Why I need a man.

I wrestled with the pressure canner for 20 minutes, got the lid only about half way on, and finally lamented. It was the first time I've ever used one, so was I doing something wrong? Was something wrong with the lid? Oh, no. Husband was working Friday night, so I thought I'd use the alone time to attempt a tomato canning trial run. I called a friend who lives close by, but no answer. I thought about knocking on one of the neighbor's doors, but I haven't quite gotten that far in my extroversion development. So, I called my brother-in-law. He laughed at me, twisted the top right off and saw that I only had one can in the canner. He laughed at me again, and popped the lid on. So, thank you Tanner for coming to my canning rescue!

I do have questions, though, about my tomatoes. The texture is off, no matter what stage of ripe I think they are. I'm starting to wonder if it's the soil. Our garden was covered in evergreens for a long time. I guess I'll see how the texture of my heirloom tomatoes turns out.

The end product looks like this. I haven't quite decided if I want to actually eat the tomatoes. They aren't pretty, and the jar is 1/4 air. I've read that if the filler (the sugar bath in the case of fruit, or water in this case) isn't close to boiling when the cans are processed, it causes it to boil over and take in air.

Huckleberries

Obsession is defined as "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc." As I was happily, even if tiredly, preserving my day's treasures last night, I wondered at what point I would be classified as obsessed. Is it that I physically get angry at work because I have to be there instead of hunting down the next bountiful patch? Or is it that I no sooner arrive back in the town limits before I'm already craving the next trip? (And get anxious at the thought of missing the time slot to pick them at their peak?) Maybe it's when I fall asleep to the image of the deep purple berry just waiting for me to pluck it from its bush.

It's not just any huckleberry that I can't get enough of. Don't get me wrong; since I discovered huckleberries, I've loved them. With the exception of a few trials of exotic fruits from the grocery store, I grew up on the apples and bananas. It was much to my delight to discover our own little exotic fruit grown in the Northwest, and even more so when I found out they abound in Idaho! I enjoy the hunt, the stomping around in the wilderness, the Craps-point-number-roll excitement of finding the "jackpot" patch, and providing for myself and my family. And while I am finding myself tempted with greed and territorialism, it's the knowledge that they are not My berries that keeps me grounded. They are a blessing that proves to me that God cares about my heart's desires and I am ultimately loved.


Note to self: 4 cups of whole berries does not equal 4 cups of crushed berries. As I crushed the berries, I immediately regret the decision to make jam before just canning them whole. Oh well. There will be more, there will be more. :)

A garden by the street

Ah the perils of having a garden by the sidewalk. Earlier this year, one of my tomato-supporting bamboo tee-pees was swipped. While I tried to tell myself someone needed it to support their in-need family with a garden, there are some actions that just can't be given the benefit of the doubt no matter how hard I try. Like the discovery we made today: Someone viciously ripped one of the tomato plants from the ground. Two tee-pees were connected with string. The one in the foreground was completely out of the ground leaning on the fence, the plant right along with it. The one behind it in the picture was just topled over. I managed to get both tee-pees standing upright again, but not without a number of casualties. I replanted the one in hopes that with a little TLC it will make it. If it just keeps withering, I will salvage what I can. :(

I am posting a question again: what makes a tomato split? I now have two split tomatoes (one in the picture on the left), but all the tomatoes one plant over are just fine (pic on the right)! Is it a problem with the soil, the water, the sun? I just don't know what variable is effecting one plant and not the other.

Garden Questions

What causes tomatoes to crack? (see picture) How many tomatoes do you need to make canning them worth it? If it requires multiple pounds, what do you do with the couple pounds that ripen before the multiples?

What is this flowering weed?

You're my huckleberry!

My husband is truly my huckleberry. While not entirely excited to spend the morning in the heat of an Idaho August day, he lovingly volunteered to go with me hunting down one of my summer obsessions:

the wild Huckleberry!!!

Huckleberries are similar to blue berries but, in my opinion, sweeter. No one has been able to commercially grow them, so they have to be picked wild. The plants like the soil under pine trees in an area that wild fire has burned through 15 years prior.

The huckleberry community can be very territorial and hush, hush about known patches, so MIL and I were incredibly blessed on our first outting last year when we ran into a couple seasoned Idaho adventurers who let us in on some hints. The plants are no taller than knee high and typically grow on north-facing slopes. Armed with this information, we did end up finding some last year! Today, I was just hoping I'd be able to remember what the bush looked like.

It wasn't too long after finding the correct road that lead to the north-facing slopes that I spotted these from the car:

(The arrows are pointing at actual huckleberries, both in front of my leg and to my side. The sparkling purple berries of deliciousness that caught my eye in the car are on the right side of the photo with the white arrows.)

And a couple closeups:

The hardes part was leaving some of the berries behind, even if they aren't quite ripe yet. Oh well, now I know where to head on the next trip!

The day's bounty.

TOMATOES!!!

Woohoo! I finally got to harvest the first bunch of Roma's! I accidentally knocked the little green one off while getting to the red ones, but there are plenty left on the plant to ripen. Now I just have to decide what to do with them first. Oh the possibilities. . .

The waiting game.

Patience is not one of my virtues. I've been working on it, but it's still a struggle. I just don't like going nowhere. I feel like things need to progress, things need to get done, and then you can move on to the next. Yes, I am also an avid list maker. I'm also finding that if something doesn't keep my attention, I will move on to something that does. This doesn't help the waiting game, and is the root of my many started, few finished projects. I am dangerously close to the edge when it comes to my garden and am hoping progress is around the corner.

I haven't seen much change in awhile, but I was thinking tonight about all the little changes I've seen recently as well as what I've decided to do differently next year.

This is my one zinnia so far. After the first batch that I attempted to start inside, Papa gave me some seeds. These are planted next to the driveway in a spot that gets the least amount of water in the yard. Go figure. I do have some others that started growing in the garden, but they all became snacks for the slugs and are now skeletons. So, #1 on the list to do next year will be to start zinnia, marigolds, and allysum again, but this time it will be a bunch of seeds in a bigger planter instead of individual peat pods. And, I'm crossing my fingers I can save some of the seeds of the bloom on the left.

Tip #2: Do not believe the lady at the garden center when she tells you that blueberry bushes can handle full sun all afternoon. Not true. Our blueberry bushes are in the garden. It gets sun, but is shaded by trees by 3 or 4 in the afternoon. They started out great this year, but when the temps started hitting in the upper 80's, we (ok, by we, I mean my wonderful husband) had to put shade up. They did this last year, but I thought it was because we'd put them in too late. While I got a handful of delicious berries, most of them have now whithered up. I am praying that they will make it through the rest of the heat so I can relocate them to whiskey barrel pots in the fall.

#3: I also do not want to forget to relocate my peonies. They are in the grass. I think they got a fungus because of this and did not bloom. I do however have half a dozen new chicks shooting off from my hens!! I am plotting their re homing, but have yet to decide where. A pot, by the driveway, by the steps, oh the possibilities!

I saw an article somewhere about cardboard composting. A couple had moved into a new house with weeds everywhere. They took all their cardboard from moving, flattened it out, and laid it in the areas where the weeds needed controlling. They then topped the garden areas off with top soil and mulch. It kept the weeds down, and was an easy barrier to poke a hole in when planting. In the very least, this fall I want to make mulch out of all our fallen leaves. (#4)

My tomatoes are growing in number every day. Each plant has at least a few on them; the romas are going berserk. I just keep willing them every day to start turning red! And last but not least, I did make a new discovery tonight:

. . .my little cucumber.