I spent a glorious day in the garden and canning today!

Went out bright and early (well 9:00) and started picking ...tomato's, peppers, squash, more peppers, basil, beans, more peppers....we have a lot of peppers. This basil plant is huge and fabulous! As soon as you start picking it, the smell of fresh basil fills the air...heavenly!

My cilantro plant didn't do so good.How beautiful are these eggplants? So perfect and shiny and purple!

A couple of weeks ago, we had this freakish hailstorm that really beat up the garden....this is what it did to all the big squash leaves.That didn't stop them from growing lovely yellow squash though. I think we have had squash about every other day all summer long. Love it...can't get enough of it!We have a really nice cantaloupe growing on the fence Kelley put up for the beans to grow on...figured out after a few months that the pole beans were really bush beans and the cantaloupe...I don't know what it was thinking. It's just about ready though...I think we will have to have a celebration when we finally cut it down and eat it...we've been watching it grow for a long time! So many peppers! The red, yellow and orange ones are really wonderful...I thought they were going to be hot cause they look a lot like those other orange ones...scotch bonnets? ...that are reeeeeeeely hot. But they are sweet and have real good flavor. I dried the basil in my dehydrator...didn't take long at all!This is my new favorite thing! We have been trying to acquire a salsa chopper for about 6 months now. Our old one had really had it...blade was dull, handle broke off...I threw it away once, then pulled it out of the garbage when I realized we weren't going to be able to get one from the swap meet any time soon...that is apparently the only place you can get these things. I have gone in every store I can think of asking if they have anything like this..."uhhhhhhh, nope...never heard of it"

So in the mean time, we have been either chopping by hand, or using the old dull blade chopper and mushing them to death.

Well the other day, I was thinking about all the chopping I was going to have to do when I started canning my salsa, and I thought I would make a last ditch effort to find a chopper. I went into Ross, just as a last resort...sometimes they have random things..."As seen on TV!" sorts of things. I walked right past this at first...it's much fancier than the one's you get at the swap meet, then took a second look....it had the same fabulous inner workings as the one's we have bought before! I will take three!

I was pretty excited to show it to Kelley...this is kind of a big deal. Anyway, we got it out of the box and got it all put together...came with added feature of a suction cup base that keeps it still while you chop! Kelley put in some onions and peppers, and two easy spins of the handle and they were beautifully chopped! Ha! I love this thing! This is mom's Victorio strainer...also fabulous but not so easy to assemble.

After about 20 minutes of trying to make all the pieces fit together...I notice the instruction booklet in the bottom of the box...very helpful!

After cooking tomato's onion, garlic, and other spices together for about 3 hours, I had a lovely smelling mush that I pour into the top...turn the handle, and voila! I have tomato paste coming down the chute!

Kelley came in just as I was finishing up. The job he has been working on is finished and the new building won't be ready for a little while, so he is going to have some time off!

Bad for the budget, but I'm looking forward to having him around! He asked me to make a list of some things I'd like him to get done while he's home... hmmmmmmmm...our house could definitely use some repair...I know the chimney needs to be repaired, and the upstairs has been put on hold for about 3 years...waiting for the right time when we can remodel up there ( wanted to take out the wall between bedrooms and make one big bedroom for us and also a nice big bathroom) Kelley really needs to have a nice closet for his clothes...they have kind of been dispersed between the two extra bedrooms in those closets cause there is no room in our bedroom closet...I don't really have so much, they are just small closets! (ok, I might have a few shoes)

Then there's the basement... it's a disaster area on the one side where the air conditioner thing leaked....we had to move everything out and take the carpet out. That's probably the most urgent project. He's probably not going to want to see this list. Anyway, this is what we ended up with after a good day's work. I know you can go buy tomato sauce for practically nothing, but there's something about picking the stuff that you've planted and grown yourself and making it into something wonderful that you can enjoy later that just leaves you with a real good feeling.