Keeping Ralph Busy

 Ralph is our Freeze Dryer.

This run has gone 35 hours so far.

I'm getting ready to pull it.

We are 5 hours into the extra dry time.

And that is probably enough.

He is currently full of french fry shaped

zucchini with Everything Bagel seasoning.

All my 10 metal trays are full, so these

are on the plastic lids.

I don't love using them as trays because you

can't fill them as full, but, in a pinch....

Next up we have 2 trays of bananas,

1.5 trays of ice cream sandwiches

and 1.5 trays of "unicorn & sparkles"

ice cream we bought at WalMart yesterday.

I used my smallest cookie scoop and put

it in little balls on the trays this morning.

I'll probably leave it in the freezer for a couple more hours

so the bananas can get a good freeze on them.

It doesn't like it when you mix frozen and nonfrozen foods together.

But bananas don't take long to freeze.

Next up after that will be 3 trays of apples (the last of them)

and 2 trays of grated zucchini.

(I'll pull them out of the bags before they go in...)

Of course we also have BAGS and BAGS of chopped

zucchini and yellow squash.

As well as 5 more quarts of tomato puree in the fridge.

But this morning I'm going to pickle the okra.

I think there are... 3? 4? gallon bags of okra

in the fridge that I need to take care of.

And since it's kind of chilly, I won't

mind turning on the oven.

It looks like we might be able to

start picking beans tomorrow or Thursday.

We have eaten a couple fresh from the garden,

but most of them still need a day or two.

AND!!!!!

Yesterday we found the first flowers on the peas!!!

I know that means there are still a couple weeks

before we have enough to harvest, but at least

they are doing something besides just getting TALL.

(We are watching for first frost.....)

Of course Kyle keeps the tomatoes picked.

(Right into his mouth....)

But there are still lots and lots of green ones.

And we might FINALLY be getting a few snacking peppers!

Every few days he pulls a carrot or two just to check.

They are starting to form little tiny carrots.

He said they taste amazing! But they are basically

carrot flavored hair at this point.

A cold front came through last night while I was 

teaching my evening class.

I was watching my little weather station on my desk.

(teaching is kind of boring, so I sometimes have

other stuff going on to keep me awake... lol.)

The humidity was about 36% when I started.

And then after about an hour,

the wind picked up and the humidity

started to drop like a ROCK.

It got as low as 24% while I was watching.

This morning it's back up to about 28%.

And it's 72 in the house.

Which is nice and pleasant.

We are wearing sweats and slippers.

HA.

The high for the day outside is only 71.

(it's currently 59.)

But it is a short lived cool front because

tomorrow is supposed to be 89.

And 93 by Saturday.

So I'm not too worried about frost just yet.

(Our first frost is usually October 12-ish

but depending on who you talk to,

some say it will be November, and some

say it will be any day now.)

Anyhow.

We are keeping a close eye on it.

Don't want to lose our peas and beans.

We will lose the tomatoes, but that's ok.

We will just pick everything and let

it ripen in the house.

Anyhow.

That's what today looks like!