Canning

I went with a friend last Monday to walmart for the tiny 4 oz. jars that were $7.49. My first canning excursion was applesauce. They talk about the risk of eating canned food but not about the risk of preparing it. I had to first convert a four pint recipe to a two pint recipe that measured ingredients in pounds. (risk: math induced headache.) Not having a scale or fully reading the recipe lead to a lot of mistakes but one that was actually helpful. I made too little applesauce and forgot the sugar in the first try, luckily I didn't read the instructions so when I went to water bath the cans I didn't seal them with the screw tops which meant I could fix the first batch of applesauce, by opening the cans. I fixed them and then tried to clean up with out watching what I was doing and lightly burnt all my finger tips while trying to pour out the boiling water.

Too much bounty

I have shitake mushrooms, cucumbers, green beans. It's not much food in the scheme of things but for me with already having tomato soup, and pesto bread, and cheese it's way too much so today is looking for uses of my ingredients. I love the textures and tastes of everything even if I'm not hungry. The vibrant greens and reds make me feel happy and warm to my toes with some sort of safety that nobody and nothing else gives, cause nobody wants too.

Sequel to the pepper poppers.

I had to make planters for those extra plants, I had no money to buy planters, no dirt, and no space in my garden for them. I did though have left over chicken wire, folded and kept dog food bags, compost, leaves, and the highly disliked hay I bought for my rabbit. I molded the chicken wire into a bed frame, using pliers I took the cut ends of the individual triangles, and wrapped them together so the bed maintained it's shape. Dog food bags have a strong weave, that makes them good for lining planters with even when you put small holes in them for water drainage they don't leak soil. I flipped them white side out and stapled three bags to the frame. Then slid the tip of a knife between the weave to make small drainage holes along the whole planter. Then the compost, leaves, and hay was evenly mixed and poured into the beds. Finally, my peppers were placed into their new back aching home. Yippee for creativity, and internet ideas.

Peppers, peppers, peppers, peppers, peppers, peppers, peppers, tomatoes.

There is a reason I annoyed even myself with that title. I hate peppers but decided to see if I could get some to grow from seed for my mother and step-father. Hours of peeling, drying and dabbing later, I have  hundreds of round things in a blank seed packet, well that was late fall which in New Hampshire, means the seeds got stored for months. At the end of that time on Memorial day I opened all my seed packets and  some of the peppers had already started roots, and others had molded, opps really should have left them out to dry but my family tosses everything to do with my garden wherever is most convenient for them including the trash. Anyway I took the plants that had already started to grow and put the seeds in a five gallon bucket, at the end of July there was still no plants, so I bought a mostly grown plant. Two days later I have six extra pepper plants in my bucket, and I DON'T EVEN LIKE PEPPERS! Why couldn't I have six extra tomatoes?

Learning Local

I have been going every Thursday to the Henniker Farmer's Market. The problem with going there is I'm now realising exactly when vegetables are in season. That means I should stop considering zucchini a fall gourd like pumpkins, and thinking they are better for the environment to eat than lettuce in the winter. Though I love them as a wonderful summer treat, thanks Ash for letting me barter rhubarb jelly for a single serving size zucchini.

StoneFalls Gardens

Today, my mother and I went garden shopping at StoneFalls Gardens. At 184 Stonefalls, Rd., Henniker, NH, it's this rather large, meandering patch of land. They sell manure, annuals, perenials, specifically tomatoes, trees,  and some rather strong smelling ornamental sage. We bought black velvet petunias, English thyme, Astilbes, sage, a pre-mixed hanging plant, purple petunias, and some feathery looking plant without a tag. Well, Mom covered the 58 dollar bill, I went out and visited the Norwegian Dwarf goats, they have tucked back in an indoor/ out door enclosure. They were adorable, only one of the four wanted human company instead of hoping I had food. The little dark goat, fell asleep with his head in my hand. I didn't notice so when I shifted to leave, his head fell out my hand, and he bunked his little nose on the ground. I felt so bad, that I went searching for some fresh grass to give him.

Patience

It takes seven days for me to retrieve, fill out, and return a job application that's only fifteen minutes from my house. It takes three to five days for me convince my parents to drive five minutes to get rabbit food that I buy with my own money. It has taken five months to get 6 hours driving practice, and 6 months to not finish driver's ed. People keep counseling patience, well at this rate I'll be burying my parents before I take my first steps. How patient am I supposed to be?