well, i finally got around to canning the first tomatoes of the season this morning. i got the crazy idea that i could take my wonderful, yummy tomato basil soup recipe, and prepare it all except for adding the cream at the end. so really, i made instant soup :) i hope it works, and salmonella or something does not grow in the rest of the ingredients. time will tell, i guess.
anyway, i was thinking about how disappointed i am that i only got 3 quarts of tomatoes. in my head, i was going to get a BONANZA of canning done this year! i had visions of sauce and paste and more sauce and salsa and more. i had visions of a huge beautiful pantry with lines of pretty jars. i had visions for lots more than this. i really thought it would happen, because i planted, and planted, and weeded and watered and did everything the way i thought i was supposed to. it started out well enough, and there were lots of fruits on the plants. then, midsummer they almost all developed a blight of some kind, and all of the growth stopped. most of the plants are deadish now, even though actually, there are still quite a few tomatoes on the vine waiting to ripen. i will probably get quite a bit more canning done, it's just that i'm really not sure yet what those half-dead plants will yield.
i guess that i do this kind of thing alot. i plan and plan and put a vision in my head of how things will be. when things don't end up looking that way (and they almost never do), i feel sad. alot of times, i just give up and assume the worst. and most of the time, i miss out on the enjoyment of the "smaller portion" that i do have. i know God wants me to learn this lesson. i know that whatever i end up with will be enough. because He provides. and He knows what i need.
anyway, today i just may open up one of those precious jars of soup and eat it RIGHT AWAY. no planning or saving for later. just enjoying what God has given me on this day. hope that you can do the same, whatever He has given you for today...
oh. and ps, if you are thinking that this post is probably not about tomatoes, you are correct :)
14 comments:
Yeah. You're on my mind, and in my prayers. Thankful for your God perspective.
My tomato plants have the blight, too. I still had enough for the Greek salad and to feed Chris a few when she was here.
B- Would you be interested in a girls preserving day? I would love to have a few extra hands and my tomatoes are really busting at the seams. We don't have to do tomatoes, we could do corn or green beans or whatever; at my house so yours doesn't get all messy. I have two stove tops and two kitchen area's. The community garden farmers market is open every Saturday morning from 9-11ish all veggies are just for the taking, you can make a donation if you want. This week I got corn, cauliflower, peppers(since mine failed miserably), broccoli and green beans. We can even do corn on a week day or evening if you like...we can go pick it ourselves. I want to make salsa and juice or just stewed maters, too. Today I am doing refrigerator dill pickles. Do you need some cukes? I only have the slicers. I will post about them later since you can't eat them for a week...
I suppose that doesn't really solve your problem, huh? But it's the only way I can think to help:) You know, create a whole lotta work for both of us to sweat and grind over so we feel like we have accomplished something.
Hope you are feeling better.
oh girls.
you have no idea how i needed to hear that someone HEARD me.
rani, i would LOVE to can with you! sometime later in the week maybe? thursday or friday? or saturday?
i have a few tomatoes that are ripening this week, but yeah, i am open for "putting up" and thinking positively ;)
and maybe crying a little, if you don't mind.
Isn't that a good lesson for us all. I fall in that trap way too often. Expect so much, and when it doesn't happen, mad it hits me hard. Thank you for sharing.
I can't make it day, let alone an hour without tears here...the more the merrier, I say.
Ryan has baseball games on Thursday night at 6 in Mitchell. As long as it's not too hot I'll go, otherwise nothing on my schedule...
how about saturday morning?
should i invite lou?
lou, do you want to join us?
:)
i don't want to can, and i don't really want to cry, but i would love to ride my bike down the hill and maybe watch you guys can and hand you some tissues and perhaps even throw in a sidehug or two?
saturday would be good. keep me posted.
ha. i love the idea of canning and carey in the same room.
i love you guys. this sounds wonderful.
Saturday morning works for me, Ryan may have to play in the afternoon, but the radio works :)
I will try and get out to the farm before Friday and pick some sweet corn (bring your own freezer bags)I just barely cook it and cut it off the cob with an electric knife. Messy but yummy. Last year 100 ears got us around 50 bags. and we can do salsa if the tomatoes ripen by then, my sil has tons of peppers (I have about a dozen jars to start us off - I will only use Bobbi's recipe- its the BEST!) The store here has lots of canning supplies if we need them...
Would you rather do something else? Let me know so I can get the veggies for us...
I am excited :)
Everyone is invited!!!!
Wish I could come over for the day. Will be thinking of all y'all, praying for the tears to be healing and the salsa to rock.
oh - sounds perfect. i have a bunch of hot peppers and jalepenos, and onions too for the salsa. i'll bring whatever tomatoes are ripe :))
whhhhhheeeeeeee!
i don't have any corn, so that would be AWESOME.
how early is good? 9am?
Let's do 9ish. We can make a day of it.
Carey, can you hold the 25 pound 10 month old? I will see if mom can watch the older kids.
I just got 12 more jars off free cycle AND and whole bunch of fresh herbs... no cilantro. I left it out last year, too and the salsa still ROCKED.
Karen, wish you could come.
Kris, you in?
Wow...girls it sounds like fun. But, we are having an art dept day at Okoboji on Saturday. Why do I always have plans when the fun stuff happens?
Bobbi-my view of the blogs is all messed up I keep thinking no one is posting and here I am missing stuff. I love when a blog starts as something and turns into something else and better yet when someone else gets what I was really saying-you sound the same. Wanting things to be how I SEE them is always my biggest downfall-I feel better about by admitting I am always a work in progress.
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