We are finally reaping the literal fruits of our labor. It is glorious. And a lot of work. The kitchen is lined with five-gallon dry wall buckets full of tomatoes in various stages of ripening. I’m up to my elbows in tomato sauce, up to my ears in plum sauce, and up to my belly button in bell peppers.

Last week we canned 14 quarts of peaches (red havens, bought from the Amish at a precious price). We also canned 12 quarts of tomato sauce, cooked down from about six drywall buckets of tomatoes. Only 40 more quarts of sauce to go to meet our annual goal of 52 quarts of tomato sauce. Not sure if we will get there this year, regardless, I have no doubt we will have plenty of sauce to hold us for a year of pasta Mondays. (If you know the Boss then you know he is a creature of habit.)

I spaced out while picking bell peppers and, before I knew what I had done, I had a drywall bucket full of giant bell peppers. Once something is picked, it can’t just sit around. I got to get busy, so I turned those into venison stuffed peppers and put them into the freezer.

Then, because I didn’t have enough abundance to process, like a dumbass I went and picked five gallons of plums from a neighbor. I boiled the plums down, sorted out the pits, blended it up and turned it into fruit leather so good, even the boss was impressed.

Since I was on a roll, I also finished cleaning over 1,400 bulbs of garlic and 30 pounds of onions. I know I put in over 30 hours judging from my audio book listening time. With that task done, I find myself with enough free time to finally write a blog post.

This is what gardening is all about for me, eating and putting up homegrown food that tastes NOTHING like the stuff you purchase at the grocery store. For the boss, it is more about the growing. The garden is his domain, his temple, his church. The kitchen is my space. Food is my temple and I’m currently blessed with abundance. And last week I spent most of my time in that small space putting up food that will be the most delicious things in the heart of winter. It’s the best kind of productivity.

Next up for putting up: CORN!!!!!!!

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