The Long Journey ahead

Looking at the Monarch butterfly in our garden makes me very happy.  I purposely left some milkweeds in the garden for the butterflies to lay their offspring.  I was delighted when I found this one with wings still bent and feeling disoriented.  The Monarch also makes me ponder about change and how the cold nights are becoming a familiar feeling, how the preparation of garlic beds and the soon to be picked pumpkins and squash are the product of hard labor and dedication and how much I enjoy food preservation. 

Green zebra tomatoes

Great with salt, white wine vinegar and lemon juice 

Red cabbage 

I blanched some in boiling water, bagged them and froze them

Raspberries and Cucumbers

Bolt's First Egg !

Before moving the goat fence to include fresh raspberry bushes, we discovered something round by the roofing of the goats and chickens's house.  First, we thought that it was a mushroom, just because it was located in a dark space, but later when I went to move their house, I picked it up and it was an egg!

Our girls are maturing and looking pretty good.  They like to be with the goats because then haven't flown outside of the electric fence in a while.  Lindo is working on a permanent goat shed while I was picking our ripe tomatoes to make ketchup.

I pretty much followed my own taste buds to make the ketchup.

First

Collect, clean and quarter all tomatoes you want to use (I even used cherry tomatoes)

I probably used 7-8 pounds this time

Second 

Put them in huge pot with a chopped onion and a chopped sweet pepper 

Have them cook in medium high heat for a while ..... a long time in other words

Third

I added distilled white vinegar (1 cup) and sugar (1 cup) 

1 TBSP of salt and 1 tsp of allspice 

KEEP STIRRING IT AND LOWER TO MEDIUM HEAT 

Fourth 

I used a hand-held blender to blend everything once the mixture had a thick consistency 

KEEP STIRRING 

Fifth 

Let it cook for a while more until it looks like ketchup 

Meanwhile, get your ball jars ready and lids and water canner 

Sixth 

Run the mixture thru a food mill to get rid of seeds and skins of tomatoes 

Pour ketchup into jars, clean the mouth of jars 

Process in the hot water canner for 10 minutes 

I canned 6  (8 oz) jars 

ENJOY IN THE WINTER !

Fugee and Asa at a glance !