Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Canning The Night Away

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes.  I wish I could say they were grown in my backyard .. but these came from central Washington state .. not that far away.  Our tomatoes are sparse, green and may still be that color when picked.  Make note to self:  In a bounty year can, can, can those tomatoes to last through a less than perfect growing season .. even if you're sick of canning!  I made spicy, zesty, and fiesta salsas; the first two are medium and hot .. and the fiesta is similar to Ro-tel brand which is super spicy/hot/crunchy/delicious as an ingredient in Tex-Mex recipes ... and a batch of quartered tomatoes packed in their own juice.  All the recipes are found in the Ball Blue Book of Preserving. 

Our neighborhood moose, old Black-Jack, stomped through my yard this morning waking me from my Saturday morning slumber.  Mr. Mac had just come home from working the night shift ... and let our dawg out for a potty run ... and run she did .. straight away to bark and pester old Black-Jack ... getting charged and tromped on a bit.  I suppose the dawg will one day win a Darwin Award .. but she did keep him from tramping through the gardens.  Perhaps a soft pillow and a few dog biscuits are in order today, eh?

8 comments:

Mr. H. said...

So you still have your "pet" moose..please be careful around him this fall as they start to get a bit weird that time of year. I like his name.:)

Jacquelyn Stager said...

I'd fall over dead if a moose stomped through my yard!
We do see a lot of deer though.

Margie said...

Did you know that I am completely scared of deer? afraid I'm gonna hit one! that's a lot of tomatoes!

today's word verification: scraf... apparantly they don't know how to spell scarf!

Unknown said...

There is something so pretty about jars of preserves. :)
Thank you for your kind words of support.

Pat said...

I think beautifull canned food is like art...love to see it and eat it!
I'd like some mild salsa please.

meemsnyc said...

Oh my, a moose!!

Connie said...

Your canned tomatoes look gorgeous and I'm sure they are tasty, as well. It has been a late year for us, but we are finally getting a good amount of tomatoes ripening.
Resident moose? Yikes. The deer are bad enough!

LynnS said...

Beautiful jars of canned goodies, Mrs. Mac. You did a wonderful job even if you had to borrow the 'maters from somewhere else.....lol

Got plans to pressure-can any moose meat this winter??