Busy

I harvested my first (well, not exactly) tomatoes. I will be overwhelmed by them in just a few days, but I am prepared to preserve my harvest.



Sly and the kids went to Florida to visit family. They brought home a huge bag of oranges. While the Honey Spiced Oranges can be seen in the last post, I also made marmalade. BTW, making marmalade=lots of work.

I made blackberry jam.

I made "end of the garden" pickles. There is a little of everything in there, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, beets, onions, and even green beans.

I am planning a second garden, now that most of my first garden is done. I will devote most of the second garden to green beans. I would like to put up a few because we really love them. My third garden will be carrots, onions, and potatoes since, with a little preparation, they can winter in the ground until I want to use them.

While my garden this year was very small, it has produced a lot of food and given me a great deal of satisfaction.

Happy Knitting!

Canning

Summer has been keeping me busy. I have been putting all local fresh fruits and veggies I can into jars to keep for the summer. I have really enjoyed the process of producing rather than consuming.


My mother canned; more out of necessity than any real desire to put things in jars. There were always pickles, jellies, veggies, soups, and even a salmon stored safely in a Ball glass jar until needed or wanted.


So far, I have four kinds of pickles, three jams, and I am putting up oranges that Sly bought while visiting his family in Florida.