The harvest is plentiful

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."  Matthew 9:37

#1 daughter called to tell me she enjoyed my blog post.  When I said I didn't post one, she replied that she knew that and was just being sarcastic.  She said my posting has gone down to every two weeks, a slight exaggeration on her part.

#2 daughter watches two girls at a craft class for two hours each week and has gone to Hershey for two days.  #2 son is doing a week at Conservation school and we have been doing  football.  Between all the running around with them, taking the chickens to the butcher and picking them up, feed store runs, weddings and the weather my time in the garden is limited.  I harvest when I am able and can when I am able.  #1 daughter has not been home for a couple of weeks and does not know that the basil is not going to wait

or the peppers 

 or the beans

or the tomatoes

They come before the blog posts.  Sometimes there is enough to can or freeze immediately, other times I have to wait until there is enough to do a batch of jam or load the canner full of beans.  The weeds continue to grow even if the vegetables don't.  Last night I was pulling peach jelly out of the canner at 9:45 PM.

I think the only one helping me in the garden right now is this guy.... 

Not my best bud by any means.  I hate spiders and snakes but I know they each have their job.  I stay away from them and hope they do the same!

Oh wait there is another helper also...

Mr. Humbe Bumble who makes more work for me...but I am not complaining!

And then, on top of this my mother's neighbors call asking when her grass is going to get mowed.  They are worried about the snakes and ticks.  The owners have yet to mow it this year and it does look like a hayfield.  The fish died in her pond and it has become a mosqito breeding ground.  My mother would be appalled but there is nothing I can do about it.  Thankfully the owners showed up this weekend, mowed the grass and have plans to take the pond out. 

And my plan is to enlist the help of #1 daughter and Sir T when they come up this weekend.  The elderberries are ripe.   

They said they are more than willing to help.  Who knows, I might just let them raid the pantry shelves...not that they ever needed consent before!

At some point in time I will get pictures of the knitting...I fit it in while watching the pressure gauge or waiting on a pot to boil.  But now I have to get back to canning.