From two to more!

I made more simple jam today but this time I doubled it AND used fresh WILD Maine blueberries!
I am quite a fan of those freezer jars, but I was so excited to find the larger ones with the green lid. We will soon be going through jam like mad so I figured a couple of extra large jam jars was not a bad idea.

The one that is only partly filled is living next to the toaster now, but the other three are nestled into the chest freezer in the basement.

Pickled Tomatoes

Thanks to the Ball Blue book, I found something to do with all my sungold and sweet 100 tomatoes!!!! There were four jars, but Heather took one home last night!

Tomato Harvest

Got up and out of the house early this morning so we could beat the heat and tend to the tomato jungle. When we were done we carried a whole hod-full up to the house to be sorted. Below are all the ripe ones, freshly washed and draining in my very bright sink.


In our work, many green tomatoes fell off the vine. They are now ripening by the back porch.

I'm wondering - are the semi ripe tomatoes in the bag enough of a catalyst to hasten ripening, or should I go get a ripe banana to add to the bag?

First beet Harvest

This wee 8 ounces is my first beet harvest. It is also the bulk of my first beet planting, which sadly did not do well. I look forward to the beet relish I am making from Janice Cole's Chicken and Egg. I think it is time to plant a fall crop of beets!

Saturday Sandwich

This one makes me happy for and yet miss Puckstopper. He has been in North Carolina for a week visiting his Grandmother. Together they took a class and received their scuba certification. Today they are diving on a shipwreck. We pick him up tomorrow at Logan. It will be great to have him home again. Happy Saturday - it's a glorious day in Maine!

Bread and Butter Pickles

A family favorite, I put up six pints of bread and butter pickles yesterday. I must say though, that I should have added a dash extra sugar when I added a dash extra vinegar to cover them in the pot. They are almost Bread and bitter pickles! None the less, a crowd pleaser that makes my tuna salad quite lovely!

Out with the old and in with the new...

This is baby food that was just evicted from our freezer. This baby food is over 4 years old. Why have we kept it so long? Maybe because it was the last vestige of our beloved the Dairy Queen and Queen Lactina.
Our baby starts Kindergarten with in two weeks, and there is no better way to get ready for months of lunchboxes x 3 than to can!

So...

Out with the baby food and in with the blueberry jam! We are blessed!