Canning

So, it's been long enough since my last entry that I was hesitant to even start up again. But, why not? There are many, many reasons that my energy has been completely tapped out, and most evenings you can find me snoozing on the couch five minutes after I've put Timothy to bed. And that's early. But, we've been busy putting up goodies from the garden. Today was dill pickle day (note the fresh dill heads from the garden too!). And dinner's vegetables consisted of beets, cucumbers and freshly dug potatoes.

I love that. I love how much we've been able to put up this year and I have so enjoyed the picking and freezing and canning that has, at times, given me a sore back. I sit and pore over the Bell Canning book and think what else I could make with the fruits and veggies at our disposal and just hope we remember to pull out the pickled beets or beans often enough throughout the winter so that I can start over again next summer. It also makes me think of all the things I need to plant in the future (mostly thinking of fruit trees).

Of course, canning isn't the easiest thing to do with a toddler in tow who wants to participate in everything I'm doing. I absolutely love this and am so happy to have him involved in the daily chores already. But, dealing with boiling water and super hot ingredients can be a little more complicated with my little guy. So, I try to do a lot of this stuff while he's napping. Easier said than done with my difficult sleeper and I ended up doing the majority of this batch with my little helper. I bet they'll taste better as a result.

Rain

I think this was the last sunny day we had around here... I took this photo two weeks ago.

This rain has been a little frustrating. I am watching my healthy garden drown in just too much water. But as I see that happen, I realize how lucky we are that waterlogged tomatoes are the worst of our challenges with all of this precipitation. Not only that, but remembering how many parts of the country and world deal with drought makes me count our blessings.

In other weather challenges, the big story around here is how to deal with the upcoming winter and staying warm. Again, we are incredibly lucky that our house is so easy to heat. The only problem is the guy we ordered our wood from in March or April still hasn't delivered it--and I don't see it happening. We've called several other people--no one has wood. We have a few fallen trees around our land which will bulk up the pile leftover from last year. I know we'll be fine, although I really wish we had more wood on our property for fear of what the future holds.

I guess we'll all be layering another sweater on this winter!