Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Abundance

I'm sitting here crashed out on the couch after a long day of homeschooling and canning. I canned applesauce today. The apples we bought are Macintosh, Courtlands and Gala's, which is a mix I have never done before. Here are some of them. We bought 2 bushels.











And here is what my kitchen looked like today. It smelled wonderful, but was SO sticky.


























I canned 21 quarts total and then got too tired to do anymore. I still have about 1/2 bushel left. I am going to can them tomorrow, but not do applesauce. I am going to try canning sliced apples so I can use them in pies and cobblers.

My garden is going a bit crazy! This is what my side garden looks like. The pumpkins have taken over! You can barely see my tomatoes because the pumpkin vines are going over the top of them!













Here are some of my pumpkins. They are actually ready to be picked. They are supposed to be a pale orange, and the variety is called "Long Island Cheese" because it looks like a wheel of cheese. I thought they would be small, but they are big!


























Amazingly, my tomatoes are producing like crazy, despite being overrun by the pumpkin vines. I'm not sure what I am going to make with them yet. I canned the ones we picked late last week into sauce. I have so many coming on that I am going to have to get creative. Maybe I will can ketchup? All 12 tomato plants are loaded like this...














Underneath all the pumpkin vines are my carrots. We picked a few today, and they were SO sweet and yummy. I wish I would have planted more! We still have a whole row to pick, so I am glad they are so good. Evie ate the littlest one, and most of the big one :).




















I am so thankful for all the abundant produce that God has blessed us with this year!

3 comments:

SchnauzerMom said...

Wow your garden is doing great!

April said...

Garden pictures! Oh goody! :)

Wow, those pumpkins look beautiful. I can't tell how big they are though... how big are they? I know how those vines take over - lol. I read about my winter squashes and how much room they'd take up and it was a lie I tell ya! :) They sprawled out at least twice as much as I'd read they would. I loved 'em though and wish I'd planted more. I just need to find a new place for the roaming veggies/fruit like winter squash and melons...

It's apple season here too and I really want to go to the orchards near here and stock up. Maybe next Sunday Mike and I can do that; we always have so much fun testing the different ones in the apple tasting room. Your applesauce looks just beautiful in all those jars. I'm green with envy y'know. :)

If you make ketchup, I'd love your recipe. Most have sugar in them and I don't like that and don't think it's needed for taste.

I've never grown carrots, but after seeing yours, I am so tempted! They are gorgeous. Since carrot seeds are so small, I've avoided it - lol. Did you start from seeds or plants? And what kind are they?

My winter garden is all from plants since I wanted to get a jump start... no messing with seeds this time around. As I get into a routine, I'll probably test seeds too. I'm eyeing my seed catalogs to see what I want to plant in the spring now! :)

Unknown said...

SM, I am so thankful it is doing so well!

April, the pumpkins are a little bigger than a flattened basketball. That is the only way I can describe it! lol! I am so with you on thinking they lie about how much room they take up! My seed packets said to give it about a 6 feet area all around. Yeah right! How about 26 feet all around! I told Jeff that we may have to move to the country just so I can have more room to grow squash and pumpkins :). I hope you are able to find some great apples. I wish we could find organic ones, but they are really hard to find around here. The ones we got were really nice, but were sprayed. I think I am running out of steam with canning, so I probably won't do the ketchup. It looked like a ton of work for just 2-3 pints. It didn't seem worth it. As for the carrots, I planted them from seed (Baker Creek seeds) and they have to be the sweetest carrots I have ever had. They are really orange too. The kind I got was Danvers Half Long. I love carrots because you can cram them pretty much anywhere. They don't take up much room at all! I can't wait to hear all about your winter garden :)!