Busy weekend and an even buisier week

R-L Top: Purreed Pear (lil bro thinks it looks like pureed people.. ), Triple berry Jam.   R-L Bottom: Sliced pear, dehydrated pear, Gumbo Starter (mom's newest canning idea), Dehydrated apple.

So.. we've had a busy weekend here at the pond... can ya tell?

Swiss Chard

It's in the bottom left corner of the box.. that was months ago.  It is now 2-3 times that size.  And I have another block that is just as big

No DIY today... at least not from me...  I need some help! 
I have Swiss Chard growing like CRAZY in my garden... with one problem......
What do I do with the stuff???
I tried cooking it like turnip greens/spinach but it ended up having a dirtish taste.. (not a member of the raw foods movement..) I had rinsed it off before hand. 
Do ya'll have any recipies or anything on how to use the stuff?
Every tried canning it or dehydrating it?  Does it work?

Help a girl out! 

How the garden grows

The white bags are deer deterrent.

So this year I started off doing a square foot garden... then about a month ago my mom decided to add to it... but she wanted a traditional garden.   So now we have....  lettuce, corn, pumpkin, watermelon, squash, zucchini, tomato, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, strawberry, okra, sweet potato, regular potato, black eyed peas, navy beans, banana & bell peppers, peas cammomile, arugala, swiss chard basil, canalope, sage, chives and probably a kitchen sink...
It has kinna gotten crazy.   We have already been eating the carrots, lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes and potatoes.