Top 10 Ways You Know You're a Gardener in the Pacific NW

1. You begin your starts inside; where they remain for a very long time.


2. You plant your seeds in the pouring rain.


3. You grow your tomatoes in a gardenhouse year round, but still pray they ripen.


4. You can grow lettuce nearly year-round.

5. You harvest in the pouring rain and have to dry things indoors.

6. Things that need to dry in the sun, end up drying indoors on the counter.

7. You can pick enough blackberries along roadsides and trails to make your own jam, cobblers, etc.

8. The flowers are amazing!!

9. You can winter store your potatoes and carrots in the ground all year.

10. Your garden is a green wonderland.

Pinging...

It's the sound you hear as jars seal after they've been canned and boiled in a water bath. It was music to my ears last night after putting up my first batch of tomato sauce!! Nick and I spent many hours boiling, peeling, pureeing, seasoning and waiting for our sauce to be ready. We finished around 2 a.m. in the wee hours of Tuesday morning - the time most canning projects end it seems! The sauce tasted yummy and smelled divine. We originally thought the recipe would make only 14 pints, however, we ended up with 21 pints, and had some leftover tomato puree' so we were able to freeze some straight tomato puree' for soup base and other things. Our next project to tackle is making our own ketchup - stay tuned! If you are interested in the tomato sauce recipe, you can find it here.

Also, my mom gave me another great canning/preserving resource - the cooperative extension in your area can really help with any questions or concerns you might have about canning and/or preserving. Click here for the link.

Lost Arts and Childhood Memories

Sticky floors, steaming hot jars, boiling water, hot summer nights, cool breezes from open windows, the smell of peaches or berries...

These are some of the memories from my childhood during canning/harvesting season.

There's starting to be a bit of bite in the air in the evenings, with beautiful sunny days. Corn is tasseling, squash is slowing down, tomatoes are reddening, Cosmos are blooming and carrots, potatoes and onions are ready to be dug. It amazes me how quickly things start to come on and how quickly things slow down as well. This year has been a true experiment for Nick and I in how we eat, what we eat and how to do that in a smarter, better, healthier way. I've been reading books, watching movies and trying new things this year. At the same time it reminds me of all those summer nights with my mom - canning, freezing, preserving and learning. The art of canning, preserving and freezing is becoming a lost art. The sections for canning supplies are usually an end-cap at Target or a very tiny section at some random store or you must order things online. My mom learned when she was a kid, I learned from my mom when I was a kid and today I'm working on establishing my own routines and decisions on what to put up. Nick and I have had so much fun remeniscing on our childhoods and experiences and making our own memories of putting up our own produce from our own garden.

The freezer is fast filling up with numerous items of produce and Nick and I are going to get a bid for pantry shelving as I do not have any room for the many quarts of produce I'm putting up.

I've been freezing things like crazy, but this week begins the voyage into the canning arena. I've got everything to put up our own tomato sauce. Next week will be tomato puree' and ketchup; then when pears come on those will be canned as well as putting up applesauce when those are in season. Right now I have tomatoes drying in the oven (I don't have a fan deydrator) and have dried a mass quantity of herbs. I'm hoping to try my hand at drying apples as well.

I was telling Nick that part of this experiment is to realize that you don't need anything fancy, lots of space or great amounts of knowledge - just a willingness to learn, some creativity and the desire to eat your own food in a healthier manner. So for those who would like, here are some resources I've been using for canning:
1. My mom!!
2. Sure-Jell Pectin low/no sugar recipe for jam
3. Food saver for all my freezing bags and sealing
4. Ball or Mason canning jars (I prefer narrow mouth)
5. Ziplock freezer containers; Ball freezer containers
6. Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving
7. This is a great resource website: http://www.freshpreserving.com/

Happy harvesting, canning, freezing and preserving season!!



**I also uploaded some pictures of our weekend at the market to our Picasa photo album site.

Waiting...

You know what's creepy about waiting rooms - you can smell the stale fear and anxiety. Doesn't matter how much they clean, re-upholster or make the room seem "warm and inviting"; you can still feel the lack of oxygen in the air from people holding their breath and the fear of the "what if".

Before she went into surgery, Sarah told me she wasn't afraid of dying, she was more afraid of waking up with an 8-10 inch scar on her chest that reminded her of how close she'd come. Made me ponder if I'd be as calm...

Yesterday was the 13 year anniversary of this beautiful girl's death


I often wonder what she'd be doing, where she'd be, if she would have gotten married or made me an aunt by now. While the pain is still there, it doesn't hurt as bad and the memories are happy and comforting.

Tears, fears, questions, unknowns, prayers, restless napping...

And then the door opens and the person you most want to see walks through the door and tells you everything is fine and air refills the room and the elephant sitting on your chest walks away.

That's what else waiting rooms smell like - hope and relief...