George Shirley wrote:

> I'm getting ready to blanch and freeze a bunch of green beans this
> morning. Actually the beans are purple but they turn green when cooked.
> Also have a 3-gallon bucket of sweet chiles (peppers to Yanqui's) to
> deseed, chop, and freeze. Most of these are Longhorns from plants I
> started on January 15, 2003, they slightly froze back during our mild
> winter and I pruned and fed them in February and they are really producing.
>
> The Tatume and trombocino squash are loaded with blooms and small
> squash, looks like another bumper year around here. The sweet kumquat is
> loaded with blooms so it won't be long before I feed it and spray it
> with 80% sulphur to keep the citrus rust mites in check. We've already
> put up several trays of lemon juice cubes and the Ponderosa lemon is
> loaded with both fruit and blooms. Figs are coming on like gang busters
> and the Fuyu persimmon is loaded with fruit, I've been combating white
> scale on that tree and seem to be winning.
>
> Noticed the first eggplant of the season this morning, about six inches
> long, may have some broiled eggplant and squash to go with the grilled
> steaks on Memorial Day.
>
> Life is good.
>
> George
>


I'm supposed to be out weeding and planting the garden, but it's cool
and raining again. (great weather to have planted the garden
*yesterday*.)

I made tofu for the first time this morning. It's easy to make (with
Wife's soymilk maker), but I still managed to mess up the whole kitchen
doing it. I figured out a really good coagulator -- I dissolved 1 tsp
of pickling lime in a half cup of vinegar and let it rest a spell while
I boiled and cooled the soy milk. The hot soymilk clotted immediately
when I added it -- I probably could have used less than half as much
coagulant.

I haven't figured out what to do with the leftover soybean pulp ("okara".)

I have a 20 pound frozen turkey in the electric roaster; it should be
done about 9:00 tonight. If the weather sucks tomorrow, I might make a
*bunch* of turkey soup from the drippings and the picked carcass and put
up a cannerful of quart jars.

It has stopped raining for a bit, so I think I'll try pulling weeds in
the mud. I'd really like to get the peppers and tomatoes in the ground
today. The tomatilloes have been "heeled in" in the compost pile for a
few days, hardening off. They look a little ragged from the wind, but
they are blooming now.

Best regards,
Bob