Canning and Putting Up Party

This blog was suppose to begin with a picture of a garden fresh blt, but I had already eaten it before I realized a picture had not been taken. The first sign of red tomatoes on the vine had me craving it and I had no self control when the delicious red tomato and bacon were sitting on my plate between two pieces of homemade bread. With all of the work that we have put into our garden this year, I wanted to take a day we could enjoy the fruits of our labor and can some of our bounty to enjoy this winter.

This garden has definitely been a family affair. My dad and husband have put in countless hours in the garden combating bugs, weeds, and other creatures. My mom has been ready to put up or serve whatever we harvest and we even have my grandparents who are in their 80's making pickles and putting up onions. This Saturday we all came together to work on the harvest and to enjoy some delicious food so fresh the dirt had to be knocked off of it.

We started the day by putting up a bushel of peaches. This brings the total to 1.5 bushels for the year but we love our peaches. We slice them, add a little fruit fresh, and put them in 3 cup bags that we then store in the freezer. With these you can make pies, cobblers, smoothies, enjoy them on yogurt, or use them in bread. And have no fear, before we froze them we enjoyed another round of peach ice cream and peach cobbler.

After the peaches were done we broke for lunch and had the famous blt's (again, sorry no pic). We also had some pickled beans that the Househusband and I had made earlier in the week. They were so easy to make and taste a lot like a pickle. All you do is cut up beans and whatever else you want to throw in. We added some onions and peppers. Then you mix together 5 cups water, 1 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 salt. Pack the jars with the beans, pour in the liquid mixture, put the top on and let it sit in the frig at least 48 hours. Then they are pickled and ready to be enjoyed!

The afternoon was spent making salsa and putting up onions we had grown. Some of the onions were not storing well, so my grandparents chopped them up, caramelized them, and froze them in 1 cup bags. These are going to be awesome in soups or on hamburgers.

Mom and I spent the afternoon making our first batch of salsa. It has a good taste but was decided that we will be adding more tomatoes for the next round.

I have to stop for a moment and brag on my Mom. She is one of the busiest people I know and is preparing for my brother to get married this year and a new grandbaby and she still has managed to put up corn, hashbrowns, jalapeno jelly, sweet jalapenos, coleslaw, green beans, and blackberry jam. The lady wears me out.

While we were plugging away in the kitchen, the Househusband was out gathering more from the garden. We gathered up what he picked and our dinner included fried green beans and okra, zucchini fritters, corn on the cob, grilled squash, and last but not least peach cobbler.

As I was taking this next pic I was trying to ignore the fact that the Househusband was frying in 2 sticks of butter and bacon fat.

Needless to say by the end of the day we were exhausted. But it was great to spend the day together and have the satisfaction of being able to serve something we grew together.

Blog to you soon,
Lucy