we're getting ready for winter

with our northern climate, i've been worried that our tomatoes would not have time to ripen before the killing frost. i'm both thankful and relived to say that we've been getting tomatoes for over a week now, and we've been able to can 42 quarts of stewed tomatoes, and counting!

here N and A have gathered our first big harvest.

last night dave and i went to the produce auction, and bought some stuff to help fill our freezers. we got 1 bushel green beans, 5 bushels of tomatoes, and 30+ dozen of sweet corn. but the deal of the day was our cantaloupe- $.10 each! (yes, the decimal is in the right place!) we are the proud owners and consumers of 45 cantaloupe. and just speaking for myself, in the last 24 hours i've eaten more cantaloupe than i have in the previous 5 years combined! but it sure is good!

our project for today was getting all those veggies (and fruit) canned or frozen. we did it all except for some of the beefsteak tomatoes, which wont' really be ready until tuesdya. here G and D are husking the corn, while N is helping me in the house with the green beans.

we have the beans cleaned, cut and blanched, and ready to bag and freeze. B seems to really like them!

here is our wagon full of cantaloupe! outside of the grocery store, i've never seen so many melons in one place before! A really likes the lopes. good thing! you can see the Roma tomatoes from our garden ripening on the porch railing. most of those will be ready on Tuesday, as well.

B really likes tomatoes! all my kids have done this very same thing at one time or another- eaten a tomato, pepper or cucumber fresh from the garden- just like an apple.

D and G have moved on to cutting the corn off the cob, while N is inside blanching, and i'm getting started on washing jars, sorting tomatoes and cutting up lopes.

N- supremo blanchero

corn is done, and now we're cutting up the tomatoes for stewed, and filling our jars. A is supervising. we did 18 quarts, and only one did not pull a seal. i did them all in wide mouth jars, as that is much easier, and less messy.

B seems to really like the lopes, too!

and courtesy of my MIL, we made spiced cantaloupe. never heard of it, but we did have alot of lopes to use! i made 14 quarts, and they all sealed! i'm not sure if we'll like them or not, but it will be interesting to try them!

all in all it was a productive day- 42 6cup bags of corn, plus enough to eat fresh for 2 meals, 7 bags of beans, 18 quarts of stewed tomatoes, and 14 quarts of spiced cantaloupe, plus enough to eat fresh until we can't stand it anymore! very satisfying , to know that we worked hard today, in order to eat well this winter!