Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled beets...

  And they were beauties. lol  One of my favorite things, and I have been out of the home canned ones in my pantry for a couple of years.This year I broke down and bought a 25 lb bag from a local gardener...for some reason I have not had good luck growing them in my garden here...yet. Probably need to work on the beds a couple more years and then they'll be grand. That's the thing about lasagna gardening...every year the beds get better and better, the compost gets richer and richer, and the garden gets magnificent.

   I'm only here blogging because  I'm stalling. I have a bushel of peaches in the kitchen screaming my name, a tub full of assorted peppers, tomatoes, green beans and okra that need tending, and a house that's too dirty for words.  My body hurts...I feel like a 90 year old woman...neck, shoulders, legs, ankles, knees...everything is stiff and sore from standing in front of my sink for hours on end. I'm on the lookout for one of those thick rubber restaurant mats to put there...too late to help much this year, but it will be a godsend next year. 

  My freezer is full.  My pantry shelves are nicely stocked.  After the peaches I am doing today and tomorrow, I will start making some chutneys and chow-chow relishes with all the green tomatoes. My friend Cathy has a recipe for green tomato pickles that uses the ones that are small and don't get the chance to ripen at the end of the year. I may try that.  I am going to make peach peel and pit  jelly with the remains from the peaches. I had this once and it is marvelous. And makes me feel better about throwing away all those juicy peels and peach pits!  Using them once  will make it easier to toss them into the compost/chicken coop. You just throw them into a big pan, cover with water and boil until it turns a light red color. Pectin, sugar and lemon and VOILA!  A beautiful and tasty jelly. I NEVER make jelly, because it's too much work...all that cooking and straining and yuck! I do make jams, mostly peach and strawberry and blackberry.  And apple butter every year. Once, years ago,  I scoured all the thrift shops, collected those little glasses that pimento spread comes in (clear glass, half pint (or less) with a cut star on the glass) and made assorted fruit juice jellies and put together Christmas baskets for all my friends that had a small tub of honey butter, jellies, and a loaf of bread.. I lined the baskets with festive Christmas dish towels, put a ribbon on the handle, and sent them off. Everyone loved them.  I always forget how many people do not get homemade things...

  I'm exhausted.  Yesterday I was shot and didn't do a thing. Today I will pay for that, lol.  I'd better get busy...those peaches aren't going to peel themselves.  They are gorgeous too...I may can some of them...I love the look of a canned peach, but I like the taste of them frozen. Freezing is much easier too.

  The Irishman is going on a camping outing this weekend. I'm not going...it will be nice to have the house to myself. This is a local AA campout that happens every year and we always go for part of it and he always  camps. My busted up body doesn't allow me to do that anymore...and it's little cabins with horrid beds. I don't mind not going ...and will often go up for the Saturday evening bonfire and speaker. may not even do that this year.  We'll see...

  Okay.  Enough with the lollygagging!

  I'm off to commune with the peaches...

Namaste.