*harvest time (again, and again)

 

 

 

 

 

It is time
to gather together in the warm sunshine,
taking great care
to gently pick all of the fruit ripened there.

 

 

 

 

 

Today was quite a day!  Shortly after waking from my deep delightful slumber, my feet hit the floor and the fun began.  The garden is in full force production at this stage. We are picking cucumbers, yellow squash, zuchinni squash, tomatoes, butter beans, peppers, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, snap beans and okra from the garden now.  Today momma picked a bushel of butter beans and we "put up" 7 quart bags of those babies!  We also cut, battered and froze okra and squash for frying at a later date.  Momma canned some peppers this morning and shortly after that I took my turn with the canning pot and made some pickles!  I must admit it was pretty exciting to do some canning. Tomorrow will look much like today and for that I am grateful, so grateful that our garden is producing at the rate it is.  

Momma's pickled banana peppers and hot peppers.

Never mind my dirty kitchen window!  Look at these tasty tomatoes.

Momma and I have been working diligently almost daily preparing sliced frying squash for the freezer.   Here momma is starting to bag the slices we did last night. We slice them, lightly salt them and then let them sit for a short while. Then we dredge them in a flour and cornmeal mixture and lay them on a tray with excess flour/cornmeal mixture and put into the freezer over night or for several hours. Once they have had time to freeze we then take them back out separating any that needs separating, remove all the excess batter before bagging them for freezer storage.

Today, for the first time I made PICKLES!  I was thrilled to be canning some of the bountiful harvest from our garden.  I decided since we were new at this pickling thing that I should put different things in some of the jars so we could taste test and make more of what we like most. We added dill from our herb garden to most of the jars along with dill see from the grocer.  Some of the jars got a small amount of powdered mustard, or garlic or peppercorns.  I can hardly wait for a week to pass so we can pop a jar open and start the tasting!

 

More squash and okra go into the freezer for frying in the months to come.  The Pampered Chef baking stones have come in handy for this little endeavor.  The stone holds the cold nicely and seems to help the slices freeze more quickly.

OKRA!  A very dear friend of mine gave these awesome Pampered Chef Stainless Steel bowls and they too have been a must have in our country kitchen.  So handy.

Momma dredging more okra, covering it good before it goes into the freezer to set up.  Momma and I have hit our stride it seems. Each time of her being back here seems we have to find our way with each other. We are having a blast together and I am truly grateful for her hearts desire to help at the level she is helping at. 

These zukes are going into the dehydrator for the use in soups in the winter months. We decided to slice some of our potatoes as well to fill up the other 5 trays in the dehydrator.  The potatoes will likely also be used in soups.

 

Our snap beans are almost finished producing, here Momma is putting up what might be our last picking from those this year. We probably have 25 bags of pole beans (snap beans) in the freezer from this years harvest.

 

 

As I said before, each time Momma is back here it seems we have an adjustment period to go through. I suppose that is normal?!  Sometimes I feel that certain boundaries have to be laid and protected for our family unit and while I still strongly feel this way, there have been some areas I could have possibly handled a bit more gently but didn't.  God in His mercy has helped Momma and I to begin to work together like a well oiled machine.   We truly are having a good time together, today was an amazing day all the way around. Our day began together in the garden and ended together on a walk to the garden to turn the sprinkler off. Our walk back home held a moment of prayer and thanksgiving to God for the abundant harvest He has blessed us with!