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These cool nights have also affected the harvesting. My blueberries have slowed considerably in their ripening, as have the tomatoes. Although there is plenty of fruit on them, they are not ripening very quickly. The 3/10 inch rain we received Monday helped considerably. If we can get small doses of rain like that on a regular basis, the gardens would do well. The drier weather has allowed our berries to hold up well, some packages were still good 10 days after picking. I was really glad to hear this as both times the berries were being held by someone else for resale. This gives us breathing room in selling also, as it makes it possible to hold some of Tuesday's pickings until Saturday.
I got my first batch of blueberry sauce put up yesterday. I used some of the berries that had gone soft before packaging. I got 4 pints from 12 cups of berries.
I also started a second batch of tomato sauce. I got the tomatoes cut and cooked down, then put through the food mill, and finally reduced down. Today I will can it up. I can tell that this will be a summer long project (Yahweh willing), rather than a quickie like corn or beans, etc. I'm thinking that if I take two days to do a batch, I can get 3 batches done each week. With each batch giving me about 6 pints, that would be 18 pints/week. I have no idea how much to put up. I know we use tomato sauce in a lot of cooking, but I also wanted to try homemade spaghetti sauce and tomato paste (did you know they put sugar in store-bought tomato paste?) I really think 1 jar/week would be too conservative an estimate, but would we really go so far as 3-5 jars? Even at 3 jars/week that would mean 156 jars or about 8 more batches = almost 3 more weeks worth. I guess I will go with the top estimate and put up what Yahweh allows. My roma plants are currently loaded and, since I added the land plaster, the blossom end rot has improved. There have been some years where I have picked tomatoes all the way up until the first frost in November. Two years ago, Ray finally pulled up the plants in late September because they were in the way of the hay shelter he was building. Last year, of course, they drowned in July. It's all in the hands of Jehovah Jireh, the Lord God Our Provider. I just need to make sure as little goes to waste as possible.
Our blackberry plants are really producing. We have over 1 gallon frozen already and I think everyone is expecting a pie or cobbler this weekend. Maybe we'll take the extra time to make some homemade ice cream with fresh milk. Yum!!
I only got half of the blueberry's picked yesterday, what with the canning, sheet washing, and grass mowing going on. But that was 2 5-qt buckets worth. It was late afternoon when I got started due to everything being wet from the rain. I'll finish that first thing this morning.
We almost finished mowing our yard, only a few areas left to trim. Once again, we got a late start due to the grass being wet from the rain. We skipped both yards 9our's and our neighbor's) last week because the dry conditions and cool nights had kept the grass from growing very much. This week the grass has really grown and we are having to mow a little slower than usual. I love the way the yard looks when all of the grass is mown and the trim complete.
I am hoping to get my fall garden area ready this week for planting next week. Brussel sprouts, broccolli, and cabbage seeds (I think) are due to be planted. These will go into my square-foot garden and will be planted at one-week intervals to allow for a spaced harvesting. But this week I need to move some of the manure and compost into the area to build up the soil some.
Well, as usual my list is longer than the day, so I need to get off of here and get started. I'm hoping to get the tomato sauce canned before anyone gets up.
May Yahweh bless you in this new day!
Laurie
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