TOMATO CANNING 2010

Hi, everyone! I wanted to share these pretty photos of our 2010 tomato canning operation! I've been canning tomatoes for almost 30 years now. Doesn't seem possible. I remember the first time I canned pizza sauce and me and my mother in law had every possible container in the house filled with juice awaiting the second stage of "cooking down." We did the whole operation in one day--picking them, cooking them, juicing them, cooking them down, spicing and flavoring and then canning them. What a lot of work. I have rarely ever done it that way again.

Here's a handy tip. I juice up a few tomatoes at a time--whatever we have ready. I use a Victorio strainer that I got years ago. It's a great time and arm-saving device. If it's a nice day we set the strainer up outdoors or on the porch to save a huge splattering mess in the kitchen. We put the juice in old ice cream pails and freeze it. Then I get it out later in the fall when the mornings are cool and the house needs to be warmed up. I cook it down and add spices, then cook it down some more. Then I fill the jars and give it a few minutes in the pressure cooker! This makes for two days of work instead of one, but a much shorter day each time and helps heat the house up on a chilly fall day. I'm always pressed for time it seems, and this saves me a partial day to use for other work.

So this year's tomatoes were juiced and because there were not too many and I had Rhiannon's help, we cooked it down as well. I froze this batch and we will add to it with the next ripe ones we pick. Then one day in the fall, I'll get it out and cook it down. This year I can add my own herbs since my garden is overflowing with all kinds of basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. I'll also have my own onions to add. The kitchen smelled wonderful and we were thrilled with the beautiful color of the tomatoes!

I am so thankful for the bounty we have. Blessings, LORI

MRS. WREN AND TRUE WORSHIP

"Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord!" Psalm 150:6

I've wanted to do another gardening post for some time, but to admit the truth, the gardens are not too exciting right now. Our weather has been very hot and dry until just a few days ago when we got some rain. It was miserable to work out there and so I let things go. I wouldn't want anyone to see close-ups of the condition of the English Garden especially, although from a distance the weeds don't show! I am kind of ready to give up on it for the year, believing it is too far gone to redeem at this time. Plus this last burst of color is about the last there is until next year!

On Wednesay I decided to defrost the freezer--a horrible job! I knew it had to be done as I missed doing it last year. It is a deep chest type freezer and I'm almost too short to reach to the bottom. It was very, very full of food and with corn coming on soon, the job could not be put off any longer. I worked very fast out in the hot garage unloading every bit of food and placing it in coolers and on the tractor and just about anywhere I could find. I had a regular obstacle course of frozen food sitting around the garage. I used a dustpan to scoop up the falling flakes of ice from the bottom of the freezer, then had to race outside (throught the obstacle course) to dump the ice. I was so hot and tired by the time I got done that I just wanted to crash. I got all the food put back and re-arranged then cleaned up the garage. I had already done two loads of laundry and hung them out, plus some other work. I was really tired.

On Wednesday evenings we have worship practice and I was almost late getting there from finishing up tasks. I was almost too tired to go, but practice is not exatly optional. While I was sitting there at the keyboard struggling with some chords in a new song, I was reminded of a little friend that lives in my garden. This year when we re-did the vegetable garden we put up a birdhouse which has been rented for the season by a wren. She is an awesome singer and we have become friends. I love birds anyway and I am noticing that as she gets used to me, she is so much less skittish. She lingers around longer when I am outside and sits on my clothesline or in my garden and sings. My aunt was staying here last week and she noticed her beautiful songs too. Mrs. Wren, as I call her, is just the best worshipper, the way I see it. She sings her heart out everyday, joyful about the simplest things like a house to live in. She doesn't struggle to hit the right notes. Her worship is spontaneous and comes very naturally to her. We humans often think we need some earth-shattering miracle event before we can break loose in praise. Not so with Mrs. Wren, she is just glad to have her needs met. It humbled me to think of this.

I noticed a similar phenomenon with some of the other garden birds the other day. I was sitting on the deck and had just started the sprinkler. Several birds, happy for the shower, kept flitting in and out of the water. They would linger just a bit, hovering in the air as the sprinkler hit them. It was the most interesting thing to watch. They were overjoyed at something as simple as a shower. It was an obvious event to them. I had to think about how many times I fail to praise the Lord for simple things like running water!

I learned a valuable lesson this week by watching the birds in my garden. I intend to try to imitate their spontaneous praise over life's simple blessings.

I hope you like the pictures of my hollyhocks. They are my favorite flowers. That is partly why I chose to work some of them into the moral of my story in "A Sturdy Fence." If you haven't seen the book, the front cover boasts a lovely picture of hollyhocks against a garden fence. In one of the other pictures, you will notice Mrs. Wren's house!

Homemaking tip: Use a dust pan to scoop up freezer defrost!
If you are like me and don't have a huge storage area for pots and pans forcing you to "nest" your items, try placing used ziploc or other plastic bags between the pans with coated finishes. It keeps them from bumping together and ruining the finishes and provides storage for plastic bags you intend to re-use!

Blessings, LORI