I'm just a canning fool! :)

The past week has been an extremely busy one as August comes to an end. I actually find myself looking forward to fall and the coming colder seasons as usual, knowing they’ll bring a quieting and slowing of the pace.

Coop remains busy helping get the neighboring house ready for its part year residents and keeping up with the yard work. We’ve been so busy that our poor garden has become somewhat neglected other than when we do the necessary picking. The immense amount of rain and horn worms have done a nasty job on the tomatoes and it looks like there will be little continued production from them. I still have a separate row of the Italian plum tomatoes on the other end of the garden that are coming on and seem to be strong so we hope to save them, allowing me to preserve what I can for the winter months ahead. Thankfully I have a good amount canned already aside from what’s been turned into salsa and sauces.

Like my sister told me the other day, I am a canning fool. Friday ended with seventeen pints of homemade salsa having been canned. The basket full of Jalapenos picked yesterday morning have just been pickled and canned (12 pints!) and at least a half bushel of tomatoes are simmering into spaghetti sauce on the stove, soon to be canned. Since the tomatoes are about finished producing I will try to salvage as many of the green ones as possible. Perhaps some pickles or relish will result, but we certainly will eat a few fresh fried green tomatoes, too.

I picked my first several Butternut squash yesterday morning, also. They are beautiful! It looks like we’ll have plenty to store over the winter, plus I’ll freeze some cooked squash, give some away and of course we’ll enjoy some fresh. Coop pulled the plants while picking the last of the green beans, which I thought were finished awhile ago. But these Blue Lake beans continue to produce all summer. We’ll definitely plant these again next year! As I write I still have about 6 pounds of beans to contend with as well as about a peck and a half of tomatoes leftover to do something with. Maybe tomato relish?

Shadow is quickly becoming a good watchdog, letting me know when someone is approaching the house. He is gradually adapting to affection, getting spoiled rotten with treats in the process. Positive reinforcement, ya know? He’s such a good old boy and I am thankful for the way things worked out. Now on occasion he will allow us to rub his neck and back and let me take his face in my hands and get face to face and wooler him around the neck. But that’s only when he is in the mood. He has also taken to wanting to lie in the center of my zinnia bed…not so cute. He likes most everyone but is my boy in particular. If I go outside to sit at the picnic table or on the patio he always comes to sit with me.

Well, it’s back to my spaghetti sauce, which by the way is smelling oh so good. Once I have that canned it’s off to the car shop to drop off my little van for repairs. I have a brake line leaking and that’s not good!