On Friday it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. We expected that. But when it came, it was like a typhoon. Will said the only harder rain he’d ever seen was in an actual typhoon, when he was in the Marines, in Okinawa during the Vietnam War. I mean it poured so hard it looked like a waterfall coming off our house roof. Then it really poured. So hard, you couldn’t see out the window! Yes, we needed rain, but holy cow!
I’ve been canning up a storm. I did more apple slices, then plum juice (to make jelly later), plum jam and more salsa from the Bill Bean tomatoes I collected seeds from. Let me tell you, those were (and are) huge tomatoes! One of the biggest weighed very close to 3 pounds. And there were dozens more on the same vine too. And the Goat’s Bag tomatoes? I guess they didn’t want to get ignored, as our biggest, so far, weighed over 2 pounds.
We had a frost advisory for our area last night and boy was I scared. After canning in the morning, Will and I went out and picked more than 2 heaping full crates of ripe tomatoes. I sure wanted to pick more as I think there are 10 more crates out there. But both of our backs were really aching bad, and we decided enough was enough. You’d better believe I spent the night praying we wouldn’t get frost, even though my phone weather app said it was supposed to drop to 33 degrees F early this morning. The prayers worked, as it didn’t frost, even in our lowest garden, the North Garden.
As I was cruising around this morning, checking everything, I saw the pair of Sandhill Cranes lift off from our sweet corn patch in the North Garden, where they’ve been busy taste-testing the sweet corn. They’ve eaten one small patch, but it didn’t amount to much anyway, so I wasn’t too sad. But boy, do we ever have a bunch of hybrid (so I don’t get tempted to save seed instead of eating it) sweet corn for us to can up that is just getting ripe. After I get done with the plums I think I’ll go out and pick a bucket full and get at least that much more done before tackling the tomatoes again. I want to can up some chili and spaghetti sauce of a couple of flavors plus some tomato chunks to add to various recipes later on. Such a busy, yet fulfilling time of the year! — Jackie
