Extra produce?

I voted, but is doesn't register......

This message was edited Aug 4, 2014 1:18 PM

Same here.

The screen said my vote was registered, but as everything above is showing 0's, clearly it wasn't.

And me...

I looked at the scripts and Dave's Garden is allowed, but there was a new one...domdex.com??? I temporarily allowed it, but this did not make a difference. Strangely, it only shows up on the Home page. I wonder if they've done some background changes recently because I ran into errors when trying to submit comments for plants.

I have suddenly begun seeing errors and strange behavior in various parts of the site. I suspect changes/upgrades have been made and have caused unanticipated results in other parts of the site.

We've got quite a few technical issues. I'll let the tech team know about the VB, but i may be further down the list than some of the other problems.

Bear with us.

Thanks for letting us know. I was more concerned about making sure you knew. Sounds like you've got a handle on it.

We've got other issues besides the Voting Booth that they're working on too, many of you have noticed. They're working through them as fast as they can. If the VB isn't resolved quickly (it is lower priority than some of the issues) I'll re-run the question in a few weeks...it's a good one.

Thank you for updating about the site's troubles, melody. I sent in an error message I received early yesterday, but at that time I did not realize it was widespread.

But I can go ahead and explain what I had intended on voting.

We eat what we can fresh, process the rest. So far, we've never had such an abundance to pass anything on, but this year we might.

Yes, let's make lemonade out of lemons!....

I do some or all of the above. I freeze and process quite a bit, share with family and friends, and donate to a food pantry. I also try to take a bushel of green beans or field peas over to the local assisted living. The folks who can't do much else, absolutely love to break beans or shell peas and reminisce about earlier days. The staff is delighted to cook the results of their labor and it also tempts some finicky appetites that result from this type of living...a win/win situation for all.

melody, I have planted 3 tomato plants the last three years in a bed for the older folks at a slightly assisted home. They love picking the cherry and grape tomatoes.

Good for you Indy! It is amazing to see them perk up when they have a 'garden' to tend, isn't it?

We have a small garden, but have shared tomatoes and green beans this year, frozen and canned the some. We came home with 2 small melons and a bag of lovely cucumbers recently from other gardens.

Some of the above here. I have processed what I am able. This year only canning and dehydrating as I am trying to downsize my freezer.

I also shared what excess I was blessed with. I'm always happy to share as others have done with me in the past.

And this years blessing was tomatoes! What a joy to eat, save and share... Kristi

I chose some or all of the above. In the past I have shared my garden bounty with neighbors, friends, colleagues, a local home for the elderly, and even total strangers. I love the idea of donating to a food pantry or soup kitchen. You have inspired me with this idea. If I'm blessed with excess again, I'm going to check to see if my local food pantry and/or the women's & children's shelter is equipped to take donations of this type.

This year I started a veggie garden for the 1st time in years. To optimize space and effort, I tried a new gardening method, one that I had never used before. Things haven't gone all that well with the new method. Too close spacing resulted in lackluster performance & low fruit production. As if that weren't bad enough, my garden suffered a non-stop onslaught of voracious insects from cabbage worms gobbling up kale, radish greens, & tomato leaves to squash vine borers, pickleworms, and mosaic virus wreaking havoc on the squash and cucumbers, and tomato worms eating holes in the tomatoes. I also did battle with mealy bugs, giant white flies, and aphids. To add insult to injury, the raccoons dug up and killed over 1/2 of my cucumber plants while searching for worms and grubs. Not my best year.

Given the number of plants I started with, I should be rolling in vegetables, enough to donate and then some, but with all of the losses my garden sustained, I've not even managed to harvest enough for my own use. Still I did share some with my neighbor. And I learned a lot about what not to do next year.

Yaay!
They have the votes registering again.

Looks like the first ones are still lost, but new votes are starting to get counted. (try voting again if yours was one of the missing ones)

I am not sure if my vote was lost, it was some or all.

Melody, I really, really like your idea of taking beans or peas to an assisted living facility. We visited someone recently and she gave us a tour of the new addition and I was just sickened. After supper, those in wheelchairs were rolled over to the televisions that seemed to be in every public area!

You can't imagine how it brightens up their day....and the staff is soooo grateful. They're always looking for easy activities that keeps hands and minds occupied, on a almost always tight budget.

Well the majority , some or all of the above , ( that does happen with me all that often lol ..

We are produce gluttons, consuming large quantities throughout three growing seasons. I also can and freeze to excess. What's left, which is a fair amount, goes to our local Community Assistance Center, a city food pantry. We also pick up and deliver food from restaurants, chain and "big box" grocers, caterers, farmers' markets, etc. five or more times a month. I bring in our kitchen garden overflow along with the other donated food. It seems there are always baked goods or processed foods but not much fresh produce in the commercial donations. I'm glad our garden can help.

I grow extra for giving away to family and friends who enjoy receiving fresh produce. Then, I put up extra pickles and jams for the same reason. All I ask is to please return the empty jars & bands. Now I have a policy that when an empty jar is returned, I replace it with a filled jar; if more is requested & I have it on hand.

