Mid-summer canning tally

Right after we returned from Yellowstone I found a bounty awaiting me. Considering that I planted a much larger garden this year, it dawned on me that it would be impossible to eat even a fraction of the produce fresh.

Preserving it would be essential.

On it!



Here's what I have going so far:

• 13 pints of HOT salsa (Made using my dry salsa recipe, where all you add are tomatoes. However, I kicked it up a notch by adding some jalapeno peppers and half an onion)
• 6 pints of pasta sauce
• 10 half-pints of barbecue sauce
• 10 pints and 2 quarts of Italian-style whole tomatoes
• 6 pints and 1 quart of Mexican-style whole tomatoes (PERFECT for chili in the winter!)

And in the freezer: 

• 1/2 gallon of beans (green, yellow and purple!)
• 1 gallon of strawberries
• 1 "flat" of blueberries, which ended up being 8 quart baggies

Currently, I have several pounds of peaches to process. We are eating them fresh, but I am also considering making a peach pie (or peach crisp) filling or a peach jam. It all depends on how many we eat fresh.

About every 3 days I harvest a large colander of tomatoes, so that means I can a batch of tomatoes once a week.

I ran out of whole tomatoes in November (with at least 3 months of winter remaining!), which was a bummer because we make a crock pot of chili that includes my whole tomatoes a few times a month.

Soon we will be traveling to Lake of the Ozarks for John's sister's birthday. Before we can leave, I have some canning to do, some camper packing to finish, and some naps to take.

Just in case you were wondering.