August 2008 Independence Summery

Well here it is, my August summery, but first things first. I have to share this somewhat fuzzy photo of my largest Brandywine to date.

If you recall the last one I showed you weighed 1 pound 11 ounces. Well this baby came in at 2 pounds 2 ounces! It was darn tasty, too!

Planting, Harvesting & Preserving –

Planted fall crop of romaine lettuce.

Still harvesting garden produce on regular basis for fresh eating and preserving. Harvesting winter squash. Harvested elderberries.

Canned 31 quarts of tomatoes, 15 quarts spaghetti sauce, 5 pints ketchup, 7 pints pickles, 11 pints sweet relish, 12 quarts tomato juice, 21 half pints hot sauce.

spaghetti sauce simmering

Froze 11 very full quarts elderberries, 15 bags squash (some zucchini, some summer squash), green peppers, hot peppers, 19 bags of green beans. I really wanted to can the beans but never had enough at one time to warrant doing that. Baked and froze 4 loaves zucchini bread, excess tomatoes.

Dried 3 pints Amish Paste tomatoes, 1 quart mixed hot [peppers, 1 pint sweet peppers.

Preparedness & Planning – Added purchased canned goods to reserves.

Managing household & reserves – Coop put together a much needed set of shelves in the cellar to store the canned good on in an orderly fashion. He also repaired cellar stairway with new concrete.

Keeping it Local – Eating from our garden daily, purchasing dairy products, fresh sweet corn from local Amish, purchased apples, sweet peppers and melon from local farmers market, sharing garden produce with neighbors and family.

Learned New Skill or Tried Something New – infusing elderberries for tincture as I write this, concocted a recipe for chutney using ground cherries.

Misc. & Handcrafting – yeah right. : ) Working occasionally on that afghan while planning a few projects for fall.