Crockett's Kraut

We harvested two VERY large heads of cabbage this week and Andy (Andy Crockett King of the Urban Frontier) requested it be made into sauerkraut.  He also insisted HE make it!  I made sure to have the ingredients at home ready to go including: easy to find juniper berries, hard to find pickling salt, and five pounds of homegrown cabbage. The pickling has begun! This recipe should yield about seven pints. Did I hear you say something about a Reuben sandwich?!! 

Cabbage Worms 1 - Smiths 1

Our incessant search for those little green caterpillars paid off. We were constantly on the lookout for cabbage worms and because of our diligence we have a happy, healthy, cabbage! Those tiny green worms eat and eat and eat giant holes in our precious cabbage leaves, so whenever we walk into the house or out of the house we would inspect the leaves and peel the worms off. Most of the time I would collect a few and send one of the girls to the backyard to give the Donnas a treat. Other times, I would just let the greedy little worms meet their demise. 

Last year, we lost this battle. This year we evened the score. 

Sunday- Hungry little caterpillars

We found out what was eating our cabbage.  These pesky little green caterpillars.  Moths lay their dirty little eggs on the backside of the leaves and sneak out as hungry pests.  Evan and Tilly had fun collecting them off the leaves and feeding them to the Donnas.