Winter Non-Garden Projects: Cat Scratching Post

 From time to time, especially during the winter when there is little to do outdoors,  I "get crafty" and have to urge to make something. Sometimes that involves sewing, sometimes its scissors and glue, other times its my toolbox.  YES, I have my own tool box, and it stays in the house right where I can find most things I might need.  It is really multipurposed in its existence, but one reason I have it is so I don't have to go searching in the garage for hubby's tools! (I will save the other reasons why I have my own toolbox for another post.)

This project is actually the result of my saving a small scrap of carpet left over from a whirlwind weekend apartment makeover we did for a family member last summer.  The piece of carpet was pretty small and very stiff, and retained the shape from being rolled up on a tube--as new carpeting usually is. Well as it was laying there on the floor, I (in my sleep deprived state) thought I could use it for some project or another and tossed it in the trunk of my car....and there it stayed...and was used for various things alright, like a mat under a hot baking dish when I took a meal to a family at church.  Then I got the brilliant idea--as our cat scratched the end of our couch with her claws...and scratched at the carpet on our stairs...and scratched at the cushion on the chair--to make a scratching post! AH HA that carpet would be useful right?!  hmmmm...

Shortly after I thought of my "great project idea,"  my dad was checking out some thing under the hood of my car and needed something out of the trunk as well.  He asked "why do you have this scrap of carpet?"  So I began to tell him of my magnificent plan!  He disappeared into the garage and quickly returned with a heavy cardboard tube that I could use for the project....but what was I going to use for a base to keep the thing upright? Then the task got really interesting as although he would deny it, dad likes a good crafty project as much as I do! And besides it was for his grandkitties as he affectionately refers to our 2 cats and reminds me that neither my sister in law nor myself have given him any REAL grand children yet so he has to spoil the cats. Anyways, back to the project--We rummaged around in the garage and found a piece of 3/4 inch plywood which dad then cut into an 18 inch square, (yah I have a tool box but no power tools so I needed help with this part, hee hee).  He then meticulously measured the ends of the tube and cut a circle of the plywood to fit snuggly inside each end, and secured them with a bit of construction adhesive. After finding the center of the plywood base, he drilled 4 holes and added 4 wood screws to hold the post (tube) onto the base (square plywood).

You can see the 2 parts pictured here.

I took the bare construction home with me and set out to cover the tube with my salvaged carpet scrap--which turned out to be way to short for that, and way to stiff to fold over and cover the baseboard.  So after all that time saving it... it ended up in the garbage anyways!
NOW WHAT, UGH!  I had to rethink my plan.
 
Later I found a thin rubber backed rug on clearance at the store for only $4, and snagged that to perfectly cover the base. My trusty staple gun came in handy for fastening it tightly and smoothly over the edges of the board.  Then a quick trip to the hardware and $7, resulted in a 100 foot roll of 1/4 inch twisted sisal roping to wrap the vertical part of the project.   The pictures below show how I just tied a slip knot,  tightened the loop at the base of the tube,  then tightly wrapped the rope around and around til I reached the top of the 19 inch post, where I finished with a knot and a dab of glue to keep the end from fraying.
You can also see one little furry friend was interested in her present before it was even finished!

To make the fixture more interesting to the cats, I attached a toy to it.  The small fishy is on the end of an elastic cord making it fun to bat at and bite and pull on!  A simple screw in the center of the wooden disc on the top of the tube holds the other end of the elastic string in place.

And here you see the finished product with a kitty cat trying it out.

Oh, I almost forgot to write a few extra notes on the subject:

Why do cats scratch on things?--to keep their claws clean and sharp.

How tall should a scratching post be?--at least as tall as the cat is long when standing, or taller so she can stand on her back legs and stretch up with her front paws.

Make sure the post is sturdy--so it doesn't tip over when that cat first tries to use it, and startle her into not wanting to use again.

Multi surfaces--such as wood, twine, cardboard or carpeting, provide variety for the cats to work their claws on but protects your furniture, curtains, rugs and clothes.


See ya again soon with another winter project post!

"To Blog or Not To Blog?" That is the question!

"To Blog or Not To Blog?"

Hello readers. Did you miss me?  Did you often check to see if there were any new posts only to be disappointed? Have you wondered and worried what has become of the getaway gardener during the winter?

No, not really?!  I didn't think so. 

