Squash for breakfast, squash for lunch, squash soup prep on the agenda...

[creekland]

I love our garden and eating from it, but after a few days of fried squash with eggs for breakfast, microwaved squash for lunch, and plans for today to make a delicious squash soup (mom's recipe) and zucchini bread (ditto), I'm thinking it's getting time to start freezing some of our squash (yellow and zucchini) for winter.  Or I'm tempted to take some to give away at church tomorrow, but the last time we did that there were oodles already available on the table.

 

It's been a GOOD year for squash!  

 

When/if the apocalypse comes, plant squash to have enough food for armies - at least for a while.

 

Beets, peas, kale, peppers, and tomatoes are also doing quite well - cukes soon too - but for volume per plant?  Squash wins easily.

[blackjackoaktree]

I'm not allowed a garden where I rent so we are doing this work cropshare that I visit weekly. There's not a lot ready yet but the kale and chard have gone bonkers. I am ohly there once a week and still bring home bags and bags of kale and chard.

[trulycrabby]

Yummy! Japanese eggplant is always prolific in my dad's garden; okra too (it's great roasted).

 

He has had trouble this year with borers and has only had a few squash. :( Do you have a way to prevent them, or are they not a problem in your area? We are in north Alabama, where it has been unusually hot and dry this summer.

[Onceuponatime]

Squash friitters are good. My garden is doing well, even after the great horn worm battle a few days ago. The kids and I removed at least twenty horn worms from the tomato plants. Plus Peter rabbit has taken up residence in my bean patch. He is cuter and less easy to get rid of than the horn worms.

[creekland]

We still have two huge bags of kale to freeze (have already done three + what we've eaten), so I can definitely agree with you that it's a good year for that too.  I think the difference is that I'm not eating kale with every meal and it fits in our fridge vs sitting on our steps coming in, so perhaps I don't notice it as much.

 

We've never planted chard.  The only greens we do are spinach and kale and our first batch of spinach has already succumbed to the warm weather.  The second is growing - almost ready to start eating.

 

We could eat the beet greens I suppose, but I've never prepared those.

[creekland]

Yummy! Japanese eggplant is always prolific in my dad's garden; okra too (it's great roasted).

 

He has had trouble this year with borers and has only had a few squash. :( Do you have a way to prevent them, or are they not a problem in your area? We are in north Alabama, where it has been unusually hot and dry this summer.

 

No eggplant or okra here.  I can eat them, but don't like them enough to actually grow them.

 

We get squash borers, but for whatever reason, they don't hit our plants until after we've been stuffed with squash so they're almost a blessing.  Then I'm usually "foolish" enough to replant afterward... so I'll have the same problem in the fall with more than we can actually eat.   :laugh:

 

Squash friitters are good. My garden is doing well, even after the great horn worm battle a few days ago. The kids and I removed at least twenty horn worms from the tomato plants. Plus Peter rabbit has taken up residence in my bean patch. He is cuter and less easy to get rid of than the horn worms.

 

We have to have our garden fenced or the rabbits and groundhogs would have their feast and we'd have nothing.

 

We used to plant beans (green, yellow, and lima), but after losing my farm hands to "growing up," we've stopped growing those - way too much work with everything else we do in the summer, esp this year.  I still insist on green peas though.  Those taste sooo good fresh from the garden even though they are NOT what one would want to plant in an apocalypse situation (lots of space/low food yield compared to other foods).  I have some I need to shuck this morning - my next plan now that breakfast is finished.

[school17777]

Do you do anything special to the kale before you freeze it?

 

I used to be given squash in the summer, but I don't even remember the last time that happened, It seems no one around here plants it anymore.

[creekland]

Do you do anything special to the kale before you freeze it?

 

I used to be given squash in the summer, but I don't even remember the last time that happened, It seems no one around here plants it anymore.

 

 

We blanch everything before freezing.  Hubby does that part. Divide and conquer is part of our normal life. He tells me he blanches kale for 2 1/2 minutes.  When we cook it later we also add some sort of meat and/or butter for flavoring.  That all comes from hubby's southern upbringing.  I'm sure it lowers the health value to add those things, but it makes it taste really, really good.

 

I'm surprised that people quit growing squash.  I thought that was some sort of sin.  ;)

 

If you get up our way prior to when we get freezing it (later today or tomorrow), you're welcome to have some...

[J-rap]

Maybe we should be sharing squash recipes then...  :)

 

[Momling]

Our squash are almost ready for eating. I'm currently overloaded in lettuce and radish and raspberries.

[MomsintheGarden]

It must be hard to keep up with the veggie eating when you only have one ds at home!

 

We've gotten some squash so far, and we're still enjoying it.  I had six plants fruiting, but am down to four because of the borers.  It's a balancing act - do we plant tons so we get a lot even after the borers, or do we seed in succession and spread it out, risking getting nothing?  I usually opt for succession, so I have two more hills coming along, and will plant more soon.

 

When we do get a lot, I grate the extra and freeze it to use in soups and casseroles over the winter.  It "melts" into whatever it's added to.  Otherwise I don't really care for frozen squash.  I tried canning it once, but it was a lot of work and we didn't like it.

