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....
