Grow Appalachia: Henderson Settlement/White Oak News ~ Jackie

Charles from White Oak planted Fall Cabbage,

October was an extremely busy month, we were busy visiting gardens, planting cover crops, going to classes and making plans for our Harvest Celebration.

Aaron invited Carol Brandon from the U.T extension office to speak about drying foods and using a food dehydrator. The participants had a lot of questions for Carol about canning and drying foods.
One of the questions was, " What is the best way to can green beans? " Carol told them , "the best way to can green beans is with a pressure cooker!" This started a discussion on, Grandma's way of canning verses the safest way to can. Carol shared a story of what could happen if green beans or any other food wasn't canned properly. She said one of her colleagues uses a film which shows what happened to an entire family after they ate green beans which had been canned (Grandma's way) over an open fire outside. The film opens with a picture of a grave yard showing eight tombstones all with the same family name and date of death. The caption reads, "Botulism kills an entire family!"
This example emphasized the point she was trying to make about the importance of being able to regulate temperatures when canning.
Carol showed the class how to use a food dehydrator and provided examples of different foods which she had dehydrated, bananas , apples, grapes, squash, orange peels etc.. The class enjoyed sampling the examples and recipes she shared with them. She recommended the book "So easy to Preserve" published by the Cooperative Extension of the University of Georgia. She said this was one of the best books she had seen about canning and drying foods.

Carol Brandon from the U.T. Extension Office conducts a class on Food Dehydrating at White Oak

It was such a beautiful day we decided to move outside for the class!

Pat studies

Pictures from Tim's garden at Fonde

At Tim's garden in Fonde KY

Green Pepper plants

Aaron tilling the garden, getting it ready for Tim to plant his cover crop

Pictures from our Harvest Celebration

All week the weather was wonderful and then came Saturday, rain, rain, rain and COLD!

These conditions forced us to move the celebration inside