Wife picked a whole bucket of sweet peppers and brought them in. All washed and on the counter to dry. Some of them are big enough to turn into stuffed chilies with burger and cheese in them. Have been waiting for a goodly batch before I jump on them.
Probably for dinner tomorrow we will see if it works. We haven't had much rain but we have watered faithfully to keep the garden going in all this heat. We're having around 90 to 95 degrees daily and, a couple of days, we hit 101F. Of course the electric bill has doubled due to running the air conditioning 24/7. Gas bill stays the same year around as our provider has ways to work it at a lower cost.
Yes, one of our favorites, our recipe includes cukes, onions, and whatever seems to taste good this time around. At the moment we are still eating last years relish. Have been doing that one for a lot of years. Our kids, grands, and great grands all love it too.
We both grew up in families that made their own food from their own gardens. In my case also chickens, turkeys, ducks, cows, etc. were also turned into food. My folks had a sixteen cubic foot freezer, bought in the early fifties and stayed with them until they were gone. Ours is a
21 cubic foot upright that is chock-a-block full of every kind of food. We can a lot of veggies and turned my office closet into a seven shelf pantry. I think we have twelve boxes of canning jars and I buy lids in tubes about every ten years. We also have a very old, very large pressure canner and keep it in working condition. The thing must be fifty years old now but is still good and I get the gauges tested annually. In Texas we have an excellent group of AG agents, mostly from Texas A&M and we've both been certified on canning by the Agriculture offices.
I'm getting worse with the stroke problems but I can still do canning, cooking, dehydrating (eight tray dehydrator), whatever comes up. I suspect we are the only home canners in this subdivision, most of the folks here are both working people and come home to McDonald's.
I know of only two other families that garden and I think it's just vegetable gardening. We have a kumquat, a fig, and a pear tree, so far we are the only fruit tree house. I get a kick out of people coming by and ask me what that beautiful tree in bloom in the front yard. They are startled when we tell them it's a pear tree.
We're in Texas T, we just throw seeds on the ground and then jump back. We've always had good luck with all sorts of chilies with minor exceptions. We just didn't try those again as a waste of time and money.
It's mid-August and it is hot, 97F right now and the gardens are getting watered twice a day, early morning and at sunset.Those times are used because if we do it mid-day the water evaporates before it can sink in.
The cantaloupes are giving us about one decent fruit a week, just enough to have to eat. Wife brought a watermelon in from the church garden, it had grown so fast it split almost in half so we ate it.
I can no longer get out in the hot sun due to the meds I take daily, seven prescriptions split into three parts of the day. The !@@##$$% electricity bill is shooting up every month. Hopefully we will get a cool September, which seldom happens.
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