Summertime

Summer is a time for hot weather, swimming at the lake and trips to the local farmers market. In our area, fresh peaches and tomatoes are in season. Yesterday,  I had 80 pounds of tomatoes and 60 pounds of peaches delivered to me.  I decided to tackle the tomatoes first. I froze 40 pounds and will make them in sauces etc. later. With the other 40 pounds I decided to make salsa. Last night, after working a full day I peeled the  40 pounds of tomatoes and chopped them into chunks. I peeled and chopped numerous cloves of garlic , 30 jalapeño peppers, 10 pounds of onions  and green peppers. I added the remaining ingredients to  prepped vegetables.  But by then, it was 12:30 and I was powering out.  It was way to late to cook and process the salsa. So I emptied the contents of my fridge and put it in into coolers. Then I filled up the fridge with my prepped salsa ingredients to wait until tonight. 

I thought it would go quickly but I was wrong. Here it is midnight again and I just put the last of my jars in the canner.  I’m lucky to have inherited my Grandmothers canner. It is so big!  I love it. I can fit lots of jars. It will even let you stack for multiple layers. It would have taken me twice as long with my old canner.

So why do I do it? It is so satisfying to make things for your family from scratch. I love seeing those jars lined up on the counter and hearing them pop! It doesn’t feel like work and  It’s so worth while.

As I wait for my final batch to finish processing I just realized I’ve made about 5 years worth of salsa. What was I thinking?