Shelby

You're right about the little 'maters. I have both kinds planted. At first I got a lot of the cherry kind, now the grapes are prolific. I just call them all cherries lol. I'm searching my brain....your mom is out west? I think? Dang, it is weird that I can get good ones here and she can't I remember what you said about the walnuts and no, I haven't done anything with them. They just fall of the tree and plop on the ground lol. I'll try to get ambitious this fall . I promise.

Well, I can't wait for you to tell us your book is finished and for you to post a link so I can buy it! I understand your feeling a bit down about not having a publisher, but I think that you'll be happier in the end knowing you did it all YOUR way.

GORGEOUS Elaine! I especially like the mustard pickles. And such beautiful carrots.

Oh gosh, maybe 45 minutes? It's like a game of Twister in the tomatoes. You gotta duck and shimmy and slide around. I peruse and pull a few weeds, take a few pictures... My husband came with me this morning. We could both probably have been done in 30 mins if we tried. (Good deal. I am glad you took care of the wordage for me )

First of all, Hummingbird, I GREATLY enjoyed reading this. You have GOT to post pictures. I'm dying to see all of this!!! Seriously, you should either post here or do a blog. I would hang on every word and picture. I've never grown tomatillos. I don't know how they would do around here, but you've inspired me to at least look them up and see. I know you are enjoying your tomatoes a ton! I think you should also start a honeybee topic. I find that FASCINATING. I'd LOVE to see pictures of all of that, too. For the first time in many years, I've seen honey bees here. I'm sure they have a wonderful hive somewhere that I'd like to find. I, too, would blame my honey stealing on bears . I'm no help on sunchokes or ground nuts. In fact, I'm going to have to google to see what a ground nut is. I've never eaten a sunchoke either. I'm feeling deprived.

Oh yeah, Verjuice! She wouldn't know me but I loved reading her blog. And Lior...I think about her and wonder how she's doing over there. Darienne, you have attempted and cooked so many foreign things (to me) YOU are a mentor too!

We're caught up to this morning. I got up at sunrise and had to take a picture from my front porch. In the foreground is the garden. The middle is the field corn. Out where you see the "white" are the soybeans. You can see my irrigation system poking through. The white was a low-laying fog that was just on top of the beans. It was pretty and peaceful. The quail were singing "bob-white, bob-white". I did the dishes and a few other chores around here and then went to the garden. Had to stop and tell Matilda good morning. I've never seen such a fat spider. Right below her she had a big 'ole grasshopper in her web. She had a hearty breakfast. Today's garden flower is from the pumpkins. And today's gardenage. That should be a word, too. I keep thinking I'm making a dent in the cherries, but they just keep comin'. I'm not complaining! I'm not sure what this afternoon will bring. I may attempt the jelly....I've never made it before except for the batch of sandhill plum that I did a couple weeks ago. I need to figure out whether I want to can or freeze the rest of the peaches.... Or, I may just kind of take it easy and cook something fun for dinner.... I'm undecided.

