Guess what I did, today?I had to get up an hour early... no, so I could make a few post cards! That was fun. See what I am forced to do to get my sewing time in? I used some very traditional fabrics that my neice-in-law had given me. I just sat there staring at them for the longest time, but I think I came up with a few designs that I like well enough to make a few more. Then it was back to the grindstone...
Picked about 20 gallons of tomatoes and got some of them canned. It was a slow-start kinda day. So much to do just to get ready to can. First, the tomatoes have to be picked- that took me about an hour and then the kitchen has to be cleaned. Now, that is another subject, but I'll revisit it in a bit- took me about 1/2 an hour. Then there are jars to be washed. I had thought that I would store our jars in the old shed out back. The cellar gives me the willies. It seemed like a good idea at the time... but then the roof fell in and the jars are just filthy. So they have to be scrubbed and it takes a while 'cause I have inordinately large hands and they just don't fit down into those jars. Yeah, I could use the wide mouth jars, but then I'd have to pay an extra 25 cents for a box(12) of the wider lids. Nope, I'm not that desperate, yet. But I am starting to scrounge around the corners of the house for any misplaced jars. Think there are some in the barn. Will it be enough? Might have to fork over the 25 cents for those wide mouth lids... At any rate, I didn't get the first batch perculatin' until nearly noon. So I have my work cut out for me, tomorrow. Tonight is a girls' night out and we are having dinner and a movie. I think we are seeing that "Lakehouse" movie. And I have been saving up my points for coconut shrimp. Yeah, I'm one of those "points counters." Feel like some kind of off-season olympic judge- all foods have a point value- only reversed 'cause the fewer the points, the more I like it.
Oh, I nearly forgot. the messy kitchen. Well, as I was canning the tomatoes, my neice stops in to lend a hand- she is very good at just watching what you are doing and copying it. She observes that canning tomatoes is a lot messier than green beans. "Yeah," I said, "but you gotta embrace the mess." It hits me like a real, live, epiphany. That's my mantra from now on. Embrace the Mess. Now doesn't that sound like a lot more fun than fighting and wrestling with it? Of course it does. OK, one could say that I've, apparently, been doing a lot of embracing around here. But I really haven't- I've been fighting it all the way- I'm just being soundly beaten, that's all.
8 comments:
My aunt cans lots of veggies - this year she had to replant her entire garden because there was so much rain this spring she lost her food. I know it is alot of work, but those canned veggies sure are yummy in the winter - my aunt has peach trees too and I just love canned peaches! Looks like you had good crops - yeah!
Cheers!
Evelyn
embrass the mess.... hummm that could be written above my sewing studio door some days....
wonderful slogan ...embrace the mess!
I enjoy reading about your canning; I do that on a very small scale, you would laugh. I'm getting enough tomatoes to can a few pints at a time only, but it's beginning to add up in the cupboard.
Your tomatoes look scrumptious, Nines! So much work...but such a terrific addition to your wintertime meals for you and your family.
Can we see your latest postcards??? I love your other ones from your earlier posting. Great use of nubbins!
Two of my nieces had a cat when they were little that they called Nubbins. He had just a nub of a tail! I had a little chuckle when I first noted what your nubbins were!
Oh...and "Embrace the mess." I love it! Sounds like a book title! Or...perhaps a sign? One of your talented guys could surely whip you up a sign that reads the spoken wisdom, couldn't they? Old bard wood? Hmm?
Hope the movie was delightful...I'll be awaiting your review.
Hi Nina
When your Grandma Brady canned, there were no such things as wide mouth jars and being the oldest girl, I got jobs a lot earlier than my siblings---plus my hands were smaller than Mom's so I got the job of scrubbing the inside of the jars. I remember Mom used zinc lids that had a glass liner and she used rubber canning rings so the jars would seal. She would set up a big washtub on rocks or something to hold it up then build a fire under the tub and put the jars in there in a hot water bath. The fire had to be kept burning long enough to process the jars of whatever. I seem to remember that the tub would hold about 20 quarts at a time. I can also remember when she got a pressure canner--we weren't allowed in the kitchen--lots of horror stories about canners blowing up. That sounds like a story from the olden days and it is.
Dad picked tomatoes as soon as we got home, and I'm not going to embrace that mess until Monday.
I don't remember the outside fire version Isobel described - guess there are blessings in being the babies.
I remember Grandma Oe used to set her jars upside down on the fence pickets...was the sun disenfecting them or were they just draining?
Well, it was a lot harder then...but it is still WORK.
We could "EMBRACE THE MESS" on a slate, I suppose. ;)
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