Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Garden, Canning, Oh My!

There was a time that we were dealt lemons in life....and we made lemonade out of it.  Well.....we have TONS of cucumber.....so we made PICKLES!  I am so glad that our family loves pickles.  Especially Victoria. Santa will not need to bring her a giant jar of pickles this year. We have plenty.
 
 
Not only do we have spear dill pickles but we have dill pickle chips.  I kind of feel like we have cucumbers coming out our ears right now. I hadn't canned anything in over 20 years so I was really nervous.  I also made cucumber relish and corn relish.  I had to call my Mom after making the corn relish and ask her what the heck you serve corn relish with.  It tasts good!
I hate to say but this is what our counter looks like every couple days.  No one wants any zucchini or yellow crook squash because they have their own bounty to eat or get rid of.  So we have started playing doorbell ditch with our neighbors that we know for sure that don't have a garden to harvest.  It is kind of funny to fill a bag and then tell the boys to wait until dark to set the bag on a doorstep. It is awesome to have fresh veggies at our fingertips.  We also have green beans, beets (which are really yummy including the tops), onion, peas, corn, bell peppers, and pumpkins (three varities), broccoli, tomatoes, potatoes and of course carrots.
Isn't this the prettiest corn that you have ever seen? Look at how all the kernels line up so perfectly.  It is all part of God's incredible creation that it just does that.  I had no idea that all those seeds that we planted would bring us all this food.  Healthy food.  I keep asking the kids if they are sick of the veggies and I don't get any complaints.  Though it really isn't any different than how we ate before. 

It is literally exciting to watch the pumpkins orange up.  Who would have thought last year that we would be watching our very own pumpkins grow from tiny buds to a huge pumpkin just in time for the Fall.  For a while there we only had three pumpkins. I was a little concerned because everyone needed their own pumpkin.  We had to have atleast four.  Well, no need to worry.  We probably have a bushels worth of Jack Be Littles, and about 7 Jack Lanterns and about 4 White pumpkins. That was Daphne's contribution. This garden has definately been an experience.  We have learned a lot! I love being outside, watching the progress and identifying all the little critters that are eating what they are not supposed to. I am totally desensitized to grasshoppers.  I see deer in a total different way.  They really know how to destroy a crop.  And I am thankful that I never heard my kids fret and fume whenever I told them it was time to weed.  They just knew it had to be done and they were willing to do the work.  Though at times we had to leave the garden because patience had left and hunger ruled leading to tempers flaring. All in all, we had a Little Red Hen thing going.  If you help you get to eat what is in the garden.  I guess they were hungry. Which I am forever grateful for, we couldn't have kept up with it without them.

1 comment:

Katherine said...

This makes me smile. I love home economics...I know it doesn't show, but I do. I am so proud of your first, well maybe not first but first at this level, garden. I think this is so awesome and your canned pickles look delicious.