canning!

because sometimes 30 pounds of tomatoes is all you have to get you through the day...

~30 pounds of organic early girl tomatoes from one of our local farms

 plus some peppers and garlic from our garden
and a bit of onion and cilantro

a few hours later = 11 pints of salsa and 11 pints
of crushed tomatoes (with fresh basil from the garden)

i think we are set on the tomato front for the winter. we have also had a bumper crop of basil this year so the freezer is rapidly filling up with pesto. the cherry and heirloom tomatoes are still going gangbusters with new blooms still coming in. and for the first time in my LIFE, i have failed at growing zucchini. i am so startled that there are no words, really. i didn't even think it was possible to have total zucchini failure! we had a couple of late rains in june this year that resulted in white mildew...apparently the plants have never fully recovered even though the vegetation is taking over the backyard. hmm. up next, fall/winter garden. fava beans, garlic, chard, and kale here we come!