Actually, my tomatoes are finally starting to ripen regularly, so there's always that. And there are more green beans out there to pick, though I seem to have a pantry full, about 50 jars of assorted pints and quarts (mostly quarts).
People keep saying things to me that people who don't live like I do always say...you're doing too much. Take a break. You don't have to do everything at once. Can't someone help you with that. And my all time favorite--it's okay to let some things go bad. Sweet baby Jesus.
lol
When you garden and preserve the fruits of your labours...there is a rather small window where you have to get these things done. Sometimes (esp. this time of year) you DO have to do everything at once. There's no choice. So, I work and I sit and I work some more. I am trying to go easy, since the air is out again and of course it decided to move back to normal temperatures for this time of year. I was putting it off (calling the repair guy) because the Irishman's truck was in the shop and the cost of those repairs are always a lot. It got up to 85 degrees in here last night in the middle of tomatopalooza, which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the humidity factor making it feel like Four Thousand Degrees. I was using the water bath canner for the salsa, which is a constant boiling cauldron, putting more water in the air than a tidal wave. Today I am using the pressure canner. Still hot, but...(and you'll love this)...I don't want to call the guys until I can get the floors vacuumed. This house is a mess. But, on a bright note, I did get my desk cleaned off this morning. Not that anybody ever sees that. But it was time to turn the desk calendar from July to August, so I bit the bullet and did the deed. HAH !
OK--time for the corn to come out of the canner and the rest of it to go in. Hope I can find somewhere to put the jars...
Namaste.
9 comments:
Right now i don't envy you with all that work. But come winter, when fresh stuff is impossible to get, I'll be very envious of your efforts. You are like the Energizer Bunny - you just keep going! Seeing you pictures reminded me of my mother's kitchen in the fall - jars full of canned produce. jams, jellies, etc.
I just found your blog and am really enjoying it. This post reminds me of one of my aunts. We live in Missouri and she lived in the Ozarks in a small house without air conditioning. She had lived on a farm until she was about 40 and after moving to town she still had a large garden. We visited the area every year near the end of July and she was always canning in a hot house made hotter by the canning process. It was miserable work, but the food was wonderful, much better than what you could buy commercially canned. I was raised following the old axiom of waste not, want not.
Your reaction to the "it's okay to let some things go bad" made me snort my tea! Are they kidding? I am drawing strength from you, because pretty soon I will be up to my elbows in canning tomatoes. Sure it's hot, but you've got all that wonderful, good food at hand when you need it. I'd rather be an ant than a grasshopper any day.
No, it's NOT okay to let some things go bad! (Anyone who says that has never gardened!) The hectic pace we all face at this time of year is just part of the life style we've chosen. Although there are times when I feel "somebody" is playing a cruel joke on us. I mean why can't we have all the produce to can in January or February when we neeeed the heat in the house? Same reason they don't do road construction in January or February when there aren't the hordes of vacationers and tourists on the road!!
Thanks Mary...my grandma's kitchen was like that too...always something going on in there...
It's amazing how good some of this tastes in the dead of winter, especially things like peach jam.
It's a lot of work, but boy...is it ever worth it !
Hi Peg...thanks so much for coming by ! I was raised that way too. And I'm so grateful. I was just telling someone the other day that until the last 10 years, I never lived in a house with air conditioning. Now I think I can't live without it.
There must be something wrong with me. I love canning and all the hard work that goes with gardening. It gives me so much satisfaction and a sense of purpose these days, having been retired already for 14 years due to an industrial accident.
I'm with you Susan. My niece said she was afraid I was turning into a food hoarder. I laughed and laughed. I would rather look silly having too much than to go hungry. And really, I'm getting this business down to a science of knowing how much of everything I need or have used the year before. I'll say it again. If it hadn't been for what I put in that pantry last year, we would have been in deep trouble this year when my husband didn't work for 2 and a half months.
Mama Pea--be careful what you ask for. lol If I don't watch it, I could probably be finding things to can year 'round. I agree about the letting food go bad. That was like blasphemy to my ears !!!!!
Let food go bad? What?! Are they crazy?
What the harvest comes in you keep working to save everything you can until winter and there's nothing left to harvest. They must have never had farmers in their families--LOL! You can always find places for more jars. They may be unconventional places to store jars, but there are always places to store jars. ;)
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