Foods Long Life

I got 60 butternut squash from ONE seed! Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest . My Husband, the Amazing Farmer Our friends always laugh when they see the size and yield of the vegetables from our garden. It's simply unbelievable how much our garden produces from a single seed. This year the winning vegetable was our butternut squash. One seed yielded a plant that produced 60 butternut squash, each weighing between 2 and 4 pounds - about 200 pounds of squash in all. A few even weighed as much as 5 pounds! I used a year-old seed from a packet of Johnny's JWS 6823 PMR Organic Squash Seed.   Their website says the average yield for this seed is 4 to 5 squash per plant. I can't wait to write to them to tell them that we got 60! I believe the secret is Doug's magic dirt formula. Since everyone always asks us, "what's in your soil", I thought I'd write this blog post. It's kind of tough to create a recipe for this since he "adds a lit...

Is it time to pick pears? Follow Foods For Long Life on Pinterest and Facebook . When are Pears Ripe to Pick? For years we've had a small espalier pear tree. It's more for decoration but it yields a dozen or so pears each year. And each year, by the time I pick them, they are too mushy to eat.  Like many people I assumed this fruit ripens on the vine so I'd go up and squeeze the pears and see if they have ripened. Since they were always hard as a rock I let them go a bit longer. Well it turns out that pears don't ripen on the vine which makes it a bit more tricky to know when you should pick them. But here's what to do. Put the pear in the palm of your hand and pull it towards you until it's completely horizontal. If the pear comes off the branch easily, it's ready to pick. If it holds on the to branch, it's not ready. Holding it horizontally, give it a little tug. A mature pear will come off easily. So now you have a bunch of hard pears - what to do ne...

A simple way to grow pole beans. Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest . Pole Beans  One of the most enjoyable things about growing beans is to see how tall and how fast they grow. But let's face it, we are all tempted to grow bush beans, especially if we don't have anything for beans to climb on. Here's a really easy way to grow pole beans in a very small space with something you probably already have! A Better Use for Tomato Cages Tomato cages are probably the worse design in history. As the tomato plant grows, you are constantly trying to figure out how to stuff the thick stems through the narrow bottom circular ring. There are much better ways to grow and stake tomatoes, such as a square cage made of hog wire.  As an engineer, I look for ways to use failed contraptions and since I have a pile of useless tomato cages, I thought, "why not build a tower for my beans and other climbing vegetables?" (I am also using this technique to grow cucumbers....

How to can your garden tomatoes. Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest. Download my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen . Time to Can Tomatoes I have a beautiful crop of tomatoes this year. It's so big that it would take every jar in my house to can them, so I'm going to cook them down until they are very thick. I use every type of tomato in my garden to get a nice combination of acidity and flavor. This year, I was lucky enough to find New Zealand paste tomato plants at our farmer's market to add to the mix. They grew well, they have very few seeds, and they are enormous! I will definitely save seeds from this one for next year. A 12-ounce New Zealand paste tomato New Zealand paste tomatoes on the vine How to Can Thick-Crushed Tomatoes Requirements A large Water Bath Canning pot. A 5 1/2 quart non-reactive Dutch Oven Pint canning jars with lids and bands Lemon juice (1 tablespoon per pint of tomato sauce) It's hard to say how many jars you'll need p...

French-style green beans with tomatoes, garlic and basil. Follow Foods For Long Life on Facebook and Pinterest . For more recipes, download, Health Begins in the Kitchen . Romano Green Beans I love these flat green beans - they are one of my favorites to cook and grow. This year I ordered  Johnny's seeds - Northeaster OG Pole beans , online. I don't think it's too late for you to plant them. In fact, I will start a second crop in a week so that I'll have more beans in the fall.  These pole beans are growing up my hog wire fence My daily harvest with 10 plants started from seed French-Styled Green Beans I love the look and texture of julienne cut, French-styled green beans but they are very difficult to make. It's so hard to julienne a round green bean that most people avoid making French-styled green beans. But when you start with a flat bean, it's a LOT easier. Today's recipe uses Romano green beans, tomatoes, fresh basil, and garlic - all from my ga...