Look REALLY closely… see the green rows? The garlic is up! I planted it a few weeks after Luke was born last year. It was the longest I had been away from him at the time. I was outside for maybe an hour while Jon was inside with him. Seems like a lifetime ago at this point! We are so happy that it is springtime!
This year is the start of a transition for us. We are transitioning away from standard plants and seed varieties to heirloom varieties. I have ordered the seeds from the Hudson Valley Seed Library (for a very reasonable price) and plan to seek out heirloom varieties of the crops I prefer to buy in plant form (like peppers and tomatoes). I’m excited to learn more about heirloom gardening and seed saving and hope we’ll be able to garden “the old way” in the future!
Do you seed save? Do you have any resources that you’d like to pass along?? 
This post is just to remind myself what time of year canning really picks up. I was on my feet canning for well over 15 hours, on Sunday alone and there is still so much to do.
Grocery bag full of green beans:
A box of peaches and nectarines (still looking good from 3 weeks ago!):
And more nectarines (this isn’t even all of them, just the most ripe ones):
2 bags of grocery tomatoes:
1/2 a bag of peppers:
A bag full of onions:
And an entire box of pickling cucumbers, well over 20lbs of cukes:
A peak into the canning process. We’ve got bowls, bins and boxes everywhere. I did manage to keep up on dishes through out the day though so we’ve got some decent open counterpace 
This really saves my sanity by midday.
Some results:
I ended the day with 14 quarts of dill pickles, 10 pints of corn salsa, 7 quarts of crushed tomatoes, 15 1/2 jelly jars of nectarine jam. I’ve still got all the greenbeans, a big bowl of cukes, a 1/2 bag of tomatoes and pretty much all of the nectarines left.
Oh and don’t forget about this project:
2 BUSHELS of potatoes waiting to be canned. Slowly but surely this will all make it’s way to our cabinets, but I sure hope nothing goes bag in the time being! Oh and the garden is in need of picking again.
It’s such a love-hate relationship. I love canning and I love eating the food but each time I burned myself yesterday (there were multiple occasions) I asked myself why I don’t just go to the grocery store like “normal” people do. Then I remember the pride I have for the food we grow and put up and how much better it is for us. I think about the connection I feel when I talk about canning with my great-grandmother. The work is hard, but it’s enjoyable (although exhausting) and I know it’s worthwhile especially come January and that’s what pushes me to wake up at 5 in the morning on my days off to get a jump start on the heat. It’s so worth it, even when you burn yourself with the jam… 
Sorry for the mini rant/ pep talk!
How was your weekend?
