Putting food by

Okay, I really should be working right now and not writing, but here I am.

The first field of Jubilee sweet corn came in, so I have 3-4 dozen ears that I made Farmer Bill leave behind for me to freeze.  Freezing corn is pretty easy, but messy and sticky.  Fortunately we haven't mopped the kitchen floor for several weeks, so I can get the whole mess in one go after I'm done with the corn.

There's also a box of blueberries in the downstairs refrigerator that need to be dealt with.  I have made Farmer Bill his favorite Blueberry Buckle a few times, and he's had blueberry pancakes many mornings.  But they won't keep forever.  Jam or syrup is in their future... and one more big Buckle.

The week after next the peaches come from Colorado -- that's been a treat the past few years & this year we're getting 3 boxes.  There's nothing like eating a really tasty peach in the middle of the winter to make you forget the cold outside.

Soon we'll have enough tomatoes that Farmer Bill will let me can some.  The market has been so good for tomatoes that he's wanted to sell everything that ripens.  The late spring and wet summer has made it a poor year overall for tomatoes, and they look pretty ugly.  But we ate all of our canned tomatoes from last year, and the last jars of salsa from 2 years ago, so I really have to make more this year.  Fortunately, tomatoes keep going until frost, so I don't have to worry about them quite yet.

I enjoy filling up the freezer and the storeroom shelves with good things to eat.  I enjoy it even more because we have air conditioning!  The amount of heat and steam created to preserve food is unbelievable.  I have huge admiration for people who are able to work in extreme heat.  Mostly I just get crabby.  And for some reason it's always hot when it's time to put up food.  Sort of like making hay.  Do you know the phrase "Make hay while the sun shines"?  Farmers always make hay when the sun shines -- rain on your cut hay makes it mold and decreases the nutrients.  So it's generally sunny and hot when you cut the hay, rake it (turn it over so it dries evenly), and bale.  And the hayloft of a barn (or the top of our machine shed addition) is always  hotter than outside.  Stacking bales is an art.  Farmer Bill grew up stacking bales every summer.  I did not.  I have learned a lot & am pretty good, but I don't have the upper body strength to throw bales effectively -- and we just stack straw bales, which weigh about half of what a hay bale weighs!  I have stacked straw in heat over 100 degrees -- and lived to tell the tale.  But I much prefer to put up food in a relatively cool, clean kitchen.  Fortunately for me, Farmer Bill loves to eat, so he's happy to have me putter about canning.

That's enough for now, going to get started on the corn.