There is a hint in the air, a signal that the end of summer is coming. Even though there is still a calendar month to go before the Equinox, and even though it will be warm here long after that, summer is still ending.
How do I know?
What makes me so sure? The garden, of course. The majestic sunflowers are drooping and drying on their twelve foot stalks. Only the birds can appreciate their current state. The pumpkin vines are dying and shrinking back into the ground now that their work is done. The tomato plants have stopped producing and are mere shadows of their former selves. And so, the end of summer means the end of all this bounty:
And what does one do with all this home-grown goodness at one time? Well, for a couple of weeks, it was all tomato, all the time. I made A LOT of gazpacho, eggplant parmigiana, tomato basil pasta and pizza... We also gave away many tomatoes to friends and neighbors.
And what to do with the leftovers? Well, not much makes you feel closer to your homesteading roots like canning. Behold...
Did you have a garden this summer? How did you enjoy the fruits of your labor?
5 comments:
We have had so many tomatoes that I finally had to start giving them away. Our plant is still going pretty strong, but it's still fairly warm here. We're having pizza tonight, so I'll probably get rid of a few there. But I'm not complaining. There's nothing I love more than homegrown tomatoes.
My husband cans all our tomatoes. Mostly he makes them into something first. This year he did chili. We have about 40 pint jars of chili ready for the winter. Plus 8 jars of plain old tomotoes.
This past weekend I was eyeing up all the green tomatoes too, thinking about maybe attempting (for the 4th summer) to find a really yummy fried green tomatoes recipe.
Oh wow. I really hope I get to do that next year.
Those look positively marvelous! I've been freezing beans and berries and making some jam. I don't can but someday I hope to acquire that skill.
What yummy looking tomatoes, these pictures remind me of my sister, she can't can for awhile she fell and broke both her wrists and had to have surgery. Thank you for sharing these pictures with us, it is too bad we don't have tomatoes all summer.
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