Yep, we had it — a killing frost. With night temps dipping into the twenties, the garden got fried. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, beans, and corn look so sad, all blackened and droopy. But, luckily, the fruits didn’t get damaged. We knew it was coming (although not how bad it actually got) and got up at 5:30 am to turn on all of our sprinklers in the garden to (hopefully) protect it from “possible” frost. Maybe that saved the fruit…maybe not. But at least we can harvest what’s left.

The peppers, in the hoop house, were another story. Outside the door, a volunteer tomato sustained light damage. Inside, the peppers look great — no damage at all. And the house wasn’t even closed up tight! What a difference that plastic makes! I’m still harvesting huge, thick peppers by the basket.

I’ve been canning heavy duty for a couple of weeks now, so we’re not in panic mode. But I’m still canning at least two products every day. Yesterday it was spaghetti sauce with mushrooms and mixed corn and tomatoes. Today it’s more plain corn and sweet relish. I try to mix up and do one water bath food and one pressure canned one so I can work them in together and only can one at a time while getting the other ready to go. That way I don’t mix up times or get too harried.

Yes, canning is work, but then you get to eat all that great food for months and years to come! It’s definitely worth it! I’ll stack our homegrown, organic, fresh-picked, home-canned foods against any gourmet foods at any supermarket! And no added chemicals. — Jackie

5 COMMENTS

  1. Lorie,

    I use the corn/tomato mixture in a whole lot of things, including a rice-based casserole, stews (such as Brunswick stew), I add noodles and meat plus a whole lot more. It’s a different mixture that works well in a lot of dishes.

    Jackie

  2. TSJ,

    We plan on having one more hoop house for the melons. Not the tomatoes, though, even though ours got nailed by frost this year. I’ve been canning tomato products for six weeks now, and have bushels of ripe ones on the vine, not to mention the green ones we’ll pick and bring in the house to ripen. By the time I get all that canned (I do give some to friends!), I’ll be ready to quit tomatoes for another year. God forbid that we had MORE tomatoes!!! Ha ha!

    Jackie

  3. The corn and tomatoes look interesting, what do you use them for…soups? Looking for something different to do with tomatoes.

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