Not much has been going on in the gardening department here, nor the green house (as winter gardening in there is still in the experimental stages for me).   I worked on a few non-gardening related projects during the winter, and I may get around to posting about those, but does anyone really want to read about the projects I am doing?  or about my upcoming gardening plans? or creepy little buggies that crawl around in the garden later in the season? or my burnt tomato sauce and other such preserving mishaps?    

Recently, I was asked if I was going to continue with the blog this year ... and I didn't really know how I wanted to answer, so I have spent a little time thinking on the question. Here are the things I have been mulling over:

SUBJECT MATTER:  I have some ideas, which seem interesting to me... but then when I think about sharing them, ugh. I think well "now they will all know I am a weirdo for sure!"    Of course, "I am what I am and that's all that I am, I'm Popeye the sailor m.. ", oh oopsie that can't be the song I was goin for....where was I?  Right, being weird!    I guess it's probably a good idea to share the trials and triumphs that we are experiencing as we do our best to be good stewards of the opportunities and resources we are given, and in this day and age, blogging is probably the most widespread and easy venue for doing so.  Also, do I limit this to garden-oriented stuff, because it has been named "getawaygarden" specifically, or is it acceptable to expand to other projects, info and skills I learn, try, conquer (or fail)?

TIME MANAGEMENT:  Is posting really the best use of my time? or is it something I can "allow" as my "rest time" activity?

AUDIENCE:  I only have 9 official blog followers! and the hit or miss few that happen across the occasional link from facebook...

AM I ANY GOOD AT THIS:  Well let me just say here that I used to be smart, quite smart in fact  (insert wide cheesy smile)  but eh, the brain is getting a little out of practice in the finer things as I have spent so much time in the last few years almost completely engaged in child care, elder patient care, diapers (yes from both of the former categories thank you), reading books which have less than 20 pages and include lots of pictures, medicine regulation and administration, well you get the point... very often now I feel like the ol' brain is just about mush!  SO, am I kidding myself in thinking I can still intelligibly translate my thoughts into articles that a-people want to read, and b-convey information that is somewhat useful or at least mildly entertaining. And is   keeping up with writing to y'all, researching topics that come up about gardening, and etc possibly GOOD for my noggin! 

POSSIBLE INCOME AS A BLOGGER:  ???? REALLY??? Really. hmmm...

CONSPIRACY WARNINGS:  Ok, so seriously these are the real concerns in today's world...The things I feel are important enough to blog about/share info on/whatever... are also the topics that cause a lot of people to be on high alert.  Can I deliver vague enough postings so as not to be considered a target (in any of several aspects) and still clearly transmit useful information, experience, and values to my readers?  The things I hold most dear are Faith, Family, Freedom and the Preservation of all three--It goes without saying that each of these are under attack and so are the people that promote them.

Here's where you come in!  Tell me you want me to stay.  Join this site as an official follower if you haven't yet, then share me with your friends! Get me some more followers! Leave me comments, questions, and topic suggestions...

I will be waiting to hear from you...

Carrots

 Today, as I pulled a bag of carrots out of the freezer to use in a pot of soup, I remembered that I never got around to writing about  them.  Late in the fall, one of the last things we harvested from our garden was the carrots.  We were surprised that we filled a laundry basket with all that we pulled up, and that equaled approximately 50 pounds!

Even though seeds are tiny and rather tedious to sow evenly, and the weeds must be hand-picked away from the fragile young plants, and the watering has to be just so--(thorough, but not too much, not to hard, and not dry out in between either)---despite all that---I think the carrots are one of my favorite things that we have grown, because of the good yield that can be grown and the flavor simply cannot be beat.  Next year I hope to figure out what I am doing wrong to cause them to grow sort of short and stubby, rather than long and slender as typically you would picture a carrot to be.  The only real complaint I have about the stunted size is that it makes cleaning/peeling them a little more difficult when you get a whole pile of little nubs, but that just takes some more patience and determination. 

To harvest the carrots, I simply took hold of the green tops with one hand and stuck the trowel into the dirt near the carrot to loosen and ease the root up without breaking it off.  My husband took a more aggressive approach and used a short handled garden fork and loosened and raised the dirt carrots and all as he went along, then went back and picked up the uprooted veggies once he reached the end of his section.  We used a pair of scissors to clip the greens off and tossed the carrots into a laundry basket.

Although we did use a lot of the fresh carrots, we had enough that I needed to put some up for later use.  When I got ready to "process" our mighty carrot haul, I first sorted them into a couple size categories just for ease of cleaning and more even cooking times later on.  In several batches, I brought the carrots in and scrubbed them with a new kitchen sponge and cool water. Each and every carrot had its ends trimmed off, received a good scraping with the vegetable peeler, followed by another good rinse, after which they were sliced. Then they were ready for several preservation options.

