos and to update this blog more often. I really feel like I’m out of practice, though, and FightMichigan is taking up all my free time and website ambition.

I’ve been waiting and waiting for the bananas in the dehydrator to get crispy like store bought dried bananas. It seems like it shouldn’t take three days. So, I started looking around, and I found out that store-bought dehydrated bananas are actualy DEEP FRIED and dried. yuck.

So, I guess my bananas are done. They’re a little spongy like dried apple, but they taste really really good.

The apples turned out good, and the nectarines turned out great.  The Nectarines dried the fastest, then the apples, then the bananas. The hot peppers are still going. I probably should have pierced the skin or cut them in half. I’ll try that next time.

Last week, I used my credit card reward points to get a food dehyrator. TJ and I planted so many tomatoes and hot peppers that there’s no way we’ll be able to use them all without some sort of preservation. I ended up getting the VegiKiln 6-tray dehydrator after reading a ton of articles and reviews for various dehydrators. I didn’t want one that was round, and I didn’t want one that dehydrated from the top or the bottom. This model dehydrates from the back, so all the trays get dried evenly and at the same time.

I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, because I want to have enough stuff to fill all the trays. I want to try fruits and vegetables. Dehydrate2Store has some really great videos on YouTube about dehydrating food, and she uses only lemon juice to prevent discoloration and to help prevent spoiling. I like that much better than Sodium bisulfite or some other poisonous-sounding chemical.

I can’t wait to try it out!

I picked these things from our garden last night.  We’ve got tomatoes and peppers. Those cherry tomatoes taste like poison, though. I have no idea what happened, but they taste terrible. The yellow pear tomatoes are delicious and sweet. I’ll probably dry some of the hot peppers and I’m thinking about making Jalapeño Poppers.

I got two huge cabbages from TJ’s dad’s garden last week because I’ve been wanting to try to make Sauerkraut. I went out and bought a brand new 5 gallon bucket, sterilized it with a mild bleach solution, and shredded the cabbage into it. After each half of shredded cabbage, I sprinkled in some non-iodized salt, and stirred things up.  Then I covered it with a plate that’s weighed down with a glass jar full of water. It seems to be fermenting, but I think I used too much salt. When it’s done, I’m hoping to rinse it a little to get some of the salt out, and then I’m going to can it.

While I was reading about making sauerkraut, I found out that fermented cabbage has been made all over the world for centuries. In Korea it’s Kimchi and has peppers in it, and in Latin America it’s called Curtido and also has hot peppers in it. So, as soon as I get my hands on another head of cabbage, I’m gonna try to make another batch of sauerkraut with Jalapeño slices in it. This time I’ll measure the salt.