Canning

We are overrun with zucchini, yellow squash and now tomatoes!!

Now it's time to get into high gear and start processing.  It looks like

we may be canning every night or two for awhile.

Tom is home, recuperating from knee surgery, so he has been

getting everything prepped while I am at work.

 I got to relax and watch last night as he finished up these pints.

 Here is what he has to say-  from Facebook

This has been the coolest summer we've seen in a long, long time. Consequently, the tomatoes have been really slow about ripening. Looks like they're finally starting to be ready for picking and canning.

So, the small batch cannery is opening for another season. If everything goes right we'll be canning a few pints a night. Tomatoes, pickles, squash, peppers, beans...whatever's ready that day.

The whole idea is to stay ahead of the harvest. I don't like spending ten hours in the kitchen and that's what'll happen if we don't keep up.

The first batch of tomato sauce is simmering on the stove. The old Victorio Strainer makes short work of the fruit. We bought this at the parish garage sale a few years ago for $5 and it's become a cornerstone of the season. Great tool! They still make them today, albeit with a bit more plastic. Our is from the '70's. We know the lady that donated it to the church so we got a little history with the tool.

We've bought a few more pieces for it so now it'll process berries, grapes, pumpkins...just about anything we grow.

 He made a fantastic spaghetti sauce the other night,

full of our own basil and tomatoes.

He sliced our zucchini and yellow squash into thin ribbons

coupled with red onions.  We found a recipe for refrigerator

squash pickles on line so we're testing this jar to see how we like it.  

If it tastes as good as it looks, we'll can a few jars.

Lastly, an update on our peaches.

If you remember this photo from the last post,

this is the first year we really had good sized peaches.

 Guess how many I have now!!!!

NONE.

Zero.

Well, that is not quite true.  I have three.

Three badly deformed, bug eaten peaches

and, a lot of pits all over the ground.

Deer?  

Maybe, they got all but the above mentioned three that

were up on the highest branch. 

As my husband said about our garden losses: 

 I like to think that we're just converting vegetables to meat for the fall.