Option 1: Blanch & Freeze
Boiling water 2 min, Ice bath. Drain on towel. Single layer on waxed paper lined cookie sheet--flash freeze. Package in freezer zip bags or containers.

Option 2:  Canning
This was my first attempt at canning using a Pressure Canner.  Certain foods such as vegetables are considered low acid foods, and must therefore be pressurized during canning to ensure bacteria is killed and the product will keep well and be safe to eat.   Meats are another category which must be canned with a pressure cooker, however most fruits and items that contain vinegar (like pickles) do not need to be.  There are recommended times and pressure settings for various foods which should be read thoroughly and observed in any case.  In this instance, I borrowed a Pressure Canner from my aunt, and she sent along the booklet of instructions which said for quart jars of carrots I needed to set the pressure regulator to 10 pds, and process them for 25 minutes.  For my first try at it, they turned out alright, but I think I may have allowed the water to boil a little too hard which made some of the liquid inside the jars escape. Nevertheless, 6 of the 7 quarts sealed fine, and we just put that one straight in the refrigerator and used it up within a few days.

 Option 3: Dehydrating
Not wanting to put "all my eggs in one basket" or in fact all my carrot store in one form, I decided to try putting some in my dehydrator.   As you can see in this picture I had some help with that job! Even little hands can do a lot to help!

We filled each of the trays with a single layer of carrot slices, plugged in the dehydrator, and came back about 24 hours later...

I am extremely pleased with the results of our carrot drying experiment.
Once the slices were still slightly leather but near brittle, they were finished and able to be stored in glass jars.   This lightweight, low volume storage option preserves so much flavor and nutrients, and these cute, crinkly-edged, dry carrots will be a good addition to a slow simmering soup recipe.

Definitely looking forward to including carrots in next year's garden plans.  

Herb Garden Treasures

One of the gardens I have neglected to tell you about is our Herb Garden, which occupies a raised bed across one end of Veggie Garden 1.  I think this is the 3rd year since I added herbs to the plants we grow, and I have to say it is one of my favorite sections of the garden.  Not only is has it been useful, it is pretty too. And its a good value, considering a very tiny jar of dried herbs/seasonings can cost 4 or 5 dollars or even more when you buy them at the grocery store, and fresh--well how fresh could they be?  But, a whole plant usually costs less than that, and then I can dry enough to fill several pint jars of our favorites out of the garden each year, plus have all the fresh herbs we want to use from spring through late fall.

Herb garden in early spring

Early in the spring, I cleaned out a few weeds, scratched up the soil, mixed in some manure and trimmed the few plants that survived the winter and were ready grow.  Those that came back from the previous year included: chives, sage, thyme, oregano, and lavender.  Others that do not survive our winters are, basil, parsley, rosemary, cilantro, and tarragon.  

I started herbs from seed as well, just to see how they would do and to have lots to share. Most grew pretty well. Here you can see baby dill (below left) and baby thyme (below right).  The basil grew sort of weird, with lumps on the leaves, and had a strange smell, so I ended up purchasing a couple plants after all. 

After initially prepping the soil, trimming the existing plants and adding in the new ones, there was very little to do with this portion of the garden.  The herbs seem to do best when left alone!  So I let them have a bit of water when the sprinklers are on, and let them grow.

Lavender

When it comes to picking and using the herbs, you can really cut some to use fresh at any time when the plants are big enough, have established roots, and will survive the cutting.  Herbs, like a lot of other plants will actually flourish, and have more growth after a good trimming anyways, so don't be afraid to cut and use pieces of fresh herb often.  

washed Sweet Basil leaves

If you plan to collect a large amount and dry it there are a few tips to consider. Most types of herbs are at peak flavor just before they flower.  Also, I learned that it is best to cut the herbs in the morning, after the dew dries off but before the hot sun affects the oils in the plant and therefore the flavor or fragrance as well. Some info sources I read say do not wash the herbs before drying them (again, something about optimum oil retention)....however, we have very sandy soil and when it rains or the sprinkler is on, the foliage gets spattered with dirt and I just have to wash them! I usually place the herbs in the sink or wash bin, and fill it with cool water, swish them around, shake off excess water and then allow them to air dry on a clean towel before use. I don't really notice any quality difference with doing so.  A final tip I learned as to drying herbs is that leaving pieces larger for storage and then crushing them when ready to use them later on will also preserve more true flavor/fragrance.

