Harvest time , two recipes.

We are working furiously in the garden these days against time. We had frost on our vehicles on Saturday.  News report of snow in the high country this past weekend. Winter IS on it's way. We are working on being prepared. 

Picked more collards. I love them. I was born and raised in the south. A staple is collards. You see them growing in most people's gardens through the fall and into the mild winters.

I picked a bunch and set to making a "mess 'o collards". 

They turned out so good. 

Here's how I make my collards.

Mess 'o Collards

About 4 cups of chopped collards.

4 pieces of bacon, chopped

3 cloves garlic chopped

1 small chopped onion

3-4 cups of chicken broth

1/4 of apple cider vinegar

salt 

pepper

a large pinch of brown sugar

pinch of pepper flakes

Brown the bacon.  Remove from pan. Save enough grease to saute the onion and garlic.  Add back the bacon and the rest of the ingredients. I simmer mine for about an hour and half.  You can simmer longer if you like it softer.  Serve hot.  I like to add a dash of Tabasco to mine. Good stuff!

More of today's picking...

We also had spaghetti squash for dinner...since we have so much. 

Spaghetti Squash Pomodoro 

One spaghetti squash

cherry tomatoes sliced in half

small onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic

pinch of sugar

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese 

Steam spaghetti squash. We cut them in half and remove the seeds. Place in a steamer for 40 minutes.

Using a folk, scrape the squash out so it looks like spaghetti. 

In a small pan saute onions and garlic. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Stir. Add sugar. 

Plate your squash , top with tomato mixture. Top with cheese. 

Last week we talked about water and saving to prepare for winter.  My brother-in- law, Vaughn is encouraging me to get a rain barrel. He lives in north TX. He is great at doing research and here is some info he has come up with to save water (I did get his permission to post):

Not sure how much rain y'all get during the year, but here is some interesting info that I have gathered and calculated. We will install gutters on a barn first, then on the house and lastly, on the garage.

If you have 1000 Sq ft of roof and collected the rain from the roof, here is some data that will blow your mind.

1 inch of rain collected from 1000 Sq ft of roof will collect 600 gallons of water. So here is a breakdown based on that.

1/8 " of rain = 75 gallons of water
1/4 " of rain = 150 gallons
3/8 " = 225 gallons
1/2 " = 300 gallons
5/8 " = 375 gallons
3/4 " = 425 gallons
1" = 600 gallons

I just bought 4 ibc totes for the barn and now I need to buy the gutters and we will start collecting. We have  Co op water and we pay for water so can't wait to start using free water. We will use the rain water collected for animals and trees. Just some tidbits of info that I wanted to share with yall.

Thanks Vaughn!

I did get in the sewing/craft room but it was such a mess I spent most of the time cleaning it. I am glad I did. My plan is to sew or crochet every day this week.  (yes, along with working in the garden and going to work. It will be a delicate balance so I don't burnout).

Cheers! Here's to a new week and the end of September. 

peace, health, and happiness