Well, that's awsome to know about the 'kraut, Connie. I'm not going to get to it this year, but if I can outsmart the cutworms next year I think I'll give it a go. Tell me...how on earth do you find time for all your preserving and gardening this time of year with cows and kids?! I don't have kids yet and spring and fall seem to stretch my limits! Seems like nothings ready until its the very end of the short season. Been busy hauling in bales for us and the neighbor this past week. She's a slave driver! DH finally clued in and got supper last night and timed it just right so it was hot when I got home. They can be so sweet sometimes. Sigh. Got my turnips canned up last week. 28 pints. I don't think I'll bother growing them next year, should be enough for awhile! The biggest one was 4Lbs! Not sure how that compares in the history of big turnips, but its a whopper for me! Weighed a beet last night, too...2.5Lbs. A real doosy! Not sure if I'm supposed to be letting them get that big or not :^( I guess I'll see when I taste it. Anyhoo, tried a jar of turnips and they stayed firm. I thought they might go too soft. How much frost will beets take if the top of the root is exposed? Without a cellar I tend to leave things out as long as I can get away with it. I pulled a bunch of the Cylindras last night because its fr****ing most nights now (s*** this am!) and they push out of the ground so much, I wasn't sure if they'd get touched or not. I've been kind of hilling them but with it being so dry the soil doesn't want to stay very well. Happy Fall! Toots Verena, speaking of hunting...when I was out early this am I heard an elk bugle and was laughing because it sounded so fake to me and was picturing a hunter freezing his b*tt off in the woods tryin to blow his/her bugle in the snow. DH couldn't resist and he went down to check it out and just about walked into a bull standing there bugling. Maybe he was a young one just practising. I guess this weather has got them out looking for company. Do you ever go elk hunting? This is my very favorite time of year too. Looks like we'll get a good fall color show this year, too.

wow intolerant to beet sugar, and by the sounds of it, rather drastically intolerant. (is it anything like gluten intolerance? If so perhaps there are support groups our there that can help you figure out what is safe and what is not, as well as working to get companies to share the information on labels.) I'm intolerant of High Fructose Corn Syrup but it is only a mild intolerance. I don't think I'm likely to go to the hospital from consuming it, worst case is being doubled over with a horrible belly ach for a half an hour if I stupidly drink a can of soda on an empty stomach (or a big glass of Cool Aid or any other beverage high in that particular sweetener. As for the whole debate about cane v beet, I don't bake/cook/whatever enough to have much of an opinion about it. However, I did once try growing sweet sorghum. Didn't grow enough to try milling it or making it into syrup though and don't have the equipment to do so either. I understand processing sorghum (and probably cane too) is a pretty heavy task that can last several days even on a small scale.

Green beans. I especially love pickled green beans (i use recipes from joy of pickling) even more than pickled cukes! You can also pressure can or blanch & freeze. Carrots? I also live these pickled but they are a good storage veg too Too late for melon for you (they take a fair amount of space vs having preserving value)?

Detroit beets are very deep red and never lose the color even after cooking and/or pickling. It may be that your boiliing water is a bit hard with calcium. This is usually the case when doing a BWB and you see a whitish film on jars. A dash of vinegar in the cooking water would help and also avoid adding any salt to the water like you would do with cooking potatoes. As mentioned, I leave about a inch of stems and root, and yes, the cooking water does get red, but doesn't cause the beets to fade in red color. Red food coloring isn't like it used to be. The original red food coloring was found to be cancer causing as it had quickly penetrated most any foods. The current red coloring lacks that effect. Same with the red sauce used for making BBQ Chinese pork strips. Now once cooked, they dont seem to absorb as much of the red color in the sauce, even if its marinated in it. I find a LOT of red color exues when cutting off the stems, root and peeling, but not enough that they fade.