Stocking Up for Winter

A new tradition for Jane and I is to can tomatoes in August.  Last year we did a 1/2 bushel, which gave us each about 9 pints to enjoy in soups and pasta throughout the winter.  The only problem was that the 9 pints only made it until about December--that left us with a lot of winter where we didn't have our own little jars of summer left to use.

So, this year, we decided to do double the amount we did last year--a whole bushel.  We ended up with 33 pints this time, which probably still won't get us all the way through winter, but hopefully at least until February.

The tomatoes we had this year were fairly small and round.  They also weren't quite as ripe as we would have liked (it make peeling them more difficult.)  These were from the Minneapolis Farmer's Market.

 



Jane bought our tomatoes at the Minneapolis farmers market.

 
I don't know how many times we filled and refilled the giant bowls with the cut tomatoes.  It seemed like so many when we were doing it! 



A big bowl of peeled and cut tomatoes.

 To peel the tomatoes, you first have to dip them in boiling water, and then immerse them in ice water and in theory the peel slide right off.  It worked most of the time.



One of the things that I admire about women years ago who canned a lot is that tomatoes are ready at the hottest time of year and with all the boiling of water it takes to prep them and can them, the kitchen gets really hot. Those women did all of this hot work in non-air conditioned environments.  It is very long hot work!  I also can't figure out how they decided how much they needed to do.  Jane and I kind of just pick an amount and know that if we run out, we can always just pick some up at the store.



Here I am with some of our bounty. I can't wait to use these in my favorite recipes--especially in the Butternut Squash Crumble.  Oh, baby, does it taste like fall!



Me with my baby belly and a about half of the job done.



Up close with the tomatoes





 

 

Pizza Night at Two Ponies Gardens

One of my all-time favorite, under the radar places is Two Ponies Gardens located just a few miles from my home.  I stumbled across this gorgeous little hideaway last summer when I was looking for service projects for the students at work.  I've taken students there to volunteer a couple of times, but even better is that I love going out and enjoying the events! I've attended their Dahlia Open House and attended a Harvest Dinner last fall (one of the most Martha Stewart worthy moments of my life.) 
Last summer they were in the process of building a wood-burning brick oven at the farm.  Siri and Lisa (the two awesome women who run the farm) were hoping that once it was done they'd be able to have pizza nights at the farm.
Well, the oven is done and pizza night is awesome.  My husband and I attended along with my friend Heidi.  It was a fun night.

The menu---we brought our own drinks and cupcakes (which is allowed!)

The front pizza was the basil, tomato and mozzarella pizza.  The back one was the prosciutto, pesto and chevre.  Both were DELICIOUS!

The pizza makers rolling out the crust (the oven is that stone thing in the background.)

Heidi and I looking hot.  Because we were sweltering and melting (it was probably 90 degrees that night.)

Wanna check out other events at Two Ponies?  Check out their website.  Two Ponies Garden Website

Really? It's been that long?!

So, I know that I am waaaay behind in writing and it is combination of things that has kept me from being really present here.  I didn't realize until just now that it had been almost two months though!  Argh!  I'm sorry, dear readers.  Some of the reasons (not to justify, but more to explain):

• No batteries for the camera...easily remedied, but forgotten about many times until yesterday.  No camera, no pictures.  No pictures in my mind means really boring blog.
• Baby Berger mania.  Yes, my husband and I are expecting a baby in November.  Not that I have been consumed with getting ready for it.  Yet.  It's just that in my free time I would rather pour over my book "Bring Back Beatrice" (fun little baby name book) rather than sit down and blog.
• Planning, prepping and pulling off The Soul Sisterhood Retreat.  A rather momentous week, all fabulous and fun, but a ton of work.  I kind of felt like I'd been hit by a truck when it was all over and it took me a week to recover.
• Just life in general...summer seems to be whizzing by and I'm wondering where all the time has gone.
• And although I am really happy and excited about life right now, I just haven't felt very interesting.  I've been crafting, but not ready to post about.  Cooking, but nothing really new or different.  Dreaming, but not ready to share yet. ;-)

So, lame-o excuses out of the way, I think perhaps I've come across the perfect summer project for my blog.  I've been reading a glorious book called "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp and it is so inspiring.  Basically, the premise is to find, record, and delight in one thousand things that you love.

One Thousand Gifts


It is an exercise in cultivating gratitude and a recognizing all of God's grace and glory made present in our world.  My friend Becca, is doing the One Thousand Gifts challenge this summer on her blog (http://www.beccagroves.blogspot.com/).  I want to try this out too.  It will probably take longer than summer, but it is something fun to try!  I don't have a plan for how often I want to post, but I plan to use this as my place to record my one thousand things.