Canning Rhubarb Sauce, Independence Days, Garden Prepping for Fall

My favorite summer dish-

homegrown organic tomatoes, basil and local cukes with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt!

Canning 4 Kinds Rhubarb Sauce-
With 3 days off work (for those w/jobs outside the farm/home) I had planned on doing some canning. I harvested the last of my rhubarb today, my neighbor's freebies, and all totaled I had about 11 lbs.! Woho!

I had planned on doing more rhubarb sauce since Dave likes it. I like it too, so why not? It's tart, but sweetened with other fruit and some sugar, it's good! A nice side dish with pork, chicken, with toast, whatever. My "recipe" is posted from the spring-

2 cups 1" chunks rhubarb
2 cups strawberries, cut in 1/2
1/4 water
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar: depends on the ripeness of the berries. You could use agave nectar, honey, whatever.
pinch salt
Bring to a simmer, stirring once in a while, until it starts to break down, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit. Stir once in a while as it cools. I canned mine, but you could freeze.

I bought local plums yesterday at the farmer's market, and some gorgeous apples, peaches, bell peppers & lemon cukes-

All for $15.00

I used up last weeks table grapes from our friends farm-

the Farmer's Market plums and the strawberries I got at the grocery store-

So I have 3 combos with my totals-

6 Qts. strawberry/rhubarb sauce
2 Qts.and 1 pint plum/rhubarb sauce, gorgeous color!
2 Qts. grape/rhubarb sauce.

That should last the til next spring or so. I'm hoping to get apples from the same place as the grapes in Oct. to make applesauce. We loved ours from our tree last year! Our apple harvest is poor this year, so I use what I can get. No apples? Use rhubarb.

  I'm hearing pinging!!!

Independence Days-

1. Plant Something- Done for the time being with the veggies, planted a new evergreen shrub.

2. Harvest Something- Eggs, tomatoes (wonderful!), rhubarb, basil, thyme, rosemary, chives, jalapenos, a few blackberries. Eggplants almost ready!

3. Preserve Something- I got out my old food dehydrator and dried, several squashes, all my jalapenos, 3 big bell peppers. Froze more bell peppers. Canned today. Tonight I also received free watermelon, several bell peppers, greens beans from our friends, again! I'll probably dry more of the new squash and peppers.

4. Manage Reserves- Get A Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep- Got good deals at the local Farmer's Market, neighbors freebies she doesn't want, bought chicken feed before needed since it's going up. Bought 3 more LED yard lights clearance at Target. All their garden stuff is clearance priced.

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipes- Made new kinds of rhubarb sauce. Eating the tomatoes as I pick them. Wish I had enough to can. I saw some lamb summer sausage yesterday at the Farmer's Market, may buy some next Sat., when we go back.

6. Build Community Food Systems- Buying from friends, Farmer's Market, freebies from neighbor.

7. Recycle/Re-Use- Same old, scraps to chickens, composting.

8. Skill Up- Learned about new kinds of mouse traps! We have some in the garage and I DON'T want them in the house. I baited the garage and the back deck, where we've seen them or their droppings. Reading Storm Gourmet with interesting recipes for cooking without power. Interesting timing with hurricane Issac.

9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something- Washed up food dehydrator, starting to use again. Added more bark mulch to part of the back yard to keep the plants happy over the winter. Fixing up rain barrels, pruned the berry vines. I was trying to figure out WHY our tomatoes were so much taller and more prolific this year, then I remembered we pruned the maple tree back when it was thinned, for better light in the garden, duh. It sure worked! The tomatoes below are about 5' high!

Garden Prepping for Fall-
It's finally cooling off! It's so much nicer to do outside work in the 80's. In the next week or so it's forecast to start lowering to the 70's! I did alot of pruning back the berry vines, raked, added the new LED solar lights, planted a new evergreen shrub where one died, fixed up the little pond a bit. Dave did some of the same in the front yard today. Fall will be coming soon, so I try to do a little each weekend so it's not so overwhelming when the weather gets to the first hard freeze. Added a HUGE amount of rhubarb leaves to the compost today, big LEAVES! They reminded me of elephant ears.

                                  Anya cuddling her favorite fuzzy blankie late in the evening