Used Up

"There is rhythm to being a farm girl.

It is the rhythm of working hard when there is work to be done.

It is the rhythm of finding joy in the "doing" of the work.

It is also the rhythm of slowing down to enjoy each moment."

Rene Groom

Be sure to visit Lori's blog to see what Friday Farm Girls is all about!

This morning we're getting ready to go to Wisconsin with Lori and her family to get our Christmas tree!  Everyone's running around, cleaning up from breakfast, taking showers, making sandwiches, and preparing for our fun day with friends.  Meanwhile, my Friday Farm Girls @ Heart post...

There always seems to be stuff left over.  No, not leftovers, as in dinner, though we have lots to eat from yesterday's Thanksgiving meal.  Meal leftovers doesn't usually doesn't happen much in our family.  No, I'm talking about leftovers as in one last bowl of ripening tomatoes on the counter, or a small pile of apples in the basement "bomb shelter" from our apple-picking trip.

What to do with that stuff?  Make stuff!

The last of my garden tomatoes were getting a little wrinkly as they reddened, though there was nothing else wrong with them.  I made eight cups of pico de gallo, which we ate throughout the week.

And the Northern Spy apples were starting to brown in spots.  Two of them had rotted through and we threw them out.  So I made a quick batch of applesauce.

You'll have to trust me that the applesauce was delicious, because I didn't take a picture of it and we ate it all.  Northern Spy apples are great for applesauce.  (But, they're a pain to peel.)

I'll post about Thanksgiving soon--right now I have to finish my tea and get things ready for our drive to Wisconsin!!  Blessings to you all, dear friends and readers.

Back to life,
Christine

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Can It, Lady!

Okay, okay.  I've been "canning it" all week!

This year, my garden is blossoming and growing into mid-October!  I've never picked vegetables beyond this point in my few past years of gardening.  God is good.

Saturday was spaghetti sauce day.  I had been using a 16-quart pot, without a canning insert, to can for the past few years.  Only two jars have ever broken, so I wasn't too concerned about not having a proper "canning pot."

So I prepared my tomatoes; here's how I do it:  I put an eight-quart pot of water on the stove to boil.  Meanwhile, I rinse then core the tomatoes and set them aside.  It's much easier than trying to core them after their "bath." 

Peeled tomatoes and steamer basket

Once the water is boiling, I lower my steamer basket filled with tomatoes into the pot.  See my steamer basket in the photo above?  I tie twisters to the handles so they stay upright!  The lid still fits on the pot, and I can quickly grab the handles and lift out the basket after one minute of boiling.  I transfer the tomatoes to a large pot, then hand-smush them.  (That's my technical cooking terminology.)

Hand-smushed tomatoes

Back to Saturday and the story.  I left the sauce simmering on the stove, and Fernando took me to the farmer's market and garage-sale-ing.  As we wound our way back through town, we spotted yet another "yard sale" sign.  There hadn't been much of interest so far, but this particular one was different.  They had a back porch stuffed with, well, stuff.  And among that stuff was a huge pot.  I lifted the lid, and saw a wire canning insert and canning tongs.  Wow.  I negotiated my way through the haggling process, and ended up purchasing the canning pot, insert, tongs, a bag of bands and seals, and about three dozen jars for $15.  Did I say God is good?  *big grin*

My "new" canning pot!

What perfect timing.  I took it home, cleaned it up, and started my adventure in canning spaghetti sauce.  I had asked Fernando to decide if I should can more salsa (I already have over two dozen jars in the basement), or spaghetti sauce.  Even though he's Mexican, he enjoys our weekly spaghetti dinners (or pasta of some sort), so he opted for the spaghetti sauce.  I'm half Italian--yum.

Spaghetti sauce

On Sunday, I went to work on the apples from Honey Hill Orchards.  With Jacob's help, I chunked those up and mixed them with an ultra-light syrup.  Two jars didn't seal, so we had a breakfast of Autumn Harvest Baked Oatmeal with apples poured over.  Seriously yummy.

Chunked apples in ultra-light syrup

On Monday, I decided to try my hand at applesauce.  It had been several years since I made it, and I've never canned it.  But with a few tips from Lori, I thought I'd try.  Double-serious in the yummy department.

Cinnamon applesauce

Danny kindly picked a whole bowl of green beans, and those ended up in the freezer.  I got four nice quart-sized bags full.

Danny's green beans

Green beans in the freezer

In hopes of making green-tomato salsa, I had also bought some cilantro at the farmer's market.  My gardening-guru friend Becki told me to hold off on picking those green tomatoes (I'm glad she did!), so I decided to chop it up and freeze it until it's time for green tomatoes.

Chopping the cilantro

On Tuesday, I went to my chiropractor.

I still have about three pecks of apples to process.  Jacob decided--for the entire family--that most of these would comprise chunked apples in syrup.  And I have decided to make some apple pie filling with whatever's left over!

Back to life,
Christine

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captured by Christine Anne