I must confess that I love canning and preserving! A row of pretty jars on the counter full of fresh fruits or vegetables to be enjoyed over the winter months is a beautiful thing and always reminds me of good memories growing up gardening and canning with both with my Mom and Dad and my Grandma and Grandpa. The joy of hearing the jars "pop" on the counter when they seal is one of my favorite things!
But while I LOVE gardening when it comes to daylilies and perennial flowers, I am sadly mostly a wanna-be vegetable gardener! The vegetable garden takes so much more time and energy than the flowers! This year, with some sad excuses, I didn't even get our vegetable garden planted... and I have regretted it more and more as the season goes on....
But with many thanks to our awesome neighbors and friends who have generously shared their garden surplus with us, we have still enjoyed some of the best produce we never had to grow! Fresh salsa making today with homegrown tomatoes and peppers, and so many cucumbers that I was able to make several pints of pickles too! And green beans galore! Quart upon quart of them sitting pretty on shelves downstairs!
So I encourage other veggie gardening procrastinators like myself to embrace the beauty of the local farmers' market or kindness of your neighbors and preserve some of this season's beauty while you can... goodness knows come January we will want some reminders of warmer days! And when your hands smell of garlic and onion from your pickling adventures, we hope you will also remember that our Hand-milled Espresso Coffee Soap will do a great job taking the smell away! Happy preserving everyone! Enjoy!
Oh how you make me feel so much better. At my age, it is getting more and more difficult to maintain a garden. Farmer’s markets are great and I can support local farmers by buying their produce and products.