I love this time of year. The cool mornings for reflecting on the day ahead. The warm afternoons for tackling projects that stretches into early evening. The signs of fall are starting to pop up.
Our garden is in full production. We just harvested our corn and got it put into the freezer, 32 pints is nothing to shake a stick at. Miss K helped me pick 7 pounds of green beans. Half that we froze for dinners and the other half we pickled with some carrots. We also picked 4 huge cucumbers and made some crunchy dill bites. My sweet friend, Kim is over ran with zucchini and shared her bounty with us. My favorite way to use up zucchini is to make bread, much like banana bread but with zucchini. It is so moist and delicious it doesn't last long in this house. We made 6 loaves last weekend intending to freeze some, however we have none remaining which means it's time to make more. :)
Peaches are in full swing. I love to eat fresh peaches for breakfast. My favorite variety is Canadian Harmony, they are a free stone fruit with sweet, tangy golden flesh that holds up nicely for pies and canning. So of course they are on my list of things to can. They make a nice after school treat for the girls in the winter time. I like being able to give them something more healthy and less processed. I also like being able to have the fruit on hand in the winter for cobblers, pies and peach cakes. Certainly makes winter more bearable. They are calling for another hard winter where we are, so getting these guys stored away will be great.
Tomatoes are starting to come on in our garden too. In the next weeks I'll be getting those into pint and quart jars. I like to make salsa and can whole tomatoes for chili, a family favorite. I like that I can through everything in to the crockpot turn it on low and go to work and when I get home I can make a some quick cornbread and dinner is done with little effort.
The apples will be ready in a months time and then it will be cider and apple sauce time.
What is your favorite time of the year?