It's been a work weekend here at The Farm, and with the exception of last evening when I persuaded Dr. Tom to go with me to a friend's 50th birthday party, I've had my nose to the grindstone.
Friday and yesterday, I worked up about 2 bushels of tomatoes. I froze several quarts and made up a couple of gallons of spaghetti sauce / soup stock to use for the winter. My freezor is about to burst open with all the stored up goodies. I also made three huge rounds of pesto, adding enough garlic to keep all the not nice spirits away. I'm sure it will be too strong for Eliza, but Samuel and I will eat it and have garlic breath for days on end. Pesto pizza, made with summer farm pesto, is a staple at our annual New Year's Eve Party.
This afternoon my thoughts were to try to get in the garden and pull out as many weeds as I can. Unfortunately, somewhere in all the weeds, one could possibly find the prettiest beans I've had all summer, probably more tomatoes (although I'm not looking for them too hard), and a least a dozen large winter squashes. (Alas! The squash borers attacked the luscious yellow squash and zucchini plants while I was gone, and they're now at the base of the new compost pile I've got going by the garden.) And, if one cared to cook okra that's about a foot long, I have plenty. Maybe I'll save them for seed next year.
To top off the farm produce list, I am ecstatic to announce that I have BEAUTIFUL, abundant, and very ripe grapes. Anybody want some? They're the first grapes that I've had since I took over the pruning in the last few years. My ex-husband used to be the farm pruner, and for a couple of years after he transitioned to another life --no, he didn't die; he just moved away for good--I just whacked away at the grapes in late winter so that the vines wouldn't get out of control. However, for the last two years, I have taken the pruning instructions I ran off from the internet out with my clippers and painstakingly followed the directions. The result = One heck of a grape harvest. YEAH ME!!!! So, tomorrow, I'm going to make grape juice all day. If I had any notion of how to make wine, I would give it a try, but I think that's a project for the future now that I know my vines are back in production.
OK, here's the BIG whine you've been waiting for...I have to start back to work on Tuesday...a half day of in-service at the community college and two full classes I teach as adjunct at the local college. Yuk, yuk, yuk! The high thought is that I might possibly see a light at the end of the tunnel...I'm going to make an appointment with a retirement counselor later this fall and dream about the time when this time of year rolls around and I DON'T have to go back to work......Ahhhhhhh!!! What a great thought!
1 comment:
Fill me up on some produce, sister earth!
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