 

Almost everything in our garden is doing really, really well this year.  The hoop house spinach, kale, and lettuce were harvested in April and May.  I steam blanch the spinach and kale until it turns bright green, usually 2-3 minutes.  We had snap and (for the first time) snow peas, and our rather pathetic asparagus.  I loved the snow peas and will grow them again.  We also had strawberries and honeyberries.  Right now we're harvesting new potatoes, onions (1200!), beets, carrots, garlic, shallots, okra, green peppers, artichokes, blueberries, purslane, lettuce, squash, kang kung, and lots of herbs.  Our small patch of green beans will be ready to start harvesting next week, and tomatoes the week after.  I've already started some things for fall.

 

The children and I have worked hard to keep it weeded, and they have helped me to find many, many squash bug eggs.  It's made a huge difference, so we should get a lot of butternuts this fall.  Reg's potato patch is absolutely beautiful, probably the best ever.  He's spent a lot of time on it and it shows.

 

We have at least one groundhog eating some things (lettuce, sweet potato leaves, and beet tops).  I've set the trap in various places, but so far it hasn't worked.  I absolutely hate groundhogs!!!  The cats have been taking care of the voles and rabbits, except for yesterday when our 8-month-old kitten let one go.  He looked very sorry. 

 

Enjoy your bountiful harvest and your sweet foals.  :)

[Cottonwood]

When I have an over abundance of squash, I blend a good bit up in pancake batter to hide...erm, I mean...use it up. Lol!

 

And, butter is good for you ..certain brands, or homemade even,that is. :)

[Carol in Cal.]

http://www.amazon.com/Tomatoes-Squash-Beans-Other-Things/dp/0060968575

[mamaraby]

I don't garden much anymore (except for a tiny little garden with peppers and Japanese eggplant), but we never got squash in monumentous quantities. Borers always got to ours before they set much fruit. I was always jealous of the zucchini people because we were lucky to get one or two.

 

On the rare occassion that we got more than two, I used to grate the zucchini and freeze it that way. It took up less room and I could easily make zucchini bread or throw a handful of grated zucchini into something (usually some sort of tomato sauce).

[Luckymama]

I have four baby squash set right now. I hope to be able to eat them before the borers find a way into my plants. I cover them, brush the stems and undersides of the leaves off, and so on...but the buggers find a way :(

 

Otoh we've been eating our weight in lettuce for a few weeks :lol:

[Truscifi]

Peppers and Japanese eggplant are the big winners for most prolific plants here too, though our spring season is over so it is mostly just a few stragglers now. Oh and Everglade cherry tomatoes. They grow like wild here and have the sweetest little cherry toms. 

 

I know what you mean though. I felt that way about eggplant last month.

[creekland]

Maybe we should be sharing squash recipes then...  :)

 

The squash soup is excellent and most of it comes from our garden/farm.  It's super easy to make as the only prep is washing/cutting.

 

I take our huge turkey roasting pan and oil it with corn oil, then fill it with:

 

- 2 large (by our standards) zucchini and 2 large summer squash all sliced into 3/4ths inch round slices

- 1 to 1.5 lb raw deerburger (thawed from last hunting season) - can use hamburger for those who don't have their own deer

- 2 filled qt bags of frozen tomatoes, slightly thawed (unless I have fresh ones - approx 12-14, but we don't yet)

- 1 qt bag of frozen yellow and green beans (will have to buy a lb bag from grocery store when we run out of ours since we didn't plant more)

- 3 or 4 stalks of cut celery with leaves (bought from the store)

- 1 medium to large onion sliced as desired

- 3 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 Tablespoon of Original Mrs Dash

- 1 Tablespoon of Sea Salt

- 32 oz of extra water

 

It's all raw... put together (pot is FULL), then covered and put into the oven at 350 degrees.  I stir it every half hour to 45 minutes until the squash looks totally cooked (usually about 2 hours).  We pull it out, let it sit for 15 minutes or so, then enjoy, followed by seconds.

 

Since the pot is full, it gives us delicious leftovers too.

 

I can envision more of this in the near future as it turns 4 large squash into tasty, healthy meals.

 

We're not fond of frozen squash either really, so I procrastinate doing that one.  I am, however, pondering freezing the soup and wondering how it will do.

[Tanaqui]

Ah, it's nearly time for the annual celebration, aka "sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch eve". You can grate it finely, squeeze out the liquid, and add it to meatballs or meatloaf.

 

We could eat the beet greens I suppose, but I've never prepared those.

 

Beets are related to spinach, and beet greens can be cooked up just like chard or spinach can, in all the same recipes. It has a slightly stronger flavor than most spinach does, so I find it's helpful to mix it in with spinach on a 1:1 ratio.

 

You'll probably want to cut off the long stems, although you can cook them as well if you like.

 

Budget tip: Hang around the supermarket or farmer's market, and when they lop the greens off the beets for sale, ask if you can take them off their hands. They'll be glad to give it to you for free! That one year we were on a serious budget crunch, we ate a heck of a lot of beet greens.