Tomatoes and Pickles

So far this year I have picked 6 ripe tomatoes.

6

That is absurd. Usually by August both my Sprouts are ill with eating so many 'maters straight out of the garden. The weather just hasn't cooperated, though, with the ripening process.

On the other hand, for the first year I have cukes that are doing well. I only planted 3 cuke plants (owing to space considerations and their notoriously high yields), and they are doing really well. I have two batches of refrigerator pickles going (different recipes to see which we like best) and have several more sitting on the counter waiting to be sliced and similarly dealt with.

It makes me feel good when I see the garden produce piling up in the kitchen. Oh, I despair of having the time and energy to deal with it all, but somehow it makes the house feel homey when I am standing at the counter on aching feet cleaning/slicing/blanching/freezing all the goodies.

Which is silly, because my Mom was never really one to get into preserving the harvest. At least not that I remember.

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Little Sprout is loving the new sandbox. I wish I would have gotten it set up earlier in the year, because it is becoming my sanity-saver. Whenever Little Sprout gets a little crazy in the house, I just send her out to play in the sand. Since it is right off the deck (outside the kitchen), I can be doing any number of things in the house and still keep an eye and an ear on her while she plays. It is WONDERFUL. Add to that the security of having a totally fenced in backyard, and I feel perfectly safe letting her play while I am snapping beans or cooking supper.

It makes me remember summer days when I was a kid. I would go outside in the morning to play, and not come back until supper time. Of course I would never allow the Sprouts to do that now, but it makes things a lot easier to be able to send them outside here at Barefoot Manor when I have things that need accomplishing....

It is a good day.