Garden and Canning

We have been very busy this summer with gardening. Our stake president asked that all of us grow a garden if possible. They plowed up part of the stake center field to allow people to plant if they didn't have a yard or the ability to plant anywhere else. We joined the Hazel Dell Elementary School Garden Club and had already picked out a plot behind the school. Our house backs up to the school so it is really close. We planted carrots, onions, sugar peas, basil and lots of pole beans. So far we have had over 8 quarts of beans from the plant and 6 onions have been ready. The girls like the carrots the best, they always pick one when we go to harvest or weed. I know we have been blessed because we followed the stake president's instructions.

At our Back to School Night Garden Party, the big topic was my bean plants. I had Master Gardeners ask me what I did to get such a beautiful plant. I laughed because all I did was mix some sand into the compost that was already there and plant the beans. As you can see from the picture it is bigger than Hadley.The other day I went out and picked over 4 quarts in one day. I have been freezing them to preserve them but they are really good.

We have also taken the opportunity to can fruit. Jenn and I decided we were going to can fruits this summer so we started with peaches and pears. We had lots of little helpers enjoying the fruits of our labor. We canned about 24 quarts of peaches and 24 quarts of pears for each of us. Then Jenn canned apple pie filling with a friend from her ward. I will do mine in a week or two. (Their recipe is terrific!) I couldn't stop eating it. :)

Our latest canning experience was tomatoes. We canned over 160 pounds of tomatoes. I canned 40 pounds of stewed tomatoes, which only yielded 16 quarts. We canned the rest into salsa. Jenn talked me into canning "Thick and Chunky" salsa instead of the ever easy blender salsa. And I am very grateful she did. I love it! We took several recipes and made Kann Salsa (stands for Katie and Jenn) We ended up with 71 quarts of salsa. So needless to say both of us are exhausted!

If you are interested in recipes just let me know and I would love to send them to you. So all together this summer we have canned over 300 pounds of fruit! By the way tomatoes are considered a fruit.