we finally had enough ripe tomatoes to put some
chunks up yesterday. while the weather has been
somewhat cool, cloudy and rainy we did have some
nice fruits. in previous years there has been
more disease and tomato worms, this year the blight
started later and isn't as bad and i've not seen
a single tomato worm yet.

there are plenty of green tomatoes on the plants
so we're hoping for a lot more sunshine and warmth
to get those mostly finished.

the whole reason for growing extra tomatoes this
year is that we'd run low on tomato chunks so it's
good to get a start on restocking them.

not too much else going on in the gardens or
with preserving this season. tomorrow i'll be
mixing some garlic and fennel in with some bulk
sausage and cook that up. the beans are coming
along nicely and the rest of the gardens are
also doing ok as it goes. i'm at the time of
season when the gardens are mostly weeded and
doing ok for a week or two and the other pressing
garden tasks will have to wait until my hand
feels better and heals up some more. my last
bout of digging told me that it still needs more
time to mend. so light tasks and puttering is
the call for today and probably the rest of the
week. i have a garden i would like to turn but
doing it one handed isn't too likely... so it
will have to wait.

so it goes.


songbird

On 8/17/2014 8:48 AM, songbird wrote:
> we finally had enough ripe tomatoes to put some
> chunks up yesterday. while the weather has been
> somewhat cool, cloudy and rainy we did have some
> nice fruits. in previous years there has been
> more disease and tomato worms, this year the blight
> started later and isn't as bad and i've not seen
> a single tomato worm yet.
>
> there are plenty of green tomatoes on the plants
> so we're hoping for a lot more sunshine and warmth
> to get those mostly finished.
>
> the whole reason for growing extra tomatoes this
> year is that we'd run low on tomato chunks so it's
> good to get a start on restocking them.
>
> not too much else going on in the gardens or
> with preserving this season. tomorrow i'll be
> mixing some garlic and fennel in with some bulk
> sausage and cook that up. the beans are coming
> along nicely and the rest of the gardens are
> also doing ok as it goes. i'm at the time of
> season when the gardens are mostly weeded and
> doing ok for a week or two and the other pressing
> garden tasks will have to wait until my hand
> feels better and heals up some more. my last
> bout of digging told me that it still needs more
> time to mend. so light tasks and puttering is
> the call for today and probably the rest of the
> week. i have a garden i would like to turn but
> doing it one handed isn't too likely... so it
> will have to wait.
>
> so it goes.
>
>
> songbird
>
My whole preserving thing this date will be making a blueberry cobbler
with some blueberry pie mix I made earlier in the summer. In addition
another loaf of multigrain bread will be working in the bread maker.

Not much coming in from the garden right now excepting a few sweet
chiles and lots of eggplant. Eggplant thrives on hot, humid weather and
we're currently in eggplant heaven, lots of hot and lots more humid.
Possible rain today, maybe, I hope.

Getting tired of hooking the soaker hoses up. Bought a four spout
thingamajig to hook on the faucet near the garden. Building some short
hoses to match the distances to the garden beds and can just leave them
hooked up with a spare for hand hosing work. I think this will improve
the way we water stuff. I use a timer in the kitchen and it works well
to let me know when to go turn the water off. Got about fifty bucks in
soaker hoses, etc. and it sure helps an old geezer get his jobs done.
Wouldn't mind but it hurts to bend over and hook up hoses, mostly due to
back surgeries years ago when I could still do heavy lifting. <G> I
think there's an old saying out there that says old people can regret
their youth eventually.

Got another 37 days until my 75th birthday so need to rest up. Once we
get all the descendants in here it will be crowded. Two children, five
grandchildren, and, currently, six great grands. Including spousal units
we will have a crowd. A grandson and I are going to a nearby lake the
week before and try to catch a mess of fish for outside cooking, both
frying and grilling. Hope to pick a big mess of red limas and chunk up
some venison/pork sausage to go with along with lots of scallions out of
the garden and a mess of garlic chives. A big pone of Arkansas cornbread
(no sugar please)and some Swiss chard as a side should do it. I'm
discouraging gifts but will accept cards and hugs. Got to much "stuff"
now anyway. Of course the descendants always go away with boxes of home
grown, home preserved food stuffs, mostly jellies, jams, and canned
fruits. Got two grandkids sort of getting interested in putting up their
own food. Reckon it's class time again.

George

In article >
songbird > writes:
> we finally had enough ripe tomatoes to put some
>chunks up yesterday.

After two years of waiting, I managed to can a batch of tomato/meat
sauce last weekend. Yielded 10 quarts and a pint. I am hoping for
another batch, though it doesn't need to be that large (but I won't
object).

This was, of course, timed to collide with two consecutive weekends
that were fully committed. I just kept packing the ripe tomatoes
into the refrigerator to wait for a free day. By then, there were
over 5 gallons of fruit (about 4 gallons post-cuisinart).

Last year yielded nothing. This year has had troubles, but I'm not
complaining about the results. (Well, I don't get the near absense
of watermelon, but that was probably somehow my fault.)

--
| Stories of tortures used by debauchers
Drew Lawson | lurid, licentious and vile
| make me smile

George Shirley wrote:
....
> Got another 37 days until my 75th birthday so need to rest up. Once we
> get all the descendants in here it will be crowded. Two children, five
> grandchildren, and, currently, six great grands. Including spousal units
> we will have a crowd. A grandson and I are going to a nearby lake the
> week before and try to catch a mess of fish for outside cooking, both
> frying and grilling. Hope to pick a big mess of red limas and chunk up
> some venison/pork sausage to go with along with lots of scallions out of
> the garden and a mess of garlic chives. A big pone of Arkansas cornbread
> (no sugar please)and some Swiss chard as a side should do it. I'm
> discouraging gifts but will accept cards and hugs. Got to much "stuff"
> now anyway. Of course the descendants always go away with boxes of home
> grown, home preserved food stuffs, mostly jellies, jams, and canned
> fruits. Got two grandkids sort of getting interested in putting up their
> own food. Reckon it's class time again.

at least then you'll have room in the cupboards
and freezers again.


songbird