quarts of canned tomatoes and equal amounts of spaghetti sauce.

Green beans? Well, the rabbits got the best of mine but will buy some from the local market to put up. Usually a bushel gets us by.

One major downside to living in the upper left corner .. small and generally late growing season... but, I only have 2 tomato plants anyway (though each one has over 20 fruit on it)...

Have had a couple of delicious fresh tomatoes so far, and lots more ripening outside. Need to pick a bunch of ripe Sweet Million cherry tomatoes- they're the best! Lots of basil coming along nicely, too!

No garden last year and none this year because of my husband's heart surgery and my battle with pneumonia followed by whooping cough. We just were unable to get it done so we will be gathering from the farmers markets. I HATE to do it that way but it is better than not and I love to can and see all those glorious jars sitting there for the winter.

night and day quality difference when compared to any store bought stuff

I usually save a few things specially for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. I have a friend who makes, bar none, the best vegan spaghetti sauce I have ever had. I make the tomato sauce and he takes it and adds to it and we feed a ton of people with it.

Nothing beats having your own, nothing. Green beans......mmmm, one of my favorite things to can or freeze or peas, OMG peas I could go on........

Actually, I just like looking at the jars. An added wonderful part of it. They look so pretty and make me feel so good. It is all just plus plus plus!

We've had a few Mountain Magics and one of the Big Mamas is starting to turn. We've had a bumper crop of pickle cukes so far. My daughter made three quarts of refrigerator pickles that are very good. Roasted tomatoes make excellent pasta sauce.

Lots of leaves and only little green tomatoes so far. And of course the annual blight has set in from all the rain.

No garden this year so I'm going to the farmer's markets to get my produce. There are a LOT of family farms around here that have gone organic and, as I live in a Mediterranean climate, the variety of locally-grown, organic produce is almost unlimited. Although I can all year my summer canning is probably 70% of my yearly canning. I'm about half-way there this summer. Lots done already but lots left to do.

Here's what I've done so far this year:

Canned tomatoes
Savory Salsa (entering into the Fair)
Mango Jelly (Fair)
Peach Butter (Fair)
Yellow Tomato and Basil Jelly
Pickled Yellow Pear Tomatoes
Marinara Sauce
Bread and Butter Pickles
Orange Marmalade
Strawberries (not recommended -- freezing is a better storage option)


Still to do:
Canned Tomatoes
Peach Jelly (Fair)
Peach Jam (Fair)
Pickled Peppers
Plum Jelly (Fair)
Plum Jam (Fair)


Additionally, I purchased a Ball Canning book a couple of years back and I've since learned you can can almost anything. I used to make stock (chicken, veggie, beef) and freeze it but now I just can. Same thing with beans.

Anyway, I'm in canning mode most of the summer and try to can two different things on Wednesdays and Saturdays (farmers market days).

It stocks me up for the winter which allows me to spend FAR less money on groceries throughout the winter months. Besides, I just LOVE to can.

LTH

17 quarts of tomatoes (with more to come)
4 quarts of roasted sauce
two bags of frozen baked breaded eggplant rounds
4 bags frozen strawberries
8 bags frozen blueberries
2 bags frozen blackberries
4 pints spicy pickled beets

If we can get 24 qts of tomatoes, I will be utterly satisfied with our preserving efforts given the difficulty of the summer growing season here!

Later on, there will be bags of frozen sweet pepper pieces, and perhaps some paprika from dehydrated pepper slices.

Last edited Wed Jul 31, 2013, 08:30 PM - Edit history (1)

I have frozen about 20 quarts of raspberries, mostly red and some golden.

Around 5 quarts of blueberries.

Have maybe about 10 lbs of onions, red and Walla Wallas in the root cellar.

Picked 3 tomatoes yesterday and one today, they taste great, but my tomatoes aren't turning red very fast, lots of green ones though. Hope to can at least 10 quarts or more.

Pepers are doing pretty well but still need to size up.

Lots of cucumbers, and a lot of small squash.

Will be putting up apples, pears, peaches, and nectarines as they ripen.