Visitor's tracks.

We had some visitors this week right after the rain so their tracks are very clearly visible in the driveway. Tracks are coming from the behind the garden and into the woods. Can you guess who that is?

Here's a close-up of the prints.  

Harvest August 19

Another harvest and busy time at the house.. First picture shows group shot, then individual weights for each item or variety. Starting with Zucchini, Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant and some tomatoes - plum and Indigo Rose grouped together (these will be shown with other tomatoes later on).

Then we have a whole lot of tomatoes grouped once again. That was last large pick for the year.

And some beans and peppers as well.

U-Pick farm trip

This morning we went to the local U-Pick farm. We go there every year to pick blueberries, apples, peaches and whatever else that they have at the time. This year we missed blueberries but today we were able to pick tree-ripe peaches, blackberries and green  bell peppers. Peaches will be used fresh, canned for later and few deserts. I will also try to dehydrate couple of them to see how it taste dry. Blackberries will be turned into a jam.

 And yes, I picked a box of green peppers. Why? Because I don't have enough for winter time. I have enough hot peppers for salsa and such, but I need to freeze for winter while they're somewhat reasonably priced. Once winter comes, I'm not about to pay $2 for a single pepper like last year. While my own are growing and we are picking for meals, I just didn't plant enough for all our needs. So local farm is our answer.

Next time we'll go to that farm will be to get fresh apples and some cider. I love that early time in the fall when we go apple picking! Always so much fun.

Squirreling away for winter

It's been canning time here and I've tried to preserve as much as I can stash in my freezer and in to the pantry. Here are some of the salsa jars and couple of strawberry jams.

More canned goodies stashed away for winter - there are various jams, meat sauce and fruit butters.

And two cases of tomato sauce with 12 jars each also on the bottom of the pantry.

Feeling a little bit better before winter time, as we'll have something ready for use and still have couple of month where I can add more to the pantry. Visit Robin for Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard, to see who else has been preparing and cooking their garden bounty.

August 13 Harvest totals

This weekend harvest includes tomatoes, potatoes, onions, squash, peppers, beans and cabbage.

 One large table was not enough so some of the tomatoes got spread out on the smaller table.

Tomato heaven

Time to weight in all the tomatoes.. starting with the ones from addition that were picked on Tuesday nicely grouped and sorted by color.  

 

Now off to the main kitchen - also grouped and sorted. The top right and bottom right are those that were in addition but got transferred as they're first to be used.  The dark purple on the top left are from the picture of tomatoes that were on the stove - I used up few of those before realizing that they were not measured.

And another group shot of pinks, cherry and bi-color tomatoes, and some picked beans, carrots and peppers - some of these were added after today's harvest..

But of course we're not done yet.. because there's a kitchen counter that also has tomatoes that were picked today and few squash as well.

But all good things must come to an end, and looks like I will have only one more large harvest of tomatoes.. maybe Sunday. Then it's just enough to eat as they're winding down... which is a good thing because I'm just on target for needed amount of sauce and it worked out perfectly.