What I've been up to...

Happy Monday, all! Whoops, I mean Tuesday....

It's been a busy couple of weeks with the wedding checklist, my Grandma Theda's 75th birthday surprise party, and work being extraordinarily busy for this time of year. Plus, my garden is producing more veggies than I can live with so it's a part time job trying to give away my overflow so none of it goes to waste! I am pretty happy with where I'm at with my freezing/canning for the year....just waiting on the big tomatoes to turn red. I have a ton on the vine, they just need a little coaxing to ripen up for me. In the meantime, I've been focusing on filling up my freezer and my storage shelves in the basement so we're always swimming in fresh veggies, even when there's snow on the ground. Is anyone else scared this Winter is going to be craaaaaazy in Iowa after such a dry Summer and not much snow last year? I feel like Mother Nature is just saving up a bad Winter for us...hopefully I'm wrong!

In case you are having the same problem as I am, and are overrun with veggies from your garden, here are some of the things I've been doing lately to preserve my produce for the coming year.  I've got about 10 bags of green beans blanched and frozen, about 20 bags of sweet corn bagged and frozen, and about 25 jars of dill pickles canned and shelved so far (I also did 25 jars of spicy pickles this year using Mrs. Wages as well).  As I said before, I'm just waiting patiently for my tomatoes to ripen in order to begin canning my fresh salsa and my pasta sauce and then I'm done for the year!  As satisfying as it is to just walk out to the garden and pick a bunch of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers to throw together a dinner salad to serve, it's just as awesome a feeling to head to the basement and grab a jar of homemade pasta sauce or pickles when the need arises.  It's the little things :)

 Anyway, I hope some of you are able to use these techniques, recipes, and tips on your own garden produce this year....and if not, we'll be back in full swing with tons of recipes tomorrow! Hope you're all enjoying the summer as much as I am....it seems to be going faster and faster with each coming day!