Last night for supper, I prepared a delicious fresh Tomato pasta sauce with basil, onions, and garlic. Everything except the olive oil was from my garden. The garlic was from the Winter garden and the onions from the Spring garden. I had enough to store so pride is due there as well. The basil and roma tomatoes are finally eatable and it appears I will have a bumper crop even with the way too cold and wet early season and way too hot and dry now.
Having bragged, I know reality will follow shortly. All the older people in town have produce no matter what the weather. I say something like, "I harvested 10 tomatoes yesterday," and they say "I canned 10 quarts last night." I say, "I put up 5 quarts of green beans yesterday" and they say "I think we have got 50, so far." Or they say, I have some extra ______ and hand me a grocery bag full when I have been secretly proud of my pitiable harvest. I am constantly humbled. And if I listen I can learn something new every year to improve my harvest and timing. But right now I am still feeling proud that I have tomatoes and basil ready to eat.
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I love knowing someone else is taken to "putting up" foods!!! I insisted my grandmother teach me to can when the kids were little, as it is a lost art, at least here in the city. Many of my senior neighbors love it as well, and come over with secret family recipes for special relishes and pickled watermelon, admitting that none of their children would ever keep the recipe alive because they view canning as senseless.
Well ... you have harvested 10 more tomatoes and put up five more quarts of green beans than I. And I bet it all tastes very good! : )
I love fresh best, but well "put up" foods are delish too. I have had many hard lessons in that area too - much to learn, still.
Old ladies sure can make gardening a competitive sport, can't they... Around here, it's a competition just to see when you get your garden in lol.
Enjoy your tomatoes and your success! I'm especially jealous at the thought of that BLT. Up here, the season is so short we're lucky if we get fresh tomatoes before the first fall frost. I *hate* having to pick them all green, waiting for them to ripen!
I love canning, which I learned when I moved to the farm (and was delighted when my first efforts didn't kill my husband), but there's something special about eating everything fresh while you can, though I think that's a bigger deal up north!
The corn competition is the biggest one here. I ate a few ears of corn this weekend, but I will never tell a soul. I know many have cut and frozen 300+ bags. I always wonder what they do with it all. Do they eat corn once a day?
One lady confessed that they have so much in their freezer that they don't need to garden for a few years, but she would be embarrassed if she didn't have one. People would think she was lazy. The younger crowd, my age and below, have quit gardening all together. That is why I spend so much time with the highly competitive older generation.
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