Weekend Job

Remember the LARGE zucchinis from the mom garden? And the load of tomatoes, cucumbers and the half-ton of basil?

Harvest from Mom's garden

They now look something like this:

Rewards of harvest!

Not too shabby - 6 loaves of zucchini bread, 7 quarts of cucumbers, 2 quarts and a pint of tomatoes, and 5 pints of pesto.  The pickles will be extra garlic-y, which is perfectly fine with me!

This was my first time canning anything, and I knew it would be a lot of work, but I was a bit unprepared for just how much I decided to tackle.  Oh, and in case you are wondering - that was only one of the three large zucchinis that made 6 loaves. I figure at the end of this whole deal that I will have made 18 - 20 loaves of bread, if that is what I choose to do with all that zucchini.

Next up is Golden Pear Tomato Jam, and I am REALLY excited about this one. Sweet with a little zing from the hot peppers.

And don't worry, Mom. All of your bowls are washed and in the bag ready to go back to your house. And who knows, there may be a loaf of bread in your freezer, along with a jar of pesto when you get home....

My Mother's Garden

My parents have taken their annual trip to Japan to see their grandchildren. As they are like many people I know, they run out of time to get everything done around the house and yard before leaving. Sound familiar? As this was the case again for this trip, Mom asked me if I would be willing to go out and harvest some stuff from her garden "so that the birds won't get all of it." So I drove out last night and harvested some items.

rutabaga, carrots, butternut squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, raspberries, zucchini and a LOT of basil

So it would appear that I will be canning tomatoes, making pickles and pesto, and most likely a LOT of zucchini bread.  This is why I say a LOT of zucchini bread:

The fork is for perspective, it is a full size dinner fork.