Dehydrating Eggplant

The eggplant has ripened with abundance. After enjoying it piece by piece for dinners, we harvested most of it. It seems a little later this year, but that was the way the summer weather worked.

Each eggplant weighed a little over a pound and there was about 20 pounds in this basket. Eggplant is always best used as quickly as possible after picking.

It is great preserved in the dehydrator. Most of the eggplant harvest yesterday was dehydrated. There will be plenty of eggplant for soups and casseroles this winter and it stores so well. These were cut in half and then in quarters and sliced about 1/4 inch thick. They dried in about 8 hours.

Of course there was plenty of left over eggplant for dinner and with some fresh tomatoes we had the makings of Eggplant Parmesan for dinner.

Peaches of August

We have had several peach trees over the years and they just haven't done so well. Usually a late frost kills the buds and we have a few lingering peaches in August. Last year there was all of 20 peaches. We thought about cutting the last of the peach trees out, but Tim decided to prune away one last time. It worked!  We have picked over 170 pounds of peaches this year and they all ripened in the height of the busy season between river trips, farm work, family visits and heat.  We were happy to have the extra helping hands!

The first two bushels and they smelled so sweet! Baskets were ordered from Lehmans.

Golden, sweet, juicy, ripe and ready to preserve for later or to eat right away.

Tim's parents from Chicago and nephew from Ohio! There was a lot of taste testing and smiles!

Peach crisp...mmm...good for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack...you get the idea!

Dehydrated peaches will last through the winter for trail mix snacks and in hot cereal.

At it again and this time it was made into spiced peach butter, frozen for smoothies and frozen for pies.

Peeling, music, conversation and before we knew it more than four bushels were processed.

Of course, ready to eat pie was the reward for the hard at work peelers! Only one bushel to go! We will keep the peach tree and hope for the best again next year!