August Kitchen

With the bounty from the garden, the kitchen has been a hub of activity. Although we have been eating most of the produce as soon as it is harvested, I dusted off the big canning pots, tied on my apron and did some pickling this week.

Six quarts of pickled beets, using this recipe...

Eighteen quarts of pickles...

Spicy Dills, using this recipe...

Sweet and Spicy Slices, using this recipe...

It's a good start to my preserve pantry.  I would love to be able to add at least a few jars of spaghetti sauce, but we shall see. The tomatoes have been hit pretty hard by a blight, but in spite of it, they are actually producing more fruit than expected.

I'm delighted to be eating garden-fresh tomatoes. In my opinion, there is no other food as tasty as a freshly picked, still-warm-from-the-sun tomato.  Of course, cucumber and tomato salad is high on the tasty list as well.

We have also been consuming lots of kale with this being one of our favorite ways of preparing it.

I love my garden...I love planning for it, planting it, harvesting it, and I'm not even adverse to weeding it. It's my sanctuary.  I'm always sad to see it come to an end, to say goodbye, to put my garden to bed in the fall, but it's a comfort to know "to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted..." Spring will come.

Good night, my friends!