Update and other things!

Ellipsis Books and More is finally actually more. In addition to my Alibris store. I now sell antiquarian and vintage books, herbal teas, and jams and jellies on Etsy. I make several varieties of jelly including lavender, white tea and pomegranate, earl grey, and peach butter. All of the produce and herbs I’m using are either grown by me or grown by another local farmer. I’m very proud of that fact!

I’m planning big things for the spring. Reading the book, Vertical Farms by Dickson Despommier and also Permaculture magazine, has really opened my eyes to growing more effective gardens. The idea of “forest gardening” in particular is something I would like to incorporate. It’s when a garden of food emulates how a forest is set up from the forest floor to the canopy.

The greenhouse is also something I really want to do a lot more with this coming season. Including some more tropical varities of fruits and spices.

Look for some different kind of jellies in the next few weeks and over the holiday season as well as more availability of the favorites for the holiday season. And don’t forget to check out ellipsis.alibrisstore.com for your holiday gift shopping. There are nearly 200 different titles listed and counting. If there is something you’ve been looking for, message me. I might have it! Or I may be able to get it at a lower price. Also Ellipsis is venturing in publishing a bit. Which is super exciting! Thank you everyone for your support. This is all becoming a reality!

Green Tomatoes and What to do with Them

So it’s the end of the season and you have a garden full of green tomatoes that you could allow to sit on your counter and redden. It will take a couple of weeks, but it will happen eventually. Or if you’re like me and ended up with dozens and dozens of little green cherry tomatoes, what do you do with them? Well there are quite a few things you could do. If you are also finding yourself with a load of cabbage, you could do chow chow, which is delish. Or you could do a relish, or some other kind of pickled green tomato thing. Or you could do what I did and make a salsa. I happened to have a lot of peppers and onions as well as tomatoes. It is very good! And it’s relatively easy, once you get everything chopped. This was quite a chore for me since I have dozens of little, tiny tomatoes.

This is the recipe I used:

5 lbs green tomatoes, chopped small (as you prefer for salsa)
6 yellow onions, chopped (4 cups)
3 jalapenos, chopped with seeds (1/2 cup)
4 large red bell peppers, chopped (2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup lime juice1/2 cup vinegar1 tablespoon salt1/2 tablespoon cumin1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves2 teaspoons pepper1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional, to taste)
1 -2 teaspoon sugar

Combine everything in a large pot, mixing well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. To continue canning, bring salsa to a boil.

Ladle salsa into hot sterile jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe lids and jar edges clean before finger tightening lids and placing them back in the boiling canning pot.Process (boil) jars for 15 minutes. Remove carefully and let sit for 24 hours. Check lids for seal, and refrigerate any unsealed jars

I wish I would have added more peppers or more spice. It really didn’t turn out spicy enough for me, but it is still really good. I just spice it up right before using it.

Queen Anne's Lace Jelly

On another note, Ellipsis Books and More is on Etsy with jams, jellies, teas, and antiquarian books. Vintage and handmade tea ware are coming soon! We will be doing gift baskets for Christmas. This is really, really exciting and I’m so happy to finally have this part of Ellipsis realized. Hopefully someday I will selling out of my very own physical store and farming sustainably on a large scale.

I’m reading this fantastic book called “Vertical Farming” by Dr. Dickson Polmmier. It is unbelievable what ideas are floating around right now. This man is purposing taking the farm directly to the cities by way of skyscrapers that use hydroponic techniques to produce food all year round. How cool is that? I would love to do that on a smaller scale in a smaller town also involving a small geodesic dome. When people start putting these plans into practice, them everyone else will realize that it’s not too late.