70 and raining. A good steady rain almost all day that has the ground thoroughly soaked. What a blessing.
I can't even express how happy I am to see the rain we got today. It came down steadily until about 2 in the afternoon, and the ground is good and wet. More rain is predicted tomorrow and I'm happy with that. We need several days of this to make up the deficit of July.
We were back in the kitchen today, this time making tomato juice. The tomatoes are beginning to produce well now, and I had about a bushel to work up. It's delicious, too--I had a lot of the Black Crim tomatoes and some of the Purple Cherokee to put into it, plus a bowlful of those little Indigo cherry tomatoes. They don't add a lot of course, but we had far more of them than we could eat, so into the juice they went. I add salt, pepper, and hot sauce when I heat the juice before canning, and it is so good. Tomorrow we'll be into corn and applesauce, I think.
It is always this way in August. I think I can something almost every day during this month. The kitchen is cluttered with big pots and buckets, I fight a constant battle with fruit gnats and am constantly washing sinksful of jars and pans and utensils and wiping down countertops. I get a few breaks to sit on the porch and put my feet up, but aside from basic housecleaning and laundry, I don't get much time for other projects. I have several painting projects waiting for me and I would love to get back to them but canning takes priority right now.
That's okay with me. We'll eat well in the coming year, and there will be plenty in the cellar for sons and grandchildren to raid for their favorites. And I'll be packing boxes to send off at Christmas to family further away, the gift we send every year that seems to be more appreciated than anything we can buy. So it's well worth our time right now.
On a sad note, we lost a good neighbor this week. Ray was 81, and a good man with a wonderful sense of humor. I remember when I met him, and how attractive I thought he was--a craggy, lean man with twinkling eyes, and usually a cigarette dangling from his hand. He was a hard worker until his health began to fail. We will sure miss him.
August is always a crazy month. The garden comes in and I go back to work. Whew, what timing. Sorry to hear about your neighbor.
ReplyDeleteAugust is definitely a busy time. I've been making V-8 juice (I only put 6 veggies in the mix--cucumbers, celery, carrots, onions, peppers, tomatoes). Cook it all together and put it through the strainer. So delicious.
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