Ma Ingalls, revised

I want to be a homesteader. With air conditioning, not back in the Ingall's day necessarily. But this morning, I "put up" 6 pints of crushed tomatoes, to add to my 5 pints of tomato sauce that I put up a couple weeks ago, to add to my 8 cups of pumpkin puree, to add to my ice cubed frozen chopped basil and parsley, to add to my 3 freezer bags of sliced, roasted tomatoes, to add to my... well...that may be it.

I love this part of the garden - the eating fresh, the preparing for the winter (for luxury's sake, thankfully, not for necessity). I froze blueberries from pickings this summer; we ate all the peaches before I could do them. I think this all goes with my knitting lifestyle. I read something interesting about knitting yesterday - that knitters get that one small job/vote/task makes a difference, because that one stitch leads to another to another to another, until you have a hat or a scarf or a sweater. One little stitch/task/vote can go such a long way. Sorry, tangent.

If only this could be my full time job! Plus milking a goat and making goat cheese...although I admit, I find these things romantic, and the reality of having chickens and goats and a huge yard with a garden is quite likely very overwhelming.

Either way, this was my 2.5 hours this morning before anyone got up. See? I've got the early morning part of homesteading DOWN!