There are several options for the actual drying process:
1.  Collect the herbs into small bunches. Tie the stems, and hang the bundles upside down in a dry, dark, airy place until thoroughly dry. This is supposed to be the best way to preserve the most oil in the foliage, giving best flavor and fragrance when dry. I do not really have a place to hang herbs so I do not use this option.

2.  Place stems of herbs in a single layer across a wire cooling rack on a cookie sheet. Place in the oven set to lowest temperature possible, and leave the door ajar to release moisture.  I have done this with all kinds of herbs with success for a few years.  The downsides include: takes a long time, heats up the house, have to keep a close eye on it, and cannot do very much at a time.

3.  Food Dehydrator Option:  This past Christmas I received as a gift something that has been on my wish list for quite a long time--an electric food dehydrator.  It is from Harbor Freight, and is not one of those super duper really expensive ones, but it is sufficient with 5 trays and a lid with vents.  It uses a low powered heating coil in the bottom; heat and moisture from the food rise and escape out of the lid.

I have been using it all summer to dry several harvests of herbs. The first time around with Parsley, for example, I washed, towel dried,  picked the leaves off the stems and piled them onto each of the 5 trays--it took about 5 hours to completely dry with the trays really packed full, but the color stayed beautiful green and the smell and taste seem to be great! The full dehydrator yielded a packed pint jar of dried parsley.   With subsequent batches, I tried to allow more air flow by not filling the trays so full, and the processes was much quicker, reducing the drying time by a couple hours.  Different types of herbs however will take varying amounts of time.  I picked off and only dry the leaves of the parsley, basil and sage, but for herbs like thyme, rosemary and oregano (small leaves) I place whole sprigs on the trays and simply strip the leaves off the stem after drying.

sprigs of Thyme in the dehydrator

Oh, almost forgot, I do the chives by the oven method because I like to snip them with scissors and dry in little bits which would fall through the trays of the dehydrator.

Once the herbs are thoroughly dry, they may be stored in an air tight container. I use pint-sized canning jars, and add cute homemade labels too.

Such an easy, fun, and money saving section of our landscape!

More Tomatoes--Processing the Harvest

This picture shows one of several large piles of tomatoes harvested from our garden over the past month.   I should have kept record of how many pounds or pecks or something but really just lost track as I was so focused on keeping up with picking the ripe ones, and then processing them.  Although its a little overdue to be helpful to you this year, I thought I might write a few things about what to do with all those tomatoes, from blanching to canning and more.


After removing the stems and washing the tomatoes in cool water (I even rub them lightly with a clean kitchen sponge to get all the stuck on soil off), the tomatoes should be blanched.  If you remember from any of my past posts, blanching is very important in halting the enzyme process and therefore preserving some of the quality in texture and  flavor of the item.

In the case of tomatoes, blanching serves another helpful job as well--it makes removing the skins super easy!   First bring of pot of water to a good rolling boil, and then using tongs carefully drop 3 or 4 tomatoes at a time into the water.  I found that it usually only takes about 30 seconds and you will want to check your tomatoes.

Gently pick up a tomato with the tongs, and see if the skin has split as shown in the picture on the left. If they haven't split on their own in the pot by this time, take a fork and just prick the skin slightly. The tomato skin should split wide with little effort, (if they do not then return to the water for a little longer.)  Once the skin is split then simply set the tomato aside and continue on until all your tomatoes have been blanched and cooled enough so they can be handled.

Now, the skin of the tomato will simply slip right off as shown in this picture.  The tomatoes will be perfectly bare and ready for further processing-- which can take several different paths at this point.






One thing that I did with my skinless tomatoes was to remove the seeds (most of them as possible in a quick manner) and can the tomatoes.  Using a paring knife I made a couple of cuts in the sections and flipped the seeds out with my thumb. After de-seeding, I canned the crushed tomatoes in quart jars.  (Remember tips for successful canning: sterilize jars, fill with tomatoes, set hot lid and ring upon clean jar rim, process full quarts in water bath canner 45 minutes, check seal after jars are completely cool.)

Sometimes you will find this scene when you remove the lid from your canner full of jars--Nothing in particular was done differently, it just happens. Once in a while a jar just breaks! It is very disheartening though, and you must clean the canner to dispose of all glass fragments and tomato pulp that is floating around.