That is sweet & a great way to insure you get your jars back. Nice idea...

That is a very smart idea for getting your jars back and so much nicer than just constantly reminding folks.

This year I've also been extremely focused on the 'nothing wasted' concept and taking that to a whole new level by eating some parts of the plants I never considered eating before. That has actually been a most interesting adventure and one in which I've found new favorite foods. One important caveat about this though. As most of you probably know already, it's important to do some research before eating any unfamiliar part of the plant, because as is the case with potatoes and tomatoes, some parts of the plant may be poisonous. I google 1st to see if a plant part, radish leaves/greens for instance, is edible and if there is any info on how others have cooked it.

So far I've learned that I actually enjoy both radish greens and beet greens and find that the central collard stalk makes a surprisingly sweet, crisp veggie treat when peeled to remove the tough, outer bark and eaten raw. I talked to another DGer who uses cauliflower leaves in her smoothies which I thought was a smart use of something which often gets tossed out. Again, I mention all of this because I think it extends the idea of using everything, nothing wasted.

DOS, I agree with you about eating plant parts that are usually thrown out, but edible. I tried eating the broccoli leaves that look just like collards, and they weren't that bad. Has anyone else eaten broccoli leaves? I did some research and read that some people don't understand why they're not harvested by commercial growers.

greenbrain, I haven't so far, but now that you've mentioned it, I sure will do so next time I grow broccoli. For some time now, I've been cooking all parts of the broccoli I buy from the store. I peel the tougher parts of the stems and steam them with the florets. Until now, I have been cooking the small leaves sometimes attached to broccoli at the market and feeding them to my dog who loves broccoli. Now you have me psyched to try cooking some leaves for myself.

I had a reaction similar to yours when I cooked and ate my 1st batch of radish greens. They were incredibly mild and tender, and I liked them a LOT. I ate all that I had and found myself wanting more for days afterward. I even went out and sowed a bunch more radish seeds just for the greens. This left me wondering why people don't normally cook radish greens. I later concluded that it's probably because it takes such a large quantity of them to make a serving or two.

Still, if you grow radishes, I recommend collecting the leaves in a container in the fridge as you eat the roots. I collected them for about 2 weeks and the leaves remained fresh. They are best in cool spring weather, but like most greens, become somewhat bitter in summer heat. You can also cook the actual radishes, which are tender after just sauteing only a few minutes in a skillet, and which when cooked are like an extremely mild turnip. Both roots and greens are sometimes cooked by chefs looking to offer something different.

I am definitely enjoying myself trying all of these normally unused veggie parts. Glad to hear there are other like minded folks out there.

We usually plant extra plants since Im always worried that if I only plant a few and bugs/disease gets them we will not have any. And thankfully, 9/10 times the plants do good. I send a lot to my husbands shop, give away to neighbors and of course we eat it. This year I tried "Shaker Pickles" with the Bush Cucumbers. My Mom gave me the recipe. It was very easy to do and the ingredients are items that you probably have. Since I dont know how to can, and my Mom is 600 miles away, I froze quite a bit of tomatoes. Again my Mom had told me how. I just chopped em up, put in a large pot and cooked em down for about an hour. Then once cooled, I put em in freezer bags and froze to use in chili or spaghetti. I also grew for the first time Sugar Baby Watermelons, Cantaloupe and Honeydew. The watermelons are about ready but the honeydew and cantaloupe have now died. We did get quite a few cantaloupe and gave more away than we kept. With the grocery store prices increasing its nice to be able to share with people you know enjoy the fresh veg/fruit. **And if you need something to do while your cooking down your tomatoes, you can do what I did, line the tops up and take their picture!! haha. I noticed these seven had "faces" on em! I just enhanced the "eyes" and a few "mouths" with PicsArt. (They really were already there).

Lots of ethnic people around here. We have way to much eggplant. I donate to a food shelf in Mankato.
That food shelf also comes to our market at the end of the day & vendors give what is leftover. They get a big load most times.

I also give my employees "gift packs". They love it!

I vote for: We preserve the excess (freeze, can, dehydrate, etc.)

I has canned 8 wide-mouth half-pint jars fill with tomatoes with seeds...

I have never grown an edible crop... though our local rabbits are trying to tell me otherwise

Lots of gorgeous tomatoes there, Lisa42Tn!

I cooked a lot of tomatoes down and froze them that way in the past. They make the absolute best spaghetti sauce, hands down, and everything else as well. I could not believe how easy it was to make delicious sauce and even tomato soup when using garden ripe tomatoes, fresh or frozen. I like to cook the tomatoes down until very thick (to minimize space required) and then put them into quart sized bags which, if frozen lying flat, stack very nicely in the freezer. Yours look delicious!

Aren't some of those cacti and succulents edible, palmbob? Like the prickly pear types and some of their fruit? And I believe I saw something a while back about eating agave. Have you never tried any of these? I would like to try prickly pear, but it's rarely available around here.