Saturday, October 6, 2012

Onions, Onions, Onions

Seems as though my onions had dried as much as they were going to so this morning I worked on cleaning them up a bit and getting them bagged for storage.


A couple of days ago, hubby had gathered them up for me from the unheated building where they had been laid out to dry.  He brought them into the garage because we keep being told to expect a hard frost one of these nights although it hasn't happened yet.  None the less, it was best to get the onions taken care of now.  I set up my work station out on the table on the front deck.




Here are the reds.  I really prefer these for salads and anywhere I can add a little color to a dish.




And the old standby yellows.

 
Here's the haul all cleaned, bagged and ready for storage.  Yep, we do use a lot of onions over winter.  (I even put them in our morning scrambled eggs.  Will you still come for breakfast?)  I didn't take time to weigh these, but I estimated they came in at about fifty pounds.  We loaded them into a large tote box and when hubby tried to heft it, he said it was definitely more than fifty pounds.  He guessed more like seventy.  He kindly let me take one end of the tote to help carry them inside to storage.


In on the kitchen counter I also have this good sized bowl of "iffy" ones that I'll have to use up soon.  I probably should chop them for the freezer or dehydrate them.  I've got the dehydrator set up in the garage so if I decide to dry them, maybe the whole house won't smell like an onion for a week!

24 comments:

Tombstone Livestock said...

Love red onions in salads, I like yellow onions in stir fry or even just cooked in a little margarine as a side dish. But that is a lot of onions.

Sparkless said...

Lovely onions! I prefer the red in salads too. They are much milder.
How do you store them for winter? Just hang them somewhere dry, cool, and dark?

Katidids said...

Those look great! I'll chime in with the othersabout in salads and thet are wonderful in eggs. I LOVE the glavor of onion in dishesbut can't stand actually eating them cooked. Now, Mr Fix-It? He loves a big pile of carmalized onions.

Carolyn said...

I LOVE onions and your's look beautiful. And why yes, I'd love to come for breakfast, extra onions in my eggs, please :)

judy said...

Is there any way to see if it is truly a sweet onion other than the store telling me its a walla or Valida ,I mean at the farmers market?I have been missing a few of your good blogs ,sorry ,I'm busy making money on bubblews,up to $170.00 in really a month ,since I stared labor day!On the red material ,centennially fro this MN girl,youbetcha"

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Since we mostly eat cereal in the mornings, I don't use onion at breakfast, but I do use a couple of onions in nearly everything I cook at dinner. Couldn't get by without them :)

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

The onions look lovely. We are getting a freeze tonight. No frost-just straight to freeze. Now how on earth are we getting it before you?

Judy T said...

My onions were pretty pathetic this year. I didn't water them enough with the drought and they are pretty tiny. And to top it off they're not keeping. sigh... I am envious of your onions, LOL!
Judy

Kelly said...

Your onions are gorgeous and huge!!! Mine were puny and hot this year! I finally have some pumpkins worth talking about and now the frosty weather is here! I am hoping to have some beauties like yours soon ☺ You definetly have a green thumb!!!

Misty Pines Homestead said...

Yes they are wonderful,we love the red onions best.You sure can grow em!

Mama Pea said...

Tombstone Livestock - Yep, I'm not sure what we do with all of 'em but we will go through these before spring time!

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - I'm so happy I can grow red onions because they're so expensive in the store. Yes, that's about how we store them. I don't have the "perfect" spot so usually move them around a bit as the winter (and cold) progresses.

Mama Pea said...

Katidids - Another member of the Onion Lovers Club! They're supposed to be good for us, too.

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn Renee - You're on!

Mama Pea said...

judy - Well, you could take a big bite out of one. (Hahahaha!) I'll bet there is a distinct shape to the sweet onions. I know they're usually bigger.

Great news to hear you've been making some extra money! Keep up the good work.

Mama Pea said...

Jen - Nope, I know I couldn't go with the onions in cereal in the morning! :o}

Mama Pea said...

Jane - Just the wacky weather doing its wacky thing again. We were supposed to get a hard frost last night (22 forecast). It was 31.9 when we went to bed and 36 (!) when we got up this morning. Go figure! We did see patches of frost on the grass when we went out first thing though.

Mama Pea said...

Judy - Mine didn't get as big as they usually do either. And I had a lot of soft/half rotten ones when I harvested them. Now why would they be like that in a dry year? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that mine keep well.

Mama Pea said...

Kelly - I must have gotten my green thumb (and dirty hands!) from my grandpa because he was the only one in our whole family that gardened. For some reason it appealed to me though because the first year we were married, I planted a garden and haven't stopped yet. And that will be 50 years next year. (Gulp!)

Mama Pea said...

Annnightflyer - Oh, but I am such a dummy! Someone told me long ago that red onions were extremely hard to grow. So it wasn't until several years ago that I got up enough gumption to try them. I've never had any more trouble growing them than yellow onions! All those years I missed out on them. Grrrr . . .

Erin said...

We use lots of onions too, you had a great harvest!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful onions... I usually don't have much success with onions, however, this year I finally got about 3 large ones and was sooo excited. I only like onions in cooked form. Can't handle 'em raw. Did the weather turn cold like it was supposed to?

Mama Pea said...

Erin - Am I remembering wrong or do you have trouble growing onions in your area? If so, you must have to buy a lot of them. Wish I could send you some. 'Course, with the cost of postage these days that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do!

Mama Pea said...

Ruth - Wonder what it is in onions that upsets the system of so many people? And they're touted as being really good for us.

The weather STILL hasn't gotten as cold as they've been predicting for us. 35 degrees this morning at 6 a.m.