Ah Summer!
 

The best part of summer is fresh food. One of the things I do that takes too much time and makes no sense (ie hobby) is growing and preserving my own food.

The second season for strawberries has started and I pick a bowl of these every morning.

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Sunday morning harvest: 20 lbs onions, 14 lbs cucumbers, 6 lbs beets.

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The best part is the tomatoes! I only buy white bread once a year because you can only make a tomato sammich with fresh tomatoes and white bread.

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The basics. It's really all you need.


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Maybe add some homemade bread and butter pickles.


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Or maybe a grilled pepper.

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Or add nature's most perfect food - BACON!


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So far I've canned 18 pints of Bread & Butter pickles, 4 of Dill, 4 of Grilled pickles, 6 pickled beets and frozen a quart of pesto.

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The Dills will be pretty tasty in about a month.


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The Grilled pickles are good now, but in a month or so - mmmmm.


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Bread and Butter pickles waiting to be canned.


Onions, garlic, cucumbers and basil are all harvested and put away. I have about 3 pints of pesto. The Roma tomatoes, habaneros, jalapenos, and Anaheims will be ready next week. I'll probably make 24 pints of salsa.

Well done.

I've been eating tomatoes everyday for a few weeks now. Good idea with the cucumbers, I need to read into pickling, not a great crop this year but I still had too many to eat at once.

It doesn't get any better than a bacon tomato sandwich on white bread. However, being from a white trash background, I prefer Miracle Whip..... :D

That is some primo produce you are growing Patrick ... I just planted my fall tomatoes last week but I'm not sure they are going to survive this heat.

I love 'mater sammys!!!!!!

What's your recipe for "growing" bacon? I can't seem to get my bacon bushes to to take root and produce fruit!

Growing (making) Bacon ;)

My cukes and tomatoes are doing fantastic this year, I already have made about a gallon of tomato sauce and a bunch of fruit ripening on the vines...

You said summer.... I thought...

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Anyone with children will understand.

Have been hitting the BLTs pretty hard for a while now. Late peaches should be ready pretty soon. I have these little orange tomatoes, like eating candy almost.