Potatoes

On the pro side of no rain, what I had weeded is stayed weed free.  On the con side of it, I had to water one day and weed another day.  It was like concrete.

Oye.  This is one corner of the potatoes.  It's a total mess.

On July 18th, I started weeding them.  Sadly, all the tops had browned and the potatoes I checked were about 1 inch round.  I continued to weed, not giving up, and hoping the next rain would revive them.

A few plants still have green on them, so I continued to weed.  you know I'm not one to give up unless it's obviously just not going to yield us food.  

Yeah, as the days passed by, and the weeds came back (after that photo), I started digging.

Here's what we got.

Dinky is this summer's word.    A complete fail.  We planted 15# and harvested 15.43#.  The heat waves, despite watering, caused the plants to die off way too early.  Such a waste of money and time.

I will be buying the almanac from now on, and checking the weather predictions.  I won't plant late ever again.  

Live and learn.  Don't plant late if that's the case.  In our area, it did not work.  The tomato plants are not tall enough, didn't have enough time, the weather is already changing, and the tomatoes are way too small.

Not complaining, just sharing reality.  It's not all peaches and cream.

Busy Kitchen

I hit it hard Monday morning with canning.  Well sort of.  I ran out of sugar so it continued into Tuesday too.  There has been no weeding, as the rain keeps coming, but just enough to keep me indoors.   Last night it poured and we are due for more today.

I brought in one 5 oz dinky serving of green beans, and two dinky hot banana peppers.  No yellow squash yet.   Our harvesting days are pretty pathetic lately.

Peach jam got canned., along with sweet pickle relish, cinnamon-blueberry jam and corn relish.  Whew!

A few zucchini's made it sliced, blanched and into the freezer, but the blackberries are still red.  Also, so far of what we've tasted, the blackberries are sour this year.  I'm not sure what I will do with them if they are all sour

More blueberries made it to the freezer.

We have run into a small sna-foo with the camper.  Once we hooked it up, only the turn signals work.  Brake lights and hazard lights are not working for some reason.  I'm sure my smart husband can figure it out before we do go camping.

I lied.  Our peach tree gave us one very nice looking peach this year.

I finally got around to making stuffed shells again, and some went into the freezer for an easy meal on a future busy day.

As you can see no more greens have made their way into the freezer. I am hoping this rain provides us some.

My back was pretty sore and my entire body pretty tired, so after washing a boat load of dishes and putting them away, I took my handiwork to the porch.  

Random Tidbits ~ Back to Work or Back to School?

Snow fell all day Wednesday.  It was still cold here as well.  the pups don't seem to mind.

I keep forgetting to share a tip:  Dump a 1/2-pint of home canned corn relish into some cooked green beans for a quick and nutritious side dish.  I have vegetarians here, so I don't always mix in bacon grease, and get bored with plain green beans.

The barn door froze shut and I could not get in to fetch eggs thaw water.  I had to pry open the other set of doors, use a small stick to flip up my inside latch and get in those doors. 

I spent the entire day at the computer.  Actually, almost two entire days.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce ~ Taste Testing

(early morning, before the sunrise, cup of coffee in a snowflake coffee cup I got from Mom)

While I've been busy canning and gardening, the spiders have been busy - webs all over the inside and outside of our home.  I  have been busy and knocking them all down.   I'm still preserving with tomatoes. 

This morning's sunrise was beautiful.  It slowly turned into a gray sky today, and rain is in the forecast.  Actually they are telling us to expect strong thunderstorms starting around noon. 

Corn Relish ~ Random Tidbits

Hubby promised to do one job yesterday, so I opted for canning something quicker than tomato sauce related.  I used most of the leftover corn (off the cob) and picked some green and red peppers - corn relish.

I've never canned corn relish before, but I think it will be versatile - omelets, fish, chicken, sausage, burgers.