The Produce is Rolling In

I canned 12 pints of carrots yesterday:

I might do another batch—I haven’t decided. These are good to have on hand to add to soups and stews during the winter.

I will have to set up a portable folding table soon for tomatoes.

I pick them when they just start to get some color and bring them inside to ripen in this south-facing window. If I leave them on the vines, the ground squirrels and turkeys come along and take a bite out and leave the rest to rot. I need to make some notes about these varieties. I know the Cherokee Purple and Oregon Star (paste) tomatoes because I grow those every year. I am not sure what those huge slicing tomatoes are. Hopefully I can find the labels. The other paste tomatoes are either Purple Russians or Opalka (I see some of both). Susan started the Opalkas and I bought them at the plant sale. That little cherry tomato has been wonderful. I snack on those.

The husband came out to the garden and made sure the watermelon was ripe enough to pick.

I usually bring them in too early so I have him check. There is only one other little one on the vine this year. They got such a late start because June was so cold. There are quite a few cantaloupe, though.

This will be my life for the next several weeks. I won’t be done completely until I have 50 more quarts of salsa on the shelf. That will be around the middle October or so. I am rather glad we took a break from raising pigs this year.

******************************

I can’t decide what I want to make next. I’ll probably knock out the two pairs of Renee pants I have lined up and reassess.

I bought a dress to wear to my cousin’s wedding. I ordered it from Nordstrom and it came last week, but it needs some alterations. I have alterations credit at Nordstrom, so I made an appointment for the day I get to Seattle and will have their alterations department look at it. That will be safer than me taking it apart. I might have to pay a rush fee—I get to Seattle on Monday and the wedding is Saturday—but that’s okay. I am also taking the dress I wore to DD#1’s wedding as a backup.

I have a lot of plates to keep spinning in September.