This year I canned 19 quarts of crushed tomatoes which we will use for various recipes like a nice hot pot of chili on a cold winters day!

straining tomato juice

tomato juice cubes

There was quite a lot of juice left in the container after I picked the tomato flesh out to put in the jars for canning. It was very watery and didn't taste that great as it was, however I couldn't justify pouring it down the drain.  I first strained out any seeds that happen to be left in it, then decided to cook it down, concentrating the flavor, then I poured it into extra ice cube trays and froze it.  After the cubes were solid, I transferred them to a plastic freezer bag. Those juice cubes are great when we want just a little red and flavor to add to gravy or soup, etc.


If you don't think you would find crushed tomatoes particularly useful in your kitchen, you could make sauce and can or freeze that instead.

This extraterrestrial-looking contraption is an antique tool I acquired...errr...uh...I mean borrowed (for an extended period of time..hint hint...) from my grandmother.  I didn't know what its actual name is, and I didn't think it would be very good to keep referring to it as the strainer sieve thingy, so I did a little researching.  At first I thought it was a "chinois" (French: shin-wah) which would have been rather a cool term to be able to use, however then I read further and the construction of it is different and therefore the tool I have is called a "China cap" (doesn't sound as glamorous does it?)  The chinois is a finer mesh style, where as this is a single piece of perforated metal (with holes larger than its counterpart) made into a conical sieve, which sits in a set of legs.  It is accompanied by a wooden cone/handle, a sort of pestle, and purpose is like that of a food mill--removing seeds and other coarse material from soft food/liquid.  In this situation, it smashes up the blanched tomatoes skins, seeds, and all.


This is the first time I have used our antique kitchen aid, and I was pleased with the process and outcome.  I simply took the tomatoes that had been blanched as described above, and cut them in half (because I had to be sure no yukky stuff would be inside and accidentally mash a bug or worm into my sauce! Gross!) I filled the sieve with the halves of tomatoes and then used the wooden pestle to go around and around, pressing the tomatoes into the sides of the cone, resulting in liquid and fine pulp flowing through the sieve and into the pan below, while the skins and seeds are kept separate in the cone.  I think the use of this tool really gets the absolute most out of the tomatoes, while keeping tough skin and bitter seeds out of the future pasta sauce!

I poured the juicy product of my straining efforts into heavy stock pots and started cooking it slowly over medium heat--stirring OFTEN!   It literally cooked all day, until it was reduced to almost half and had quite a bit thicker consistency. Oh yes, and it must be stirred often.  You could leave it as plain tomato sauce, however as it is cooking I like to add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some Italian seasoning.  This gives a great aroma throughout the house as it simmers, and a good flavor that is not too over powering so it can be seasoned more according to use at a later date.

And did I mention--you must stay close and stir the sauce often, paying special attention to the bottom of the pot--oh that's right I did tell you; I just don't want you to forget or go too far away from the stove. I made that mistake with my first batch and all of a sudden I could smell burnt sauce! It had started to stick and scorch in the bottom of the pan, and that made the whole batch taste sort of burnt. ( I canned it anyways and we'll use it, and it will be a reminder never to do that again!!)

Again the normal rules of canning apply--hot jars, hot sauce, hot lids, process 40 min, check seal when completely cool.

 Final product: 25 quarts of homegrown-homemade tomato sauce, plus a few dinners worth that we used right away with out canning! Very satisfying!

So, I am sorry I didn't get that info out soon enough for your use this year, but maybe you will want to give it a try with your own garden tomatoes next year.

Tomatoes!

After a long summer of watching, weeding, watering, and waiting, tying up and trimming, the tomatoes finally started to ripen...and now they won't stop!!


If you remember WAY back in the spring, I started 5 different varieties of tomato, some with seeds I saved from last year, 1 from a family member, and 1 from a seed catalog, totaling 139 tomato plants for our garden, after giving away a whole bunch.



The grape tomatoes were among those saved from last year, and they have grown superbly and produced literally buckets full of sweet, oblong, grape-sized tomatoes.  These are the best for eating straight out of the garden, perfect for any child-sized helping hands as they are so easy to pick, and have huge yields from each plant so they are definitely going to be a repeat in next years garden plan.

Roma

Roma tomatoes are what I usually grow for canning crushed tomatoes and making/canning sauce.  I also started these with last years seeds that I saved from plants I purchased.  This year they grew kind of on the small side, but I like them really well for their ease in skinning and de-seeding.

