Today's harvest of yellow crook neck squash, zucchini, okra, bread and butter corn, blueberries and green tomatoes will get me up early tomorrow. The squash, okra and corn I will prepare and freeze. The blueberries are simmering in the juice pot and will strain/drip overnight for Christmas gift jelly. The green tomatoes will join yesterday's jalapeno pepper harvest and some farmer's market carrots in an old fashion vinegar pepper sauce, a must for enjoying the winter greens.
I love stocking my larder almost as much as I enjoy summer meals of fresh foods. Fresh summer vegetables tend to make a vegan out of me, much to my chickens' relief. I grow and harvest enough for several of my children's and their children's households. Still there is an over abundance for friends and I have been know to sneak down to a few of our local churches, on Saturday night, and leave large boxes of orphaned zucchini of the front steps (manna from heaven).
It is easy to justify the time and labor or gardening when reading the grocery store ads. I think we all agree that prices have shot up out of site. I listen to the news and hear that the increases are due to higher fuel costs, I can't figure out how doubling the fuel cost of a 50,000 pound load of can equate to a 30 to 40 percent retail price increase of all 50,000 pounds. My favorite raw peanuts have shot up from $1.40 a pound to $1.94 a pound. My figuring comes up with an increase of $27,500. a load and Geogia is only 200 away. Granted the increase is spread around to the farmer, wholesaler, and processor, but it still buys a lot of diesel fuel. Oh my, I am off on a tangent, once an accountant always an accountant.
I do sell "you pick" blueberries for a dollar a quart, I don't know who pays $4.50 at the grocery store for a half pint but I wish they would stop by my place.