On to the peaches! Ronnie got these for me at the used food store (our nickname for it). It's a Mennonite run store that sells dented cans....stuff that other grocers want to get rid of etc. The past two summers they have been getting cases of peaches from a farm in Palisade, CO. They are super good. There was a line a mile long of people waiting to get some. The set up for canning peaches is almost like the 'maters except you: 1. Make a sugar/water "syrup" first and keep it just barely simmering. I put syrup in quotes because you can make it thicker like that but I prefer it to be light with less sugar. You can see a bit of peach in there...I was using the spoon to stir the peaches too. 2. You want to get your jars going in the dishwasher or boiling right away. 3. You either need a bowl full of water and lemon juice to put the peaches in or a can of Fruit Fresh. I use Fruit Fresh. This step keeps the peaches from turning brown. You want to have all of this stuff ready because you don't really want your peaches to be in the hot sugar water for too awful long because they break down a bit faster than tomatoes do. So, I got my pan of water boiling in order to blanch the peaches real quick so I could slide the skins right off. After blanching: The skins come off easily. Then I just hold the peach over the bowl and segment it off the pit. As I went I sprinkled the Fruit Fresh over each layer and after what seemed like a decade of peeling and segmenting I ended up with this: ****A bit of a side note here***** You also end up with another bowl full of pits and skins which I also sprinkled with a bit of Fruit Fresh. After I was done canning I had a bit of the sugar water left so I dumped the skins and pits in and boiled for about 30 mins. I left it on the stove to cool over night and it's now in the fridge. Tomorrow we'll make some jelly out of it. I lifted the lid and smelled it this morning. SO good and peachy. Back to the canning.... Dump your peaches in the sugar water: Let 'em swim around in there for about 10 minutes or so to get them all happy and warm and cooking a bit. Then, fill your jars just like we did on the tomatoes making sure that you get enough syrup in there to cover the peaches. They don't have to be completely submerged. Carefully lower them into the canner I processed them for 30 mins. All sealed up! Edited to add: Once again I found three jars when I took them out of the dishwasher that were unusable. I still have more peaches to can...probably about those three jars worth. It was so late last night that there was no way I was going to sterilize more. So either this afternoon, or tomorrow I'll do the rest. OR, I might just freeze them......yeah...that sounds a lot easier....

Good morning, ya'll! It's almost Friday! So, a bit of catch up from yesterday. My plan was to be done with the peaches around seven at the latest and then do an Asian themed meal of some sorts. My husband had a dinner meeting so I knew I was on my own and could make something that maybe he wouldn't particularly care for like an all veggie/tofu thing. But, we know how that turned out. He got home about the time I was slicing into my six minute egg. His meal wasn't very good so I shared my egg with him. The noodles I ate are these . I can't remember where I read about them. It was either here or on The Ramen Rater. There are two little packets that come with them. A dry one and one that has an oil/paste flavoring. I highly recommend them. You can probably find them cheaper at a market if you live in a big city. Early in the afternoon yesterday I made the recipe that Okanagan posted from Elaina. I used a lot more cherry 'maters than the recipe called for, so I eyeballed and added more oil etc. Before going into the oven It smelled SO good after a while. After about 4-5 hours in the oven. Wow, you guys were right. Great flavor. I was nervous about the skins and if I would like them...they are very soft and everything just melts in your mouth. I am going to freeze it in containers this afternoon. OH and I gave Ronnie a bite when he got home. He really liked it too.

I was surprised too. I love watching the eggplants grow and yeah, they are such a beautiful shade of purple. Ooooh , you knit! I tried that a few times....not my forte lol. A raccoon! I don't want to imagine what that poor woman's basement looked like. How awful. I hope they will be full. The last few years haven't been good tomato years so they have been a bit sad and bare. Thanks for coming along!

Hi Hi Hi! I thank you for all comments and hanging in here with me. I will talk to you guys much more about what you've posted while I was gone tomorrow morning. Really quick I will post my very late and very fast dinner. I did a 6 minute egg--damn those things are good. With a ramen type of noodle that I will tell you more about tomorrow. I LOVE this brand. They aren't fried first and are just SO good. I put a chopped 'mater and some shredded nori in too....I'm sure not traditional but it hit my very empty spot since I haven't had a thing since my sandwich this morning. I promise more interesting stuff tomorrow. The peaches about kicked my ass today lol. See you soon!

Trust me, I'm borrrrrrring. I think I should come there and we should visit the ponies in person Kay lives in the cool state near Oaklawn Race Track...girl, we'd have fun there Awwwww.....noooooooooo, as Heidi reminded me today, just think of Charlotte's Web. Ohhhhhhhhhh man, I gotta get with you and find out your horse names so I can cheer! So sorry for the blank afternoon. I had an unexpected visitor that took forever and it's just been one of those days. Still up to my elbows in canning peaches. I'll be back as soon as I can with pictures.

