Sunday, July 15, 2012

Worm Bin: Six Weeks

It's been about six weeks since the purchase of my Worm Factory.  There's not really too much to say about it.  I shred up cardboard, crush up eggs, put in vegetable/fruit scraps and coffee grounds, and the worms eat them.  The cardboard is so absorbent that I haven't had any drainage at all into the reservoir.  I prefer using cardboard to shredded paper because of that.  The paper gets so soggy.  I just stick my shredded paper in my backyard bin. 

I do wish that I had bought more worms initially so that they could have eaten all of our suitable fruit and vegetable scraps right away.  I was cheap and only bought 500.  But that's okay--they will be fruitful and multiply. 

I do love opening my bin and checking on my worms, even though I know it's bad to disturb them. 

Freezing Tomatoes

Well, after my first batch of tomatoes turned into a disaster (I blanched them for 5 minutes instead of 30 seconds--got them confused with green beans!), I have successfully frozen several baggies full. 

With the bigger tomatoes (beafsteak and roma), I blanch them for 30 seconds, plunge them in ice water for 30 seconds, peel them, dice them, scooping out seeds but not worrying too much about it, and then stick them in the freezer.  With the cherry tomatoes, I don't bother peeling.  They taste just fine in stews with the skin on. 

I love freezing the tomatoes because we use them in several recipes during the winter in place of canned tomatoes.  The homegrown tomatoes have such a nice, strong flavor--the difference is obvious.  I use them for beef stew and chilli.  My husband uses them for his delicious jambalaya.  They are perfect for any recipe that calls for canned tomatoes. 

The tomatoes were ripening en masse, but now things have slowed down a lot, since it's gotten so hot.  I hope/expect to have another big crop in the fall. 

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Tomato Screw-up

So, I screwed up freezing my tomatoes.  I blanched them for 5 minutes instead of 30 seconds before bagging them and putting them in the freezer.  I am rather annoyed about it.  I think what I will do is try and remember that batch is too well cooked and just add them at the end of a stew rather than the beginning.  Sigh.