Booths and Garden Talk

69 and muggy this morning. We're back to hot weather, but still not as hot as it was in August. We had some good rain this past week, and some very pleasant days.

The days are simply speeding by. I've been in the kitchen most of the time, still putting up tomatoes and peppers. I had a routine doctor visit Monday, and we worked at our booth in Marietta on Wednesday and our Ravenswood booth on Friday. So a week that was a bit broken up. Here's a few photos of the booths; I don't have but one recent one from Ravenswood, of the new display window, so I'll have to take some more this week. This is the new display, focusing more on primitive antiques.

And here's some from Marietta This booth is really full, since it's the only one we have there now:

The above photo is the dressing table I finished last week. It's such a pretty thing. I painted three other pieces last week, all taken to Ravenswood so I'll have to add photos of them when I get over there again.

I decided not to paint this little fliptop table, and see if it sells as it is. It would be a handy thing to have.

These planters are by McCoy, a brand that is collected by quite a few people in this area.

Stacking it up to make use of the vertical space!

It's funny, but I've gotten to where I really don't want to go anywhere; the more days in a row I stay home, the more I don't want to go out. It's not because of the pandemic; it seems to be because we simply have all we want or need right here. We are so stocked up with good food, plenty of books and movies, and loving pets. We have lovely views and gardens to look at, each other for company and when we want a little more people interaction, there's the phone or online--which isn't the same as face to face of course, but can fill the gap for long stretches of time. I'm not interested in traveling anywhere these days, really, which is such a change from how I used to be, always wanting to go. Perhaps it's because I hurt. Arthritis can really be a pain, in more ways than one. But as a lady in her 80's told me, "if it hurts it works", so I try to keep that perspective and get on with my days.

I made stuffed peppers for the freezer this week, and I tried something new with summer squash. The peppers are easy, just make your usual recipe, cooking the filling and stuffing the raw peppers. Then wrap each stuffed pepper in aluminum foil, then seal in plastic bags for the freezer. I put about 4 peppers in each vacuum-seal bag, enough for us for a meal. 

I thought I'd try a different approach with the yellow squash and young zucchini. I cooked them in boiling water with butter, salt and pepper--our favorite way to eat them, bagged in a ziplock bag in meal-sized amounts, then vacuum-sealed the bag. I am hoping the squash will taste just as good, or close, to freshly-prepared. As you probably know if you've frozen squash, the result is usually less than ideal. I've done some flash-frozen with an eye to making that squash-sausage--pasta sauce-cheese dish this winter, as I think they will work well for this. I've dried some too, to use in some recipes I've found online for dried squash. I dried it last year but never used them, but this year I will be sure to change that. 

Right now I have tomatoes in the dehydrator. I did these last year, and found that a great way to use them was to grind the dried tomatoes in the food processor and use as a thickener in pasta sauce and soups. It works great. 

I canned more pickled jalapenos this week, made more ketchup, and canned another 8 gallons of cider. The cellar is getting very full. I have a basket of jalapenos which I think I may dry. I've put away the garlic now that the bulbs are good and dry and we ended up with about a peck of them.

Here's what the cellar looked like a few weeks ago. I've added a lot more since this photo was taken.

Harvest time is definitely winding down now--I can see light at the end of the tunnel at last. Larry is digging the potatoes, which we planted very late, at the end of June. They've done better than expected. Deer got in the garden one night when the electric fence wasn't working and topped off the late beans and the sweet potatoes, so I'm not sure we'll get anything much from them. Larry's been harvesting the Indian corn for decorations, and there are still a lot of peppers coming on, but the tomatoes have slowed down, the cucumber vines died off, and a lot of the squash plants have died too. Kale, carrots and a couple other things are just coming up, so perhaps we'll have some later veggies there. But honestly, I think we're both ready for garden season to be over. I did buy Larry a compost tumbler this week and he's filled it up already. I may be buying a couple more of them if we like it.

But soon I can turn my mind and energies elsewhere. I haven't written much at all this year and would like to get back to it. My flowerbeds are crying for attention, and so are many corners of this house. It's been a very good summer, though, and I am happy to see the full cellar and freezers.

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