Bonnie Hybrid Cabbage

I picked my first fall cabbage today, just couldn't wait any longer!

Here it is, ready for the pot/casserole. This baby is gonna be tender!

Lookin' good to me! I luv fresh cabbage! Cooked cabbage, raw cabbage, sauer kraut, cabbage w/a piece of fatback or side meat in it, kimchee/cabbage, ...yumm!

Congrats, B Red. (Mine are just now starting to head up...reckon I better go give 'em a booster shot of compost tea today.)

My mouth is watering - beautiful!!!

Shoe, cabbage'n fatback, you can't beat it! Yum!

Sequee, thanks, it was just as tender and good as it looks!

Well thank you so much for rubbing it in! lol! I'm thinking a big pot of ham and cabbage! Next day to be turned into a bigger pot of hamhocks'n'beans. I can't believe I've never grown cabbage - good lord, those 2 little raised beds are NOT going to suffice. I'm thinking lose the yard and make a half acre raised bed...?

Sequee, let me know when the hamhocks'n'beans are done, I'm on my way up! My favorite!

Oh, and these are soooo good, too! I serve the ham and cabbage one night and everything that isn't eaten stays in the slow cooker - carrots, onions, taters, celery, and all that wondeful cooked down water. Then I toss in about 10 different kinds of beans (and more fresh veggies so there's some that aren't too cooked down), then I slow cook everything until I can't take it any more. Add some corn bread or homemade biscuits and it's like you died and went to heaven. What time will you be here? lol!

*Thunk. Splash!*

Whoops, sorry Folks...it sounded like so much good eatin' here I got weak, nearly passed out and dropped my head on my keyboard. Keyboard was soaked with drool from all my salivatin'.

Gotta go dig out my crock pot. Cya later! ô¿ô

Those crock pots get classified as "oldies but goodies" in my book!

Here's a pic of one I just picked. This one went 8+ lbs. and went into a batch of Melody's 'Maybelle Carter's Chow-Chow' relish. Yummmeee!

Oh my! Mighty pretty! Lookin' good!

(I bet you're gonna be planning next yrs garden before the end of the week is up, eh?) ;>)

Shoe, already started! I just tilled under my garden plot yesterday except where my cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are planted. Now to haul more cow-doo! ☺

Gee - I had no idea they grew that big! Awesome. I can't wait to be a "real" gardener in my new raised beds. On Monday JRush and I went to her local feed store and hauled away 10 big tubs of Llama dung! (You can imagine how pleasant the drive was back from CT to NY with a big fat load of fresh Llama poop in the back of the mini SUV! Even the doggie was looking at me as though I'd taken leave of my senses!

You are an inspiration!

Sequee, this is what I did with our leftover boiled dinner, red flannel hash, a New England dish. Grind up the leftover ham, finely chop the carrots, onions, cabbage and potato, add a couple cans of chopped beets and fry. This is great, serve with a couple of fried eggs if you like. ☺

YUMMMM!!! Looks good to me! Sounds good, too!

Methinks you'll be eating well this winter, Red!

Yup, sure am Shoe! Tomorrow I'm going to put down some sauerkraut, got so many cabbages we can't use them all fresh. It's my first attempt so I'm not sure how it'll come out even though it seems simple enough. Going to put it down in a five gallon bucket.

That should work! Let us know how it turns out!

Course now, you know you can store them cabbages upside down in some straw, too, eh?

I stored some of my 'taters this way, if I have many left I may give it a try.

Didja cut them all yet?

I've pulled the plants, roots and all, (important to get the roots) and stored them in a straw "clamp", upside down (roots sticking into the air). They stay nice and fresh that way. (Outer leaves will wilt but heads stay just fine.) Do this where they are not sitting in a low spot (rains/snows, etc).

No, still have about six left. Will the field mice bother them?

Edited to ask: What's a straw "clamp"?

This message was edited Nov 12, 2004 9:44 PM

The mice never bothered mine (but when my geese got out of their pen they found 'em once, and ate the hello out of 'em! Weren't nuthin' left but roots!)

A clamp is simply a natural storage area that protects your goods from frost/freezing and excessivie water; for example, we used to store potatoes and sweetpotatoes under pine straw. Basically you mound up your taters, or in this case cabbage plants, on a bed of straw (stack the taters, sit side by side the cabbage), cover with a good foot or so of straw. Sometimes we'd cover the straw with a few shovel-fulls of dirt to bank it down. (If you are storing taters this way you should leave a "chimney"...stick in a piece of stovepipe so the clamp can breath. If storing cabbage, with the roots sticking up and thru the straw you don't need a chimney.)

Sometimes you will see the mice sharing your potatoes with you (w/out invitation!) but they don't eat much. If you're too concerned, storing in a wooden bin with hay/straw on the bottom, then taters, then more hay/straw, and a lid put on you'll be fine.

OMG Big Red! That looks/sounds wonderful. Funny thing is, I just happen to be making a pot of ham and cabbage tonight! I know what we'll be trying tomorrow!