Thank you! Those spiders are so huge and beautiful--and I'm not a spider lover. But I do love these girls (I don't know why I think they're female lol). AND every grasshopper they catch and eat is one less that is munching on my garden. I'm having fun with my big camera getting some good pictures of blossoms and the garden in general. I got lazy and started using my iPhone for everything. Just not the same quality. Do you slice your cherries in half when you do that or keep them whole? Thought I had a contender...foiled again.... Took a picture of my storage area in the basement for all that I've canned. Can't remember if I took one in the last blog.

Count me as another who has this one . $33. I use it a lot during the summer. I don't think I used it at all last winter. I do like zuke noodles with pesto. YUM.

THAT is a gorgeous tomato!!! I gotta pick up the pace. I'm slow this morning. Planning on canning peaches later.....unless they can wait a few more days, if so, maybe a peach dessert could be in the works. A few garden pictures..... A tiny part of the pumpkin patch Eggplant flower--pretty purple. A new garden spider has moved in across the garden from Matilda. I think the webs are SO cool. That zig-zag design...I love it. Haul from this morning. I picked some of the Thai peppers that are green. Breakfast was a tomato and pimento cheese sandwich

I bought those from the neatest online pottery shop way before I got married so probably 18 years ago? They are hand thrown and I LOVE them. I love all hand thrown pottery. I search all the time for pottery wine goblets. I learned that they are terribly hard to make. Over the years I've broken a lot of them and I'm down to just three. I emailed the store to ask if they would consider making them again, but I never got a response. I guess that meant no. I'm a little late this morning. I slept in a bit. I'm off to the garden and then I'll be back with your morning okra picture.

June 2007 here. Very newbish What would I do without eG and all of the cool people I've "met" here????

I'm sharp side up. I don't know why...I guess I thought it was better for the knife blade? Edited to add HA HA it's MY knife block you saw

Thank you so much! I am tired. As soon as I do this last post I'm off to rest. It's a good feeling that we get from preserving My Brandy's are definitely not purple. Very pink. So I think that's what they are. I think lol. I need to look for Cherokees. Never seen or grown them. Are they nice and tomato -y?? I will definitely be trying out all of your cherry tomato ideas. I need them so you guys keep 'em coming please Ok, so dinner is not fancy when I can. Meatloaf sandwiches and fries. And homemade pickles. Bread is homemade. Cheese is a sharp cheddar. I put lots of homemade mayo on (thanks Rotuts ) The meatloaf really wasn't as dry as I thought....maybe time in the fridge helped? Oh and here's all of the quarts nice and sealed: I love my fry cutter. When I can get it to stick to the counter. Annnnnnnd a confession. I put the rest of the tomato juice on to simmer for a while because if I keep it in the fridge it just lasts and tastes better when I do that. I got busy typing up my canning pictorial and boiled the juice down to nothing. Like almost burning nothing. Sigh. YES Ronnie (that's my husband and I refused to tell him what I did lol) that's what happened. Oooops. Sleep well, ya'll! See you in the morning! As always, thank you for reading.

NO! I'm so totally doing this. Thank you! My husband is loving this idea. What a fun idea to try.

Thank you, Elaina Maybe it will help someone or inspire someone to try. If I can do it, ANYONE can do it I'm not sure how many....I'll just keep canning until there's not enough to can. About 15 or so years ago I had almost 200 quarts. I doubt I'll even get close to that this year and I'm just fine with that I'll be pickling Saturday for sure. That's the day my crock pickles will be done and hopefully I'll have enough cukes to start a new batch.

