Land Girling

The Thursday after Labor Day, Land Girl and I went up north. We returned home the following Wednesday. Given the time of year, when we arrived home land girling activities abounded. I suppose I have coined a new word in "land girling." What does land girling involve? That will be partially explained in this post.  But, it is essentially chores and activities that involve raising, processing, of fruits and vegetables (ie produce), but I would add even sewing and other related  activities. 

Land Girl had experience with land girling activities by growing up on a hobby farm in southeast Wisconsin. As the oldest child she had to help tend and butcher the animals from chicks to cattle. You can take the land girl out of the country, but not the country out of the land girl. She had a busy few days after our return. Over thirty years ago, I was given her name as someone to possibly date, and that person referred to her as "an old-fashioned girl." I look at the way she used "old fashioned" as a synonym for the term land girling.

Some garden produce

So what were her land girling duties? First, before leaving, our neighbor gave us two 5 gallon buckets of pears that we put in the basement while we were away to complete ripening process. On the day we returned home, we had to get unpacked, laundry completed, and activities associated with the house, such as water the plants, check the garden and other chores that were put off for the week. After that, Land Girl got right to making pear sauce. It is a big job, washing, peeling, slicing, cooking, processing (through the Foley Food Mill) and then canning in a water bath. There is no pear peeler-corer-slicer as there is for apples. She did part of the pears Wednesday and finished the pears on Thursday. Between the two days, we got the equivalent of 14 and 1/2 quarts of pear sauce. A good number were in pint jars, meaning more water baths. After having canned, her favorite sound is hearing the lid pop down to seal. 

Washing grapes

If processing and canning ten gallons of pears was not enough, she moved on to grapes. We picked some grapes before we left, and picked more a day or two after our return home. We picked over fifteen gallons of grapes and she processed all into grape juice. The method used produces a nice thick juice which is closer to the consistency of a milk shake, than water. Well, OK, a milk shake I like, not the concrete versions she likes that you have to eat with a spoon, and not drink. Having to use a spoon on a milk shake, you may as well have had a dish or an ice cream cone. The grape procedure is similar to the pear, but lacks the peeling and slicing. We did have to pull the grapes off the stems and bunches, which is very time consuming. This makes me wonder how it is done at vineyards. There must be an easier method. The grapes are then cooked down and also processed through the Foley Food Mill. The result is that thicker consistency grape juice, which can be drank as is, or diluted with water or soda. From the over 15 gallons of grapes we processed 21 quarts of grape juice. With seven quarts to a water bath, that was three water baths. I think this was accomplished over two days, too. If all this fruit was not sufficient land girling, she also had to process several eggplant that we grew, and some tomatoes. The eggplant were cooked and frozen, while the tomatoes were canned. The major food portion of the work, was accomplished in between making dinner and other land girling activities--like tending to the flower garden. 

Making grape juice and canning

She may have been finished land girling with food, but not all land girl activities involve food. She also sews. She completed some seamstress work for some persons. Before we left, she saw the need for our camper to have more color, so she sewed two pillow cases out of some fabric she discovered online. I never thought of the need for more color, but she apparently did. That is why I am not an interior decorator. She posted her creation on our RV (T@B) Facebook page and people really liked the pillow cases. She has also been sewing for the expected arrival of our first grandchild.

I kept track of her pear and grape canning

As I start to write this on Saturday, Sep 23, Land Girl went from sewing to working in the flower beds. She dug up many of the iris bulbs. She also cleaned out dead vegetation from other beds. She is multi-motivated when it comes to her land girling activities.

Land Girl needs to keep busy, otherwise she gets, well, grumpy. Land girling activities help solve that need for a person who has such a difficult time relaxing. Our freezer is full, and if we get a decent crop of Brussel sprouts, I am not sure how we will be able to freeze them. The produce, requiring land girling are pretty much near its end--besides Brussel Sprouts we have kale and collard greens which we can harvest and freeze for use in soups and smoothies. We have one additional eggplant that has formed and a few pepper, and a few sun gold tomato plants, but all three are nearing the end of production. It is now fall, and the weather and sun light is not conducive to produce production. I have not been successful in getting a decent fall crop of lettuce and other greens. Come late fall and winter her pursuits will have to involve other land girling activities, than produce. 

Images by author, Sep 2023