October Newsletter

Good morning Ghosts & Ghouls, Spooky Season is finally here! Don’t forget to roast your pumpkin seeds if you plan to make a Jack-o-lantern this year, or rinse them and pop them in your bird feeder. Pumpkin seeds are full of Vitamin A and calcium, making them a great snack for feathered or human friends.

As always, we are so thankful for the hard work of our partners and volunteers. In the month of September, we received $7,976 worth of product contributions which helped us create and deliver 2,604 meals, bringing our donation total to an absolutely incredible $13,721 worth of goods and meals. To see this level of growth month after month, year after year for our very small organization, reminds us that small acts do add up to big changes. Thank you to all our partners and volunteers who make these big changes possible.

Savor the Seasons

Recently, our friend and member of our Board of Directors, Susan Goekler, shared with us a fabulous tip for preparing the abundance of tomatoes and peppers that her garden had yielded this Summer. It got me thinking about how important it is to utilize everything we can, to the best of our abilities, to reduce our waste, reduce our carbon footprint, and to enjoy the bounty of our gardens all Winter long.

Tomatoes are so fun and easy to grow! Maybe a little too easy. In the right conditions, you may have ended up with literal bushels or them, all ripening at once. Well, hopefully you planted basil too and now you’re ready to preserve yourself a nice marinara. We’ll take you from plant to plate…

So you’ve harvested your tomatoes, washed them and removed the stems, and your family cannot take one more night of salad caprese. It’s time to can some sauce. The most tedious part of sauce making and the thing that keeps most people away from making homemade sauces, is removing the tomato skin. Tomato skins in sauce make for an undesirable texture and can impart a bitter taste. It’s better to remove them. Usually this involves boiling them but not cooking them, which is a fine line and still not easy, even if you do it right. Well, Susan found an easier way! She suggests that you cut the stem end off, halve them and lay them skin side up on a baking sheet, and then place them under a broiler for 5-10 minutes (depending on the broiler). The skins get toasted and slip right off. How easy is that? This gives the vegetable a “roasted” flavor and cuts down on the water dilution of the sauce. You can also do it with peppers, they make a great sauce too! Thanks, Susan!

Ok, the vegetables have been peeled and you’ve followed Grandma’s recipe for the perfect batch of spaghetti sauce (or you followed this easy one here). Now comes the second part that scares people: canning. But it’s easier than you think.

Water-bath canning requires no particularly special equipment. A stock pot that covers your cans with two inches of water, and canning jars with fresh lids are the only two “special” things I would say you need. You will need to elevate the glass jars off of the bottom of the stock pot, which you can use an Instant Pot trivet for if you have one, or by simply placing old jar lid rings down in the pot before filling it. No kitchen funnel? Cut a hole in the bottom of a red Solo cup. Let’s face it, homesteaders were able to do it in 1870, and they didn’t even have the internet. Lucky for us, there’s the National Center for Home Food Preservation now. They’ve got everything you need to know.

Still a little nervous? There’s other ways to preserve! How about freezing or dehydrating? Save the tomato skins that you removed above and make a seasoning called “tomato powder” that you can add to dry-rubs and seasoning blends. And don’t forget to pickle the green ones that didn’t quite ripen up. Last stop is the compost pile, and that organic matter will help us again next year. 

Don’t let all the hard work you put into your garden be wasted. Savor every bite, every drop of water, and every bit of sunshine that went into your harvest all year long. 
You deserve it!