From the Front Porch

Good morning from the front porch.  It's been a bustling morning here.  I should be getting ready for the Las Vegas "Gathering" show. However, there is just too much to do here.  It's harvest time. This means canning, and watching or ripening fruits and veggies so the varmints don't get them first. We've had huge winds and branches down.  Clean up as well as fruit that wasn't quite ripe to deal with.  The dinning room table is lined with brown paper bags with ripening peaches. There is a stack of boxes with peaches ripening.  I find by dinner time, I am out of gas.  This is something new for me.  So I try and get as much done before I run out of steam.

Just Peachy

Above the pears that came from our tree.  Some fell, some were picked by me climbing a 10 ft. ladder while Bob held the ladder.  When there were little holes or nicks in the pears, I put masking tape over them.  Some ripened as if they had their own skin, others just rotted.  Why, I have no clue.  I made pear marmalade, and pear butter.  Also, some green tomato jam for the first time.  Helping me was a new tool that I bought a Williams Sonoma.  It's a silicone spatula that gets into the edge of the pots while cooking.  It kept fruit from burning and sticking while boiling.  It's my new best friend. :-)

The pumpkins and various squash continue to get bigger. Lots of peppers, green beans, and tomatoes, strawberries,  and peaches are yet to be picked.

Thanks for reading.

Every day is a gift...open now.  

xo Suz

Yes I Can!

I've been busy doing things around the house all week.  My business is slow.  I "should" be getting ready for the Gathering Show in Las Vegas.  Instead I am canning peaches and tomatoes from last year that have been frozen.  I have to make room for this year's haul.

On the kitchen table above are 12 jars of peach jam...I left it chunky.  Also a UFO peter pan squash that was hiding and got larger than edible.  Bob helped last night with the hot water bath.  He had never canned before.  He said he remembers his aunt canning with parafin wax.  I have no memories of this from my childhood.  Women on the North Shore of Chicago didn't can.  When I moved to the farm, I did a lot of canning.  Bob and I plan to do pickles next, then dilly beans.

This photo is the inside of the canning pot.  It has a rack to put the jars on. This pot is HUGE!

Somewhere out in the universe are my canning tools from the farm.  When I bought this pot a few years ago, it could only be found at Walmart.  I called around.  Believe me, NO ONE knew WHAT a canning pot was! In Walmart  I was holding it my arms waiting in line to pay...a man came up to me.  With tears in his eyes, he said: "I love a woman who cans.  I suppose you have a significant other?  My late wife and I used to can together before she passed away."  How sweet was that?  We shared some of our canning favorites, and some disasters.  People around us could hear, and looked stymied.  I mean really...who cans anything today?  

You'd be surprised.  Many of my Etsy sisters commented on a canning treasury I created.  So there are closet canners.  :-)  Ball published a book that is the easiest guide to canning: "The Blue Book."

Thanks for reading. I'm still amazed that you do.

xo

Suz