Tomatoes and more

That's it! I'm finished! No more tomato preservation for this year! It started on Monday with picking and washing all that were ripe.Then scalding and peeling them and chopping those that ended up in 7 quarts of diced tomatoes by Monday afternoon. The rest I refrigerated until I could continue making salsa and tomato juice. By Friday afternoon, all  were in jars ready for storage and good winter eating. Why did it take me all week? That's another story. It started on Tuesday morning........

Harvey and Natalie got to spend the day with me while Mom worked and their daycare provider was taking a student to college. It started with my 7 AM arrival in Kasson. Harvey looked all ready to go but Natalie was still in her princess nightgown. We decided to have breakfast there before getting on the road to Kwik Trip to buy milk - then home to Willow Hill. We had some zucchini to deliver to Great Grandma Jayne so we walked over there - a walk down the gravel road, across the pine bridge with the animal poop on it and running as fast as we could thru the hay field. We crossed the little troll bridge near their house and followed the path around the circle where Grandpa grows wild flowers then thru the woods to the garden. Grandpa Bob was tilling there so we sat on the old corn planter and pretended to be planting corn like Grandpa and Uncle Randy used to do. We watched the tiller tines go round and round and chew up the dirt. When Grandpa took a rest we visited with him and Grandma before retracing out steps home. After lunch we got out the scrub brushes and cleaned up a "found" covered sandbox so we could use it for a wading pool. The kids love to help scrub. While the water was warming up, I had 3 good helpers setting up the BIG tent. Alan had to help us with raising the frame - otherwise I had little helpers putting post section together and slipping them in their sleeves. Once the tent was up we found a "lucky penny" inside left by some earlier campers. Natalie was tall enough to unzip all the screen windows and door. When it was all ready, we had a fun game inside with the "blueberry ball".  Stefania and her Mom came to play in the middle of the afternoon. We played basketball, played in the turtle water, helped Alan feed the sheep and the geese and gathered sticks for the campfire. When it was time for supper, we roasted hotdogs and had s'mores. Then some more fun with all 5 of us in the tent. When our friends went home, we carried all our sleep gear out to the tent and set it up for our campout- then went in for baths. It was pretty dark by the time we got cleaned up and had snack so we grabbed a flashlight and trudged across the yard to the tent. Harvey's soothing music box had given a last gasp before the batteries went dead but the summer night sounds of insects were an even better alternative. After 3 short stories and a few extra minutes the kids were fast asleep in their sleeping bags. It was 9:10 and WAY earlier than my bedtime but after less than an hour of reading by the light of a flashlight I was ready to bed down, too. A couple times during the night a little body plopped off the air bed mattress and ended up right beside me so I gently lifted Harvey back up to his spot beside Natalie. At 6:30 I woke up and Natalie was awake and had been watching a "snake" on the roof of the tent. I think she was seeing a seam but she was sure it was moving! We went inside for some breakfast and getting ready to go to daycare. They are used to being shuttle off to Becca's much earlier but we had all the trappings of a sleepover to pack up. I sensed Natalie's urgency but I understood when I found out they were going to be reunited with their daycare friends after a summer away. Natalie noticed right away that a "baby" in the spring was now walking proficiently.

So back at home I resumed the tomato project - mainly the tedious task of chopping everything for salsa. Nothing was more time-consuming than the Thai peppers. Of the hot peppers Alan grew, these were the ones I needed. They are very small. I had to pick enough for 1/2 cup chopped pepper. I washed, split, seeded and chopped and ended up with only about 2/3 of what I needed. So back out to garden for more. Lucky they are prolific! Once I had the full 1/2 cup, the onions, celery and green peppers were not as much of a challenge. Finally, the tomatoes were added to the mix BUT, I was preparing everything for 1/2 recipe and added the FULL recipe amount of tomatoes!! So back to the drawing board. I was not going to try to add more Thai peppers. For one thing, there were not that many of ripe size left on the plant and after preparing around 100 of them for 1/2 cup, I was sick of that process. I finished the chopping of the other make-up ingredients, then  took a break and went to the store to buy the equally hot but much larger Sorrano peppers. I made the trip worth while with Alan's suggestion of getting a pizza. Just a 5 cheese bake at home pizza from Walmart but I dressed it up with pepperoni, green olives, more cheese (and some pineapple on my part). I feel that was a well deserved treat to end the day.

Thursday I spent the day in Saint Peter looking after Maya while both Mom and Dad were at work.  I did manage to take a few pictures of her. We took a stroller walk early in the day before it got HOT. We met up with one of her babysitters who showed us where the "tornado sculpture" was located. That was my goal - to see this "wonder" Kate had told me was new on campus. After lunch we ventured outside to the sand box and wading pool for awhile. She wasn't interested in napping after her snack so we just played until Mom and then Dad came home. I made a traditional stop at Kountry Kone in Waterville - some of the best soft serve ice cream around. A true rival to Whippy Dip!

                                       Family portrait a week earlier at Lake Emily.

 Friday was and all day process of preparing jars, heating and stirring and stirring and stirring some more so my salsa did not end up char on the bottom of the pot, processing the pints in a boiling water bath and then starting the tomato juice project. I had chopped the celery, peppers and onions that got cooked with the tomatoes before I sent the mixture thru the juicer, heated it again before bottling and then processed the quarts like the salsa.

I am glad to have 3 quarts of seasoned juice, 7 quarts of diced tomatoes and 11 pints of salsa to enjoy when there are no fresh tomatoes but I don't want to see any more tomatoes in my kitchen for canning until next year!

Sorry no photos of the day with the Kasson kids. Must make that a priority next time! Here's one of them while we watched the water ski show a couple weeks ago.