Amish Paste

I purchased seed for Amish Paste Tomatoes from a catalog.  They are supposed to be great big plants with meaty tomatoes, and they did grow to a pretty good size, however, most have not ripened nicely and have big cracks in the top stem end. In addition, they seem to be more attractive to bugs (probably because of the cracking) and have a lot of seeds.  Overall I am disappointed with this variety, but since it may be the rainy weather affecting its ripening...I have not completely disqualified it yet.  I have saved some seed for now, at least until next year's planning requires a decision.

Family Heirloom

My family heirloom tomatoes have done about the same as the above Amish tomatoes, in that the vines grew very big, had promising-looking big green tomatoes, but then the ripening was less than desirable.  The blossom ends of the fruits have been turning nice red, but the upper half of the tomato (toward the stem) is staying green and hard and cracking.  Again it may be related to weather this year, and since they ARE family heirloom seeds I have set seeds aside and hope for better results next year.   For now I am just cutting off the unripened parts and using the remainder, which has good flavor, in sauce.

Salsa Tomatoes

Now, to talk about my favorite variety, which I simply call my Salsa Tomatoes--Last year my dad started tons of plants and gave me all of the ones he could not fit into his garden (which ended up being most of them--lucky for me, and that was the beginning of our garden expansion!!) One packet of seeds he used was called "cocktail" tomatoes, and those happened to be what I chose to use in my homemade salsa. Perfect choice! I think will make this our own family heirloom veggie starting now!!

Salsa Tomatoes, easy to remove seeds

This variety produces small to medium sized, round, flavorful tomatoes.  For 2 years now they have had very few blemishes, or other issues.  Beside that, the most important qualities for me are that these tomatoes have really firm, thick flesh that holds up great for canning salsa, and they are super easy work with.  The skins peel off of the firm flesh very easily and their seeds are withheld in 2 major cavities and can be removed quickly with a flick of a paring knife and a flip of the thumb.


Needless to say, for the last 3 weeks I have had a refrigerator full of tomatoes. Even when I get a bunch put up in a recipe, then there's a whole lot more to pick and bring inside from the garden!  I have been meaning to sit down and share some of my ideas/tips/mistakes/etc on processing all these tomatoes, but I have been spending all my time DOING that instead of WRITING about it...maybe between filing the next batches of jars I will write some more on that!  Talk to you again soon....

Zucchini

Hi folks, sorry its been quite a long time since you've heard from GetawayGarden.  So many things to update you on. But where to begin!

I think first I should talk a little bit about the Summer Squash because if you had some growing in your garden, then you have probably eating your fill, given tons away, and still have more squash! So, you may need some tips on what to do with it.


My family loves zucchini bread, but baking a bunch of loaves to use up the fresh zucchini takes a lot of time, makes a lot more heat in the kitchen, and the loaves take up a lot of freezer space.  The next best option is to grate the squash now, and freeze it in small bags, and bake with it at a later time.  It's quick and easy and doesn't tie up the kitchen time/space which you probably desperately need now for canning/preserving the rest of your harvest.

Here's what to do:


Wash the zucchini, no need to peel.  Cut it length-wise, and remove the seeds.  Using a box grater to shred the squash as shown in this picture.  Measure out portions, per your recipe, and put into freezer bags.  Put the portions into the freezer, then when you're ready to bake with them, simply allow to defrost at room temperature.  I have even mixed in yellow summer squash with the zucchini before and it works out pretty well.

Note: you might read elsewhere that you should blanch the shredded veggie  before you freeze it, and certainly you may by putting it in a mesh strainer and lowering it into the boiling water, then into an ice bath, and finally draining it very well. However, I skipped this, and have had really great results. This past week I baked zucchini bread cookies with a couple of portions from last year and the squash had kept well for a year--the flesh was nice and light colored and the flecks of peel were a lovely bright green color, and the texture was perfect.

Another option for preserving your bounty of summer squash is to freeze slices or chunks, to be used later in soups, pasta dishes, or stirfry.  Simply wash, and cut the squash into slices, about a half inch thick. Blanch for 3 minutes in boiling water, then cool 5 minutes in ice bath, lay out on towel to air dry, or blot with paper towels. Flash freeze the pieces on waxed paper on a cookie sheet and bag after frozen.  Note: I think the squash is pretty mushy after being frozen but if it is added to a dish such as soup or spaghetti sauce at the last minute, then it is quite edible.

There you have some easy ways to store all that squash you have picked from your garden so it doesn't go to waste.  Your summer squash plants should be just about finished producing now as mine are, but I am sure you have plenty of other crops that still need your attention!   A post on tomatoes coming soon...