Two And A Half Days of Canning Later.....

12 1/2 pints of salsa
3 1/2 pints of tomatoes
10 pints of beef stock
3 1/2 half-pints of lemon-sage mustard
6 half-pints of zucchini pickles

............and such a big mess in the kitchen that if I wanted to make it bigger, I would need to borrow dishes from the neighbors!

It's The First Weekend of Canning!

*  I must remember to check the seed packets to figure out what the heck the itty-bitty miniature bell peppers are supposed to be.

*  Nothing makes me forgive the garden quicker than finally getting enough cucumbers to make pickles.

*  I do think our no-processed-foods diet will make us live longer.  Of course, I'll be spending that extra time canning.

*  Next time I say I'm giving the zucchini Miracle Grow, I expect my friends to stage an intervention.

*  It would probably be a good idea to decide while planting whether or not I'll be working during canning season.  I am foreseeing some very cranky/exhausted Sunday nights.

*  It might be much smarter to start harvest season with an empty freezer, but having one bursting at the seams is so much more challenging..........

*  I have learned to kick off canning season with the things I really want--salsa and pickles.  I don't know anyone who would really get excited about more relish.

Ta-Da!

Meet the new non-processed summer breakfast of choice here at the Chateau...

 Frozen smoothies!  I don't know why this didn't occur to me at any time PRIOR to this summer, but at least it finally did.  I use soy milk because of my milk allergy, which could be technically questionable on the "no processed foods" rule, except that that rule is trumped soundly by the "cause no allergic reactions" rule.  Soy milk, nuts for protein, then whatever frozen or fresh fruit is on hand, throw it in the blender, then fill the little freezable cups and freeze.  Perfect!
 

At least 150 years?

Things I Have Learned This Week

* Making French toast in the refrigerator overnight works MUCH better if one remembers it the next morning.

*  Facebook is there to remind us why the people of our past are NOT always those in our present.

*  Boise does NOT have traffic cameras to stop people from running red lights.  Boise has "live" cameras that allow the highway district to see just how far they have managed to back up traffic by putting road construction on 3 successive streets.

*  When one of the laziest people I have ever known starts posting jokes about the work ethic of we liberals, it's time to declare the election season craziness officially begun.

*  Right now would be when I start wondering why I went to all the trouble of saving the zucchini from the squash bugs

*  Someone at Burpee seed company really cannot tell the difference between acorn and pattypan squash, and this person works in the seed packet division

*  Hummingbirds love yellow zinnia.  Now I just wish I knew how I got them--I think they're where I planted the whirligig ones.

We Just Picked Our First Cherry Tomatoes!

And the fact that they were from what was supposed to be a full-sized tomato plant is entirely beside the point.

Progress!

Last week I received a spam email with an offer for McDonalds.  This week it was about free lobster.  Glad to see my spam filter's tastes improving.

Thought for the Day

I've come to believe that people have exactly as many friends as they deserve.

Daisy Time

I just cut down all the daisies in the front flower bed. I'm sure I was supposed to let them "die back naturally," but in my gardening world, anything THAT smelly and prone to aphids is going to be pretty hard to kill.