I had all the fixins for Gina’s recipe. It was going to rain, and E had time to help me, so, feeling crummy or not, it was antipasto day on Friday. I started at 5:30 a.m. dealing with my ripened tomatoes. E was back from walking the dog by 7 and we got to work. Six hours later, everything was diced or sliced or blanched or drained. Five hours after that, 33 pints of Gina’s gorgeous antipasto and four quarts of tomato sauce was pressure canned. One hour after that, I was asleep. There was a reason I hadn’t made this recipe in 22 years. It takes 21 years to recover!
Someone, who shall remain nameless but has big floppy ears and a cotton tail, has found a way into the garden and has been pulling my tomato branches down to the ground. He doesn’t eat the tomatoes just the tomato leaves, ignoring the carrot tops next to them. I have a great recipe for green tomato relish, which our family likes, so they won’t go to waste but jeeez…
I am canning as fast as possible. Every second day I cook what is ripe and refrigerate. Then, on the fourth day, I can. The wee ones I use for roasting and freeze for pizza. This is today’s haul.
I was in the garden this morning when friends texted there were whales heading toward me. Two adults and a baby. Didn’t these kayakers have a special day?
Finally, my favourite picture of the week. A baby Kingfisher sat still on the branch by my deck long enough for me to
get a picture.
Off the Grid Islander 