Before, During and After

Before:


During:

After:

This is what I've been doing! I made it to the local berry farm in time to get the last of the blackberries at a discount. They couldn't wait, they had to become jam or be frozen pretty quick. My new food mill made quick work of the tomatoes! Sure wish I had one of those last year! I froze the puree, I'll wait a bit to can tomato sauce when it is a much cooler.

We are out of homemade jam and I refuse to buy it when I've got plenty of fruit available. I took some of last year's sliced pears that I canned and turned them into jam. Soooo good! Jam is not at all hard to make and so much better than the store bought stuff! You can control the amount of sugar when you make your own.

I finally made bread and butter pickles with the cucumbers I grew. It was a bit of a challenge, waiting to grow enough pickles to can, without the first ones that were ripe going soft. Guess I need more plants next time.

No more canning until Hard-Working-Hero brings home a refilled propane tank so I can work outside. Canning jam and pickles in the house does not take long, but that pot of boiling water really heats up the house.

Shelled peas and whole peppers are bound for the freezer. The peppers are so easy to freeze: wash them , bag them and freeze them! I wait until I need one to chop it up.