Pearadise

This time it involved pears, gallons of sugary syrup, lots of hot water, a few phone calls to my mom, frustration and triumph.

I bought 25 pounds of Bartlett Pears from Central Market, peeled them, sliced them, made a light simple syrup to fill the jars, then carefully positioned the pears in hot jars, covered them with syrup, put the lids and rings on, then boiled them in my lovely water bath canner. I had a few jars that did this very weird tenting thing on the edges (essentially the lid bulged up and the edge would have a little peak); the first 3 jars that did this I re-boiled and sealed with no issue, but the last one I decided to leave alone and see what it would do. Lo and behold, the thing sealed down like a vault - the loudest "ping" I've ever heard; but, that jar is definitely sealed!! I ended up with 18 quarts (6 more than I planned for) and the look quite pretty if I do say so myself. Despite the frustrations, I feel very accomplished. Thanks Mama and Nick for all your help!!

Nick and I spent last weekend closing down the garden. We pulled out all the corn plants, squash, tomatoes and some of the flowers. We left the herb box, Cosmos and Romanesco alone. I'm hoping to grow herbs through the winter and am going to try my hand at an indoor planter box of lettuce. We also trimmed our rose bushes back and the shrubs in the front of the yard. Due to the lateness of summer the spiders were ridiculous!! I must admit to doing some mild screaming and the "icky" dance while pruning the roses back. Blech!!! I was able to put up a pint of tomato puree' from the tomatoes we rescued off the pulled vines and also over a pound of summer squash and about a 1/2 pound of zucchini. Pretty impressive for end of garden harvest!

In a few weeks we'll buy our apples and get ready to head for Walla Walla for applesauce making. I must admit that I'm looking forward to some girl company and socializing while canning (no offense babe!). This project has given me a new appreciation for all the hard work my mama put in every year, when us kids were growing up, to put up healthy, home canned goods. It has also opened my eyes to how important this art of canning is to maintain and preserve (no pun intended!). I have no idea how pioneer women did this kind of work without the conveniences we have now!!

Sandwich of the Century, garden being put to rest and wedding weekend

Last Saturday I spent the day with girlfriends and then Nick and I met up in the evening at our lovely little home. We went out for Spotted Cow ice cream and then bought the fixings to make the best sandwich EVER!!!! Ciabatta bun, lightly brushed with butter and toasted in the oven, spread with aoli, sundried tomato spread, then topped with a sauteed portabello mushroom with melted mozzarella on top and a small piece of lettuce (I wanted to use argula, but couldn't find any!). Nick nearly cried and I'm sure I experienced Nirvana!!! Holy amazing...




Tis the season for gardening to come to a close, experience the bounties of harvest (if you don't live in Seattle this year!) and tuck the garden boxes in for winter. I've pulled out my beans; all the potatoes, carrots and onions are dug with the potatoes and carrots being stored in sand; we've put up our tomato sauce for winter; Nick has canned ketchup and the freezer is fast approaching FULL. We plan to put up some quarts of pears, dry apples and put up some quarts of applesauce. The applesauce I'm doing with my mom and I think it's going to be so much fun! Right now we are enjoying the colors of fall showing up at the market, the richness of Honey Crisp apples and pears, the fantastic variety of peppers and bike rides in the crisp, sunny air. There is some sadness with tucking in the garden, but we still have corn that we're pulling, a few baby squash here and there, handfuls of tomatoes and some romanesco that we will hopefully have by November. I'm hoping to grow my herbs through the winter by covering them, but nothing too crazy.








This last weekend Nick and I were in The Dalles, OR, for a highschool friends wedding (Dwight Summers & Heidi Baldwin). We had an amazing time catching up with friends from highschool and celebrating with Dwight and Heidi. Friday night was rehearsal and a wonderful dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Nick and I went out for breakfast at a local diner - Momma Jane's - amazing!! - on Saturday morning and then hung out by the pool at our hotel until time to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful and perfect! We headed home on Sunday morning with a detour along the historical highway, a stop at the top for a fantastic view of the Columbia Gorge and then a stop at Multnomah Falls where we had a lovely breakfast and then a short walk up to the bridge, where we were soaked with rain and waterfall spray, but it was a spectacular site. We had a wonderful weekend and it was fun to get away and catch up with friends.

Another weekend of harvest...

This weekend Nick was attending PAX (the annual computer gaming nerd convention) so I spent Friday evening and Saturday having alone time. Saturday Jack and I enjoyed a lovely day at the market, spent some time at the park, went for a walk and then did a bunch of cooking - well I did the cooking and Jack relaxed. Sunday I ended up getting called in for a case, then spent the rest of the afternoon doing housewifely things. Today I dug potatoes, pulled carrots, laid the potatoes out to dry in the garage (another sign of being a NW gardener), pulled onions (also laying on the counter to dry), put the carrots in sand to store, got a bid for our new pantry shelving, had a plumber fix the shower head in our bathroom that was becoming a Chinese water torture device, made tomato puree', dried tomatoes, put my frozen peaches in bags, picked and froze edamame, and pulled the biggest mother of a zuccini out of our garden that we've had this whole year!! Whew, I'm wasted...

Thought I'd let this weekend tell the rest of the story in pictures...

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...