This is what I harvested from the garden this week: some cayenne peppers (many more are almost ripe, but not quite there yet), rose hips from my French wild rose, and a handful of snow peas.
I halved the hips and gutted them. They are now drying. I tried getting all the hairy bits off but with no success. That stuff can, apparently, irritate your throat if ingested. I guess I just have to make sure to use muslin bags for making tea with them.
I haven’t had a lot of time to play in the kitchen and I still have those same pesky preserving projects hanging over my head. I would truly like to get them finished this weekend. I need to move on with my writing. I’m also going to have to clean my house pretty seriously because in a month there are going to be a lot of people in it. I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed.
Preserving left to do:
sugar up the grape juice to make syrup, and can it
Apple sauce, can it
Quince in vanilla sugar syrup, canned
Shred all the giant zucchinis and freeze them
I have heard from some of my friends that they’re winding their own preserving projects up but are having trouble, like me, getting it all done between work and other responsibilities. We do it because it’s important but there’s no question that doing a lot of preserving takes time. What I’m tired of is having jars everywhere, on every surface, and all my equipment out. I’m ready to put it all away. But it would be silly to do it before I’m done.
I’m going to go get dressed, go to the Saturday farmer’s market, and then I’m going to get some of this done. Plus cook a farewell dinner for really good friends who are moving back to Utah. Boooooo! We are devastated. We must feed them so well they will immediately plan they’re first vacation to visit us.
What are you all working on this weekend? Is your canner finally back on the shelf? Are you wrapping things up or still in the thick of it?