Category Archives: Garden

Beef broth yield 2012

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This post will be a record of quarts of beef broth canned this year + our recipe.

Since we just took some beef to the butcher shop, we are using up the beef bones in our freezers before we get more from this batch. Been trying to wait for some cooler days for this, but they seem to be few & far between this season…

We usually do 4 roasters full of broth stretched over 2 days. Here’s our recipe per roaster:

12# meaty bones
4 Onions
6 Carrots
12 Celery stalks

We brown the bones by lining the roaster with them, & placing the next 3 items on top. Place lid on roaster & roast for 1 hour at 450 degrees – flipping bones halfway through.

[UPDATED 2-5-19: I NO LONGER FLIP THE BONES…MAINLY BECAUSE IT IS MESSY, AND IT TURNS OUT FINE WITHOUT FLIPPING.😉]

Turn off heat.

Add:
9 unpeeled & crushed garlic cloves
1T coarse sea salt
1T peppercorns
1c raw apple cider vinegar
Cold water to fill roaster to top

Let sit for 30 minutes (no lid).

Add lid and bring to boil on high heat. Once boiling, lower heat to keep it at a low simmer. We let it simmer 18 hours or so. (May need to add more water periodically to keep it full.)

Allow it to cool for a bit. Strain it. What’s left is a beautiful, healthy, broth! 🙂

We place the broth in large bowls with lids & let them sit a day or two in the fridge. By then, the fat has solidified on top, and it’s easy to remove the fat layer & begin pressure canning the broth.

Our yield is about 9 quarts per roaster.

[UPDATED 2-5-19: MY 18Q ROASTER FINALLY DIED THIS YEAR, AND WE UPGRADED TO A 22Q ROASTER. BROTH IS STILL GELATENOUS KEEPING THE RECIPE THE SAME, AND YIELD INCREASED TO 11Q]

6-30-12 canned 41 quarts

Applesauce yield 2012

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This post will be a tally for applesauce made from the apples of trees here on the farm. Mike’s Dad sprays them with an organic fish spray several times a year. They aren’t the prettiest to look at, but they taste really good! 🙂

One of these days I need to watch Mike’s Mom & note how she makes it. (I do love notetaking, but I also like to SEE how people make things that are new to me.) I know she cooks them down, runs them through a hand crank food mill & adds a bit of evaporated cane juice to sweeten it up… It doesn’t sound difficult, it just seems like when it’s time to make applesauce, I’m doing 500 different things at the same time!

We’re so grateful she makes it & shares with us. 🙂

I make large “applesauce ice cubes” by freezing it in 1 cup containers. Once they are frozen, I pop them out of the containers & place them in labeled ZIPPER bags.

**I learned the hard way to use ZIPPERED bags… A couple years ago, we had an instance where a freezer door was accidentally left ajar for a day. 😦 The applesauce had been on the freezer door in non-zippered sandwich bags – ug, a complete STICKY disaster!**

Next the “cubes” are placed in labeled shoeboxes in the freezer. On the freezer door we chart the date & yield. Then I map it out for one year. Looks like with this current yield, our family can enjoy 1c of applesauce with a meal every 2.5 weeks. 🙂

Yields:
6-23 6c (frozen)
6-25 6c (frozen)
6-27 6c (frozen)

Broccoli yield 2012

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This post will be our record for broccoli this season. Hopefully I can remember to add data to this post as we harvest. 🙂

Yesterday we picked our first bundle of broccoli! I should have weighed it, but I forgot, lol…

Paul & I (Mike & Michael aren’t fans of broccoli…) steamed it & ate it as a side with dinner before baseball practice & again for a snack afterwards! 🙂

It was sooooo good – especially lathered in lots of butter! 🙂

Yields:
6-26 about 4 cups (ate fresh)
7-7 about 13 oz. frozen
7-12 about 14 oz. frozen
7-16 about 22 oz. frozen
7-24 about 20 oz. frozen
8-1 about 18 oz. frozen