Friday, August 08, 2008

Love Apples

“Of the tomato or love apple, I know very little. It is chiefly employed as a sauce or condiment. No one, it is believed, regards it as very nutritious; and it belongs, like the mushroom and the potato, to a family of plants, some of the individuals of which are extremely poisonous. Some persons are even injured, more or less, by the acid of the tomato.”‘The Young House-keeper’ by William Andrus Alcott (1846)

Oh how far we have come. I think the only injury I got from the love apples I recently acquired was accidently bumping into the side of the hot canner. Mom and I made short work of the 50 pounds while my sister took a siesta in Maryland....I think we overworked her the other day!

While she was riding around site seeing and visiting, the sweat was just dripping off of us. Thursday we froze 5 1/2 pounds of zucchini, canned 9 1/2 pints of salsa and 7 1/2 pints of tomato soup. Then we went outside to catch a breeze and picked 8 1/2 pounds of blackberries.
Today we got 10 pints of blackberry topping from our pickings and 17 1/2 pints of soup.We got done early enough that I could even go to our spinning group.

I am picking on my sister of course about her getting out of work. We even saved her a bowl of tomato soup. It is hot work but it is something I enjoy doing. I love the look of the jars when filled and the smells of whatever is being canned. Although never lean over a pan of relish and inhale deeply because it smells soooo good! I learned that early on. What I love most is grabbing a jar of jam, relish, salsa or soup in the middle of winter. One thing that surprised me is that I thought the 50 pounds would go further. I am so use to going into the garden and just picking whatever is ready and dealing with it. We never weighed how much we picked....something that I have started doing this year.

Now I am off to spend some time with the man....a whole weekend alone! Of course we have a surprise 40th for my brother on Saturday and we are taking my sister to Newark Airport on Sunday...but it will still be done kid-free, something that hasn't happen in a while.

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