The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[speckledhen]

That would drive my husband up a wall. He tracks every purchase, and anticipates it's delivery.

Drives ME up the wall. I was a realtor, a detail person. If I screwed up, someone might not be able to buy their home, for cripes sake. So the fact that they mis-scan or just decide, "Oh, well, I did scan it, but I think I'll just throw it back in the truck and go on home" is just irresponsible, at best. Why even have that system if they don't use it correctly? Grrr.

 

[getaclue]

I agree.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I spent the day before looking everywhere for my package, and I even tried to message Amazon. They said wait 3 days at least before reporting it. I wasn't impressed either. Generally they are spot on with delivery dates. Mine was delivered through the UPS the next day. The USPS hasn't messed up yet for me.

 

[speckledhen]

We've been canning our behinds off, falling into bed exhausted every night. I ended up with way more butternut squash than I wanted to keep or can so we posted on a yard sale that we have a surplus for about 3 families to come pick up a few each for free, that it is not for resale, but for those who need it. First lady comes, lives with her daughter, very nice. Second couple shows up driving a sports car, super nice people-she brought me home canned peach jam, which was a lovely thank you and I traded her some carrot cake jam I made in a same size jar. But, it did bother me a little that these people obviously are in better financial position than we are-or so it seems from the two homes and sports car, etc. Of course, I can't judge their actual needs, though it would seem, from appearances, that they were not in actual need. My intent was for someone who needed a boost on their grocery bill to come get some nice organically grown farm produce for free, but it is what it is. I know that even Tom and I have declined free stuff, saying we would leave it for others who need it more than we do. Maybe not everyone thinks that way, but there are a lot of poor in our county and surrounding area.

A third woman is coming this afternoon after getting off work to pick up a few of these. I have more that just needs to ripen up a bit, but if someone wants to take them and let them sit and ripen, I'll let those go. I did can 4 pint jars of chunks, but this is the year of the PEAS! Yesterday, after bringing home a water bath canner, Tom leaned into the back seat, saying he had a gift for me. He pulled out a used potato fork..I said "Thank you! And it's not even our anniversary!". That will come in handy to dig the sweet potatoes.

Yesterday, I pulled all the rhubarb we had in the freezer, added pears and the rest of the ingredients and canned Rhubarb-Pear Jam. It probably could have boiled longer to be thicker but it's really good. No red food coloring here, so it looks like relish, LOL. We also canned that butternut squash and more peas. Still many more peas to go....

 

[getaclue]

Harvesting, and preserving time, is very busy indeed. The pop, pop, pop of the lids sealing at night, is a very satisfying sound.

 

[speckledhen]

Harvesting, and preserving time, is very busy indeed. The pop, pop, pop of the lids sealing at night, is a very satisfying sound.

Yes, I love that sound. I think I need this shirt I saw on Ebay, but can't really justify the expense:
Jar Hoarder Shirt

 

[getaclue]

Cute shirt.

 

[speckledhen]

Now, what to do with these pears? This is an 18 gallon tote they're in. They have to finish ripening off the tree, but are edible now, if somewhat firm (Moonglow pears don't get as soft as, say, Bartlett pears). I don't need a million more jars of carrot cake jam. Maybe pineapple-pear jam? Pear syrup for pancakes? Spiced pears? Ack!
ETA: Someone suggested dehydrating. I think I'll do that with some of these.

 

[getaclue]

We used to make pear preserves, with ours. Dehydrating them, sounds interesting.

 

[speckledhen]

We used to make pear preserves, with ours. Dehydrating them, sounds interesting.

I made spiced pear preserves the other time we had a decent harvest. I guess I can make more Carrot Cake Jam, which uses pears and pineapple as well as carrots, but I want to put in more pears and carrots than I did the first time, make it "meatier". It's really good, I have to say. I can do that as well as dehydrate some for other uses.