Making sauerkraut

     We have been harvesting lots of produce lately, freezing some for our winter use, giving some to the food bank, and today we made sauerkraut which will ferment for 4 - 6 weeks in a crock, and will then be hot water bath canned.

Kaitlin cabbages

     This particular batch was made with green cabbage ( Kaitlin variety from Johnny's Seeds), carrots, pickling salt, dill, and caraway seed.  Here are some photos of the selected cabbages, the process, and our lovely crock.

Cut in half
Illijana cut up the cabbage into strips and added the cabbage, the seasonings, and the carrots to the crock pot.                                                                    

Jim grated up the carrots.

Here is a good picture of the crock and the grated carrots.

Illijana loaded the crock with the cut cabbage, layered in the carrots, salt, dill, and caraway seed, and then packed it all down with a wooden mallet.  We added a bit of boiled then cooled salted water to cover the top, and set it away to become sauerkraut in 4 - 6 weeks.

The earliest of the early

Living up to the implication of its name (fast out of the gate), Derby Day cabbage sprouted today in the 6 packs they were planted in.  Here is a photo of the earliest sprout.

Another of the earliest of the early is asparagus.  Today was the day of the appearance of the earliest spear of asparagus.  Here is what it looked like.