I love stories like this. Maybe I'll have to get one and try......we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you so much Dcarch, Susie!, BlueDolphin and Heidi! You're right, Heidi, the food blogs are so fun. I've gone back a read a ton of them. Susie, I bet gardening in Seattle is a bit challenging --well maybe not this summer because you haven't had very much rain have you? I bet your 'mater plants are good! I'm glad you enjoyed the first blog Whew, canning for today is almost done. Here's a rundown: First, I had to have an iced coffee. I'm not much of a coffee drinker unless it has Bailey's in it but I do like an iced coffee on hot mornings. Gives me a little oomph. The canning prep begins by doing all the dishes and putting all dishes away. I don't have enough space unless I do that. Then, I go through all of the tomatoes and pick out all the ones that need to be canned. I save the ones that aren't quite ripe yet or really great "eaters" so we have some fresh ones for us at all times. I move them all around and put them in order of ripeness and also clean the counters while I'm at it. This may be far more detail than you need lol. Here is today's pile: Next I go downstairs and get at least a dozen quart jars and give them a nice hot soapy bath. They go in the dishwasher after that to be sterilized and kept warm. I give them a bath first because I guess I'm anal lol. You want to get at least two extra jars because you never know if you're going to find a crack or a flaw in them after the dishwasher run. I actually had to discard FOUR today due to cracks down the side of three and a bunch of etching in another. You work too hard to take a chance on a jar exploding in the water bath (happened to me last week, in fact). Put your jars either in the dishwasher (if you have sterilize setting) or you can boil them in a huge pot. I did that for a few years. Not super fun. Don't start the dishwasher yet. Get a pot of water boiling and your sink filled up with cold water. Blanch your tomatoes briefly and then put them right in the sink. Blanching makes the skins slide right off when your coring and peeling. All cored and peeled. You're left with this....dump it in the garden and you'll get some volunteer tomato plants that come up. Now is when I start my dishwasher so that it's done around the same time I'm ready to fill the jars. Get your canner filled up with water and on the stove on high. Get your lids and bands and throw those in a pot and cover them with water. Put them on medium heat for a bit and then turn them down to low. You don't want to boil them...just keep 'em nice and toasty warm. You don't have to do the bands, but I do just because....well, I dunno why... Get your pot o' 'maters on the stove. You want to simmer them for a bit....you don't want them to lose too much structure, but you want them to be hot enough. Here's the set -up for filling the jars. Perfect for going into the jars Fill the jars up leaving about an inch of space between the 'maters and the lid. Use the end of a plastic spoon or this canning thingy and poke it clear down to the bottom of the jar 3-4 times. That gets the air bubbles out that can cause a jar not to seal. With a paper towel carefully clean the rim of the jar. Make sure there are none of those pesky seeds around. Those cause a jar not to seal, too. All ready to go in the canner for 45 minutes Make sure the water in the canner covers the jar by at least one inch...two is better but be careful because if it's too full it overflows when you put your jars in and it's a pain in the ass ....not that I've had that happen or anything.... And voila, all done and sealed. Now, if you have more to do...which I did, repeat these steps. In the end you're left with a lot of wonderful tomato juice. I quickly strain all the seeds and leftover pulp and can that also. It's not fancy like the wonderful recipes I was given today, but it's great for drinking plain or Bloody Mary's...or Red Beers....etc. I have four more quarts of tomatoes and one quart of juice in the canner now. I would have had two quarts of juice but for the defections in the jars. I guess it's time to invest in some new jars. I've used these a ton so I can't complain. So, total for today (if this batch seals ok) will be 10 quarts of 'maters and 1 quart of juice. The remainder of the juice I'll put in the fridge. We'll drink it. It's WINE TIME

One must sit down and rehydrate from time to time and stopping to talk to you guys is the perfect excuse Okanagancook asked the same thing about the Cherokee Red.......I swear I bought a couple of Brandywine plants, but maybe I'm wrong? I've been calling them Brandywines....... I absolutely love the eggplant in there. Just gives it a slightly different "boost". I didn't strain the seeds...I pulled a lot of them out before putting chunks in the sauce. We don't mind a few seeds. Exactly. I feel the same way about less acidy tomatoes. I want them to taste like tomatoes! Bring on the acid!

It would come in handy.....I've just never been around those or learned how to use them. Maybe I'm a bit scared of them kinda like I'm ....well, I hate to use the word "scared"....lets say I'm very respectful of the pressure cooker we have.