Thursday, July 7, 2011

The fields are alive...

With the sound of peas?


Summertime in Sims means veggies and lots of them!  We spent much of last weekend enjoying the bountiful harvest of Jason's parents' garden.  Corn, peppers, squash, tomatoes, okra, potatoes, watermelons, and peas are some of the offerings just to name a few.  With Jason's parents' help we canned 40 pints of green beans on Saturday.  Thankfully they had picked the green beans early Saturday morning for us.  That is by far the worst part of the green bean canning process.  Every year I consider getting a note from my chiropractor that prevents me from having to pick:)!



Picking peas on the other hand is fast and easy!  But shelling them, ugh, not so fun.

 
Jason and I also managed to can 11 quarts of sweet pickles and 12 half pints of blackberry jelly over the weekend.  Now we're stocked up for the year with extra to share.  Jason is so handy in the kitchen and such a great help when it's time to clean up!

Let me tell you about these pickles.  They are delicious!!!  You can eat them like candy and they are the best addition to chicken salad.  Most memorably they were always a special treat that I looked forward to at my grandma's house.  (So that's at least 3 addictions that I can blame her for: Blue Bell ice cream, mayhaw jelly and homemade pickles.)  With grandma's instructions in hand and plenty of cucumbers from the Glover garden in stock, Jason and I confidently attack this pickle project each summer.   


Last Friday my co-workers and I went to a nearby farm where we could pick our own blackberries.  The bushes were overflowing and at $2.50/pound it was hard to quit.  Before long I had picked just over 8 pounds.  We all had different plans for our fruit; mine turned into the previously mentioned jelly and a delicious cake.

 
Next weekend we look forward to sharing the Glover garden with our Sunday school friends!  All the kiddos should be thoroughly entertained with the variety of farm equipment my father-in-law will be anxious to show off! 

Until then...may your pickles be crunchy and your jelly firmly set! 

3 comments:

lindsay said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lindsay said...

so many delicious treats! cant wait to see pictures from the sims field trip next weekend!

Dad said...

Continue to enjoy your posts. Aunt Sherry shares them with Grandma and she enjoys them too.

Dad